273-290

Apollonia in mygdonia

• Αδάμ - Βελένη, Πολυξένη

A wreath of gold ivy leaves was handed in to the Archaeological Museum in Thessaloniki in the summer of 2000. It comprises 30 ivy leaves in 2 groups of 15, one on either side of the circular diadem, and terminates in 2 central corymbs or clusters of ivy fruit, each one consisting of 19 small hemispheres. In view of this, we dug the first exploratory trenches, starting at the spots which the finder pointed out to us. Our first concern was to explore the place where the gold wreath had come from. On the day the finder showed us where the graves were, a statue of Nike was handed in, a casual find from a plot of land in Nea Apollonia. A total of 16 tile- and 2 pit-graves, 2 jar burials, and 2 cremations were excavated in this area of the city's S cemetery. It is a relatively sparse cemetery with scattered burials that may date to after the mid-4th century BC.Interestingly, this space was used for another purpose in earlier times. This, at least, is what the excavation of two earlier kilns indicated, which were destroyed by tile-graves of the 2nd half of the 4th century BC. In the 5th century and in the first half of the 4th, the area immediately outside the city seems to have been occupied by workshops. One large and 1 smaller kiln fell into disuse for some years. This, at least, is what is suggested by the total destruction of the firebars of the larger one and the almost complete collapse of the smaller one. After they were destroyed and the workshops ceased to operate here (they were probably relocated outside the E city wall), the site was used for the burial of the dead. Two tile-graves with burial offerings of the 2nd half of the 4th century rest upon the kilns.In the wider area of the same S cemetery, the finder of the gold wreath also showed us a Macedonian tomb, which came to light when illicit treasure- seekers attempted to enter the tomb by removing one of the stones from the barrel-vault. It is a barrel-vaulted Macedonian tomb built of poros, relatively small (only 5.20 m long), but nonetheless with 2 chambers. Only the entrance is structured. The entrance was sealed with 5 blocks of poros, while the burial chamber is divided from the antechamber by a recess in the barrel-vault, a unique feature only ever seen in this particular monument.In an effort to locate the boundary of the city, we began uncovering the wall. A 230 m stretch of the E wall was uncovered, a 515 m stretch of the N wall, about 70 m of the W wall, and 30 m of the S wall. A total length of 834 m was uncovered of its perimeter, which is estimated at 3,100 m, surrounding an area of about 33 ha. The wall, 2.20 m wide, is built of poros blocks in the Egyptian style, i.e. with trapezoidal blocks alternating with smaller flat stones inserted between them. A total of 12 cist-graves were found along the N wall, 8 of which were excavated. They are built cist-graves of the Late Roman period. Two of them date to the Early Christian period.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία

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