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Excavation at potami, Drama prefecture, 2004-5

• Μάλαμα, Πηνελόπη
• Νταράκης, Κωνσταντίνος

The picturesque village of Potami is situated in the north of Drama prefecture, not far from the Greek-Bulgarian border and 700 metres east of the confluence of the Nestos and the Despatis. This area was once a major cultural crossroads, as it was inhabited from prehistoric to Late Roman times and was an important crossing-point from the Balkans into Greece. There are ancient sites scattered around the village, mainly burial mounds of the Late Bronze Age and the Roman period.In 2004, in view of the construction of an irrigation network, antiquities were discovered at three different locations (Kl, K4, K20) to the east and the north of Potami. The salvage excavation which followed under the supervision of the 18th Inspectorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities received 87,000 in funding from the 3rd CSF for 2004 and 2005 and further financial support from the Drama Directorate of Land Improvement and the East Macedonia and Thrace Regional Authority.Site K20 at Kavakia, 1.5 km east of the junction of the Potami and Mikromilia roads, yielded Late Roman and Early Christian residential remains in a prominent location on a hill 420 m high. An area of about 1,300 sq.m has been investigated so far, without uncovering the entire ground plan of the building, which, the walls indicate, obviously continues to the north and the west. The complex is built around a large interior courtyard. The excavations so far have uncovered the north-east wing, where the rooms were probably reception rooms and living quarters, and the southeast wing, where agricultural and domestic work was done. The workshops and storerooms were here (kilns, millstones, cellar). Apart from everyday ceramic ware, the portable finds also include fragments of glass vessels, metal and stone objects, and Roman and Early Christian coins.The architectural remains and the portable finds indicate that the entire complex was a very well-organised farmhouse of the Late Roman period. However, the presence of Early Christian finds, such as part of a capital decorated with a relief cross, does not rule out the possibility that we have here a monumental building, possibly even an Early Christian basilica, which incorporated all the auxiliary spaces of the farmhouse.The completion of the excavation will provide answers to some fundamental questions, namely whether the spaces we are excavating belong to an independent residential unit or are parts of a settlement. It is considered essential to continue the investigation in the future, not only to preserve the antiquities in this border area of Drama prefecture, but also to gain important supplementary information about the identity of the buildings and the role of the area in Late Antquity.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Δράμα

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