Project Description

In July 1984, an ancient sarcophagus of the early archaic period was found during rescue excavations conducted by Dr. E. Korka in the area of Faneromeni near the town of Chiliomodi in Corinth. Inside the sarcophagus, a female skeleton was preserved along with remarkable offerings and the interior of the slab was covered with a composition of two lions of monumental character.
Because of the importance of this find, surveys were conducted in the area around the discovery and the surrounding region where the ancient city of Tenea is believed to have been located.
The first systematic investigations in the area became in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 under the direction of Dr. Elena Korka, Director of General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage in Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. It included the participation of Greek and foreign scholars, archaeologists, geologists, and students. An archaic cemetery of continuous use came to light. Organized burial sites with archaic period enclosures were found forming part of a rich cemetery worthy of the importance of the city of Tenea during the archaic period. Also in 2015 the research, inside the village of Chiliomodi, brought to light a structure which could perhaps be interpreted as an ancient road, which it could be one of the main arteries of the city and that it provides important evidence for the localization of ancient Tenea.
During the excavations of 2016, a magnificent funerary monument of the Roman times has been revealed, which probably belongs to a larger complex of such monuments on the outskirts of the city. This year we also discovered through excavation part of an extensive building with individual rooms at the west of the funerary monument.
Tenea was the main town of the valley, which is situated in a strategic location controlling the pathway from Argos to ancient Corinth and Kenchreai which was very active in the 8th century BC due to the participation of Tenea in the colonization of Syracuse. Pausanias, the second century AD traveler, stated that residents of Tenea were Trojan prisoners transferred from Tenedos under the command of Agamemnon. The historian Strabo mentions that Tenea was the place where the Corinthian king Polybius nursed Oedipus. Moreover, Strabo declared that before the destruction of Corinth by the Romans, Tenea became independent.
Until the beginning of our research only sporadic finds of the city have been discovered in the region between Klenia and Chiliomodi such as the Munich kouros, the above mentioned sarcophagus, and two archaic kouroi found and seized by the police in 2010 with the cooperation of Dr. E. Korka, then Head of the Ephorate of Documentation and Protection of Cultural Goods. It is thus most likely that substantial archaeological remains of this important ancient city are expected to come to light very soon.
Location: Corinth , Peloponnese, Greece
Season: September 1 to October 10,
Application Deadline:10 August 2017
Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: 2 weeks
Room and Board Arrangements
The accommodation of the students will covered by the program. We will send you all the details concerning the accommodation as soon as possible.
Contact e-mails: ekorka@culture.gr
teneaproject@hotmail.com