PEDINA, Bizani - 2001

Pedina (north service road for the Egnatia Odos). E. Adam (ΙΒ’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports the discovery of a Hellenistic house during excavation for road construction, 200m west-northwest of a cist tomb excavated in 1995. The house is partially founded on earlier remains, and traces of a probably Classical structure lay to the east. In the western part of the excavated area, sporadic and fragmentary construction materials and prehistoric sherds likely represent the earliest activity (probably contemporary with finds from Ag. Marina). Beneath the destruction level, the Hellenistic house revealed rooms containing a built hearth, storage pithoi, and numerous portable finds (over 60 loomweights, stone rubbers, metal items and bronze coins).

Badly damaged Hellenistic building remains excavated beneath the surface of the Pedina-Ambelia local road, close to the point where it cuts the north service road for the Egnatia Odos, must relate to the above structure. A small, looted cist tomb was found in the same place. Near the road-bridge was a Late Mycenaean cist grave containing a well-preserved bronze sword with an ivory-inlaid handle, a bronze spearhead and a plainware vessel. Hellenistic storage vessels were found close to the foot of the bridge, while some 300m south of it were a glass alabastron of Phoenician type and small lekythoi, likely offerings from a fifth-century grave destroyed by cultivation.