Monodendri Brachnaiikon - 2010

Monodendri Brachnaiikon, Old National Road Patras-Pyrgos and Sotiriadou St. (property of A. Anifanti). Artemis Maniaki (ΣΤ ΕΠΚΑ) reports on the discovery of part of a Roman cemetery during rescue excavations. Eleven tile graves and 4 burial urns came to light with remnants of burning inside the burial urns. The graves were discovered in 2 clusters in the NW and SW of the property respectively. The graves usually contain only 1 burial with 2 exceptions that contain 2 and 3 individuals respectively. Most of the burials had no grave goods. The most common goods were clay unguentaria, clay lamps, small handleless skyphoi, and coins. Grave 7 contained a lamp of the 1st c. AD, a glass uguentarium, and a coin of the Emperor Tiberius.

The burial urns were placed vertically inside trenches carved into the bedrock. Three were stamnoid pyxides (Figs. 2-3). The fourth burial urn was located shattered in the roots of an olive tree. The mouths of the urns were blocked with a conical lid, a small handleless skyphos of the 1st c. AD, and a fragment of a terra sigillata plate respectively. A square clay slab and the lower part of a pointed amphora placed upside down were used as grave markers.

[Entry created by E. Strazdins]