MERENDA - New Olympic Hippodrome - 2003

Informations Générales

Numéro de la notice

2121

Année de l'opération

2003

Chronologie

Néolithique - Néolithique Ancien - Néolithique Récent

Âge du Bronze - Bronze Ancien - Bronze Moyen - Bronze Récent

Âge du Fer - Géométrique

Antiquité - Archaïque - Classique - Hellénistique - Romaine

Mots-clés

Bains - Édifice Public - Temple - Péribole - Stoa - Figurine - Inscription - Lampe - Outillage/armement - Revêtements (mur et sol) - Métal - Pierre - Édifice religieux - Installation hydraulique - Habitat - Nécropole - Production/extraction - Sanctuaire - Voierie

Nature de l'opération

Fouille - Sauvetage

Institution(s)

Β' Εφορεία Προϊστορικών και Κλασικών Αρχαιοτήτων (IIe éphorie des antiquités préhistoriques et classiques)

Localisation

Toponyme
Merenda

Notices et opérations liées

19992003

Description

Merenda, New Olympic Hippodrome. O. Kakavogianni (Β’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports on numerous excavations from 2001-2003 at the site of the New Olympic Hippodrome complex (Fig. 1).

Site 4: in an area where a Mycenaean chamber tomb had previously been found, were remains of a building, four bull figurines, and MH sherds. Just to the west of the Mycenaean remains was a small circular EH I building, perhaps a workshop for stone tools.

Site 5: the eastern cemetery consisited of eight cist graves cut into the rock, and four cremations. Within one of the cuttings were two bronze urns. Pottery dated from the second half of the fifth to the beginning of the fourth century.

Site 6: by the west road were the remains of a house. To the southeast was a small two-roomed shrine.

Site 7: to the northwest of the Hippodrome were ancient farmhouses with rooms surrounding large central halls (Fig. 2). Fittings include a bath with the floor and walls coated in hydraulic cement.

Site 8: a small Classical building with a stoa (4.5 x 4m); in the Hellenistic period, a large hall was built to the east (14.5 x 4m) and a stoa on the south side, and in the Roman period a workshop area (Fig. 3). From the form of the building and the finds (a lead weight of ¼ of a stater, a bronze public voting ballot) this seems to be a small public building.

In a large cemetery immediately northeast of that in which the statue of Phrasikleia was found, lay a building complex and a farm complex. One Late Neolithic and one Early Bronze Age house were uncovered to the west of them.

Site 9: immediately to the west of site 5 was a small sanctuary with a rectangular peribolos (33 x 26m) of limestone blocks (Fig. 4). A schist slab was inscribed with the name ΝΑΝΝΙΟΝ. At the same depth as the peribolos was a three roomed building above a layer with Early Geometric-Geometric pottery.

To the right of the entrance, by the east wall of the peribolos, was a small bath with two built tubs. To the north were the remains of two rooms, one of which (to the south) contained many pots and a small bothros. The remaining area outside the peribolos was a tree lined garden with a small rock-cut cistern, with many amphora and kantharos sherds, perhaps a small shrine to Aphrodite.

Site 10: in the north cemetery (investigated last century by Kotzias and Papadimitriou), a cist grave was found which contained a white-ground lekythos.

Site 11: ca. 200m northeast of the cemetery in which the Phrasiklea kore was found in 1972 was a large cemetery of the eighth to the fourth century BC. Sixty two tombs were found, mostly pyres and enchytrismoi with much Geometric and Archaic pottery, and an offering table with representations of fantastic animals (Fig. 5).

Site 12: to the west of the Hippodrome complex were the remains of a small Early Neolithic settlement (ca. 6000BC) over an area of ca. 2500m². Small timber-framed huts were found, some with stone foundations, thatched and with mud plaster. At the southwest side were remains of a peribolos of woven wood fencing. Four schematic figurines of seated figures were collected.

The area around the settlement contained pits probably for water collection, as well as a pit dwelling which from the matt-painted and incised pottery dates to the Late Neolithic period (mid fifth millennium BC).

Site 13: at the top of a small hill in the northern part of the complex was a small settlement of the end of the Neolithic to EH II, comprising five clusters of dug-out chambers, ca. 5 x 2.5 x 2m (Figs 6-8). Those that had not collapsed continued in use into EH II. Important metallurgic finds included bronze slag, litharge and a lead clamp (the oldest lead object from Eastern Attica).

Site 14: a small building produced fragments of many pithoi.

Site 15: some 250m from the Sanctuary of Aphrodite, a small road (2.5m wide with built sides) ran from the southeast ancient road to the north to a large elliptical peribolos of large stones. By the entrance was a circular pit with MH pottery, prochoes and parts of two polishers, while in a large pit in the middle of the peribolos was a small Late Geometric cup. Sherds from this area are mostly Geometric and Late Classical in date, with some Mycenaean.

