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Finds from excavations in Thessaloniki

• Μαρκή, Ευτέρπη

This article presents the most interesting finds from the 21 rescue excavations carried out by the Directorate of Byzantine Antiquities in 2000.They include:(1) A hoard of 14 Byzantine gold coins, which were found on Saturday 14 October during digging in the building plot at 11, Olymbiou Diamandi St., in the mudfill of the Constantinian harbour. The hoard consists of 11 histamena of Basil II the Bulgarslayer and his brother Constantine (976-1025), 2 histamena of Romanos III Argyros (1028-34), and 1 histamenon of Constantine Monomachos (1042-50).(2) A cubical water-tower of the Late Byzantine period, which was excavated on a building plot at 8, Vlahava St., in the Koulé Kafé district. It measures 3.50x3.60x2.80 m and is constructed of rubble masonry, with occasional bricks, and lime mortar. Along the N wall were found a round clay conduit and a narrow lead pipe, which connected the conduit to another one above. In the NE comer of the floor of the water-tower, there is a round aperture 0.25 m in diameter and of similar depth, in which a cylindrical piece of timber must have been embedded to indicate the level of the water. The water-tower was probably built in connection with a workshop which required a constant, controlled flow of water; but since no evidence was found of the rest of the workshop facilities, it is not possible to say exactly what its function was.(3) Part of the original structure of the Letaia Gate, which was uncovered when the new pipeline bringing water from the Aliakmon was being laid at the start of Ayiou Dimitriou St. Specifically, it is part of the floor of the hexagonal courtyard of the Letaia Gate and part of the wall of an older gate, which was uncovered 8 m to the E of the floor of the gate and 1.20 m below it. On the basis of a study of the finds, travellers’ information, and published plans, we conclude that: i) The Theodosian stmcture of the Letaia Gate was simple and located in line with, but higher than, the corresponding gate in the Roman fortifications. A double gate, the latter was moved further N and incorporated into a hexagonal structure during the extensive repairs to the W enceinte, which has distinctive masonry with marble benches in the lower part and brick arches in the superstructure. The repairs must have been connected with the severe earthquakes of the 7th century. In the same period, the Vardar Gate also became a double gate, ii) The gate which the travellers call the Vardar Gate was not the gate of that name in the Theodosian fortifications, but the gate in an earlier fortification or the triumphal arch-cum-gateway which was built in 143 for Antoninus Pius’ visit to Thessaloniki.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

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