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The Kenchreai Cemetery Project (KCP) comprises an interdisciplinary archaeological research teamthat is exploring a major cemetery of Roman date in southern Greece. The cemetery is located on the Koutsongila Ridge just north of the ancient harbour of Kenchreai, the prosperous eastern port of Corinth.Surface remainsthat have beenvisible forcenturies orexposed by lootinginclude chamber tombs, cist gravesandarchitecture.In 2004 KCPconductedgeologicalandgeophysicalinvestigations to reconstruct the naturaland settledlandscapewhere ancient residentsburied theirdead.Geological study of the ridge and its vicinity has determined that the tombs are situated within a geologic unit particularly wellsuited forrock-cut construction, andthat tombswereintentionallycutinto thebedrock so that thevaultedroofs correspondedwitha particularlyresistant calcareoushorizon (caliche), which provided a stable ceiling for the subterranean chambers. Moreover, several metres of coastline have eroded into the Saronic Gulf since antiquity. A systematic geophysical survey using electromagnetic, magnetic, ground-penetrating radar and gravity techniques was also carried out to map uncovered remainsandto correlatevisiblewith subsurface features.Severalanomalieswereidentified that might represent previously unknown large structures and burial sites in the central and southern areas of the ridge. In addition, experimental tests using GPR and micro-gravitometry demonstrated the efficacyof these methods for surveying rock-cut tombs.The combined results of geological and geophysical investigation provide valuable information concerning local resource exploitation, structural distribution, and environmental change. These investigations model an innovative approach to the study of mortuary landscapes.

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Recent exploration of the site of Kenchreai, the eastern port of Corinth in southern Greece, has focussed on a cemetery of subterranean chamber tombs dating chiefly to the Early Roman period (middle-late 1st to 3rd centuries AD). The copious but fragmentary human bones and teeth found in Tomb 10 have been disturbed since burial by natural processes, including bedrock erosion and the infiltration of moisture, roots and basic sediment, and by destructive looters. Nonetheless, the remains furnish considerable information about the mortuary practices of wealthy residents. Analysis of the remains in their archaeological and taphonomic contexts reveals that Tomb 10 contained at least 23 individuals, 15 inhumed in loculi and 8 cremated and placed in niches, sometimes in urns. The identification of males, females and subadults among the burned and unburned bones and teeth suggests that spouses, parents and children probably from several generations of the same lineage or household were buried here. The nature of the cremated fragments reflects a laborious process during which mourners burned bodies on substantial pyres at extremely high temperatures for a long time. Then they carefully extracted a representative sample of small fragments from throughout the reduced skeleton for burial at the tomb. This study contributes to a better understanding of mortuary practices in the Roman East, particularly the Greek world, where the chamber tomb was a common sepulchral type.