Kleidi Samiko - 2025

Kleidi Samikou. In Kleidi-Samiko in Ilia, the fourth season of the synergasia between the Ephorate of Antiquities of Ilia Samikou and ÖAI took place in 2025. The excavation is directed by Erofili Kollia (Ephorate of Antiquities of Ilia), with Birgitta Eder (Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut) from the Austrian Institute. 

Work in 2025 focused on two key areas. Inside the the temple of Poseidon, in an attempt to reveal the large NW room, to study its stromatography and the large ceramic deposit, as well as the temple's architectural features (e.g., its stylobate and the parastas) (Fig. 1). Wall A, north of the temple and beyond the rail, where a new trench was opened to determine its date and building technique (Fig. 2). 

Inside the temple, the removal of the ceramic deposit, which covers the entire area of the excavated room and belongs to the last phase of the building, revealed traces of burning and burnt tiles, which suggests a destructive event. It consists of a dense concentration of Laconian tiles, mixed with charcoal, ash and burnt fragments of mud bricks. All the elements of the roof which were found (flat and covering tiles, antefix, cornice slabs) are uniform in size and shape, and possible belonged to the same roof. An exceptional find consists of fragments of the middle akroterion (Fig. 3). The archaic Laconian roof of the temple was thus crowned by a disc-shaped cape of at least one meter in diameter. Comparable capes are known from Olympia, Figaleia, Amyclaeum in Laconia and from other areas and were representative and visible from a distance decorative elements of a temple. In the deposit, were dound bronze fragments and at least ten different bronze plates (Fig. 4) with charred wood and tile residues. They were heavily damaged by fire and groundwater. In the northeastern part of the hall, next to the door, a bronze tablet was found, placed upside down on tiles, which also had a nail in its corner. Although the quality of the bronze plate suggests the opposite, no inscription can be identified, not even by X-rays. Beneath the layer of tiles, traces of burning, nails, burnt wood, as well as fragments of copper and iron were found, which often lay directly on wood and tiles at floor level. On the floor of the hall and within the destruction layer, more interesting finds were scattered, which provide information about the objects stored there. In the center of the hall between the bases of the columns, fragments of a circular ribbed marble pedestal were found, which probably belonged to a marble perirrhanterion and probably complements the fragments of the perirrhanterion discovered in 2024. Other finds include three coins, an iron and copper handle, a fragment of an iron key, a stone seal, a bronze mirror (Fig. 5), and a stone seal depicting a woman bathing (Fig. 6). Most of the finds are heavily damaged by both fire and the long-term effect of groundwater.

Targeted trenches allowed further study and observations on the architecture of the building, which confirms the previously restored plan. Stratigraphic, architectural and other finds indicate that the entire roof collapsed during a fire around 300 BC or shortly after. This was followed by activities within the site, which included the levelling of the tiles and possibly the reuse of building material. The building was then rebuilt and the site was reused. Agricultural work in the second half of the 20th century destroyed parts of the building. The missing sections of the NE wall, as well as the dividing wall between the foredome and the hall, confirm similar observations from earlier times.

Work conducted in Wall A, heled to to study its superstructure, dating and function. Wall A follows a course from east to west, crossing in the shortest way the ravine between the hill of Kleidi, with the Mycenaean settlement and the necropolis, and the slopes of Lapitha (Fig. 2). For the moment, the wall can be traced for a length of 46m, but it probably continues further east. This strong wall seems to have formed the northern boundary of the sanctuary of Poseidon as a temple wall. Its thickness (2.6 m) and the construction technique point to a carefully designed structure, which possibly also protected the area of ​​the sanctuary to the north from the waters of the neighboring lagoon as a flood wall. Further work conducted about 10 m. east, indicates the existence of layers of use to the south of wall A and shows that the area to the north of the temple also belonged to the area of ​​the sanctuary of Poseidon. The presence of an older wall beneath Wall A opens a new dimension to the history of the site and documents a use that predates the historic sanctuary, possibly in connection with the constructions of the Bronze Age necropolis on the slopes of the northern hill of Kleidi.