RESCUE EXCAVATION OF A HOUSE OF THE EARLY BYZANTINE PERIOD IN THE SEASIDE SETTLEMENT OF PANORMOS, RETHYMNON: A FIRST APPROACH TO ITS POTTERY FINDS.

The rescue excavation, carried out in 2008-2009 by the 28th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities on C. Eukarpidis’ property, is situated in the seaside settlement of Panormos, Rethymnon, and has brought to light the lower parts of walls and the courtyard of a building.

The excavated site must have been quite a large rural house, dated from the 6th to the end of the 7th c. A.D. A sizeable courtyard partly surrounded the site on the north and part of the east and south sides. The south side of the courtyard was constructed at a later date, probably after the site was abandoned. Its floor was covered with rectangular flagstones.

The preliminary study of the pottery excavated in the destruction layer is presented here. The pottery studied to date is classified into two categories: fine wares (African red slip wares and Phocean wares) and common wares, subdivided into storage, cooking and transportation wares (amphorae, basins, cups, cooking pots). According to the studied pottery and some copper coins of the reign of Constans II (641-668 AD), the site must have been abandoned by the end of the 7th c., probably during the Arab raids.