Vathy Astypálaias: Déka chrónia éreunas (2011–2020) se éna diachronikó palímpsesto tou Aigaíou

Ten years of research (2011-2020) on a diachronic palimpsest of the Aegean is titled Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research. In it, the collaborators in the field project present a synthesis of their study in progress, which together with the major entities of the pre-excavation and excavation data form the four parts of the book, so examining all aspects of the palimpsest gulf and its monuments.

The First Part (Section I) is headed ‘Surface Survey at Vathy’. Presented are the data, the documentation and the assessment of the findings of several years of fieldwork, intensive and extensive, the first (intensive) carried out on Cape Elliniko (North Coast, East Coast, South Coast, Upper Terrace), the second (extensive) on the Pyrgos promontory (property of D. Stavlas, property of M. Pilatos) and on the opposite slope of Chalasmata.

The Second Part (Section II) is headed ‘Excavating at Vathy’. Here, presented in chronological sequence and in accordance with the topographical axes of the monuments (prehistoric citadel, ancient tower, Early Christian basilica and Byzantine graves), are succinct texts about the points where the targeted excavation trenches on Cape Elliniko were investigated during the decade 2012-2021, so that the reader can form a good and comprehensive picture of the archaeological stratigraphy of the place.

Τhe Third Part (Section III) is devoted to presenting and discussing the rock-art representations, the wide dispersion of which is distinctive of the citadel at Elliniko, the slopes of the Pyrgos promontory, and the opposite slope Chalasmata, with motifs which either as subject or as scale are most valuable and voluble for the Aegean islands. Crucial to this discussion is the contribution of the modern visual artist, who graphically documents the petroglyphs (Nikos Sepetzoglou), and of the specialist in ancient shipbuilding, who interprets the depictions of ships (Panagiotis Tzovaras). An application from the science of computer vision (Giorgos Tsigas, Giorgos Sfikas) offers cutting-edge technology to the automatic seeking of rock-carvings in the field.

The Fourth Part of the volume (Section IV) is headed ‘Exedres 1 and 2 and the infant enchytrismoi’. It includes the publication of both the rescue and the systematic excavation conducted in the years 2012-2015, on the coastal rectangular construction Κ16 of the North Coast of the promontory, where the Exedres (platforms) 1 and 2 brought to light five enchytrismoi of infants – that is, infant burials in clay domestic vases, dated to the period 3200-2800 BC (Final Neolithic / Early Bronze Age Ι). The construction belongs in the dense network of rectangular boulder-built enclosures that configure the North Coast and the East Coast of the promontory and is the first of the ‘exedres’ –as the excavation in subsequent seasons demonstrated– which delimited the space of the systematic burial of neonates/young infants, but also accommodated the related practices and ritual activities that were customary for the society.

Ten years of research (2011-2020) on a diachronic palimpsest of the Aegean is titled Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research. In it, the collaborators in the field project present a synthesis of their study in progress, which together with the major entities of the pre-excavation and excavation data form the four parts of the book, so examining all aspects of the palimpsest gulf and its monuments.

The First Part (Section I) is headed ‘Surface Survey at Vathy’. Presented are the data, the documentation and the assessment of the findings of several years of fieldwork, intensive and extensive, the first (intensive) carried out on Cape Elliniko (North Coast, East Coast, South Coast, Upper Terrace), the second (extensive) on the Pyrgos promontory (property of D. Stavlas, property of M. Pilatos) and on the opposite slope of Chalasmata.

The Second Part (Section II) is headed ‘Excavating at Vathy’. Here, presented in chronological sequence and in accordance with the topographical axes of the monuments (prehistoric citadel, ancient tower, Early Christian basilica and Byzantine graves), are succinct texts about the points where the targeted excavation trenches on Cape Elliniko were investigated during the decade 2012-2021, so that the reader can form a good and comprehensive picture of the archaeological stratigraphy of the place.

Τhe Third Part (Section III) is devoted to presenting and discussing the rock-art representations, the wide dispersion of which is distinctive of the citadel at Elliniko, the slopes of the Pyrgos promontory, and the opposite slope Chalasmata, with motifs which either as subject or as scale are most valuable and voluble for the Aegean islands. Crucial to this discussion is the contribution of the modern visual artist, who graphically documents the petroglyphs (Nikos Sepetzoglou), and of the specialist in ancient shipbuilding, who interprets the depictions of ships (Panagiotis Tzovaras). An application from the science of computer vision (Giorgos Tsigas, Giorgos Sfikas) offers cutting-edge technology to the automatic seeking of rock-carvings in the field.

The Fourth Part of the volume (Section IV) is headed ‘Exedres 1 and 2 and the infant enchytrismoi’. It includes the publication of both the rescue and the systematic excavation conducted in the years 2012-2015, on the coastal rectangular construction Κ16 of the North Coast of the promontory, where the Exedres (platforms) 1 and 2 brought to light five enchytrismoi of infants – that is, infant burials in clay domestic vases, dated to the period 3200-2800 BC (Final Neolithic / Early Bronze Age Ι). The construction belongs in the dense network of rectangular boulder-built enclosures that configure the North Coast and the East Coast of the promontory and is the first of the ‘exedres’ –as the excavation in subsequent seasons demonstrated– which delimited the space of the systematic burial of neonates/young infants, but also accommodated the related practices and ritual activities that were customary for the society.