MAVRA LITHARIA - 2004

Mavra Litharia (St. and P. Kotsiopoulou plot). P. Micha (EMA) reports on cleaning undertaken in 2003 (with the Δ’ ΕΠΚΑ) in an area of the shore marked as a mound on local maps. Mavra Litharia is identified as the ancient harbour of Aigeira. A 26m-long stretch of the south (interior) face of the Roman harbour wall was exposed parallel to the modern shoreline, along with its west end which has colleapsed down to the northwest. The preserved top surface of the wall stands 6m above the modern median sea level. Only parts of the core of the superstructure (the top two metres) survive. Beneath it is a 1m-deep course of various stones packed with clay and soil (rather than mortar). The lowest course, of stones, sand and soil is a form of landscaping. A section of the structure exposed varied in width from 7-8m, was built in a technique consistent with a Roman or Late Antique date.
While the pottery collected is not from a stratified context, it comprises domestic and cooking pottery, lids, and a few amphora necks and handles, fineware and tile dating from the second century BC to the fifth century AD and beyond.