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Two ritual pyres from excavation for "metro" at Makrygiannis plot

• Ελευθεράτου,  Σταματία

Ritual pyres reflect an exclusively Attic custom known only from archaeological excavations. They have been found under the floors of houses, shops or workshops in the area of the Athenian Agora, the Areopagus, the Kerameikos and recently, in the Makrygiannis plot, where an archaeological excavation preceded the construction of the “Acropolis” station of the Athens underground railway.Ritual pyres take the form of small, shallow pits containing the remains of burnings - ashes and charcoal -, bones of animals or birds, and groups of miniature vases which include drinking cups, rilled - rim plates, concave - rim plates, pyre saucers, ribbon - handled plates, small lekanides, lopadia, chytridia, covered bowls, lamps and sometimes alabastra, lekythis and unguentaria. The ritual pyres mostly date from the end of the 5th century BC to the first half of the 3rd century BC.The excavation in the Makrygiannis plot brought to light nine ritual pyres. Two of them - the mat erial of which I present here - come from an advanced stage of the Hellenistic times, a fact indicating the further survival of this custom. Pyre 1 dates from the first half of the 1st century BC, and contains a long - petal bowl, a lekythos and two lamps. Pyre 2 dates from the middle or the third quarter of the 2nd century BC, and contains two mouldmade bowls, a rilled - rim plate, a miniature vase, two lamps and six unguentaria.The finds associated with the ritual pyres are of a form and kind which indicate a chthonic character and the place in which they were found connects them with the construction of a house, shop of workshop, or the installation of new occupants in it.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

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