the excavation of the athenian agora twelfth season: 1947

EXCAVATION OF ATHENIAN AGORA, 1947 163
supposition that the blocks derive from one or other of the monuments with Egyptian
associations known to have existed in or near the Agora: the Sanctuary of Sarapis,
the Gymnasium of Ptolemy, the statues of the Egyptian kings in front of the Odeion.
The north slope of the Areopagus was served by a road that ran from east to
west and followed approximately the contours of the hill. Although most of the roadbed
has been cut away by late building activities, its course may be plotted from the
disposition of ancient foundations, wells, and cisterns. Coming from the direction
of the Peiraeus Gate it took one eastwN;ard to the Panathenaic Way at a point opposite
the Eleusinion, while a branch swept around the northeast shoulder of the Areopagus
to pass through the saddle between Areopagus and Acropolis.
THE AREA TO THE WEST OF THE AREOPAGUS (P1. 44, Fig. 6)
The major effort of the season was devoted to the area west of the Areopagus.
i. e., the valley between the Areopagus on the one side, the Hill of the Nymphs and
Kolonos Agoraios on the other. Already in the seasons of 1939, 1940, and 1946
a great deal of earth had been removed but much still remained, for the area is large
(ca. 9600 square mnetres, i. e., ca. 23 acres) and, on account of the hollow between the
hills, it had become filled with vast masses of silt, the accumulation between bedrock
and the modern surface attaining a maximum depth of over 11 metres. In view of
the proposal to place the permanent Agora museum in this region it was desirable
to complete the archaeological exploration. By the end of the season this exploration,
although far advanced, was by no means completed. The character of the ancient
remains exposed thus far, however, vill necessitate a reconsideration of the advisability
of erecting the Museum within the area.
The southern part of the area (Section NN) was supervised by Mr. Rodney
Young, the northeastern part (Section 00) by Miss Margaret Crosby relieved by
Mr. Eugene Vanderpool in the latter part of the season, and the northwestern part
(Section 1111) by Mr. Roger Edwards.
A scattered series of burials, extending in date from the Bronze Age into the
Hellenistic period, came to light. At the northeastern foot of the Hill of the Nymphs,
in a region much disturbed by the laying of drains and of house foundations, a
Mycenaean chamber tomb was found, its burials miraculously intact (P1. 45). The
small rectangular chamber, 1.80 X 2.30 m. in plan, was entered from the east through
a dromos 1.10m. wide contracting to 0.92 m. at the doorway. In its lower part (0.50m.
at the most) the chamber had been cut from the soft bedrock; above this level it was
scooped from the brown, very compact gravelly earth that overlies bedrock in this
region. The ceiling of the chamber had already collapsed by the sixth century before
Christ if not earlier. Much of the rough stone wall by which the doorway was closed