KLEONAI - 2009

Kleonai. T. Mattern (DAI/Marburg) and K. Kissas (Director, ΛΖ' ΕΠΚΑ) report on the 2009 survey season.
Areas identified as survey targets from ΕΠΚΑ archives were systematically visited. Numerous new find locations were mapped, providing both a view of the settlement history of the valley and information to assist in coordinating the protection of archaeological monuments. In the Daliani area east of Ag. Vasileios, localized concentrations of well-preserved early pottery were found on the edge of a scattered ancient settlement. In conjunction with known older Geometric pottery, this confirms early settlement. Near the Ag. Vasileios railway crossing, a concentration of coarseware
and roof tile where a Hellenistic mosaic was previously reported indicates extensive building. A further site with large-scale Hellenistic(?) architecture lies west of Ag. Vasileios: column fragments and clear concentrations of pottery were recorded (Fig. 1). The site is probably an extramural sanctuary.

New finds immediately outside the ancient city include a grave built of spolia, the gravestone of [Ar]istokrito[s] and two joining fragments from the coffers of a (funerary?) aedicule (Fig. 2). Parts of the city wall were documented in the east and north, in the latter case with foundations of a tower (Fig. 3). Pottery and roof tile concentrations indicate late antique and Early Byzantine farms.