Corinth - Tripoli - Kalamata motorway - 2010

Corinth - Triploli - Kalamata motorway, Leuktro - Sparta branch, Kyparissi. KM 15+100. Maria Florou (5th EBA) reports on a rescue excavation at a site in the region of Kyparissi, in the Municipality of Sparta, a short distance west of the Eurotas river.

In Spring 2010, two cist graves and a tile-covered grave were identified by Ε΄ ΕΠΚΑ near the new church of Ag. Ioannis at Kyparissi. The file for the rescue excavation was sent to the 5th EBA. The Ephorate investigated the area that extended within the limit of the expropriation of the motorway. An excavation grid that included 8 excavation sectors was laid out. The investigation brought to light fragmentary surviving architectural remains (sections of walls, pipes), as well as nine additional tombs (Fig. 1).

Three of the tombs were cist graves, four tile-covered graves (Fig. 2), and two pit graves. All were orientated E-W and contained a poorly preserved burial. From the interior of two graves personal objects (2 bronze rings, 2 bronze pins) were collected. The cist graves were made from schist with earth as a binding agent and they were covered by local schist slabs. Based on the small finds (mainly pottery) collected from the space around them, the graves could be dated to late Roman times.