Agora Report: 2006 Excavations
Title:   Preliminary Report on the 2006 Excavation Season
Author:   John McK. Camp II
Abstract:   This summer the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the excavations and the 50th anniversary of the reconstruction of the Stoa of Attalos were celebrated.
Excavation were concentrated on two areas: northwest of the Agora (sections ΒΖ and ΒΗ) and in the old excavations at the southwest corner of the square (section Γ).
In section Γ work continued in the building identified as the Strategeion. Considerable new information about the building plan emerged and evidence gathered suggest that the use of the building was commercial rather than public. The 5th century B.C. as a construction date was confirmed.
In Section ΒΖ excavation continued in the north-south road and in the buildings to the east and west of it. A large round tile-floored cistern was removed and revealed a smaller one immediately below, both dating to the 10th century A.D. Fills associated with the bath from the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D., were excavated, and more of a pebble mosaic floor, Hellenistic in date, was cleared. In deeper layers, a pyre of early Hellenistic date was found. Within the road itself, more of the hydraulic installations were cleared, including a second lead pipe and the drain along the side of the road. East of the road, earlier walls came to light, indicating that the Classical commercial building continued. Two pyres buried beneath the floors of the building were found. More evidence that terracotta figurine production took place in the area were recovered. A remarkable find was a small cooking-pot buried near the Classical commercial building, with the remains of the head and feet of a chicken inside, and lines of lightly-incised letters on the outside.
Section ΒΗ was expanded to the east, following the demolition of modern buildings. Walls, pithoi, pits, a burial, and two wells were revealed, dating to the years around 1000 A.D. The buildings were presumably houses in a domestic area. A poros block, incorporated in a pit, can perhaps be associated with the eastern part of the Stoa Poikile, just within its northern wall.
Date:   13 Jun-4 Aug 2006
Section:   Γ
    ΒΖ
    ΒΗ
Grid:   J/9,20-1/7,2/9
    I/17,J/11-1/16,2/16
    E/20,G/2-13/2,14/8
    L/13,M/3-2/12,3/2
Elevation:   50.285-55.012m.
Masl:   0-55.012m.
Keyword:   Checked
PDF:   2006 Excavations.pdf
References:   Report Pages (7)
Images (125)
Objects (7)
Deposit: J 2:23
Deposit: L 2:3