 |  |
| Plan of ancient harbor and Koutsongila Ridge |
The focus of KCP has been the major Roman cemetery north of the harbor that was previously explored in 1905, 1906, 1969, 1988, 1989 and 1990. It is situated along the eastern slope of a calcareous coastal ridge called Koutsongila, which dominates the view of the harbor and its northern environs from both land and sea. Although the southernmost section of the cemetery is on land owned by the government, the entire site is still ravaged by looting. Illicit excavation has so far uncovered 29 chamber tombs and 26 cist graves. Although KCP is studying only a sample of all burial sites in what was a vast cemetery, according to cautious estimation, these together represent the mortuary interests of at least 400 persons who lived and died at Kenchreai. The cemetery was highly conspicuous on the ridge's seaward slope, where it was seen by ships entering the harbor and travelers along the shore. Moreover, it was close to the commercial, industrial, and residential core of the ancient city. The documentation of fragmentary architecture at the surface indicates that burial extended right up to a dense zone of brick buildings near the north mole that probably represent sumptuous houses.
 | |
| Grave 2, looking west | |
The cemetery contains two distinct types of burials: cist graves at ground level and chamber tombs underground. The small cist graves were either shafts or rectangular pits covered by roughly cut slabs or terracotta or slate tiles. They typically contained only one or two inhumed corpses and few artifacts, apart from occasional lamps or vessels. There is no indication that they were clustered or demarcated to form spatial groups for graveside rituals and interment. They seem to have been used over a long span of time, from the late 1st until the 7th century.
|  |
| Foundations and dromos of Tomb 6, looking west |
In contrast to the formal variety of the cists, the tombs display a more or less canonical form. They were marked at the surface with monuments, probably gabled structures with monumental façades, and entered through descending stairways (
dromoi). The chambers had a roughly square plan (ca. 4 m x 4 m) and a barrel-vauled ceiling, with compartments in the lower parts of the walls to receive
inhumed corpses (loculi) and niches in the upper parts of the walls to receive urns containing cremated remains. Most chambers have stone furniture, such as benches and pedestals used as altars, and some were richly painted. Deposits both inside and outside the chambers contain numerous artifacts left by mourners at the time of interment and during later visits. The evidence of skeletal remains, burial spaces, artifacts, and epitaphs shows that these chambers were used for the deposition of numerous members of single families over several generations. Their primary phase of use was the late 1st-early/middle 3rd centuries, but they were re-used by Christians during roughly the 4th-7th centuries.
