541-562

Grevena prefecture (Knidi, Prionia) 2005

• Καραμήτρου-Μεντεσίδη, Γεωργία

Knidi Knidi is known to scholars from a brief excavation of a Neolithic settlement in 1994. The archaeological map we have drawn includes 9 archaeological sites in its immediate rural area, which in the ancient period was in the westernmost part of Elimiotis, near the border with Tymphaia.The salvage excavation at Matsouka Rahi was carried out prior to the site’s being given over to the GeoEllas-AMMAE clay quarry, and was funded by the company. It is a small settlement dated towards the end of the Early Neolithic period (1st half of the 6th millennium BC) and lying on a plateau on a hill 630 m above sea level. The fill of the two layers as far as the bedrock is no more than 0.70 m deep and consists of building remains in the form of chunks of clay imprinted with the marks of branches from the wooden frames of the houses, two sections of successive floors, and small accumulations of stones. The pottery falls into the categories of monochrome, with dark and light brown and brownish-red surface, and painted, impressed, and incised wares. The list of small finds includes chipped and ground stone tools at all stages of manufacture, which proves that they were made here, and what is more from stones brought from comparatively far away; and 15 clay human and animal figurines, which are not characterised by the ‘monumentality’ of those from Pondokomi, though the headless female figurine with shaped palms is interesting.The discovery and early dating of the Matsouka Rahi site brings the number of Early Neolithic settlements in Grevena prefecture up to 19, and the total number of Neolithic settlements to 22. We intend to expand the study of the Early Neolithic sites in Grevena prefecture, just as in Kozani prefecture, possibly in the same context of salvage excavations as in the case of Matsouka Rahi, with the same questions regarding the evolution of the early farmers and stockbreeders in this geographical area and in Upper Macedonia more generally.PrioniaThe continuing construction of the Egnatia Motorway in Grevena prefecture, more specifically the Grevena-Panayia section, necessitated salvage excavations in two places. In the framework of these investigations we located 6 archaeological sites and drew up the archaeological map of the villages of Prionia, Velonio, and Kallithea, which are in the municipality of Goryani. The archaeological site at Ivani or Prionia 1, with a Hellenistic settlement, covers two elevations and the area in between, and the excavation was confined to what had come to light during the precursory work, following the decision to build the road on an embankment, which meant that the site would be safely buried. We thus excavated and cleared a site at the exit from the future Velanidia tunnel, where a kiln had been destroyed when a road was built at a higher point on a sloping part of the elevation, where we collected the pieces of two shallow clay basins made by a local workshop of the Hellenistic period and bronze foils from a vessel; and somewhat farther away we excavated and removed the part of a pithos which had come to light when a road was being built.The excavation at Palaiomonastiro near Prionia was carried out in part of a Hellenistic settlement on an elevation with dense vegetation and uncovered walls that seem to belong to two houses or building complexes with a different outlook. The walls are constructed of large and small rubblestones and also hewn stones, especially on the faces, and infill; they survive to a low height, and the exterior ones are thicker than the interior ones. The lack of distinct floors and the low height of the walls are due to the small amount of fill and to destruction by a mechanical digger. Light industrial activity in the settlement is attested by the remnants of two pottery kilns in an open area, while the discovery of 7 burials in two clusters offers evidence that the site was also used for burials. There is evidence of habitation over a comparatively wide area of the elevation and, together with the, albeit sparse, pottery round about, this allows us to regard it as an organised village rather than a seasonal pastoral settlement.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

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