Sparta Excavation 1906-1910 Season 1907
Excavation: Research excavation
Excavations by the British School at Athens continued in its second season at the Orthia site and the Eurotas banks. The 3rd century AD Roman theatre-like building or amphitheatre ('the Circus' as it had been called by Leake in 1830) was completely excavated revealing the gneral plan with entrances, steps to the seats, a backgroud leading to the steps of the temple of Artemis. The temple and the arena of the theatre were clared and traces of older strata lay beneath. On top is the Roman in which the Roman altar stands, below that is a thin Hellenistic layer containging ash, Hellenistic stamped tiles and remains of a Hellenistic altar directly below the Roman one, and the deepest statum is an altar of roughly dressed stones on a cobble pavement surrounded by charred remains with objects (pottery, lead and terracotta figures, small bronzes, ivory plaques, etc.) dating from the 9th to 6th century BC. At a different location, at a small temenos on flat land north of the ancient town, a Heroon was discovered. On the Acropolis, the sanctuary of Athena Chalkiokos was excavated, identified by the discovery of a roof-tile with the stamp 'Athinas Kalkioikou'. Other finds consisted of bronze bells, bronze statuettes (including the 5th century BC trumpeter and a 6th century herm), fragments of a Panathenaic amphora, Archaic inscriptions (including a fragment of the Damonon inscription in the Sparta Museum), and a rich deposit of Geometric pottery. Inside the sanctuary temenos were remains of the temple and two other small structures, but reserved for excavation in the next season.
Active in 1907.
Wace, Mr Alan John Bayard
Dickins, Mr Guy
Tillyard, Professor Henry Julius Wetenhall
Woodward, Mr Arthur Maurice
George, Mr Walter Sykes
Dawkins, Mr Richard McGillivray
Evans, Sir Arthur John
[Journal] The Annual of the British School at Athens, no. 13 (1906/1907).
Dawkins, Richard M., et al. 1907. Laconia: I. Excavations at Sparta, 1907. BSA 13: 1-218. Direct link