BURIAL TOPOGRAPHY AND FUNERARY PRACTICES IN EARLY

BYZANTINE ARGOS:
EVIDENCE FROM THE NORTH CEMETERY
Dr. Anastasia Vassiliou Archaeological Work in the
Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Sports, Ephorate of Antiquities of Argolis Peloponnese, 2nd Scientific Meeting
Postdoctoral Researcher, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Kalamata, 1–4 November 2017

Introduction The 2012 excavation

In 1972, Charalambos Kritzas was the first to excavate part of the
Early Byzantine North Cemetery of Argos. By 2012, several of its
plots had been investigated by various archaeologists, including
Katerina Barakari-Gleni, Anastasia Oikonomou-Laniado, Alcestis
Papadimitriou, Eleni Sarri, and Georgios Tsekes, while Anastasia
Oikonomou-Laniado was the first to study in detail the cemetery
and its finds in her PhD on Early Byzantine Argos.
In 2012, a rescue excavation by the 25th Ephorate of Byzantine
Antiquities in the A. Kintis plot at Korinthou street revealed a
new part of the north cemetery. Two burial units were unearthed
of which the northern one (I) contained at least ten cist graves,
while three more were discovered in the southern one (II). There
were also nine tile-covered graves in the area intervening
between units I and II.

Burial Unit I
The 2012 excavation on Korinthou street (View from NW)
(E. Oikonomopoulou & A. Vassiliou )

A significant find was the cemetery’s eastern surrounding wall,

The North Cemetery
Situated outside the city walls, as was still the rule, and close by the
road leading to Corinth, the North Cemetery was probably Argos’s
most significant during the Early Byzantine period, with a
concentration of tombs representing the city’s highest social classes.
Based on excavations to date, the cemetery extended at least
between the modern Korinthou, Lavyrinthou, M. Alexandrou, and
Diomidous streets. Its most distinctive section seems to have been
near Korinthou street (Panagopoulos, Kouyias, Kintis, and Rentas
plots) and this could be due to its proximity to the main road that led
to Corinth.
which might also constitute its eastern boundary, although the
scarcity of excavations east of Korinthou street reminds us of the
relativity of our assumptions. The upper part of this wall was
found collapsed, perhaps due to an earthquake.
The numerous finds constituted mostly of clay objects connected
with ancient and Christian funerary practices such as lekythoi and
small jugs, lamps, an unguentarium, and a red slip ware fragment.
A small part of a marble funerary inscription was also found.
Other finds such as jewelry constituted personal belongings of
the deceased, while some finds such as loom weights and spools
seem prima facie irrelevant to a burial context and require further
research.
The available evidence would suggest a dating for the main
phase of this part of the cemetery in the 6th – early 7th century.

Lekythoi and small jugs

(6th – early 7th c.)

The main Early Byzantine

Argive cemeteries
(based on: Oikonomou-
Laniado 1998, 413 fig. 4;
recomposition: E.
Oikonomopoulou & A.
Phocean Red Slip
Vassiliou) Lamps Ware Unguentarium Copper alloy earrings
(5th – early 7th c.) (late 5th - 6th c.) (6th c.) (6th c.)

References
 A. Oikonomou-Laniado, “Les cimetières paléochrétiens d’Argos”, Argos et l’Argolide. Topograpie et urbanisme, ed. by A. Pariente and G.
Touchais, Athens 1998, 405–416 Contact Information
 A. Oikonomou-Laniado, Argos paléochrétienne. Contribution à l’étude du Péloponnèse, Oxford 2003 Email: a.vasiliou@culture.gr
 S. Metaxas, “Schmuck und Kleidungszubehör aus der frühbyzantinischen Nordnekropole von Argos”, Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen
Zentralmuseums Mainz (forthc.)