These findings suggest the peribolos is a temenos, perhaps linked to a dedicatory inscription to Apollo found in Merenda.

Site 16: towards the middle of the Olympic complex, was the stereobate of a large building (20 x 10m) of limestone blocks, probably a temple (Fig. 9). The only surviving architectural member was a marble sima (Fig. 10). Archaic lamps and pottery and few Late Roman lamps were recovered.

Site 17: the northeast agricultural complex (Fig. 11): on the north side was a large storage area with the remains of 10 large pithoi and a series of rooms to the east and north of it. In the middle of the south side, inside an area built of limestone blocks, many broken pots and other terracotta objects perhaps indicate storage for a market.

Site 18: 50m west of the Geometric cemetery investigation revealed a Classical building complex: poor residential remains were found, plus two nearby pits with Geometric sherds.

Site 19: 70m north of the site 18 was a small building with four rooms at the south and an open courtyard to the north. In one room was an in situ marble base with two lead tenons.

Site 20: north of the north cemetery was a small sanctuary with two building phases (Fig. 12). In the earlier there was a small building with slim columns; in a pit were small Classical votive vessels. In the later phase, a one-roomed sekos with an entrance and prodomos to the east was built 10m to the southwest.

Site 21: to the northeast site 20 was found a 30m long rectangular peribolos with the base of a semicircular exedra (5m in diameter).

Site 22: 40m north of site 21 was the beginning of the north road from the temple to the ancient deme of Steiria. Along it are the funerary periboloi found by I. Papadimitriou, and a little to the southeast (by the chapel of Ag. Varvara) is a small Late Classical building.

Site 23: from the west side of the north road and 70m south of the periboloi of the north cemetery begins a small road, 2.5m wide with built sides, leading to a small sanctuary with a rectangular peribolos and monumental door (Fig. 13). At the northeast corner of the peribolos are the remains of a small building with two small bases, and rooms at the west and the south sides. A few loomweights were found with the bases.

Outside the west side of the peribolos was a well, from which was recovered a high base with a dedicatory inscription: ΞΕΝΟΦΩΝ ΙΕΡΕΥΣ ΑΝΕΘΗΚΕ ΠΑΙΣ ΦΙΛΟΞΕΝΟ ΜΝΗΜΕΙΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΚΑΜΕ ΦΡΑΤΡΙΩ ΔΙΙ. The sanctuary is therefore probably dedicated to Zeus Phratrios.

Site 24: a small square building with a floor of clay tiles was investigated. Nine steps are preserved in the east side. In the interior were many marble architectural members: two arched epistyles, parts of an unfluted column and pilasters, two capitals with palmettes, and Corinthian capitals, which date to the first-second centuries AD. Also a marble winch beam of a well inscribed: ΤΗΝ ΚΡΗΝΗΝ ΠΟΙ(Η)ΣΑΣ [---] ΚΑΙ ΤΟ ΠΕΡΙΣΤΟΜΙΟΝ [---]. This seems to be of the second-century AD and probably belonged to a well supplying water for the nearby sanctuary.

Site 25: around the triathlon facilities, part of an EH II building with an apsidal north wall was found on the top of a hill.

Site 26: at the southern boundary of the complex, 120m east of the Geometric cemetery along a farm road running east-northeast was another Geometric-Classical cemetery. Outside the fenced area were five Geometric tombs, pit or cist graves containing 72 offerings of which 67 were pots.

Immediately to the north of the Geometric tombs were Archaic cremations, and north again a large funerary peribolos, 33m long, and a large curved exedra (Fig. 14). As indicated by an inscribed marble funerary lekythos, the peribolos belongs to an previously unknown family of Myrrinous, that of Eukles and Ischyrios.

Site 27: to the west of the triathlon area, where a small family cemetery had been found, a small building consisting of three rooms and an andron was found, and outside small pits with ash and pottery (kantharoi, undecorated oinochoes). This is not a farmhouse but is probably related to the cemetery.

Site 28: on the slope of the hill to the northeast of the plain of Merenda was a Mycenaean cemetery with five small chamber tombs with long dromoi and chambers ca. 2.5m in diameter, dating to the LH III C period.

Site 29a: outside the southwest corner of the complex, by the ancient southern main road from the deme of Hagnous (now in the area of Markopoulo) to the coastal demes of the Mesogeia (Prasiai and Steiria), a road previously found by Papadimitriou, lay an ancient cemetery (noting the discovery of a limestone sarcophagus).

Site 30: a large ancient road found at the east side of the complex, linked the demes of the south Mesogeia (Kephale, Potamioi, Thorikos) to those in the north (Philiades, Halai Araphinides, Araphina).

Auteur de la notice

Robert PITT

Références bibliographiques

AD 56-59 (2001-2004) Chr., 322-324; 331-336; 345-353.