KALYDON - 2011

Kalydon, Theatre. R. Frederiksen (Director, DIA) and O. Vikatou (Director, ΛΣτ’ ΕΠΚΑ) report on the first of three planned campaigns to complete the excavation of the monument.

Work focused on the upper western corner and the centre-east area of the koilon, the orchestra and skene building, and an area behind (south) of the skene building (Fig. 1). Eighteen 5x5m trenches (ca 450m2) were mostly cleared down to structural features or to bedrock.

Since rows of seat-blocks continue upwards and outwards to the north and west, the limits of the theatre are not yet established. The lower rows of seats are built to a strict symmetrical design, yet areas of apparently undressed bedrock in various parts of the koilon give an idiosyncratic appearance. The construction of the eastern part of the koilon requires further clarification: it is likely to mirror the western part, but large parts were lost with the construction of a road through it (visible on Fig. 1).

The lower and inner periphery of the koilon is formed by the first row of seat-blocks and the parodos or analemma walls. This indicates the basic form taken by the seat-rows up through the Π-shaped monument, with the parodos-walls running east and west at right angles to the lower corners of the koilon. The rectangular orchestra (Fig. 2) covers ca. 250m2 (measured from between the first row of seats of the middle section and the east and west wings, and the stylobate of the proskenion).

The proskenion was traced to its east end: the east paraskenion was partly cleared. Identification of the southwest corner of the east wing of the koilon established that the skene building was constructed to fit the koilon. The stylobate of the proskenion is completely preserved, with rhomboid dowel-holes indicating the position of its 16 pillars (fragments of which, in the Ionic order, were found). Parallels indicate that they may have been constructed in the fourth century BC.

All finds (including those from previous seasons) were processed. An estimated 25,000 sherds (excluding tile) have so far been found and 1,696 diagnostic sherds recorded, plus a further 290 metal and other special finds including architectural members. In addition to the proskenion pillars noted above, a significant quantity of smaller, badly preserved fragments of limestone architectural members were also found in the area of the skene building.

The theatre remained in use through most of the fourth century BC, with a subsequent but short-lived occupation late in the Early Hellenistic period.