KOROPI - 2007

Koropi, Heras and Stergioti Streets (O.T. 300, property of Ch. Papachristou), Thanou and Stergioti Streets, and Lekka-Hatzi and Thanou Streets (O.T. 299, property of A. Kakoimami) E. Andrikou (Β’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports on further excavations at the EH settlement in Koropi. In the first property a road was found with carefully constructed retaining walls on both sides (Figs 1,2). The road was paved with gravel and yellow compact soil. It has a N-S orientation and ends in an open space paved with the same material. A second road runs westwards from the open space. A drain and a pit filled with pottery, stone querns and animal bones were found below the floor of the open space. Buildings were found on both sides of the road. Two phases of construction are discernible. The walls belonging to the later phase have a N-S orientation, while the ones belonging to the earlier phase a NE-SW one. All walls had been constructed with small and medium size stones. A horseshoe-shaped construction was also found. A bench runs along its interior. Numerous funnel-shaped pits (built and rock-cut) were found amongst the building remains. Finally, small finds retrieved from the area include EHII pottery sherds, animal bones, obsidian blades and cores, bone and stone tools, querns and grindstones, terracotta pyramidal loom weights, terracotta cores for tools, stone vessels, terracotta animal figurines and one schematic human figurine.

Another road and more building remains were found in the next two properties (Fig 3,4,5). The road has a NW-SE orientation and is paved with a compact off-white material. Trapezoid and rectangular buildings were found on both sides of this road. One of the trapezoid buildings was adjacent to the road and one of its walls formed part of the road’s retaining wall. It had pilasters on either side of its entrance. Another trapezoid building contained a stone bench, a circular structure at its centre, and two funnel-shaped pits. A closed vessel was found in the circular structure. Additional structures in the area include a shallow circular pit, a wall with a herringbone pattern, an arched stone structure whose purpose cannot be defined, and a well. Similar small finds to the previous property were retrieved with the additions of a bronze knife, a marble head from a figurine, a steatite phiale, and a Neolithic terracotta figurine of a seated female form.