609-622

Kozani and Grevena prefectures : public Electricity Corporation S.A. (Ilarion dam) and antiquities

• Καραμήτρου-Μεντεσίδη, Γεωργία

The 30th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities was established early in 2004, its jurisdiction covering the prefectures of Kozani and Grevena. A considerable proportion of the workload in the first four months involved investigating the antiquities in the area that was to be flooded by the new Ilarion hydroelectric dam in the middle reach of the Aliakmon, which belongs to both prefectures.The history of the destruction of antiquities by the Public Electricity Corporation (DEI) in Kozani prefecture (more specifically in the Ptolema'fda basin, where 70-80 per cent of the country’s electrical power is produced), owing to lignite mining and the attendant debris, begins after the War. In 1973 matters were exacerbated when the Polyphytou artificial lake and dam began operating in the middle reach of the Aliakmon between Aiane and Velvendo. Sacred sites, cemeteries, settlements of historical and prehistoric periods, and palaeontological finds have been wiped out; though thanks to our efforts since the early ’80s seven prehistoric settlements in the compact group of twenty or more sites on the Lake Kitrini plain south of Ptolemai'da have been saved from the expansion of DEI’s lignite mines. In the area around Lake Polyphytou, fluctuating water levels have destroyed about 120 archaeological sites. We wish to point out that the archaeological investigations that have been carried out in these two areas have helped tremendously to shape the new profile of the culture of Upper Macedonia through the ages from the prehistoric to the Christian era.The archaeological sites at the new Ilarion dam, which is under construction and continues almost directly on from Polyphytou. have similar characteristics and are equally important for our knowledge of the history and prehistory of the middle reach of the Aliakmon. Surface investigations carried out in 2004 in areas within the prefectures of Kozani and Grevena located new archaeological sites, and the number of known sites increased from three to about fifteen, covering hundreds of thousands of square metres, while the villages in the municipalities of Vendzio and Hasia are still unexplored. These are sites at Longas and Potamia-Hrapa near Elafi, Gavros near Paliouria, Tsiouka Levendi, Panayia, Parakoustis, Plaka, Gourna Tsapa, Samara Platania, Yefyra, and Vromonera near Panayia (Tornikios), and Ktio and Panayia near Diporos. Of these, Longas, Ktio, and Panayia near Diporos are large, organised settlements with habitation in the Hellenistic period and phases of earlier use, and they also offer evidence of baths, workshops, and cemeteries of various eras. Important antiquities have been handed in and collected during surface investigations, such as prehistoric stone tools, Neolithic, Bronze-Age, Iron-Age, and Hellenistic pottery, loom weights, coins, jewellery, and weapons.Opinion is divided over the fate of these antiquities and any others that may exist within the area that will be flooded by the reservoir. What we, as an archaeological service, must do is protect and save the antiquities by such actions as locating them with systematic surface investigations and trial trenches and excavating with all possible forms of documentation, given that we are facing the irreversible loss of the cultural identity of the middle stretch of the Aliakmon, where the Polyphytou dam has already destroyed dozens of archaeological sites. However, DEI’s representatives have expressed the view that uncovering antiquities will be more destructive than not excavating at all. On behalf of the 30th Inspectorate of Antiquities, geologists have already conducted a study assessing the resistance of the alluvial deposits in the conditions of a lacustrina environment, which refutes this view, but DEI is to carry out a second assessment study. Let us hope that an answer will be forthcoming soon so that, for the sake of history and culture and to the extent that it is necessary, the investigations can be stepped up. l ime is running out, because the termination date for filling the reservoir is in 2008, the contracting company is already hard at work in places that need ditches and overflow tunnels, and digging to create borrow pits has already begun in the neighbourhood of established archaeological sites.

• History and Archaeology
• Electrical engineering, Electronic engineering, Information engineering

• Αρχαιολογία

αρχαιολογικοί χώροι, συντήρηση και αποκατάσταση, Κοζάνη, Γρεβενά, συνέδρια

Περιέχει εικόνες και χάρτες