Excavations in a fortified harbour dating to the early Hellenistic Age

Since 2006, a systematic excavation led by Dr. Pavlos Triantafyllidis has been under way, carried out by the 22nd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities in a fortified community dated to the early Hellenistic Age (late 4th-early 3rd century BC) located on the island’s north side, overlooking the Maistros Bay (image 1). This coastal site was the harbour of the ancient city Tragaeae, known only from literary sources.

Remains of ancient structures – in particular, thick fortification walls surrounding the community and extending from the eastern hillside to the coastline – were discovered amidst lush, wild vegetation.

The site is strewn with plentiful artefacts, mainly clay and stone pots dating from the Hellenistic and early Roman period. Impressive rock-cut rectangular niches – associated with anchoring installations for light, flexible warships – were discovered in the coastal area south of the fort.

A total surface of 5,000 m2 is surrounded to the north, south and east by extensive fortification walls with a thickness of 1,80-2 metres (image 2), shaped into rock-cut beddings. The walls – stone slabs were quarried in the local mine and cut on a flattened dolomitic limestone – were suitable defensive works to protect the ancient fort’s inhabitants from any invaders, mainly pirates, given that piracy flourished in the Aegean during the Hellenistic Age.

A large rock-cut water cistern (image 3), coated with hydraulic plaster and used for storing water and draining it into the fort’s lower levels, was excavated in the ancient acropolis on the upper rock-cut bedding. Of particular interest with regard to the cistern’s abandonment is the discovery of a refuse pit containing a host of ceramic finds of the late Hellenistic and early Roman period (late 2nd century BC-early 2nd century AD), such as amphorae, beehive pots, bowls, cooking pots, red-figure plates, and lamps, some of which bore dedications on their bases, addressed to the God Zeus Lykaios (meaning wolf-Zeus).

The city’s trade and economic activities during early Roman times (1st century BC-1st century AD) included dye shops and a workshop for the production of ancient pigments, part of which was excavated near the southern fortification wall (image 5). The workshop was connected with an overflow pipe to two cisterns, coated with hydraulic plaster, excavated on two different levels. A stone basin inside one of the cisterns was found to contain countless shells, most of which were murexes, such as the species murex brandaris, historically used for the extraction and production of purple-red dye in various hues, depending on the species and the duration of sun exposure.

The sea shells that were found inside and around the cisterns, mostly of the species Murex brandaris, Cerinthium vulgare, Bittium reticulatum da Costa, Conus venticosus Gmelin, Euthria cornea L., Buccinum undulatum L., and Patella coerulea L., were either poked or crushed in Antiquity for the extraction of the pure dye.

Another finding is a terracotta tile (image 11) bearing the first official inscription about the island, dating to the late 2nd and early 1st century AD and mentioning a war victory of the metropolis, Miletus, on the occasion of which a temple was erected in honour of Zeus Lykaios in the fortified coastal community on Agathonissi. Various plain, hand-made ceramic potsherds, as well as many excavated tools, point to the community’s abandonment around the first half of the 2nd century AD, after a devastating earthquake hit Asia Minor in 155/156 AD causing irreparable damage to the fort.

Findings also include a significant number of gold and bronze coins dating from the 4th century BC, cut in Miletus under the Carian dynasty of Ecatomnides, clay idols of the type “Tanagraia” dating from the late 4th century BC (image 7), weights for textiles (image 8), decorated amphorae handles (image 9) of the Rhodes, Cnidus, or Kos types and dated between the 4th and 2nd century BC, indicating that trade continued in the Hellenistic Age. Artefacts such as pottery waste, numerous shells, coarse-ware finds and iron ores point to strong craft-related activity on the island and, in particular, iron and pottery workshops, which, together with dye shops, ensured the island’s prosperity and reinvigorated aspects of its rural economy and trade.

The numerous ancient finds from the latest community phase in the fort, dating to the late Hellenistic and early Roman Age, consist mainly of beehive pots (image 10) used for the production of honey (3,000 potsherds).

Despite the adverse circumstances under which excavations are being carried out, the discovery of the archaeological site will become an incentive for the border island’s qualitative upgrading in terms of tourism.

_{Dr. Pavlos Triantafyllidis - Archaeologist}