The Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens during the period November 2014-January 2018 carried out a large number of rescue excavations for the protection of antiquities discovered during excavations for the construction of private or public technical works of the buildings, with significant findings, which provided interesting information for the knowledge of the ancient topography of the city of Athens (cult, fortification and residential architecture, burial remains, laboratory complexes).
During the supervision of the excavations for the networks, findings concerning residential and laboratory remains, hydraulic systems and burial units of ancient Athens, inside and outside the walls, but also of the rest of the ancient Municipalities, came to light.
Particularly imperative was the timely completion of 16 archaeological self-trust projects with a total budget of €2,760,116, in the context of the execution of third-party NSRF technical projects, most of which concerned Municipalities that had just come under the responsibility of the EFA. of Athens, together with the work of highlighting the most important findings foreseen by the studies.
In the field of burial remains, a particularly important find was the proto-geometric pit tomb located at the junction of Faliros 17 and Sp. Dotas streets in Koukaki, as well as the section of the mock cemetery of the classical times (first half of the 5th-4th centuries BC .), in the aforementioned area of today’s Hamosterna.
Laboratory remains from Roman times were uncovered on the plot of land at 76-80 Agisilau Street in Metaxourgeio, with a better-preserved find of a ceramic rectangular kiln (4.10 × 3.90m, total height 1.40m).
In Plaka, on the plot of the preserved house on Markos Aurelios 3 and Kyristos streets, in the immediate vicinity of the Roman market, two architraves were discovered that come from the Roman Market and were used as gate opening stations, the monumental character of which suggests that it is part of a an important for the area building of the early Byzantine years.
Remains of Roman Athens, probably from the Hadrian period, were uncovered during the school building works in the area of Lenormans-Alikarnassos-Astros and Palamidi streets, where three cisterns (two rectangular and one arched) came to light.
Interesting facts about the residential fabric of the city were discovered in a property on Syggrou Street 34 with fragments of residential remains dating back to classical and Roman times, as well as in a plot of land in Plaka (Goura 5), where a marble sculpture of Aphrodite was collected among the residential remains.
A section of the Themistocleian fortifications of Athens and retaining walls related to a street had already been uncovered since 1959 at the junction of Mitropoleos 15, Voulis, Apollonos and Pentelis streets in Monastiraki (in the building of the former Ministry of National Education and Religion).
In Thisio, at the junction of Poulopoulou 39 and Erysichthonos streets, part of the 4th c. BC, as well as part of the ancient ring road and the ditch of the same era, which reaches approximately 11m. depth.
The unveiling of the Themistocleian wall at a length of 2.40 m and its parapet at a length of 10.80 m as well as a section of Faliriki street, the road and the 10 m long fortification ditch, on the plot at the junction of Faliros 17 and Sp. Dontas in Koukaki is undoubtedly an important contribution to the formation of the fortified architecture of Athens in the 5th and 4th centuries. B.C.