LEPREON - 2005

Lepreon. X. Arapogianni (Ζ’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports that excavation focused on a long building (probably a temple) in the north-northeast part of the acropolis, within the fortification. A rough wall aligned with the long side of the building plus a fill, both indicative of later landscaping, were revealed in the northeast corner of the building. Many bronze and terracotta votives were recovered, including 13 intact and many fragmentary aryballoi, terracotta plaques, bronze sheet (including decorated pieces), bronze and iron pins and decorative items in bone. The last include a votive ram, a seal depicting a lion and another with two decorated faces depicting a sphinx and a stylized bird, a double axe, a pin head, and a ring. Bronze items include a sheet with a depiction of a vessel, a biconical bead, part of a model of a lyre, vessel handles, and decorative cladding from a wooden box. These finds are generally Archaic and associated with one of the first phases of the temple (which remained in use until the Late Classical period, when it was abandoned for reasons unknown).

A later kiln by the exterior angle of tower 2 at the east gate of the fortification, discovered in 2003, was fully investigated. The kiln was built of mud brick which had been exposed to extreme heat (traces of which were also seem on the floor). The structure was preserved to a height of 1.27m.