19-29

Excavation of burial mound at Ladi, Didimoteicho

• Τερζοπούλου, Δόμνα
• Αγελαράκης, Αναγνώστης Π.

In the last months of 1998 a rescue excavation was carried out at a burialmound NW of the village of Ladi, Didimoteicho.The mound was some 40 m in diameter and ±4.5 m high. On its south sideat ground level 3 shaft graves were discovered. One belonged to an infant of 6-9months, the second to a child of 6-7 years and the third to an adult male of 55-60 years. The two first graves held no grave-gifts. The man’s skeleton wasaccompanied by a pointed iron implement. In the locality around the gravessmall pyres and remains of offerings to the dead were found in many spots.In the central part of the mound a secondary cremation was found. In themiddle of a pit with an irregular circular outline dug into the natural earth asecond rectangular pit had been opened, in which the remains of the orematedbody had been placed together with grave-gifts: an iron sword with a bonehandle, three spearheads, a gold diadem, a gold mouth-piece, gold and silversheets, clay and glass vases, and other objects.As become clear from an inspection of the fill, a smaller mound hadoriginally covered the shaft graves and subsequently, when the cremation pitwas opened, a larger single mound was created.In the fill of the west part of the mound a shaft grave was discoveredcontaining the burial of a young woman 17-20 years old. This grave must havebeen made during the construction of the mound or shortly after its completion.According to a preliminary study of the material the construction of themound dates to the 1st c. AD.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Διδυμότειχο, συνέδρια

Περιέχει εικόνες, Περιέχει παράρτημα στα αγγλικά με τίτλο "Ladi 1988, a brief anthropological forensic and paleopathological report" υπό τον Anagnostis P. Agelarakis