MEGARA - 2000

Megara (Fig. 1).
Eupalinou Street (O.T. 436, P. Papadopoulou property): a small section of the first phase of the fortification circuit of the ancient polis was discovered dating to the period of the Persian Wars (Fig. 1). The wall was made of well-cut white limestone blocks (preserved length 4.95m, width 0.9m, lower course height 0.88m), a further section of which had previously been uncovered several metres west along the same road (AR 40 [1993−1994], 10).

26 L. Katsoni Street (Ch. Pantazi property): a sarcophagus, oriented east-west, had a monolithic cover slab (Fig. 1). Three disturbed infant burials, heads to the east, were accompanied by Corinthian grave goods of the last quarter of the seventh century BC (four alabastra, three aryballoi and a spool).

Dimarchou Menidiati and Rankavi (M. Modi property): four graves were found, all oriented north-south, of which only the first contained grave goods (Fig. 1). Tomb 1, a cist grave with a monolithic limestone cover, contained four skeletons (heads to the south) of which the uppermost was supine and the three below contracted. Accompanying the burials were a Corinthian squat lekythos, four astragaloi, three spools and a clay scarab. Tomb 4, a sarcophagus, contained a supine burial, head to the north.

Stratigi Street. During excavation by the water company, eight tombs were found (Fig. 1) close to a site where tombs had previously been excavated (AR 44 [1997−1998], 15). The first three sarcophagi (orientated east-west) were badly damaged, and only tomb 1 contained goods (fragments of two unguentaria, a pyxis and traces of an iron strigil).

Tenedou Street (P. Sklavounou-Sousani property). A 4.2m long stretch of channel (0.59m high, 0.51m wide) and two damaged cisterns cut into the chalk were found, but no datable material (Fig. 1).

28 Xekouki Street (Nikolaou brothers property). The foundations of a building with two phases were found. To the east was the north-south wall of an apsidal building dated by pottery to the eighth and seventh centuries BC (Fig. 1).

194 28th October Street (A. Papanousi house). Five tombs from a large cemetery outside the Corinthian gates Fig. 1, no.7). All were oriented north-south except for tomb 4, which was east-west. (1) a larnax with no finds, but a Corinthian kotyle of ca. 500 BC nearby; (2) a sarcophagus containing two bodies, heads to the south, and no goods; (3) a sarcophagus with one body, head to the south, two lekythoi and fragments of a terracotta figurine of an enthroned female (first half of the fifth century BC); (4) a sarcophagus with a female burial, head to the east, around which were 36 Hellenistic unguentaria; (5) a badly damaged sarcophagus.

239 28th October Street (S.M. Louka and N. Mourtzoukou property). Eight graves related to the three fifth-century BC to Late Hellenistic funerary periboloi (Plan, no. 8) and eight graves previously excavated to the south on the same road (AR 35 [1988−1989], 21). Tomb 8 was a looted child burial in a sarcophagus. East of peribolos A, three cist graves sharing common walls (9−11) contained no goods. In grave 12, a baby was buried, head to the west, accompanied by a Corinthian kotyle of ca. 500 BC. A pit burial (13), covered by two conglomerate slabs, contained sieved earth but no bones or goods; in the northeast corner was a pyramidal marker with three steps (0.33m high), a characteristic form of Hellenistic Megarian stele. A tile grave (15) contained a black-glazed skyphos, kylix and phiale, and another fourth-century BC vessel.

Old national road (O.T. 32, I. Papasideri property). Five tombs of the fifth to second century BC (Fig. 1). All were oriented east-west apart from the north-south tomb 2. (1) contained a single burial, head to the east, accompanied by four Early Hellenistic unguentaria, a fragmentary pot and a miniature vessel; (2) contained a single burial, head to the south, and an iron ring; (3) contained a female skeleton, head to the east, a lekythos of the first half of the fifth century BC, four astralagoi, a lekanis with an egg and a bronze strigil; (4) is a sarcophagus with a single burial, head to the east, surrounded by 10 unguentaria, two prochoes, two Megarian skyphoi and two Middle Hellenistic unguentaria; (5) contained a supine skeleton, four kylikes, two bronze mirrors, two iron rings, three tiny prochoes and fragments of a fifth-century lamp.