Anc. AMPHIPOLIS - 2006

Amphipolis. K. Peristeri, E. Zografou and K. Darakis (ΚΗ' ΕΠΚΑ) report on rescue excavation along the line of the road from the Byz tower at the NW entrance to mod. Amphipolis. Antiquities were found in 7 locations. (1) Part of a Hel house lay between the tower and the entrance to the village: part of a large paved courtyard was found. Coins and pottery (bg and rf skyphoi, kantharoi, a plate, lamp and figurines) from the floor and destruction level date to the 3rd Ct BC. (2) Halfway along the new road, a complex of 9 interconnecting rooms with earth floors leading into a courtyard (all under a destruction level) dates to the Hel period (coins and pottery of the 3rd−2nd Ct BC). The layout, and large quantity of pithos and (Thasian) amphora sherds in the destruction level, suggest a storage function. Pottery includes W Slope wares, lamps, plates, skyphoi, kantharoi and a few terracotta figurines. A large number of loomweights and spindle-whorls, iron spearheads and hooks relate to everyday activities. (3) A small section of a further construction was located exactly between these 2 sites, with finds similar to those from site (2). (4−7) A few metres further on towards the tower was a series of 4 rainwater cisterns, cut into the limestone and lined with waterproof cement. All produced a large quantity of pottery and figurines of the 3rd Ct BC (Thasian amphorae, fishplates, bg skyphoi, kantharoi with W Slope decoration, etc.). These cannot at present be connected with any particular site.

E. Zografou (ΚΗ' ΕΠΚΑ) reports the location by illegal excavation of a Macedonian tomb on a hill close to the junction of the national roads from Thessaloniki to Kavala and Thessaloniki to Drama in the area of Amphipolis. The tomb had previously been robbed and may also have been entered in Rom times (noting 2 lamps in the prothalamos). The tomb had a main chamber (3.08m x 3.05m), a prothalamos (3.08m x 1.58m) with entrance from the E and a vaulted roof: the 6m l. dromos was cut into bedrock. The masonry is isodomic, of local limestone: the façade is plain. Subsequent to the initial construction (when the main entrance was walled up as usual), a rectangular, probably roofed, stone structure was erected in front of the prothalamos, halving the length of the dromos. The roof was supported on 4 sections of reused Doric architrave from an unknown monument: on the white plaster covering it were traces of a red band and there were also traces of red applied directly to the limestone. The only indication of internal decoration in the tomb is the imitation of isodomic masonry in red paint on the W wall of the prothalamos (with an M incised on the corresponding tympanum). Human bone (plus a small red-slip flask) was found across the prothalamos, especially on the N side, probably displaced by tomb robbers. In the main chamber were 2 sarcophagi against the N and S walls and a small ossuary against the W, which contained the burial of an infant younger than 2.5 years. Their contents had been removed and scattered over the floor within a ca. 0.3m d. level with localized traces of burning. At least 6 skeletons (male and female) were found, and while the sequence of burials cannot be reconstructed, the roofed dromos structure may have been built to facilitate reuse of the tomb. Surviving grave goods indicate use from the E3rd− M2nd Ct BC. A little gold jewellery survives − bands, leaves and acorns − and, from the child burial, a pair of small earrings with lion-head terminals and a miniature gold coin for the deceased’s mouth. Notable among the pottery is the range of pyxides, decorated and plain, and tear-bottles; 3 L3rd−M2nd Ct BC lamps were found on the threshold and by 2 crania outside the N sarcophagus, with further vessels placed here and on the threshold of the prothalamos. Numerous iron objects include miniature keys, strigils, blades and spearheads, and surviving bronze includes bands probably from a chest: bone items included 7 beads. Pottery found outside the built dromos included the most characteristic 2nd Ct forms (notably a large Megarian bowl).