THESSALONIKI East cemetery - 2006

Thessaloniki, city centre E cemetery (area of). M. Tsibidou-Avloniti, A. Kagiouli, A. Kaifa and E. Christodoulidou (ΙΣτ' ΕΠΚΑ) report on continuing excavation in the new city hall plot (Demarchikon Megaron, Vas. Georgiou and 3rd September streets). 63 tombs, 5 wells, 12 pits and the remains of 2 buildings were concentrated in the NE and S of the plot: the remaining area was severely disturbed by mod. construction. Tombs were arranged in rows in the NE, SE and S-central areas: orientation varied, but the majority were NW−SE, with the cranium to the SE. There were 2 enchytrismoi, 15 tile graves, 4 uncovered cists, 37 cists covered with slabs, 2 marble box-cists and 3 stone-lined cists. Most were single burials, all inhumations, mainly in prone position (with 2 contracted). Five cases contain 2−3 members of the same family. There is one case of secondary use of a tomb (after an initial, Hel, cremation). Most graves had few or no goods. Coins from 9 graves date to the 1st half of the 3rd Ct AD, with one hoard of 6 bronze coins of Constantine I. Other goods include bronze earrings and rings, a pair of silver earrings and a few plainware pottery and glass vessels mostly placed at the foot of the deceased. Tile grave 6 (of a man and a woman) contained a clay mould, a pottery tear-bottle and cup, and 2 coins of Alexander Severus, making it one of the richest in the cemetery (along with tomb 5 which had a plain amphoriskos, and 2 − pottery and glass − tear-bottles of the M3rd Ct AD). Tomb 3 held a family (parents plus 2 infants and a small girl at their feet): the girl had a gold earring and there was also a glass amphoriskos and an E3rd Ct AD bronze coin. The tomb was covered with marble spolia in secondary use, including an Ionic capital and a funerary stele decorated with a relief of an athlete and rider: the inscription from the reuse records an offering by Claudia Byzantia for her house-slaves. Grave goods (notably coins) indicate the use of this part of the cemetery in the 1st half of the 3rd Ct AD. Earlier use (3rd and 2nd Cts BC) is indicated by tomb finds and pottery (including bg and W Slope) in the rubbish pits and the wells which probably supplied water for funerary rites and other such purposes. The wells were excavated down to the water table: all but one lay in the S area, close to the tomb groups. They varied in di. from 2−3.5m and contained plain pottery, architectural spolia, fragments of inscribed stele and a few coins. Well 4, the largest, also contained many murex shells. Well 5 probably relates to 2 later structures W of the S tomb group: the first is a cistern, lined with waterproof cement and with a floor of reused marble slabs and a central settling basin. 6m N was a rectangular structure beneath a thick destruction layer: this had a mosaic floor and white plastered walls.

At 28−30 Perdikkas street, within the area of the E cemetery, part of a building complex was found which continues to the W beneath a mod. building. The NW−SE wall is best preserved (in opus mixtum, 1.1m thick, 15.3m l., up to 3.57m h.), with parts of the 2 angle walls: only the foundation courses of the paved floor survive. Five 1m² stone piers projecting from the exterior of the long wall probably supported scaffolding for the construction of what was at least a 2-storey building (and the 2 side walls have one preserved on each). There are almost no portable finds, but the architecture suggests an ECh date. The previous discovery of funerary monuments in this area may indicate a similar purpose for this building too, perhaps as a mausoleum.

In the course of rescue excavation in a plot on Oidipous street (in the Kifisias area, W of the Allatini tile works), part of a building complex was located, with 13 rooms preserved. This remained in use from the 4th Ct BC to the 2nd Ct AD. The N part of the complex was destroyed by large pits cut down into the rock during the 3rd Ct AD: these contained large amounts of domestic pottery, tile and stone slabs, as well as bones of large animals. Pit V also contained a large quantity of carbonized grain. Numismatic evidence dates the first construction phase to the reign of Philip II: this phase included most of the structures in the SE part of the plot (a series of rectangular rooms). Finds (amphorae and pithoi, plus bf and red glazed plates and skyphoi) indicate a storage function for this area. Millstones in other parts of the complex imply preparation of foodstuffs. A stone base at the W wall of room 6 probably supported a ladder. W of room 6 was a paved court dating to the first construction phase, which was raised and repaved soon afterwards. In phase 2 (Hel), strong protective walls were added (one, with external piers, indicating a 2nd storey). The complex was extended to the W, with the addition of room Z in the EHel period: finds from this room include roof tile, a loomweight and a gilded glass seal depicting an Amazon with her horse. In the neighbouring room, at the edge of the excavation area, a large pithos in situ, repaired with lead sheet, and a 1.2m² clay hearth indicate food storage and preparation. In the 3rd, Rom, phase (1st−2nd Ct AD), existing rooms continued to be used, with some occasional additions. The area was cleaned in the M2nd Ct, depositing Hel and ERom pottery into the pits and the large storage pithos. The complex was destroyed (with widespread evidence of burning) and abandoned late in the 2nd Ct for reasons as yet unknown: hostilities may be indicated by 3 spearheads in an upper level.

One block S of the previous excavation, at the junction of Eurygeni and Kanellopoulos streets, rescue excavation revealed part of a Rom bath covering ca. 20m² and oriented E. Three tanks for individual use were found, heated by a hypocaust system and heat exchange via arched intercommunicating openings. Strong traces of burning in the chambers beneath the tubs indicate the proximity of the praefurnium and confirm the identification of the area of the complex discovered as the caldarium. The largest of these reservoirs was a rectangular room with an apse at the S end and its E side shaped into 2 rectangular individual tanks. On the bottom of the best preserved S tank, a layer of terracotta tiles preserves patches of the waterproof mortar for the marble floor: marble set in the same cement would also have decorated the wall. The other 2 tubs each preserved 9 square piers of the hypocaust on the underground chamber floor. A system of drainage channels and lead pipes removed foul water from the tank area. In the absence of many small finds, the complex is dated to the 4th Ct AD primarily by the existence of individual facilities. Extensive mod. construction in the area currently makes it impossible to trace the complex further.

E. Marki (9th EBA) analyses the results of rescue excavation at Egnatias 57 and Bakatselou, where a complex was revealed showing 15 building and repair phases. Remains of a 12th−13th Ct AD potter’s workshop are noted. Attention is devoted to an ECh (6th Ct) public building: a room from this, 10.6 x 9.7m in size and with 2 entrances, had a marble floor and wall mosaics reminiscent of those in the Rotonda. Beneath this was a room with a 5th Ct mosaic floor. When this ECh structure was destroyed, the area became an open-air workshop, with 3 water channels and a metalworker’s furnace. Beneath the ECh structure was part of a large 4th Ct AD building: a room 10.7m x 5.3m was traced, with a courtyard to the N and an underground storage area with a vaulted roof beneath. In a 2nd phase, this building was extended N to include the courtyard (which then acquired a marble floor with opus sectile inlay) and the staircase leading underground was clad in marble, integrating the 2 floors into a grand complex for formal functions. Earlier use of the site is indicated by the discovery of 2 Imperial Rom walls beneath the LRom complex and by Hel pottery (the height of the water table here does not permit the excavation of earlier levels).