CORFU - ANEMOMYLOS - Harbour of Alkinoos - 2000

Church of Agioi Iason and Sosipatros. A. Karamanou and G.-K. Augerinou (Η' ΕΠΚΑ) report on excavation under the modern floor during restoration work carried out by the 8th EBA (Fig. 1). Four trenches were opened, two in the narthex and two in the main church (Fig. 2). The deepest sounding, at 2.47m, reached a wet layer of gravel and shell with Hellenistic sherds. Limited architectural remains, including part of an ashlar wall, probably a peribolos, and a tile grave, are Roman and mainly Late Roman in date. The area, where more tombs have previously been found, was part of the cemetery of Roman to Late Roman Anemomylos.

N. Tata and M. Samoili property, next to the Church of Agioi Iason and Sosipatros. K. Kanta-Kitsou (Η' ΕΠΚΑ) reports on excavation on a neighbouring plot. A square (6.7m x 6.7m) structure, of unworked hard and soft limestone bound with coarse red mortar, survives to ca. 2.5m high. It was founded within a marine deposit of coarse gravel. It seems to be associated with the installations of the harbour of Alkinoos, located in the Anemomylos area; it may be a tower at the edge of the harbour, analogous to, but later than, the Classical tower near the foundations of the Church of Ag. Athanasios at Anemomylos (PAE [1955], 66−70; BCH 89 [1965], 834). Limited finds include five coins, three of which give a terminus post quem of 229−248 BC and a terminus ante quem of AD 205 for the structure.

Nikolouzou property. G.-K. Augerinou reports the discovery of further Roman buildings ca. 40m east of the Church of Ag. Iason and Sosipatros. A wall along the north side of the plot, including three plastered clay columns on rectangular stone bases, was probably the peribolos of major Roman buildings in the northeastern sector of the ancient city. South of it, the remains of public or private buildings included a area paved with re-used stone, at least two buildings (A and B) and a child burial in a pithos with a silver coin of Diadumenian (AD 218) used as a pendant. These finds confirm the expansion of the city into this area in Roman times, after the silting of the Alkinoos harbour during the first century AD.

Arion Hotel (‘Arion A.E.’ property). F. Liapi (Η' ΕΠΚΑ) reports the discovery of installations associated with the southern part of the harbour of Alkinoos. Part of two sturdy east-west platforms belong to Π-shaped structures and niches, the main, north, face of which appears heavily eroded by the sea. Some 25m from the south face of these structures, a long terrace wall is associated with the harbour installations. Building remains of the second to third century AD in the rest of the plot confirm the assumption that the harbour was already silted and abandoned by that time.