CORFU - Town - 2008

Kerkyra, Palaio Phrourio. The 21st EBA reports on excavation inside the two towers of the central gate (fig. 1) and the first tower south of the central gate complex in preparation for a change of use (fig. 2). Bronze coins of the Emperors Mavrikios (Maurice) (582-602 AD) and Basil II Boulgaroktonos (976-1025 AD) were found, as well as Early Byzantine pottery. These finds indicate that the area was in use from the Early Byzantine period onwards, and may date the foundation of the Byzantine castle to the sixth century AD, several centuries earlier than previously thought (fig. 3).