575-586

Excavations on the proposed route of the Egnatia motorway : Asomata near Verta

• Κουκουβού, Αγγελική

The intensive excavations carried out at Asomata near Veria in anticipation of the construction of the new Egnatia motorway were completed recently, with significant results.The natural plateau with an area of about 1 ha directly below the modem village of Asomata in the SE foothills of Mount Vermio was first inhabited in prehistoric times in the mid-2nd millennium BC. The overlying construction phases belong to the Iron Age, as do the eight burials that were located, almost all of them under the foundations of later buildings, furnished with grave goods in the form of vessels and jewellery.One of the most interesting finds dates to the site’s later period of use in Antiquity, in the Roman period: a pottery kiln, with the firebars, the firing chamber with its internal walls, and the entrance preserved in excellent condition.However, the most important find was the discovery of two poros quarries, both of them deep open-cast quarries preserving interesting data for the study of ancient technology.Apart from their excellent state of preservation and their value as monuments in their own right, they have also proved important for the possibility of firmly dating them to the Late Classical and Early Hellenistic period, on the basis of the ancient fill that covered them.The discovery on the slopes of evidence of other quarries indicates that the local travertine was systematically extracted from small quarries, which, at least in Macedonia’s prime, met the considerable need for stone for the major building projects in nearby Veria (Berroia) too, though probably in Vergina also, which had no local seams of travertine.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

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