Kato Phana Excavation 1999-2006: Season 2006
Excavation: Research excavation
In July 2006 a programme of deep soil coring was undertaken at Kato Phana on Chios. The work carried out comprised: the drilling of five deep soil cores to a depth of approximately 7 m to W and N of the Later Archaic peribolos walls of the sanctuary of Apollo Phanaios; the digging of two backhoe trenches; and geological mapping at a scale of 1 :5000 of the archaeological site and surrounding formations. While the soil cores were extracted 'blind' (ie. without any exposure to light) in order to permit laboratory-based OSL dating of the sub-surface sediments, direct visual inspection of the subsurface strata and the taking of natural radioactivity measurements were facilitated by the digging of two backhoe trenches, each measuring 6-7 m long x 0.9 m wide x 4-6 m deep. One trench was located 7 m W of the Later Archaic peribolos wall on the W side of the sanctuary (T 1 ), and the other 13 m N of the same peribolos wall on the N side of the cult centre (T2). Some 50 soil samples were taken from the backhoe trenches for later laboratory-based soil, microfauna, pollen and other analyses. The soil samples and blind cores now await analysis and dating in the laboratories of NCSR Demokritos. While the final outcome of these analyses are yet pending, preliminary results may be indicated. Coring and trenching on the W (seaward) side of the sanctuary revealed marine sediments from depths of 1.5 m and deeper (T 1, Core I), consisting of sea sand containing maritime microfossils and fragments of seashells. The once immediate relationship of the sea with the W side of the cult centre site was also demonstrated by the discovery in Trench 1 at a depth of 2-2.2 m below present ground level of beach rock, or fossilised coastline. Swampy deposits were recovered at Core site 4 and from Trench 2 on the N side of the sanctuary, suggesting the presence here in antiquity of a delta. Core 2 reached flysch slope formations below the overlying sedimentary deposits at a depth of 5 m, thus providing useful information for the understanding of the past morphology and valley bottom profile.
Active in /06/2006.
Philaniotou, Dr Olga