311-322

Aphytis 2007

• Μισαηλίδου-Δεσποτίδου, Βασιλική

Excavations were conducted in 2007 at Athytos in three areas.1. On a property inside the modern town there came to light a part of the urban fabric of ancient Afytis. Specifically, a road running N-S was found, with buildings on either side, some areas of which can be identified from the finds in destruction layers as residences. The were in use from the late 5th or early 4th century B.C. until the last decade of the 4lh century A.D., when they were demolished in an earthquake, as was also determined by excavations during previous years at other points in the ancient city. One of these spaces (B) contained some flans for bronze coins, which probably means it was connected with the city’s mint, which appears to have still been operating during this period.2. In a field west of the provincial road, two sections of a 4th century B.C. cemetery were discovered containing burials in cist and pit graves and onsite cremation of the deceased. The relatively great distance from the urban area of the ancient city gives rise to the question of whether this cemetery might have belonged to the small settlement at “Chora” belonging to ancient Aphytis.3. In a field southeast of the above (2), a Roman farmhouse, and a second building that was probably also a farmhouse were discovered. The farmhouse consisted of a central room around which smaller rooms opened. A bathroom and the remains of a kiln were discovered in the building. There was a very important find, that of a hoard of 67 bronze coins, with issues from local mints that date the concealment of the hoard to the mid-3rd century A.D., i.e. to the period of Skythian tribes’ invasions of Macedonia. The second building, not far-re- moved from the first, may have been constructed following the destruction of the first and was in use until the late 4th or early 5th century A.D.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Χαλκιδική

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