727-739

Agricultural installations on the route of the Edessa southern bypass

• Χρυσοστόμου, Αναστασία

In the course of a salvage excavation carried out in 2006 within the framework of the Edessa Southern Bypass construction project, three new agricultural installations/farmsteads were investigated on the plain to the south of the ancient city, where the modem municipal wards of Proasteio, Platani and Flamouria (part of the Municipality of Edessa) are now situated (Fig. 1). The first two installations were situated on the east side of the plain, while the third on the west.At Farmstead No. 1 (PI. 1), which lay 2000 m. away from ancient Edessa, a few habitation remains were uncovered in Trench II, H (Fig. 2), which consisted of the remains of a hearth with fragments of pots and four loom weights scattered around it. To the south of the hearth there was a storage structure with fragments of a large storage jar inside it (PL 2). A Macedonian coin from the reigns of Philip V and Perseus (PI. 3 on the left) constitutes a terminus post quern for the last phase of habitation on the site. The finds from the other trenches provide evidence of the slightly earlier phase of habitation, the beginning of which should be dated to the Early Hellenistic era. The finds should be connected with waste disposal activities and consist of a bronze coin of Cassander, a bronze needle (PI. 2) and various types of vases (Fig. 3, Pis. 4-5).The second farmstead lies at a distance of 1700 m. from the walls of Edessa (Fig.1 ). It takes the form of a long narrow building with an entranceway on the north-west side (Fig. 4, PL. 6). The finds from Rooms I-VI were limited in number and included loom weights from Rooms I and III, two of which bear graffiti (PI. 7), Hellenistic coins and pottery. Most of the finds come from the courtyard to the south of Rooms II, III and IV and consist of a round millstone, a grinding stone and vases of all types (PI. 10), amongst which the Megarian skyphoi stand out. A few black-glazed sherds from the 3rd cent. BC (PI. 9) may be connected with an isolated pit-grave found at the natural soil level in Room VI. A few similar Early Roman sherds from the rooms (Fig. 6) extend the period of use to the Early Roman period, with which a fragment of a glazed relief skyphos is connected (PI. 11).Finally, the discovery of a coin of Antoninus beneath the west wall in Room IX, as well as pots from later Roman periods in Room VIII, provide evidence of the last period of use of Farmstead No. 2 in antiquity.The third farmstead (Fig. 1), which lay 2700 m. to the south-west of ancient Edessa, consists of two long narrow buildings in a badly damaged and denuded state (Fig. 6), whose dating to the Roman period is supported by plates like that in Fig. 7.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία

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