Naxos - Kato Choria - 2024

Dimitris Athanasoulis (Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades), Jim  Crow (Edinburgh) and Mark Jackson (Newcastle) report on a synergasia between the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades and the British School at Athens, at Kato Choria (Palaeoglises) on the slopes below the kastro Apalirou in Naxos, in October-November 2024.

This season, three trenches were opened in two main areas: Area D, and Area F (identified during previous work in 2022 by the Apalirou Environs Project), with the aim to provide important new evidence for understanding Byzantine settlement, housing and lifeways in the Cyclades between the 7th and 11th centuries AD (Fig. 1). Both these areas lay inside the later wall and had good evidence for walls of buildings visible on the surface (Fig. 2). 

Report on Area D
In 2022 we cleaned a distinct pattern of walls in Area D which seemed to represent a series of buildings running N-S along a terrace (Fig. 3). Initially we postulated that these may have been a series of small rooms (perhaps ‘kellia’) related to the Olive Church located 20m to the west. In 2024 we laid out two trenches in Area D: D.1 and D.2 to investigate these structures. The eastern (upslope) parts of these trenches were located close to bedrock with deposits on the western side up to 0.58m deep retained behind N-S wall [4206]. Before excavation commenced two sherds of pottery were found unstratified on the surface which can be dated with some confidence to the 8th- 9th century AD; these types match closely cooking and amphora sherds identified previously from the slopes of Apalirou (Valente, Jackson et al. 2023, 213-217, fig. 5). Ceramics from lower fill in parts of D.1 also suggest domestic-type activity; they include 8th C. AD globular amphorae (see below). In later phases, both D.1 and D.2 seem to have been used for cist burials apparently inserted into earlier buildings running along the terrace. We hope to inform further the relative chronology of D.2 further during our post-excavation phase through C14 dating of the burials. 

Trench D.1, was laid out 3m N-S x 4m E-W in the southern part of Area D. It can be divided into two parts, one to the north and one to the south of E-W wall [4104] which like N-S wall [4103] was visible on the surface before excavation commenced. Although the impression given by the quoin stone on the SW juncture of walls was that N-S wall [4103] abutted E-W wall [4104], in fact excavation in the inside of these walls demonstrated that they were bonded together as part of the same construction operation. N-S oriented wall [4105] however abutted E-W wall [4104], offset on its southern side (Fig. 4). To the north of wall [4104], the removal of topsoil revealed a homogenous light brown fill [4102] containing a few small stones mostly (20mm-30mm). [4102] rested on the natural bedrock which here slopes down to the west from the east side of the trench. Fill [4102] respected the north side of wall [4104] and the east side of [4103] and contained a significant number of large sherds from several different vessels. While these finds have not been studied in detail, initial observations and drawings made in the field suggest strongly that they belong to the early Byzantine period and relate to domestic deposits. Of particular relevance are finds: KCH-DF041 (quern stone), KCH-DF046 (amphora toe), KCH-DF047 (amphora rim), and KCH-DF048 (amphora rim, neck and handle) together with numerous body large sherds (Fig. 6). 

Trench D.2, was laid out 4m by 4m, 16m to the north of Trench D.1. Three features defined the area before excavation commenced: [4206] running N-S along the western edge of the trench, [4204] running E-W through the centre of the trench and line of stones [4205] oriented E-W running up to wall [4204] (Fig. 7). 
The removal of loose, dark topsoil in the central part of trench D.2 revealed a series of stone slabs [4207] aligned together as a group running E-W between wall [4204] and line of stones [4205] (Fig. 8). Excavation demonstrated that these stones were a series of capstones [4107] belonging to a stone cist. At the east end of the cist a series of stones oriented upright included a tombstone placed at the foot of the burial [KCH-DF055] in [4211], inscribed faintly with two pairs of incised parallel lines forming cross. 

The removal of the capstones revealed an initial 70mm of crumbly, loose dark brown fill [4209], which largely filled the space between the capstones and the much harder and distinct grave-fill proper [4208] below. The hard context [4208], below [4209], inside the cist contained a high volume of mollusc shells and a few small pot sherds. As the grave was excavated and the number of pottery sherds increased slightly, so the context was changed to [4210] in which the upper part of two human skeletons were uncovered. An articulated human skeleton lay in the central part of cist [4211] between the bones of a second disarticulated skeleton (Fig. 12). The bones of the first individual buried in the tomb had been moved to either side to make way for the burial of the new person but at least one of the initial burial’s long bones had been put back in the opposite orientation with the upper end of the femur placed beside the bones of the feet. All the excavated soil was sieved and a few stray bones and sherds were kept but no complete artefacts or ‘small finds’ were identified associated with the burials. 

Report on Area F
In Area F, a very substantial stone building constructed in a location with impressive views of the surrounding landscape was defined on the west side by wall and wall (Fig. ). This building seems to have collapsed leaving a semi-articulated arrangement of stones lying in situ where they fell. No floor surface was reached on the interior of the lower part (western) of this structure but on the eastern side of Area F, an area of possible floor surface may extend further to the east (upslope). The stone box-like feature identified there was associated with both sherds and some slag which seem to suggest a relatively late date compared to sherds found in Area D. Scientific sampling of the soil samples taken from the surface may provide an indication of the activities that were taking place there.