273-284

Rock-cut constructions from the excavations of the 16th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities at Karabournaki

• Παντή, Άννα

Dring excavations conducted by the 16th EPCA from 1994-1996 at Karabournaki, on the north trapeza and the area east of the toumba, there were two types of rock-cut constructions revealed resting on bedrock: underground, and waste pits.The two underground constructions on the north trapeza were opening in natural bedrock, and abut one another. Their main section is elliptical in shape, while there is an extension shaped into a descending stairway. The presence of bricks and baked clay in the fill indicates the existence of some sort of aboveground, covered structure. The circular rock-cut openings in their floor served either to hold the posts that supported the roof, or storage vessels.A third underground structure was investigated in the area that extends beneath the toumba, and which is clearly a more carefully-finished construction. It is rectangular in shape, accessible with the aid of a stairway created in the hard natural bedrock and consisting of at least four steps. At the bottom of the staircase are two rectangular depressions, which perhaps held posts for supporting the roof, or doorposts. Similar depressions that may have held posts for supporting the roof were on the northern side, along which a bench was created. Along the two narrow sides there are two shallow grooves that may have carried built walls.Similar constructions with brick superstructures are known both from the Toumba at Karabournaki as well as from the wider area, as at Toumba (Thessaloniki), Sindos, Nea Kallikrateia (Chalcidice), and in Pieria. This type is particularly widespread in the Black Sea region, where on the basis of comparable examples from Smyrna and Miletos, such constructions may be connected with the arrival of the first colonists. These underground buildings (dug-outs) in Northern Greece probably had various uses, depending on their size and their more - or less - careful workmanship. Some may have served as residences, while others may have simply been storage or ancillary spaces. The pottery contained in the first two dug-outs, which is entirely homogeneous, makes it clear that they were in use during the Late Geometric period.The imported pottery is chiefly composed of fragments from Late Geometric Euboean skyphoi with pendant semi-circles, as well as examples from the Sub-Geometric period. Representative samples of the same period belonging to local production include fragments from well known commercial amphorae, probably produced at Sindos. Contemporary, local handmade pottery of the Early Iron Age is mainly represented by jugs with cutaway necks and kantharoid vases. The majority of local pottery consists of monochrome cups with relatively thick walls, a type showing clear influences from the deep drinking vessels produced during the Late Geometric period at the majority of the workshops of this period.The very small amount of unpainted pottery from the fill of the third dug-out does not help in dating it. However, the fact that the stair-shaped formation of its entrance has been partially disturbed by a waste pit that was probably opened at the end of the 6th century B.C. does provide us with a terminus ante quem.In the second trench, where the third dug-out is located, were discovered the lower sections of a large number of cylindrically-shaped waste pits, with the single exception of one that was rectangular.In their fill were found unhewn stones pieces of bricks, bones, shellfish, and a large amount of pottery. The earliest imported pottery, of which there is only a small quantity, comes from imported Euboean vases of the Late Geometric, such as fragments from skyphoi with pendant semi-circles, part of a lebes, and an oinochoe fragment decorated with a lozenge and vertical lines. There is a great quantity of many fragments of Chian trade amphorae and Attic SOS amphorae of the archaic period. The latest sherds belong to Attic black-glaze Type C cups from the late 6th century, the period during which it is likely that all these pits were opened up. Most of the pottery originated from local workshops. Characteristic examples of the Late Geometric include fragments of oinochoes with banded decorated showing the clear influence of comparable Euboean vases, and the sherds of a pithos-shaped vase with ribbon handle. Related elements as regards the shape of the latter are seen in pithamphorae from Mende, in the well-known Euboean amphora of Z. di Censola, and on pithoi from the Cretan workshop of the Late Geometric and Early Orientalizing periods.The local monochrome pottery with relatively thick walls is represented mainly by open shapes displaying various influences. For example, the typeof cup with high-swung handle testifies a clear influence from Early Iron Age pottery, while the krater- shaped vase with solid handle probably has its models in Aeolian pottery of the late 7th and early 6th centuries B.C.This monochrome pottery with relatively thick walls was succeeded by monochrome “eggshell” pottery, as is shown by a number of common shapes, e.g. cups with plain lip, bowl-shaped vases with band handles, and others. The influence of pottery shapes of the Early Iron Age, though limited, still exists. During this period the influence from the East Greek region - specifically, Samos and Miletos - is now clear.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

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