The article deals with a group of late Geometric burials, which according to excavated evidence belonged to aristocratic families of Kifissia. The cemetery comprises some 200 burials, ranging from the 9th B.C. to the 4th c. A.D. Perhaps it was the central, demotic cemetery of Kifissia. The excavation was carried out during 2001-2002 in Kato Kifissia, at the junction of Socratous and Acharnon Streets. From the cemetery, a group of some 22 burials is dated from LG II to Early Archaic. A central part of the cemetery was occupied by a group of highly significant geometric burials. One of them was accompanied by a rare and large amphora, decorated with a series of large tripods. A second burial contained the incinerated remains of a man, whose ashes were placed in a large bronze cauldron. A third central burial contained pottery and a knife. These burials, represented by rectangular and long pits, contained a large number of high quality vases. This group demonstrates that in Geometric times, aristocratic families of old peripheral demes of Attika like Kifissia, applied the Homeric practice of incineration. Nearby, although not belonging to the same group, there was an inhumation, accompanied by an iron sword. The grave is dated about 730 B.C., thus representing one of the latest geometric burials, containing weapons. Contemporary and equally significant geometric cemeteries have been found at Merenta, Anavyssos and at Athens (cemetery of the so- called Eriai Gates, see vases of the so- called Dipylon group).
Δημήτρης Σκιλάρντι
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