Summary
The present study is dedicated to some of the finds from a type of archaeological structures that are specific to the Classical and Hellenistic necropolis of Apollonia – the so-called “ritual fireplaces”. These are the remains of
rituals carried out in the necropolis and related to food consumption or offerings and libations for the dead. Subsequently, the entire inventory was symbolically destroyed by burning and left in situ. Ritual fireplaces are
usually discovered between the graves, most often next to stone walls and other structures delimiting burials or groups of burials. They are easily identifiable as clearly defined spots of ash and charcoal, containing fragmentary pottery and other archaeological materials (Fig. 1), usually of elongated oval shape, varying from small to very large, up to two by three meters. They were arranged either on the ancient surface, or in shallow pits in the sand; the layer is usually some 10 cm thick. In the huge majority of cases, the ritual was performed only once at any given place.