Kenchreai Quarry Landscapes study season 2014
Assessment and Analysis: Study season
Chris Hayward reports on continuing study of the large ploughed field in Complex A and the ‘inscribed quarries’ in Complex B to date and characterise activity in broad terms of settlement, supply, or production, and to assess the scale on which provision was made for different forms of activity (and from what sources of supply). The ‘ploughed field’ yielded c. 40% of all the pottery collected in the 2013 survey (over 11,000 sherds and 1,600 tile fragments). The densest concentrations lie at the western end and are unlikely to have been transported, on grounds both of topography and sherd condition. The vast majority of sherds are Roman. Fewer than 10 prehistoric sherds (Early Helladic where datable) were scattered in the western part of the field. Archaic–Hellenistic were more common, with three concentrations observed: Archaic vessels were mostly small open shapes while Classical included cups, bowls, a fish plate and a possible dinos, in a mixture of Corinthian and imported (mostly Attic) fabrics, plus several Corinthian A and A′ amphorae. Hellenistic pottery shows two chronological peaks which differ in character. The earlier, fourth-century material is finer: it includes cups, Argive kraters, and blisterware vessels, plus sherds in the coarse variety of Corinthian A fabric which may represent the transport or storage vessels of the period. The later, first-century bc peak is marked by the presence of Aegean (northern Aegean, Koan and Rhodian), and Italian (Greco-Italian, Lamboglia 2 and Campanian Dressel 2-4) transport amphorae, and Eastern Sigillata A. Few Hellenistic cooking vessels or jugs were identified. In the ‘inscribed quarry’ in Complex B, seven inscriptions occur in two groups at the northern and southern area of the series of small pits that comprise the quarried area. At the southernmost end of Complex B was an Early Modern house with associated ceramics. Study of the chipped stone focused on finds from Complex A outside the ‘ploughed field’.
Active from 2013 to 2014.