The site of ancient Methone was discovered in the 1970s, near the coast of northern Pieria and north of the modern settlement of Nea Agathoupoli. Excavations in the area began in 2003 by the 6th Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki, while from 2004 onwards the excavations were continued by the newly established Ephorate of Antiquities of Pieria, under the direction of Matthaios Besios (Besios 2003). During the period 2014-2017 a new excavation period was initiated by the Ephorate in collaboration with the University of California (UCLA), under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens (Morris & Papadopoulos 2020).
The archaeological evidence are particularly rich and have revealed a continuous occupation from the Late Neolithic until 354 BC. Important was the discovery of a cemetery dating to the Late Bronze Age, in which a total of 39 graves were found. Inhumation in a pit grave was the dominant burial practice (Besios 2003, Besios et al. 2004). The majority of the inhumations consist of single primary burials; however, the osteological analysis revealed that in some cases there is evidence of secondary treatment (Papathanasiou 2020). It is noteworthy that in only one case, cremation was used as a burial practice. The differential treatment of this particular burial is likely to be linked to a chronological difference, as the handmade pot, inside which the burnt bones were found, may date to the end of the LBA or the ΕΙΑ (Morris et al. 2023).
References
Besios, Μ. (2003) Ανασκαφή Μεθώνης 2003, Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και Θράκη 17, 443-451.
Besios, M., Athanasiadou, A., Gerofoka E. & Christakou-Tolia, M. (2004) Ανασκαφή Μεθώνης 2004, Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και Θράκη 18, 367-376.
Papathanasiou, V. (2020) Σκελετικά Κατάλοιπα και Ταφικές Πρακτικές στη Μακεδονία στην Ύστερη Εποχή του Χαλκού: Η Περίπτωση της Μεθώνης Πιερίας (unpublished MA dissertation, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki).
Morris, S. Ρ., Triantaphyllou, S. & Papathanasiou, V. (with contributions by John K. Papadopoulos, Vanessa Muros, Brian Damiata, and John Southon) (2023), The Late Bronze Age Cemetery, in꞉ S. P. Morris & J. K. Papadopoulos (eds.) Excavations at Methone 2003-2013, Excavations by Matthaios Bessios, Athena Athanassiadou and Konstantinos Noulas, Monumenta Archaeologica 49, 239-322, (Los Angeles, The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press).
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki