AIGINA. - Kolonna - 2024

In Aegina Kolonna, Lydia Berger and Alexander Sokolicek (Department of Classics, University of Salzburg) report on the 2023 and 2024 excavation seasons, during which research focused on the continuation of the investigation of the Middle to Late Bronze Age fortifications and the settlement in the Northeast of Kolonna (area A1 and A2 on fig. 1) as well as on the small Byzantine church and the adjacent area outside the Late Roman/Byzantine fortification wall in the east (area A3 on fig. 1).

Area/trench K10. Excavation in the small area K10 (fig. 2), started in 2015, came to an end. Above the uneven surface of the rock, a deposit of stones mixed with loamy sediment, mudbricks and a lot of small fragments of MH I late to MH II pottery levelled the area next to the outside of the fortification wall of the MH II Inner Suburb. The material and finds might origin from the earlier western parts of the settlement and do not attest to building activities within the Outer Suburb already at the beginning of the 2nd mill BC.

Trench NO1. The investigation of the MH/LH fortification wall, started in 2021, was finalized in 2023 in trench NO1, which led to an adjustment of its dating (cf. report 2022). The fortification wall was built in at least two phases, of which the older one (M1045, yellow on fig. 3) consists of carefully arranged poros and andesite stones, varying in size and shape. Pottery from adjoining strata dates the erection of the wall to the MH period. The second fortification phase includes the erection of a tower (M1184/M1185/M1186, red in fig. 3) and an extension of the fortification toward east (M1046, red on fig. 3). Finds from the filling of the tower and from layers associated with the new wall M1046 point toward LHIIA or later. These new results are important to consider the chronology of the latest development of the settlement phases of LH Kolonna.

Trench NO3. Investigations in trench NO3 south of the LH fortification wall (fig. 3) revealed a bulky structure (ST1078) made of large limestones and measuring approx. 1.60 m in width (fig. 4). The limestone structure lays immediately north of a wall of a LH house (M1061; uncovered already in 2022: see Chronique, n. 2022). The dimensions and method of construction suggest that it was part of the Bronze Age fortification, maybe a complex building or gate system that reinforced the north-east during the last settlement phase in the LH period. Unfortunately, the architectural context of the structure and the northern fortification wall cannot be investigated in detail due to the later buildings in this area which disturb deeply the older stratigraphy.

Trenches NO4 and NO7. Further east and built against the exterior of the LR/Byz fortification (M1031/M1032), there is a small church in a very poor state of preservation (fig. 5). Under the northern threshold of the church a small tripod jar and a fine painted amphoriskos, both LH (fig. 6; partially visible already in 2022) were recovered.  They were surrounded by large broken limestone slabs and stones before the construction of the church. However, the precise temporal context of the deposition remains undetermined at this state.
The excavation of the last two seasons revealed a series of burials in the room north of the church as well as within the small narthex (fig. 7). 70% of the 17 detected graves are exclusively built of large tiles and represent cist graves with flat roofs (5 graves with neonates/small infants) or larger pitched roofed graves (7 graves with infants or juveniles). Furthermore, there is one cist grave built of stones and tiles (partially excavated) and one larger chamber tomb, each containing several individuals (neonates/small infants in the first and juveniles/adults in the last).
Stratigraphically, the burials were interred after the erection of the LR/Byz fortification wall M1031/M1032 as well as of the small church and its adjoining rooms. Precise dating is not possible due to the absence of grave goods; however, the grave types point to the early to mid-Byzantine period (6th/8th c. and until 10th c. AD). The quality of the graves shows significant differences, suggesting the presence of at least two distinct burial phases.