the excavation of the athenian agora twelfth season: 1947

170 HOMER A. THOMPSON
has an entire unit yet been cleared so that a discussion of the plans must be deferred
to a subsequent report.
It may be noted, however, that the walls of these houses still stand in many places
to shoulder height (P1. 47, 1). They are normally plastered and treated in a simple
scheme: a dado lined off and painted in imitation of mottled marble; the upper wall
divided into broad, vertical panels separated by simple floral motifs and bordered by
broad and narrow bands.
The floors of the houses of the Roman period were variously treated. In most
of the rooms the flooring was of firm packed clay, in others of terracotta tiles; the
courts were paved with marble. One of the largest rooms (ca. 8.00 X 8.80 m.) was
floored with mosaic (P1. 47, 2). The principal feature in the design, a large square
panel, was thrust toward the northwest corner of the room; this panel was probably
filled with some figured scene, now completely obliterated by late intrusions. The
square panel was framed by two ornamental bands, a six-strand guilloche and a
maeander, while the broad spaces to east and south were occupied by an interlocking
design of eight-pointed stars and squares filled with a variety of geometric motifs.
The mosaic consists of tesserae, 0.01-0.015 m. square, cut from white marble, black
and red limestone and glass paste of various colors. Among the debris overlying the
mosaic were fragments of an elaborately profiled plaster cornice and of a stuccoed
ceiling with round and lozenge-shaped panels in high relief. The pottery from above
the floor is of the fifth century A.D., proving that the mosaic continued in use that late,
but no evidence is yet available from the excavation for the date of its laying. The
house was undoubtedly damaged in the Herulian sack of A.D. 267 but may well have
been repaired.
One of the most interesting results of the excavation of the area has been the
discovery of evidence for artistic activity in clay, marble and bronze, and also for
various small-scale industrial enterprises.
In 1939 and again in 1946 a certain amount of waste from coroplasts' workshops
had been found at the west foot of the Areopagus. The season of 1947 brought to
light the northward continuation of this deposit; in the northern area the material
had been used in filling behind retaining walls and house foundations in the post-
Sullan reconstruction. In addition to mnany fragmentary figurines of the familiar
Hellenistic types were found not a few moulds for the making of figurines; a typical
example is shown in P1. 61, 3 together with a modern impression. In the same context
appeared small bowls and saucers containing pigments (red, blue, and violet), presumably
stuch as were used in painting the figurines. From here too came a mould
for the making, of Megarian bowls, possibly another product of the same shop.
Perhaps from a neighboring shop derive a nutnber of fragments from small marble
stattiettes, sonme of them unfinished.
On a natural bench low down on the west slope of the Areopagus came to light