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Eordaea 2008 : archaeological research at Spilia and Mavropigi

• Καραμήτρου-Μεντεσίδη, Γεωργία

In 2008 the varied and extensive programme of public works in the region compelled our Ephorate to carry out a total of 21 rescue excavations, involving the hiring of up to 600 labourers.At Spilia in Eordaea a second rock-cut chamber tomb was found together with three pit-graves after alterations had been made to the foundations of the shelter protecting the Macedonian tomb excavated in 1987. The chamber tomb has an E-W alignment and measures 2.75 m long x approx. 2.50 m wide x 2.35 m high (max.). It has an entrance on the east side and a flat, completely undecorated façade. The interior of the tomb bore a greyish-black plaster which has largely flaked off, while a similar plaster covered the floor, on which pigments of red colour were found at three different points, indicating decoration of a rather special kind. On the west side of the tomb, in roughly the north-western half, a table for offerings had been constructed. The longest vertical surface of this table preserves a coat of plaster, a local burial practice that was also applied in the Macedonian tomb and the rock-cut chamber tomb that were excavated further to the east in 2005. This tomb, unlike the other two that we have mentioned and the three rock-cut pit-graves, had been looted in antiquity. However, the collection of a number of small finds and, in particular, an acorn-shaped gold bead and a small, cylindrical gold shaft from a wreath, a bronze coin of the Opuntian Locri (338-300 BC) and a clay lamp, indicates that the tomb belonged to a wealthy family and dates from the early 3rd century or, more probably, late 4th century BC. Three unlooted pit-graves belonged to girls and contained coins from the reign of Antigonus Gonatas and precious jewellery, such as a gold chain, ear-rings and a ring.Mavropigi, to the north, east and south-east of which lignite mines belonging to the Public Power Corporation (DEI) are already in operation, is known to research for the antiquities which have occasionally been unearthed in the vicinity. These antiquities come from collections of important finds made in earlier investigations, ranging from the small excavation that we carried out in the 1980s on the hill known as ‘Kastro’, through later rescue excavations necessitated by the construction of the Kozani-Ptolemaida road (1999- 2001), to the most recent excavation of the Neolithic settlement at the Fyllotsa'iri locality (2005-2006), which is one of the oldest in the Balkans, dating back as it does to the middle of the 7th millennium BC. According to the archaeological map that we have drawn up, the number of archaeological sites comes to a total of 27, all of which lie within the area due to be exploited by the lignite mines. The cemetery that we started excavating this year at the foot of Aghiou Markou (St. Mark’s) Hill is connected with the ancient settlement that lies on a hill with the characteristic name Kastro, where we have investigated the Hellenistic remains that occupy the highest plateau and the largest areas of flat land near the summit. These investigations were prompted by the handing-in of votive, relief and inscribed steles from the destruction of a sanctuary to Apollo on top of the hill. The settlement at Kastro is also connected with the habitation remains found at the ‘Paliâmbela’, ‘Vrysi tou Arapi’ and ‘Isiomata localities, as well as the habitation remains and remains of workshops found at Argórema and at the foot of Aghiou Markou Hill, with Kastro and these other sites forming the Upper and Lower Town, respectively. In addition, the settlement is also connected with the fortified citadel on the adjacent stony Aghiou Markou Hill, both of these sites forming part of the same city with a unified civic and administrative structure. The graves in the cemetery at the A'i- Markos site date from the 4th century BC and contained a large number of grave goods, mainly in the form of clay pots. One grave contained five bronze vases, while two others each contained a pair of gold ear-rings, one of which bore figures of Nike. The coins found in the burials were from the reigns of Cassander, Demetrius Poliorcetes and Antigonus Gonatas.The graves found in the cemetery at the Mikro Livadi locality, which also lies in an agricultural area near Mavropigi, date from the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, except for one, which dates from the 7th-6th cent. BC. They were relatively well endowed with grave goods, mainly in the form of clay pots. The most precious objects include a bronze kylix and a pair of gold ear-rings with lion heads. A silver coin from Thebes (426-395 BC) along with another from Amphilochian Argos (mid-4th cent. BC), shows the wealth of contacts that existed between Eordaea and southern Greece.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)
• Αρχαιολογία

Κοζάνη, συνέδρια

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