KISAMOS - 2005

Kastelli (Kisamos). M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki (KE’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports on discoveries made while preparing the site for public display. The peristyle court and garden of the suburban mansion on the former Raisaki property were revealed. Beneath early Christian buildings lay a grain storage structure and a stone weight taken to indicate oil or wine production. A fallen statue identified as Aphrodite may belong to the peristyle decoration. At the west end of the peristyle is an apsidal triclinium with a mosaic floor depicting a scene with Orpheus and a badly preserved marriage of Dionysus. At the north edge of the property was a room with wall paintings in situ, indicating the building extended in that direction, while to the south was a paved road. The east baths on the former Pateromichelaki property consist of a main entrance to the east, a large colonnaded room with granite columns, a caldarium to the west, a tepidarium in the centre, and a frigidarium to the east. All had marble floors and wall cladding. The largest room, the frigidarium, contained statues of Pan and a satyr. Small finds included bronze clips, iron nails and bronze coins.

At Pano Kamara (Papastamataki property), where a building and Early Byzantine graves were found in 2004, excavation revealed that the area was used as a cemetery from Imperial Roman times to the Arab invasion. A Roman period workshop and a medieval agricultural building were also found. The oldest grave monument (Imperial era) consists of a large underground chamber with two small side chambers. It was looted and preserved few finds (including an amphora, sherds of glass vessels and a coin): crania indicate that it contained at least 14 burials. A wall across the property is interpreted as a peribolos delineating four late third-century AD vaulted tombs. One contained a bronze coin of Constantius and an early Christian inscription, and another third-century pottery and a marble disc with a suspension hole. Three Christian graves were also excavated: the cover slabs of one include a reused early Christian inscription, above which was a cross of pebbles (with an iconostasis to the west of it). The grave contained human remains but no grave offerings, although sherds in the fill may indicate a sixth- or seventh-century AD date.

The continuation of the Roman-Early Christian cemetery came to light 10m to the west, on the Koutsonaki property, together with a stretch of road and Late Roman and Byzantine walls and pits. Four badly damaged vaulted tombs were uncovered, containing a large quantity of pottery, lamps, glass unguentaria, coins, two gold strips, and a fragment of gold jewellery. Ten Early Christian graves were also found, including one child burial.

One or two houses were uncovered on the Kakaouani property. One room had a limestone slab floor with intense signs of burning and a hearth in the east corner. Forty coins were recovered, including a gold coin of Constantius (365AD, mint of Rome), together with a variety of other small finds, several small marble plaques, and fragments of glass.