NEMEA - Agia Sotira - 2007

Nemea, Agia Sotira cemetery. R.A.K. Smith (Canadian Institute/Brock), J. Wright and M. Dabney (Bryn Mawr College) report on continued excavation of the LBA chamber tomb cemetery on the hillside of Ag. Sotira, outside the village of Koutsomadi near anc. Nemea.

Test trenching in the field of P. Tombros, begun in 2006, was completed and the blocking wall removed from tomb 4 (which had been partially destroyed by illicit activities over the winter). A further tomb, tomb 5, was excavated. Tomb 5 was undisturbed. Sherd material and complete vessels indicate that it was in use from LH IIIA2 until LH IIIB (Figs 1,2), but due to poor preservation of the skeletal material only 2 certain individuals could be identified. The stratigraphy of the dromos and blocking wall of the stomion were well preserved, and it is clear that this tomb had a complex history. The blocking wall contained 4 clearly defined construction phases with floor levels beneath each. Evidence for at least 7 episodes of tomb use and reuse were identified based on stratigraphical and artefactual information. Included among these are adult and child burials in the chamber and the dromos, as well as an offering made by tunnelling into the tomb after the chamber had collapsed. Tomb 5 fits the general picture of the cemetery’s use from LH IIIA1 to LH IIIB2, and corresponds to the major periods of occupation at nearby Tsoungiza. Tomb 5 was backfilled and a layer of gravel placed over the dromos and chamber. All test trenches were backfilled and excavation dumps levelled in order to return the olive grove to its original state. We are confident that no further tombs exist to be looted in the field of P. Tombros, but the location and alignment of the excavated tombs suggests that others are likely to exist in the area.