Ένας νέος μακεδονικός τάφος στη Θεσσαλονίκη

Abstract

In the autumn of 1983 a new Macedonian tomb was brought to light in
Thessaloniki, during excavations for laying the foundations at a building site in the area of Charilaou. It is a one chamber building made of porous stone, coated with whitish mortar. It has an architectural simple facade but a completely unusual arch, wholly constructed by drums of Doric columns in second use. Steps, carved in the natural rocky ground, lead to the doorway which was shut off by three boulders, while from the inside i t would shut by a wooden door.
The grave, which was already looted in the antiquity, has interior dimensions 3,15 X 3,33 m. The space of the chamber is nearly all taken up by three funerary bed-sarcophagus built by porous stone in the shape of Π. The sarcophagus at the right (A) was constructed first. On its long side are shown in relief the cross-beams and the two feet of the bed.
This monument was probably a family vault: at least four persons were
buried successively there, however the plunderers’ intervention who scattered the bones and burial objects, makes difficult the identification of the burials and objects. In the interior though of the sarcophagus at the left (Γ) have been found remains of the wooden stretcher where the body had been laid. The grave must have been constructed at the first half of the 3rd cent. B.C. but has been used at least until early in the 2nd cent. B.C., as shown also by the burial objects that have been saved: simple clay vases, mostly unguentaria but also lamps, pyxides, two amphorae a female figurine, alabasters, a coin and other small objects.