Kerameikos - 2024

Jutta Stroszeck (DAI) reports on the continued excavations at the Kerameikos. 

Work has been conducted to the so-called ‘banquet room’, a fourth-centrury BCE structure discovered in 2023 (ID 19629 ), off the Sacred Way, along with the area to the west. This 15m² room featuring an oval mosaic of polished pebbles was reveiled (Fig. 1 and 2). The mosaic does not extend to the building's walls on the east and north sides. To the north, a white limestone drainage channel was found connecting the rooms, suggesting a water-management system, while lime deposits along the southeastern curve of the mosaic and to the north, towards the limestone channel, indicate that this room was frequently used. In the southwestern part of the site, a second trench was opened in the area of Well B 37. Three construction phases of the well were documented. An initial lining with large limestone monoliths; second, the well rim, covered with a compact layer of lime mortar (Fig. 3.3); and lastly, a rectangular casing made of limestone blocks, placed into the mortar.