Chios: Ano Phana (Managros) study season 2004

Assessment and Analysis: Study season

A two-week study season was carried out on the ceramic and small finds from the archaeological surface survey of the Managros district of SW Chios. The material, gathered in 1999 in a programme of collaborative fieldwork between the 3rd Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities and the School, is stored in the Byzantine Museum in the central square of Chios town. The surface material catalogued during this study season came from the closely associated findspots QFl, QF2 and RFl, all of which lie in the vicinity of the chapel of Agia Marina on the western side of the survey area. In addition, the detailed dating and functional analysis of the Post-Roman ceramic finds from site XF9, that is the area located to N of the Kastri hill and containing seven surviving Medieval and Post-Medieval chapels, was begun by A. Vionis. N. Wardle made profile drawings and photographs of selected material from the aforementioned sites. Findspot QF 1 comprises the area located to NW of the Agia Marina chapel enclosure. 35% of the total assemblage recovered here dates to the Classical and Hellenistic periods, while ceramics of the Roman and Late Roman periods represent 42% of the total finds. 2% dates to the Archaic period, and 6% to the Middle and Late Byzantine periods. The remaining 15% is undiagnostic. Find-spot QF2 occupies the area N of Agia Marina. More than half (56%) of the surface finds collected here dates to the Classical and Hellenistic periods, 8% to the Archaic, 13% to Roman and Late Roman times, and 18% to the Middle Byzantine, Late Byzantine and Ottoman eras. Find-spot RF 1 describes the area within the fenced enclosure surrounding the chapel of Agia Marina. Material here is very mixed with pottery of all periods occurring. Roman and Late Roman is, however, well represented by 33% of the assemblage. The Ottoman and Early Modern periods are also present with a total of 30%, while sherds dating to the Middle and Late Byzantine periods account for less than 5% and probably comprise off-site material. It is likely that findspots QFl, QF2 and RFl all represent remains belonging to the same ancient site, characterised predominantly by Classical and Hellenistic material. It is, furthermore, significant that rescue excavation conducted in 1993 by the K' EPKA recovered a number of white marble column drums in the area of QF2, while the chapel of Agia Marina itself appears to be built atop ancient foundations, with much reused ancient architectural material also incorporated into the superstructure. We might, then, tentatively identify the site as a small Classical-Hellenistic sanctuary located along one of the major overland routes leading to Kato Phana. Findspot XF9 extends across a wide area located on low lying land N of the Kastri hill. Finds here are very mixed, though the largest part of the assemblage comprises material dating to the Middle and Late Byzantine periods, roughly between the late 11th and mid-14th centuries. While surface material from XF9 has been catalogued, its more precise dating and functional analysis will be completed in a forthcoming study season by the project's Medieval and Post-Medieval specialist, A. Vionis. The aim here is to avoid general chronologies, such as 'Medieval' or 'Byzantine', but rather to make further subdivisions, such as Middle Byzantine, Late Byzantine, Genoese, etc., in order to build up a more detailed picture of different activity foci during the Post-Roman era. The chronological subdivisions of the Medieval and Post-Medieval period that we recognize are as follows: Late Roman (4th to late 7th centuries AD), Early Byzantine (late 7th to end 9th century AD), Middle Byzantine (early 10th to early 13th centuries AD), Late Byzantine (early 13th to mid-14th centuries AD), Genoese (mid-14th to mid-16th centuries AD), Ottoman (mid-16th to mid-19th centuries AD), and Early Modern (mid-19th to early 20th centuries AD).

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