221-237

Aphytis 1997-2006

• Μισαηλίδου-Δεσποτίδου, Βασιλική

Many antiquities came to light during a decade of excavation research in the area of ancient Aphytis, which have expanded our meagre knowledge from the sources concerning the history and daily life of this ancient city.The earliest habitation in the area of the ancient city has been found on the hill of Koutsomylos, whose earliest phases date to the Early Bronze Age. At the same site, habitation has been identified during the Geometric and Archaic periods, and the presence of Classical pottery in surface levels shows that the hill was always a key area for the ancient city.The first excavation evidence for the Geometric, Archaic, and Early Classical city came from a rescue excavation on the southern slopes of the hill, where sections of a retaining wall, a cobblestone road, a monumental podium, and a flagstone road were found. Pottery from the fill of building remains included painted sherds from the Geometric period (8th c. B.C.), unpainted shards of the Iron Age, Archaic sherds from Ionian workshops (7th and 6th c. B.C.), from Corinth and Athens (6th c. B.C.), and black-glaze and red-figure wares (5th and 4th c. B.C.).Excavations northwest and west of Koutsomylos revealed fragments of at least eight houses dated to the 4th century B.C. Their foundations rest on the natural bedrock, in an area previously unbuilt. Their rectangular plans and the discovery of two roads intersecting at right angles show that they were organized in regular building blocks. The houses consisted of large rectangular rooms and small ancillary spaces. Every house featured a room with a stone hearth. The room with the hearth was primarily used for storing products in pointed-toe amphorae and pithoi, but there were also basement and semi-underground storerooms. Clay bath-tubs were found in two of the houses.Household furnishings included small black- glaze vases, clay perirrhanteria, unpainted vases for daily use, mortars and millstones, and a few pieces of bronze ornaments. In one house was found the greater part of a symposium vessel, i.e. a red-figure krater, while remains of bronze vessels and small parts of other symposium vessels suggest comparable activities in other houses as well. A basic characteristic of these houses is the great number of loom-weights, often stamped, which characterize the art of weaving as the main domestic activity. Also noteworthy are a rectangular weight (for one mna), and a mold for a rooster. Bronze coins were found in all the houses. A very important piece of evidence for the city’s economic life is presented by the circular stamps on amphora-handles, showing that there was a local workshop for producing amphorae in Aphytis.To the northwest, west, and southwest of the modern village, evidently outside the limits of the ancient city, there have been located its cemeteries, in which graves of the 6th, 5th, and 4th centuries B.C. have been found. During the Archaic and Early Classical periods, inhumation predominated, but after the mid-5th century B.C. a large percentage of burials featured on-site cremation of the deceased. Finds from the graves included primarily pottery, bronze vessels, figurines, and jewelry.Excavation during recent years has added the following to our knowledge of the city’s history: during the Classical period, an expansion of the residential section of the city has been recognized that was apparently caused by an increase in its population. We assume this was due either to the settlement of Atheniansin the city during the last thirty years of the 5th century or perhaps to the likely displacements of the population in Pallene’s northern cities that may have been caused by the settlement of Athenian cleruchs in Potidaea in 361 B.C.The classical city of ancient Aphytis was destroyed by earthquake towards the end of the 4th century B.C. At sites where houses belonging to the Late Classical period have been found within the boundaries of the ancient city, no evidence was found for continued habitation after this period. It would seem that after this natural disaster, a large part of the city at least was not re-inhabited.One might presume that the abandonment of part of the city following the earthquake was also favored by the change of political structures in Cassandra with the founding of Cassandreia, which as the only institutionally-established urban center remaining in the region drew its population from the region’s old autonomous cities, causing them to dwindle in size.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Χαλκιδική

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