Ayios Ermoyenis, Discovery of Trench 43, V. Grace 1941Virginia Randolph Grace

Ayios Ermoyenis: discoveries at Trench 43 [handwritten: [by Virginia Grace, 1941]]

Among the pits sunk by George H. McFadden to explore the ancient cemetery by the church of Ayios Ermoyenis, Trench 43 produced in April 1940 a tomb (Tomb 1) in which the first group of pots uncovered included two Rhodian amphoras of a late type. The group lay at a depth of about five meters from the surface, under an intact layer of broken soft rock, the material of the caved-in roof of the tomb. Lower down (see the relation in Figure 1) was then cleared a floor strewn with bones, iron coffin nails, and offerings of pottery, glass, lead, bronze, silver and gold. In view of my interest in the context of discovery of Rhodian jars, Mr. McFadden was good enough to turn over to me the further excavation of this tomb.

In 1941 I cleared the bones and offerings in the adjacent Tomb 9, the dromoi by which the two tombs were approached, and certain neighboring ancient cuttings and walls already partly uncovered by Mr. McFadden in his exploratory trenches 43 and 75; a little additional cleaning-up was done in the spring of 1942. By this work we did not succeed in finishing the area, but found the closed doors of two deeper tombs in a dromos which cuts across one of the two dromoi leading into Tomb 1. The excavation of these tombs, as well as some related operations which would be of interest, has had to be postponed. In the meanwhile an account may be made of the remains as at present understood.

A general plan and sections are given in Figure 2. The manner of cutting suggests that of Tombs 9 and 1 the former was the original. The straight passage leading to the north entrance of Tomb 1 seems to have been mostly a tunnel; access from the surface must have been via the dromos to Tomb 9. Tomb 1 was oriented in accordance with this order no doubt to avoid passage, but cut narrower on its east than on its west side in order no doubt to avoid what did actually happen while the tombs were still in use, the collapse of the rock between them. Subsequently, Tomb 1 was entered by the oblique stomion at its northwest corner: the skeletons of the later period were laid with their heads to the northwest, instead of being arranged canonically, like the earlier burials, along three sides of the tomb.

The dromos which gave access to the oblique entrance is of the short type characteristic of Hellenistic tombs at Marion (see comment, SCE II, p.457).