GORTYN - 2011

Pythion: The Byzantine Quarter. E. Zanini (Sienna/SAIA) reports on the eighth season of excavation of the Early Byzantine building between the monumental complexes of the Pythion Temple and the Praetorium. A deep trial was continued in order to assess the stratigraphical sequence of the building complex, from the time of the early Roman road to later Antiquity. The limestone-paved yard was fully exposed. A phase of reuse is marked by the erection of walls for smaller rooms directly on the pavement. Bases for wooden pillars supporting these huts line three sides of the yard. Remains of animals caught in the collapse indicate that one compartment served as a barn: coins date it to the 670s AD, and there are hints that occupation continued still later.