Petrina region, Agia Irini Velona site, Municipality of Megalopoli - 2008

Petrina region, Agia Irini Velona site, Municipality of Megalopoli. Leonidas Souchleris (ΛΘ’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports on two pottery workshops, dating on the late Roman times, found on the kilometric position 12,8 of the motorway connecting Leuktron to Sparta. This excavation was part of the construction process for the abovementioned motorway.

The excavation revealed the architectural remains of two arched buildings, oriented NW-SE. The N building was slightly larger, and both had water pipes running through them (fig. 1).

The small findings were many and among them leaf shaped and ring shaped firing supports, and other findings relevant to the kilns (mostly faulty products) (fig. 2). Furthermore, many narrow-bottomed vessels (considered to be storage vessels), loomweights, lamps, glass sherds, and bronze Roman coins (second to fourth century AD) were revealed. The earliest coin was dated to emperor Hadrian’s time (117-138 AD), and the latest to emperor Constantius II (357-361 AD). Most of the coins date closer to the latest coin.

[Entry created by E. Kourti]