The monumental area. The latest period, c. 575–550 BC
According to the reconstruction, the building in the north, which was square, had a gable with an inserted roof facing the courtyard, whereas the one in the east, which was rectangular, turned its long side towards the courtyard. In the courtyard, in front of the building in the north, there was a rectangular, probably sacrificial, pit.
The buildings were decorated with mould-made terracottas: Four types of relief plaques (A–D) and one type of female head antefix. When the buildings collapsed, the terracottas fell to the ground in thousands of fragments. The reconstruction is based mainly on the find spots of the terracottas.
The plaques formed long friezes, creating a mass effect: Processions (one with female figures on chariots, and another one with warriors, in both cases with the emblematic figure of Herakles), banqueters and dancers. The common theme is festivity, and the feast is connected with the cult. The ceremonies may have been rites of passage, and the main function of the monumental area was probably that of a small sanctuary at the northern gateway to the town.