Thermi Excavation 1929-1932: Season 1930
Excavation: Research excavation
This year's work not only confirmed but also amplified last year's conclusions. One area has now been dug to virgin soil: another has been cleared to expose the uppermost city: two, comparatively small, await investigation. The different treatment of different areas is imposed by the fact that the land belongs to three proprietors. he uppermost city was surrounded by a wall of which only the foundations remain. These consist of irregular blocks, mainly of schist, and have a width of 2-5 m. to 1-2 m. At one point they are crossed by a paved road belonging to a later date than the settlement, and contem- porary with certain foundations which were brought to light in outlying test pits to the south and south-west. The commonest type of house at all periods was long and narrow, with its entrance in the narrow end. In the uppermost city, however, and possibly in the lower cities, a type with semi-apsidal ends is found. The positions of doors are marked either by door sockets or by long slabs of schist. Streets, roughly paved with stones, or large cobbles from the shore, divided the houses into groups. Hearths and ovens, composed of layers of stones, sherds, burnt clay and ashes, were, as last year, a feature of the site. Bowls, jugs, pyxides, mugs, tripod cooking-pots, lids are among the commonest shapes, and we can now trace their modification at different periods. About thirty-five figurines, whole or fragmentary, shew a surprising variety of type. Three were of stone, the rest terracotta. One of the most interesting finds was a crucible for melting copper which was discovered in one of the lowest strata, proving that copper was worked in the first period of the settle- ment: another form of crucible was found at a higher level. Among the copper objects the majority are pins, but a 'flame-shaped' knife, like those found at Troy, should be mentioned. The most interesting of the stone objects, apart from the figurines, are (I) a bowl of white limestone; (2) a fragment of a marble bowl probably Cycladic; (3) a series of polished stone implements.
Active from 31 Mar 1930 to 30 Jun 1930.
Lamb, Miss Winifred
Hutchinson, Mr Richard Wyatt
Burton Brown, Mr Theodore
Cullen, Mr R.
[Journal] The Annual of the British School at Athens, no. 30 (1928/1929-1929/1930).