Σωστική ανασκαφή στο οικόπεδο της οδού Ι. Δραγούμη 21 στις Σέρρες

Abstract

In 1983 a rescue excavation was carried out in a building site at 21 Ionos Dragoumi Street, in Serres. The excavation continued also in the summer of 1984 and yielded various walls belonging to different periods. Exactly on the rock there had been erected some buildings, dated between the 3 and 2 century B.C. The stratum of abandonment dates from the 2-3C A.D.

This site had been used again for the construction of an important, possibly secular building during the 13C. The last constructive interventions in section B/1984 refer to the 18C. In sections A/1983 and A/1984 were found burials dated from the post-Byzantine years, though some excavation findings let us think of a burial use in the Byzantine years already. The uncovered walls are difficult to be dated because of continuous use of the place for housing purposes and because of the insufficient stratigraphy, as the strata were mingled.

Among the few findings of the Roman period, it is worth mentioning a part of a panel, while an Ionic capital dates from the 3-4C A.D. Some tomb crosses date from the 19C. The coins cover the classic, hellenistic, late Roman periods, the 9-10C A.D., the late Byzantine years, as well as the 15-16C A.D. The ceramic is mainly divided in three groups: a) from the 3-2C B.C. to the 2-3C A.D., b) late Byzantine and c) post-Byzantine years. Of special interest is a group of glazed pottery from a local workshop of the 13C.

Few objects in glass and metal belong possibly to the 13C. Also dating from the 17C was a church dedicated to Saint George with the name «Epano Aghiou Georgiou» and which was later demolished. A religious tradition was preserved in the presence of a chapel of the 19-20C dedicated to «τρεις παίδες εν καμίνων. According to popular tradition the water springing from the chapel was miraculous.