AEGALEO AREA - 2000

Aegaleo area. Excavations associated with the western extension of Metro line 3 uncovered a 12m long section of ancient road running east-west and parallel to the modern Iera Odos (Fig. 1). Its width (5.5m) is the same as that of the ancient Sacred Way. To the south of the road was a rectangular pedestal, and, just to the west of that, a rectangular stone orthostat was likely some sort of road sign. Obsidian blades from the road indicate that the oldest phase of the Sacred Way was prehistoric; it was then abandoned in the Geometric period (as indicated by burials at its centre) when the road shifted to the south (a section of shingle and beaten earth 10m long with a maximum width of 1.8m stretches beyond the excavation area). Alluvial deposits of the Kephisos river were reached at a depth of 5m.