Monodendri - 2010

Peirou-Parapeirou Dam, Monodendri. Vasileos Argyropoulos (ΣΤ ΕΠΚΑ) reports on the discovery, in the context of construction of a water pipe for Patras on the old national road 15 from Patras to Pyrgos, of a Roman cemetery with 16 graves, all orientated E-W (Fig. 1). Grave 1 (tile): head to the W; no grave goods. Grave 2 (tile): head to the W, no grave goods. Grave 3 (tile): similar to Grave 2 and discovered immediately below it. Grave 4 (tile, Laconian): the bones were quite decayed and no grave goods were found. Grave 5 (tile): head to W, no grave goods, just a few skeletal remains in state of advanced decay. Grave 6: similar to all the previous. Grave 7: head to the E. Grave 8 (tile): head to the E, a clay beaker (κυάθιο) of the late Roman period was found by the lower limbs of the deceased. Grave 9 (pit): carved in the soft bedrock, a thin marble slab covering, only half of the grave (lower limbs) could be investigated because the rest was in an adjacent property. Graves 10-11 (tile): unexcavated because they were beyond the excavation trench. Grave 12 (tile): deceased in supine position with head to the E and turned towards the shoulder; in the mouth, a bronze coin was found and, near the legs, a used single-spout lamp of the Roman period (Fig. 2). Also, near the lower limbs, 7 heads of iron nails were scattered, perhaps from disintegrated shoes. Outside the grave and above it, an amphora fragment was found. Grave 13 (cist): Head to the E, made with square bricks, conglomerate stones and mortar (Fig. 3). The grave was covered with schist slabs. Around the lower legs grave goods were placed: a pithamphoriskos (Fig. 4), a glass uguentarium, and a jug of the late Roman period. Also, an iron horse shoe was found embedded in the N wall of the grave. Grave 14 (tile): no grave goods, no skeletal remains. Grave 15 (tile, N-S orientation): head to the N, no grave goods. Grave 16 (pit): carved in the soft ground with a thin marble slab as cover. It was not excavated completely. No grave goods found, only some vestiges of burning.

[Entry created by E. Strazdins]