PALIOKLISI - Myrodaphnis-Peston - 2003

Palioklisi, Myrodaphnis-Peston. E. Adam, G. Georgoulas, A. Giovanopoulou (ΙΒ' ΕΠΚΑ) report on excavation following illegal excavation. Fragments of a funerary inscription had previously been found in the wider area, with extensive settlement remains on the Hellenistic acropolis at Lagatora (a peak which controls the area towards the Louros and the Ioannina basin, ca 2km southwest of the site of the illegal excavation).

A largely subterranean Macedonian type tomb (I), badly damaged by the illegal activity, proved to be the core of a group of structures dating from late Classical to Early Christian times (a second similar tomb may be represented by isolated blocks a few metres to the north). The full extent of the complex could not be assessed as it continued into the neighbouring plot. The tomb had a vaulted roof and was distinguished from the remaining structure by an internal peribolos. The entrance was approached via a descending passage: the threshold was cut from bedrock. The tomb walls were fine isodomic limestone masonry and the floor paved. The interior was austere, with no surviving evidence of decoration apart from fragments of plaster with traces of colour, and no evidence to determine the number of burials (or whether it was a cenotaph – no tomb settings or grave goods were found). The tomb is dated on stylistic grounds to the fourth or third century BC. The only object inside it was an Early Christian lamp of the third to fifth century AD.

Northeast of tomb I, at the same depth, was a wall of the same construction, but later building in the area was too extensive to trace this further. Later walls formed part of a structure with a paved floor which continued over tomb I: to the northwest of this, a likely rubbish pit contained a quantity of loomweights and black-glaze Hellenistic pottery. Three cist tombs of the Christian period were found in area ΙΓ east of tomb I.

In the north part of the plot lay Roman building remains. Two bronze coins were found in this area, an issue of the Molossians and one of Ambracia (in room E), and in rooms H, Z and ΣΤ sherds of second-third century AD imported relief pottery from Asia Minor, plus bricks probably from the floor. Systematic use of the area from the end of the fourth century BC until Christian times supports the view that what was initially a Hellenistic shrine by the ancient road leading from the south to the plain of Ioannina, was transformed at an unknown point into a Christian shrine.