Agora Report: 2009 Excavations
Title:   Preliminary Report on the 2009 Excavation Season
Author:   John McK. Camp II
Abstract:   Excavations were conducted in four sections: Γ, ΒΘ, ΒΗ and ΒΖ.
In Section Γ, the investigation of the Classical buildings south of the Tholos continued with the aim to find out if they were civil, commercial or domestic. It was clarified that the complex consists of three houses grouped around a central courtyard. A well in the courtyard was emptied, and the finds recovered indicate a domestic or commercial use of the buildings. The well is one of the earliest tile-lined wells found in the Agora, dating to the first half of the 4th century B.C.
In Section ΒΘ, excavations continued. At its west end the bottoms of the modern foundations were reached. A pit with the remains of several horses were revealed in 16th century fills. No architecture is associate with the fills which indicate that the area was a dumping ground outside of the inhabited area. Byzantine pottery started to emerge by the end of the season. No walls were reached but was seen in the scarps. In the eastern part of section ΒΘ, rubble walls, presumably of modest houses of the 10th century A.D., were uncovered. In the walls some worked blocks of limestone and marble were reused, perhaps coming even from the Stoa Poikile which ΒΘ overlies. Various other features were found, such as pithoi and pits.
In section ΒΗ, most of the 10th century A.D. house walls were removed and more remains of the back wall and two interior columns of the Stoa Poikile were exposed. The rubble walls dividing the stoa into rooms were also removed. These rooms were built in the 5th and 6th centuries, and were probably used as shops. The building went out use in the late 6th century. Behind the back wall, two terracotta pipelines were uncovered. The lower one is temporary with the stoa (2nd quarter of the 5th century B.C.) and has also been traced further west.
In section ΒΖ, the exploration of the Classical Commercial Building continued. It became clear that it was a building with a least six adjacent rooms in a row opening on to the street in front. Most of the work was concentrated on two rooms. In one, while clearing the area of a presumed collapsed cistern, an intact Mycenaean alabastron was found, indicating that the collapse is a Mycenaean chamber tomb. Two more pyres were uncovered within the building.
Date:   8 Jun-31 Jul 2009
Section:   ΒΗ
    ΒΘ
    Γ
Grid:   K/2,L/13-2/20,4/2
    G/6,H/7-12/5,13/10
    J/8,17-1/9,2/9
    L/13,M/2-2/12,3/1
Elevation:   50.226-55.695m.
Masl:   0-55.695m.
Keyword:   Checked
PDF:   2009 Excavations.pdf
References:   Report Pages (10)
Images (133)
Object: P 35981
Object: P 35996
Object: S 1054
Deposits (6)