595-606

Amidst clay, bricks, and posts, magnetic signals, and archaeological questions : boundary and foundation trenches in the neolithic settlement at Avyi, Kastoria prefecture

• Στρατούλη, Γεωργία

The excavations conducted in 2005 in the Neolithic settlement at Avyi, Kastoria prefecture, allowed us to form a clearer picture of aspects of its architecture and spatial organisation. The main features of this period were the archaeological confirmation of the presence of boundary trenches at the west of the settlement and the recognition of foundation trenches for the walls of the Neolithic buildings. The boundary trenches had been identified as probable excavational aims in the geophysical survey of 2004, but they were confirmed by trial sections only in 2005. The wide trench, the outer boundary, is a single ditch, elliptical in section, and it probably surrounded a comparatively large part of the village, if not the entire settlement. The narrow trench, the inner boundary, consists of two adjacent ditches, while the upper part of its earthfill is covered by a compact layer of burnt clay, the remnants, perhaps, of a built wall. Similar structures to the ‘narrow trench’ are discernible in the geophysical mapping in both the north part of the settlement and in the east.We first encountered the traces of walls of Neolithic buildings in the form of ground moisture during the 2003 excavational period. In 2005 a trial section across one of these traces revealed that it was a foundation trench, U-shaped in section, filled with fine, reddish, sandy loam and crumbled clay, which was probably the source of the moisture. The excavation of the foundation trenches of Building 2 in the west sector of the Avyi excavation helped us to appreciate not only their particular structural features (e.g. posts in various arrangements, a layer of stones to reinforce the corner of the house), but also the complexity of the chronological phases in this particular area of the site. The foundation trenches belong to the later construction phases, as they appear to cut across earlier building remains, while in the area of Building 2 at least four construction phases are distinguishable in cultural fill some 40 cm deep. The reconstruction of the stratification of the ekistic and construction phases of Neolithic Avyi is one of our primary concerns and a challenge for future excavation periods.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Καστοριά, Νεολιθική εποχή, συνέδρια

Περιέχει εικόνες και γραφήματα, Η χρηματοδότηση του ερευνητικού προγράμματος Αυγής για το 2005 οφείλεται στο ΥΠ.ΠΟ., τη Νομαρχιακή Αυτοδιοίκηση Καστοριάς, τον δήμο Αγίας Τριάδας, το Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινοτικό Πρόγραμμα INTERREG IIIA/Cards Ελλάδα-Αλβανία και το Ίδρυμα Ψύχα.