181-193

Excavations at Pynda, 1988

• Μπέσιος, Ματθαίος

I. MAKRYGIALOS. Northern cemetery of Pydna, field no. 937The excavation of the trial trench of 1987 was continued and finished. Fifty burials of the second half of the 4th century were excavated; they were divided into groups corresponding to different families. Most of the burials were found inside pit-graves with space for the wooden bier of the dead and wooden cover. Burials of babieswere placed in wooden sarcophagi. Finally, three cremations of children were found inpit-graves having the form of a cist.II. ALYKES OF KITROS. K. Chrysochoidis’ fieldThe excavation of the mound which started in 1984 was continued. The mound covered the burials of a family of hetairoi dated from the mid-4th to the 2nd century B.C. The burials of the 4th century were isolated, placed in pit- or cist-graves, while aMacedonian one-chamber tomb was built around the late 4th or early 3rd century B.C.,where all subsequent burials of the family were placed; only the burials of children were excluded. From the middle of the 2nd century B.C., isolated adult burials were placed around the tomb. This date coincides with the battle of Pydna in 168 B.C., when Macedonia was conquered by the Romans, or 148 B.C. when Macedonia became a Roman province and arises certain questions: a) the Romans probably prohibited theuse of the Macedonian tomb, because it was used by the hetairoi, supporters of the Macedonian royal house; b) the right to build Macedonian tombs was only given to persons holding certain offices, probably an influence of Plato’s Laws. This second remark explains the sudden appearance of the Macedonian tomb in the second half of the 4th century B.C. and its disappearance by the middle of the 2nd century B.C. Finally, the excavation of the Macedonian tomb of the Chrysochoidis mound also revealed that earlier burials with their offerings were removed; these data suggest that the dating of many Macedonian tombs based on the remains of the robbed goods in the second half of the 3rd or first half of the 2nd century may be not correct.III. MAKRYGIALOS. Northern cemetery of Pydna. Field no. 947Pit-graves were found during trial trenches in the area of the cemetery of the 5th century B.C. One of them was excavated, containing the inhumation of a girl accompanied by gold, bronze and iron jewellery, black-glazed pottery and three white lekythoi.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

νεκροταφεία, τάφοι, Πύδνα, Πιερία, συνέδρια

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