KERKYRA - Peritheia - 2005

Krevatsoula Almyros, Peritheia (property of I. Prifti). G. Metallinou (Η’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports the discovery of a Bronze Age burial tumulus.

Three archaeological strata were distinguished. In the lowest level (VI+VII) contained a significant quantity of unworked stones, charcoal, pottery and lithics, as well as a peribolos wall (formed of two non-joining arcs) of small unworked and roughly worked stones. A slab-lined cist grave at the centre of the peribolos, oriented east-west, contained the gathered bones from the inhumation of a child younger than five years old laid on a pebble floor. A further disturbed grave (bordered with stones and containing an adult with one or more animals) lay outside the peribolos to the southwest. A clay structure of unknown function lay outside the peribolos to the southeast. In a second phase (Level V above), a further, semi-circular peribolos (projected diameter 10.5m) was built around the first, with a double row of stones. In the southern part of this peribolos, a two-handled pithoid vessel lay horizontal with a stone cover slab over the mouth: a funerary purpose is likely, although it was found empty. Outside the second peribolos (to the northeast), a further slab-cist (contemporary with the peribolos and pithos) was found empty, apart from several bones and small quantities of charcoal and lithics. In general the soil of this level (and that above it, level IV within the peribolos) contained sherds, lithics and a few unworked stones (the last lacking in level IV).

Stratified deposits of pottery show significant differences over time. Level VII contained a large quantity of incised pottery comprising: a) sherds with dense groups of shallowly incised lines, generally similar to the pottery of Chalcolithic Albania although without exact parallels; b) sherds with incised linear decoration (groups of parallel lines or grids) sometimes filled with white packing, and/or impressed motifs (dashes or dots), similar to Cetina ware; c) one sherd of corded ware (the first found on Corfu). By contrast Level IV is characterised by plainware (with rough or finished surfaces). Additional finds from the excavation as a whole include terracotta spindle whorls, chipped and ground stone (blades, arrowheads, a scraper, cores, a grinder and an axe), and sheet and lumps of bronze.

A late Early Helladic II or early Early Helladic III date is proposed, chiefly on the basis of links with the Cetina culture. Two or three later phases of incursion are noted.