MARATHON - 2008

Marathon, Tsepi. M. Pantelidou-Gofas reports on continued excavation of the EH cemetery. The façade of tomb 53 was carefully constructed of stones from the nearby Scorpios river and is significantly smaller than the other tombs (1.3m x 1.4m, instead of the more usual 1.5m x 2.5m). The apsidal pit of the tomb (0.94m x 0.8m, 0.81m d.) is lined with slate and the floors paved with small stones. The entrance on the E has 2 steps carved into the ground. The grave was full of bones, including 14 skulls scattered without order. The skeleton of the last burial to the East side was found lying above a mass of bones. The form of the tomb is not that of the original; the burial pit was lined and covered with slabs, but later converted by the construction of steps, an entrance and threshold in keeping with burial habits of the period. In its final form, the tomb was a rectangular structure surrounded by a peribolos of small stones.
Tomb 54 lies beside a stone mound and lacks a peribolos. Irregular slabs covered the tomb at the level of the ancient surface and it was surrounded on 3 sides by river stones. The entrance area was full of large closely packed upright cobbles. Two stelai were placed at the sides of the tomb, cut off above ground level. The entrance slab was found in situ. The entrance has a stone threshold; a large arch-shaped stone was used as a lintel above. The tomb was full of bones, including 7 skulls. Bones of the last skeleton were found right beside the entrance, together with small stones and fragments from large vessels, which were not found elsewhere in the tomb. The skull had been broken and the jaw was found separated from it; a large pebble had been placed in the mouth, as had previously been discovered in tombs 42, 45 and 68. It appears that the tomb was deliberately put out of use, judging from the absence of a peribolos, the stones of which had been thrown in to fill the entrance and thus impede the tomb’s further use.