KISSAMOS, CHOCLAKIS PROPERTY - 2000

Informations Générales

Numéro de la notice

1862

Année de l'opération

2000

Chronologie

Mots-clés

Canalisation - Citerne - Maison - Monnaie - Outillage/armement - Parure/toilette - Revêtements (mur et sol) - Terre cuite architecturale - Bois - Métal - Os - Pierre - Verre - Installation hydraulique - Habitat - Production/extraction

Nature de l'opération

Fouille - Sauvetage

Institution(s)

ΚΕ' Εφορεία Προϊστορικών και Κλασικών Αρχαιοτήτων (XXVe éphorie des antiquités préhistoriques et classiques)

Localisation

Toponyme
Kissamos, Kastellion

Notices et opérations liées

2000

Description

Kissamos. A. and A. Chochlaki property. M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki reports on extensive excavations conducted in 1994-2000 on a plot south of the national road between Kastelli and Platanos, at the junction with the road to Lousakies. A Late Roman town house was revealed with around a dozen separate rooms and other areas constructed in two successive phases. A late Christian wall and floor were also recovered at the far northeast. Most floors were of beaten earth, though remnants of mosaics were located in room Δ and dispersed tesserae came from the drain below room Λ; the central atrium has a floor of thick hydraulic plaster. The north and south walls of the atrium (walls 10 and 15 respectively) carry at regular 0.5m intervals a total of 10 surviving carved stone bases, which probably bore the wooden structural supports for the atrium. Those on the north wall are disturbed by the later insertion of an east-west water-line with a tiled cover. A stone-built drain on the southern side (belonging to the initial phase of construction) collected rain-water from the atrium and transported it to a nearby cistern. In the southeast corner, fallen tiles over the floor mark the building’s destruction. Room A demonstrates even more complex changes. An original doorway in the east-west wall (7) between it and room Γ (to the south) was closed, and room A was later narrowed by the insertion of an east-west double wall (5). At the west end of wall 7 is a north-south stone drain, which terminates in what is now a circular structure of hydraulic plaster, tile and pebbles (once a tank for collecting rain-water from the roof). Room E, at the northeast, has three successive earthen floors, below which is a sizeable stone-built east-west drain. Two niches are built into its south wall (21) 0.6m above the floor. On the floor of room B to the northwest was fallen wall-plaster (coloured red and black), with more still attached to the east wall here (wall 9). West of this room, a narrow north-south space is defined by walls 32 and 33 (both with signs of burning): on the earth floor were sherds and six third- to fourth-century vases. The presence at the north of large sandstone plaques laid flat, perhaps as threshold slabs, may indicate that there was an entrance to the complex here. Just beyond this, outside the house to the north, were two round (1m in diameter) ceramic hearths of the same date, with eight more vases of the third to fourth century AD on the surface between them. This is likely a workshop space. South of the atrium, in rooms Στ and Z, there is again evidence for remodelling. The two doors in the southeast angle were both closed up, and the east-west wall 18 between the two rooms has evidence for three periods of construction. The walls of room Στ are well built and have high-quality plaster. In the southwest corner of the room is a potter’s kiln preserved to a maximum height of 0.8m, with the mouth to the north, where a burnt area yielded much pottery which dates the kiln to the early fourth century AD. Next to the kiln there was a staircase beside wall 19; two third- to fourth-century pots lay on the floor beside it. In the southeast corner of room H is the base of another kiln (0.95m in diameter) made of tiles, seemingly associated with a mass of black glassy material: this belongs to the first phase of construction. An east-west drain (5), which runs across room Λ and is carefully made from strong hydraulic plaster tiles, transports rain-water from the roofs off to the southwest. Many tesserae found within it indicate the presence of a further mosaic somewhere nearby, perhaps from the first building phase. Room I, which was later partitioned, has signs of intense burning on the floor and a large refuse pit crammed with broken pottery, probably indicating that it forms part of a workshop. In the southern part of the room, a drain (6) capped with tiles conducts water away from the roof. To the north of room Ι, room Θ also contains numerous pits with ceramics, significant amounts of slag, tesserae, animal bones and shells, as well as a large east-west drain taking water from the atrium. Finds from this excavation totalled 61 clay pots, 82 bronze coins and 428 other items (mostly bone pins, terracotta loomweights and bronze utensils). Just north of this plot, work on a modern road revealed the ancient paved street, with the main sewer line below the flags.

Auteur de la notice

Don EVELY

Références bibliographiques

ADelt 55 (2000), Chr, 1029-31