ARGOS - 2010

Argos. The 25th EBA presents a review of Late Antique and Byzantine finds from rescue excavations in 2000-2010.

On Papanikoli Street (property of K. Beleri) a bath complex was found between the Roman agora and the Late Roman insula in the south of the city. Part of the caldarium was found. The floor of the alveus was paved in marble, and the bench round the bath was marble-clad (above this was mosaic decoration in green, black and turquoise). The hypocaust and the water su0pply system were preserved intact. Aound the praefurnium was a covered corridor. Both the pottery and the wall construction indicate a fifth- to sixth-century AD date: the area was re-occupied in the 12th century.

A major part of the north cemetery was revealed in two rescue excavations on neighbouring properties on Diomedous Lane, Ο.Τ. 14Γ. On the Denezi Tentzeri property, large tiles were used for the tile-graves (four for adult burials and two for children). The long period of use of this extensive cemetery is confirmed by the existence of two layers of burials. Very few grave goods were found (tomb 14 alone contained a pair of earrings). Child and infant burials constituted some 20% of the total. On the Dedousi-Kirsanof-Karakitsou-Kotronaki property a total of 64 tile-graves were excavated, of which 24 contained child burials. Grave goods comprise a pair of bronze earrings, a gold earring, an iron dagger, a cup and a bronze pin. To the west of, and below, the tombs was a four-sided underground structure with stairs down its narrowest side, built of undressed stone and lined with hydraulic cement. There was a four-sided basin in the middle of the floor and the angles of the structure were rounded inwards, creating the effect of a cross set in a four-sided frame. The structure is identified as a baptistery which predates the establishment of the cemetery.

An Early Byzantine (sixth- or seventh-century) house with pebble floors was found on the property of A. Roussou (Kallergi Street, Ο.Τ. 159). A floor mosaic was later laid in the northwest room (the underlay of tile fragments is preserved with traces of light and dark tesserae). A second room, with a floor of hydraulic cement leading into a drainage channel, was probably a wine-press. South of the house was a road with a central storm drain covered with stone slabs. South of the house was a road with a central storm drain covered with stone slabs, to which the house was connected, and south of that, another house of the same period.

Excavation on the property of I. Peredé (Kapodistriou and 28th October Street, Ο.Τ. 14Γ), revealed Early Byzantine drainage channels and building remains, and part of a road running east-west. In the fill were cannon balls, Ottoman tobacco pipes and coins of the second Venetian period. An area for clay preparation was found, related to two round cisterns lined with hydraulic cement. The fill contained three tripod-supports and pieces of fired clay, but no evidence was found of the kiln that would confirm the presence of a potter’s workshop.

An Early Byzantine complex on the property of Th. Papathanasiou may relate to the neighbouring baptistery found on the Perdikari property, and perhaps also with the basilica on the Phlorou property to the southeast.