Rafina - 2025

Rafina - east Attica. Rescue excavations conducted by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Eastern Attica have revealed an important burial in a pithos, dating to the Early Bronze Age (3200–2000 BC) (Fig. 1).

The pithos, measuring 1.74 m in height, with horizontal handles and characteristic corded-pattern relief decoration around the neck and handles, was placed in a pit dug into the soil of the stream's southern bank. Its mouth was sealed by a sturdy semicircular wall built from river pebbles, while two large ​stones with smaller slab-like ones between them formed false doors toward the vessel's interior, complete with jambs and threshold (Fig. 2). Inside, atop a layer of sand and pebbles, bones from two humans were found, covered by large stones occupying nearly all available space (Fig. 3); grave goods included a bronze tweezers, an ovoid slab stone (table), obsidian arrowheads, and vessels. This isolated burial, despite organized cemeteries of the same period at Tsepi and Marathon's Mati, Agios Kosmas in Hellinikon, and Asteria in Glyfada, provides valuable insights into the diversity of 3rd millennium BC Attica's funerary customs, as well as Cycladic and eastern influences. Approximately 2 m southeast of the pithos, a large circular pit with evidence of long-term use and burning was identified. Its upper section contained a bucranium along with ceramics and historical-period bronze coins, while near the bottom, atop a thick burning layer, a horse skeleton and smaller animal bones were revealed (Fig. 4).