CHANIA - 2004

Chania. 31 G. Hatzidaki Street (property of E. Mathioulaki). S. Markoulaki and V. Niniou-Kindeli (ΚΕ’ ΕΠΚΑ) report on the excavation in 1981 of a late fourth- or early third-century BC tomb complex.

The underground monument is entered from the west via a dromos (5.8m long) with 15 steps; the entrance was blocked by a stone slab (Fig. 2/1). Within is a plastered access chamber (5.8 x 1.9m, 2m high) with a vaulted roof, off which are plastered burial chambers (loculi) four per side with one at the east end opposite the entrance. The loculi (2.2 x 1m, with a vaulted or gabled ceiling 2m high) are largely occupied by the burial pit, with a small bench or ledge around the walls. The loculus immediately to the left of the entrance differs in that its pit had rough walls and was closed with four cover slabs. The doors of the loculi had carved jambs and lintels, and were closed by slabs (identified by letters of the alphabet and with a red line down the middle) and sealed with plaster (or in one case with clay).

The names of the deceased are handwritten in charcoal above the doors, or in the earliest cases scratched in the still-wet plaster. Fourteen individuals are named from five families, including seven women and three children (one additional burial is unidentified). All have Cretan names – Timastheus, Eurytimus, Sosikles, Pangles, Somvrotos, Achaiadas, Dromeus, Sosima, Nikio and Xeno. Two male surnames, Areiofatas and Oreifatas, may denote warriors, as may iron cheek-pieces in the tomb of the Achaiades. Sosima, who died in confinement, was adorned with gold. In the main chamber were offerings of vases and food (eggs, dried fruit etc.) and all burials contained goods, sometimes placed on the ledge above the burial pit. These comprise Cypriot amphorae, lamps, vases of pottery, stone (alabastra) and glass, jewellery and personal items (such as mirrors in their woven straw covers and bone combs), gilded terracotta and solid gold ornaments, strigils, toys and the gold danake. Twenty-one terracotta figurines come mainly from the burials of women and children. Most are typical local products, but four stand out as of superior workmanship, in fine white clay and with vivid colour including gilding. Their type, quality and the colouring agents analysed indicate an Alexandrian origin.

The loculus as a form of burial architecture was particularly developed for the Hellenistic middle classes in Egypt, and is also observed in areas under Ptolemaic influence. While East Crete (Itanos) had an Egyptian garrison, the tomb-type is peculiar to the west (Kydonia, Polyrrhenia).

A few metres to the north, at 31a G. Hatzidaki Street (property of M. Mathioulaki), A. Tsingou (ΚΕ’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports a further loculus tomb excavated in 2004.

Of the same initial Hellenistic date as its neighbour, this was reused in the late first–early second century AD and is less well-finished, with plaster preserved on only some burial chamber walls. The dromos could not be excavated; the main access chamber (3.73 x 1.15m), entered at the north, was closed by a slab lent against the sandstone jambs and lintel, and has a reused threshold block. There are seven loculi (1.82-2.15 x 0.78-0.84m, ca. 2m high with vaulted ceilings) - three per side and opposite the entrance – each contained a burial pit and in four cases (A, B, C and D) side ledges. While the loculi were equipped for slab doors, there were none.

Remains of the original Hellenistic inhumations were preserved to varying degrees in loculi A, C, E and Z: poorly preserved remains of Roman burials were found in all. Loculus C contained the remains of a wooden bier or coffin. The main chamber contained offerings of small terracotta vases and lamps, plus evidence of funerary rituals in the form of animal bones and traces of burning close to the loculus doorways. Light was supplied by three lamps in a natural niche.

Grave goods were largely everyday objects placed at the loculus entrance, on its ledges and in the burial pit. They comprise: iron and ceramic stands to support vases; vases (alabastra, jugs, cups) and lamps; glass unguentaria, jugs and thelastra; iron strigils, bronze mirrors (one in a woven straw cover) and a pair of bronze pyxides; a terracotta horse figurine; a glass bead; and knucklebones. Eggs were present as funerary symbols, as were the gold epistomion and danake in loculus D.