ELLENIKO (ANCIENT EVA) - 2010

Helleniko (Teicho, anc. Eva). G. Grigorakakis publishes an intact Late Classical female burial excavated in 2008 by the ΛΘ’ ΕΠΚΑ in the vicinity of ancient Eva.

The tomb lies to the west of the previously identified city necropolis B, on the property of the Kapsali brothers at Plaka (or Plakakia). Oriented northeast-southwest and with dimensions of 0.5 x 2.4m, it is partly dug in the ground and partly cut into the soft rock. In the lower, rock-cut part, the body was laid supine, head to the east: this part of the grave was sealed with limestone slabs. The upper part was covered with two heavy limestone slabs seated partly in a niche cut in the rock and partly supported by stones. The grave form is unique. While bipartite graves are known at ancient Theisoa, there the partition through a stone grill served a ceremonial purpose, intended for the re-use of the grave. There was no such indication at Helleniko, nor any sign of a later burial on top.

Outside the grave, at the southwest corner, a ditch contained two drinking vessels. Within the grave were ten vases, the discus of a bronze mirror decorated with concentric circles, and underneath it a shield-shaped button of gilded clay depicting a gorgoneion in relief (an attachment from the funerary clothing, an imprint of which is preserved on the bronze mirror). The vases are: two skyphoi of Attic type, an olpe, two one-handled skyphoi, an aryballoid lekythos, a Type IV lamp and a small bowl (all black-glaze); an askos/strainer, a skyphos of Attic type, a lekythos, and a Bulas Group lekythos (all red-figure). All are local products, and as a collection date no later than 340 BC.

The tomb and necropoleis A and B sit along an east-west line on the slopes of Teicho, in an area cut by ancient roads to Argos, Tegea and Sparta.

In 2010, rescue excavation on the Kapsali brothers’ property revealed a further two graves from the city cemetery, both cut into the bedrock and containing late fourth-century BC pottery.