ΔΕΘ και αρχαιότητες : μια σχέση με παρελθόν και μέλλον...η ανασκαφική έρευνα στον χώρο επέκτασης του Μακεδονικού Μουσείου Σύγχρονης Τέχνης (ΜΜΣΤ)
Part of : Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και στη Θράκη ; Vol.15, No.1, 2001, pages 215-228
Issue:
Pages:
215-228
Parallel Title:
The TIF and the antiquities : a relationship with a past and a future
Abstract:
Excavations on the Site of the Extension of the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary ArtThe grounds of the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) are an important source of information about Thessaloniki’s early history, since they occupy the heart of the ancient city’s extensive E cemetery. Nevertheless, organised rescue excavations have been carried mainly since the 1980s, in anticipation of reconstruction work on certain buildings. The last excavation was carried out between October 2000 and July 2001 in an area of 1,230 m2 prior to the construction of the new, eastward extension of the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art. In the course of the excavation, 224 graves of varous types were investigated, the grave goods (mainly clay and glass vessels, bronze coins, a little jewellery, and a large number of figurines) attesting that the cemetery was used continuously for more than six centuries, from the end of the 4th century BC to at least the transition to the Early Christian period.Especially interesting was the investigation of 103 pit-graves dating mainly to the cemetery’s first phase, immediately after the city was founded by Cassander. But most important of all was the discovery, on the NW edge of the excavation site, of part of a large stone-built monument, which could not be completely unearthed because it also lies under one of the roads in the TIF grounds.It is an underground burial chamber with strong outer walls, coloured plaster inside, and niches for cinerary urns. Its original phase dates to the 1st century AD, but it has undergone numerous modifications. The monument belongs in the category of graves a camera and the niches give it the aspect of a small columbarium, a type of sepulchral vault known mainly from the necropolises of Rome. Such monuments are usually found in the cemeteries of Patra, and this is the first time that one has been found in Thessaloniki. For this reason, by decision of the Ministry of Culture, both this and a cist-grave will remain visible in the basement of the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art.
Subject:
Subject (LC):
Keywords:
Θεσσαλονίκη
Notes:
Περιέχει εικόνες και κατόψεις
