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Excavations at Oiniadai : the town (A)

Χρονικά-Reports

The Department of Archaeology of the University of Athens has excavated, during the campaign of this year at two points of ancient Oiniadai (The town, sector A, The town sector B).The excavation carried out under the supervision of Ass. Prof. E. Serbeti of the University of Athens at the low hill South of the Theater (town A) has revealed the remains of an ancient building (15m * 15m approx, internal dimensions) running from E to W with a little deviation to NW-SE. The two faces of the walls consisted of big slabs of the grey local calcareous rock, some of them 2m long, constructed in the polygonal system. The filling between these two faces consisted of stones quite un worked. The building is supposed to be roofed, not only because there existed a thick layer of broken roof-tiles inside and outside of it, but also because four rectangular bases for wooden (?) posts are found at its interior, forming a square. From them only the south-eastern one is found in situ the other three being found upside down, not far from their original place. A gap in the eastern wall suggests perhaps the presence of an entrance at this point. The threshold could be a very long rectangular slab (1.84-0.67m.) found in the interior of the building not far from the supposed place of the opening of the entrance. The floor consisted of a compacted soil at the level of the bedrock and in several areas the bedrock could be seen to some extent, levelled by smashing all the projecting out crops. On the Boor, at its northern side, between the two northern bases for posts, a coin of the Aetolian League is found dated to 279-168 BC. The small amount of pottery that is found consisted of pot-sherds of very worn coarse ware, very difficult to give chronological evidence. The determination of the function as well as the date of the building is very difficult. Its type and dimensions suggest a public building, perhaps a bouleuterion, such as the one of Messene or of Assos. Further digging is necessary to give more precise chronological evidence.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)