Kato Choria, Naxos

Research context

Lying in the south-central area of Naxos, the largest island in the Cyclades, Kato Choria is the local name for the dispersed ruined settlement that sits nestled in the shelter of the western slope of the isolated hill below the Byzantine fortress at Kastro Apalirou. Sometimes referred to as Palioglisies, Kato Choria is an exceptional ruined settlement dating from the early Middle Ages. The presence of ceramics from the 7^th – 9^th centuries CE – without earlier material – in association with a settlement is an unusual discovery. Excavation of Kato Choria promises a unique opportunity to throw light on understudied houses and domestic contexts from the period. Evidence from this settlement will be important both for understanding the immediate area during the later part of the first millennium CE and for informing patterns of occupation across the Cyclades and beyond. Found outside the walls of Kastro Apalirou – which itself seems to have been a foundation of the 7^th century CE – the ruins at Kato Choria promise new insights into patterns of settlement and society.

The project is a synergasia (joint project) between the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades and the British School at Athens, carried out by staff and students from the Universities of Edinburgh and Newcastle. In June 2022, for three weeks we conducted preliminary cleaning work on site at Kato Choria to identify potential sites for excavation. In 2024 we were able to excavate in two main areas identified during the work in 2022.

Kastro Apalirou and Kato Choria (Palioglisies) from the northwest

Field survey in 2022

Six areas (A-F) within the bounds of Kato Choria were selected for field survey, including cleaning around standing architecture, planning and recording using laser scanning and drone. Area A proved to contain remains of two adjacent structures, perhaps the largest in the settlement. Area B, outside the boundary wall, contained traces of long houses. A terrace with associated rooms in Area D may form monastic cells associated with a nearby church. Many surface finds were recorded here. In Area E a potentially multi-level structure was noted. Area F contained a structure with two walls forming a very strong corner. In addition, Olive Church nearby was scanned for photogrammetry. Near Apeiranthos another church, Agios Emolaos, was also scanned using a laser scanner.

Olive church from the air

Surveying in Area F

Excavation in 2024

One of the most obvious questions to ask about Kato Choria is its relationship with Kastro Apalirou, but also, because so little excavation has taken place of Byzantine settlements in this period more widely, the project aims to provide important new evidence for understanding Byzantine settlement, housing and lifeways in the Cyclades between the 7th and 11th centuries CE. In 2024 we followed up on the initial field survey with excavation in Areas D and F.

Area D

Two trenches were excavated in Area D based on surface remains already mapped in 2022. Trench D.1 contained three walls, two bonded together, giving insight into the development of the terracing system. Finds of Early Byzantine date (8^th century CE) included amphora fragments and a quern. One certain and one possible cist burials were detected but not excavated. In Trench D.2, 16m to the north of D.1, excavation of three surface features revealed a possible platform or enclosure within which was set a cist tomb. The cist was partially excavated revealing one articulated burial and a second displaced burial. The grave featured a tombstone with an incised cross.

The graves in Area D reveal that at least two of the structures in this series of rooms were used for cist burial covered in stone slabs. The ceramic material suggests a date of the 8^th century CE and was found with other domestic-type pottery, but no clear domestic horizons or floor deposits were encountered. The relationship of the burial in Trench D.2 with surrounding walls suggests it may have been inserted into earlier structures, though at this stage we cannot rule out the possibility that they were monuments to frame the cist burials. A small programme of scientific dating will help to resolve this question and add to the narrative of this part of the site.

Area F

In Area F, we excavated a significant part of a substantial building constructed on sloping, terraced ground, with excellent views to the northwest, west and southwest. Most of Area F was covered in very large stones from the collapsed building and material from the slope of the hill. The principal building measures at least 4.6 m x 4.9 m but is likely to be larger than this. Walls are about 0.75 m wide. Ceramics, mainly storage vessels, date to the 8^th to 11^th centuries CE, with some beehive fragments perhaps indicative of subsequent periods. Some of these ceramics and a piece of iron slag were found in a stone box-like construction 0.8 m x 0.6 m. Potential wall plaster fragments were also found in this room. Areas of organised collapsed stones originated from the collapse of the walls.

Results

In Area D, ceramics from the range of structures would seem to date to the 8^th century CE. Further stratigraphic analysis of these structures and scientific dating of the skeletal remains will help reveal whether the structures were built as tombs or constructed at an earlier date as dwellings of some sort. We suspect that scientific dating of the burials may provide a relatively late date compared to the ceramics from the buildings, which may suggest that these burials were inserted into earlier buildings and add considerably to the narrative of these structures over several hundred years.

In Area F, a substantial stone building constructed in a location with impressive views of the surrounding landscape seems to have collapsed leaving a semi-articulated arrangement of stones lying in situ where they fell. No floor surface was reached on the interior of the lower (western) part  of this structure but on the eastern side of Area F, an area of possible floor surface may extend further to the east (upslope). The stone box-like feature was associated with sherds and slag which might suggest a relatively late date compared to sherds found in Area D. Scientific sampling of the soil samples taken from the surface may provide an indication of the activities that were taking place there.

The excavations at Kato Choria provide the first excavated evidence of the non-monumental archaeology of the extra-mural settlement below Kastro Apalirou. Investigations of buildings from Areas D and F in 2024 have revealed evidence for material culture related to domestic activities as well as the use of buildings for burial. Initial observations would suggest that the chronology of the material encountered follows a similar timespan to the kastro with ceramics of the 8^th and 9^th century being particularly visible as well as some material which may date to the 10^th or 11^th century.

Cist grave with cover slabs in Area D

Stone box feature excavated in Area F

Fallen wall in Area F