Prasiai near Leonidio-Plaka - 2023

Arcadia - Leonidio-Plaka - Prasies. Konstantinos Kissas (Ephorate of Antiquities of Arcadia) and Peter Scherrer (University of Graz) report on the first excavation season of a new synergasia between Ephorate of Antiquities of Arcadia and OAI.

Work begun with the cleaning of the northeastern corner of the defence wall, already partly revealed during a 2010-2015 campaign by G. Grigorakakis, and named Tower A (Fig. 1). The excavation found some kind of entrance into the town (to be clarified with further work in 2024), as well as the remains of a foundation deposit with ceramic vessels and animal bones, in a 6,5m trench (A1) opened south-east of the tower A (Fig. 2).

Further work on the terrace, about 150m above the modern road, between the houses previously excavated by Grigorakakis, uncovered little architectural evidence, but did reveal ceramic material from the Mycenaean to the Geometric periods. Most of the pottery consists of fine ceramic drinking vessels, table and transport amphorae and jugs. Finds other than pottery are rare. The absence of kitchen ware is particularly striking and suggests not a domestic character of the area but a more public. This material seems to indicate continued occupation in this area across this time period.

The pottery indicates that the terrace wall was built in the 4th century BC, although much of the contained pottery dates to the end of the 5th century BC and is possibly connected with the destructions of the Peloponnesian War. However, the backfill shows no indications for a destruction. The whole area was covered by huge Hellenistic deposits, but all older phases in this area were disturbed by a number of inhumation graves.