Archaeological Reconnaissance of Unexplored Remains of Agriculture ( Aroura ) : Preliminary Fieldwork Report of 2011 (original) (raw)
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Archaeological Reconnaissance of Unexplored Remains of Agriculture (AROURA): Fieldwork Report 2011
AROURA is an official collaboration (συνεργασία) between the IX EPCA of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism, UMBC, and the University of Michigan (as sub-awardee of grants), co-directed by Vassileios L. Aravantinos, Superintendent of IX EPCA, and Michael F. Lane of UMBC. It consists of geophysical sampling and surface survey of the plain immediately around the Late Helladic IIIB fortification of Glas in the northeastern Kopaic Basin, Viotía Prefecture, mainland Greece ( ), carried out under the terms of permit 4ΑΘΒΓ-ΩΥ from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism and permit 221 (post-graduate, Monmouth Univ.), Evantheia V. Iliopoulou (graduate of Aristotle Univ. of Thessaloniki), and Jonathan M. Kerr (graduate of UMBC).
2011
Members of the 9th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities (IX EPCA, Thebes), UMBC, and University of Michigan, in official collaboration (V.L. Aravantinos and M.F. Lane, Co-Directors), carried out geophysical and surface surveys of the plain immediately around the Late Helladic IIIB fortification of Gla (Γλας) in the northeastern Kopaïs, mainland Greece, between 4 October and 14 November 2010. They also undertook subsurface sampling of soils under the terms of permit number 483 from the Institute for Geological and Mineralogical Exploration (ΙΓΜΕ). Fieldwork was funded by a New Research Grant from the Institute for Aegean Prehistory.
Reconnaissance of Uninvestigated Remains of Agriculture ( Aroura ) : Third and Final Summary Report
2012
Between 1 October 2012 and 11 November 2012, Archaeological Reconnaissance of Uninvestigated Remains of Agriculture (AROURA) carried out its final six-week archaeological field campaign in the ancient polder around the Late Helladic IIIB fortress of Glas (Γλας) in the northeastern Kopaic Basin, Viotía Prefecture, mainland Greece. AROURA involved extensive geophysical prospection and surface survey within the polder and at the adjacent site of Aghía Marína Pýrghos (Αγία Μαρίνα Πύργος) on three campaigns between October 2010 and November 2012 (see http://www.umbc.edu/aroura). It was directed, in official collaboration (συνεργασία), by Dr. M.F. Lane on the part of participating American institutions and, in succession, by Prof. V.L. Aravantinos and Dr. A. Charami on the part of the IX EPCA of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism, with Dr. A. Papadaki designated the project Collaborator (Συνεργάτιδα). Dr. T.J. Horsley of Brandeis University and Yale University was the Principal ...
Tracing the Remains of a Late Bronze Age Field System in Central Mainland Greece [Proof]
Europe's Early Fieldscapes (eds Arnoldussen et al.), Themes in Contemporary Archaeology, Springer Nature, 2021
The assumption that the Late Bronze Age (‘Late Helladic’ or LH) texts in the Linear B script, used on Crete and mainland Greece and dating to about 1390 to 1190 BC, can be used in conjunction with ethno-archaeological data to model the topography of economic transactions was recently investigated with fieldwork in central Greece. Previously calculated parameters of the dimensions and organisation of land plots recorded in the Linear B archives informed a methodology for discovering a comparable system of fields under suitable conditions in the Aegean. The AROURA project, that formed the basis for this article, identified the Kopaic Basin in northern Boiotia as a suitable study region. Since the end of the last ice age, it has contained a shallow lake with seasonally fluctuating wetland margins, except in the modern era, when it was thoroughly drained, and LH, when it was partially drained, and dykes protected polders of dry land from floods. One of these polders encloses the colossal fortress of Glas, whose storehouses contained thousands of metric tonnes of wheat, indicating extensive cultivation nearby. The polder also displays expansive traces of a premodern landscape beneath the present plough soil. AROURA executed a program of magnetometry, ground-truthed with soil profiling, over 60 ha of land selected from inside the polder around Glas. This fieldwork revealed evidence of canals connected to rivers that were diverted during the LH. The canals appear to feed a network of irrigated fields, particularly to the west of Glas near the polder’s dyke. These plots are evidently demarcated by low levees made of lake sediment and parallel ditches. Their size and configuration conform to the topographical model, and radiocarbon and luminescence dates corroborate their already circumstantially probable attribution to the LH. These discoveries raise new questions concerning the process of agricultural intensification and state formation in LH Greece, particularly concerning the origin and history of relevant hydraulic technologies.
Lane et al 2020 "The AROURA Project: Discoveries in Central Greece, 2010–2014"
Hesperia, 2020
Archaeological Reconnaissance of Uninvestigated Remains of Agriculture (AROURA) consisted of field and laboratory research in the landscape around the Mycenaean (13th-century b.c.) fortress and storehouses of Gla in the Kopaic Basin, Boiotia, Greece. Central to fieldwork was the application of a topographical model of palace estates, based on the interpretation of Mycenaean landholding records. It was then possible to use geophysical technologies to detect the realities represented by the constituents of this model. The present article describes the archaeological and linguistic context of palace agriculture in which this model was developed. It then details the methodologies used, presents results, and draws conclusions about the trajectory of local social complexity compared with other parts of the Aegean.
2012
Over 300 dwelling sites in the mountains of north-east Crete (Agios Nikolaos), datable (by surface pottery and lithics) mainly to the Middle Bronze Age (the Minoan Protopalatial period, ca.2000-1650 BCE) were discovered and studied. Sites were isolated but not more than 300 m (average) apart from each other and interconnected with a network of paths. Most ruin foundations were built with massive block masonry (named “oncolithic” in this study), while long enclosure-walls claimed areas of several thousand square meters (up to 6 hectares) for each habitation, including arable and rocky land. The setting and massive construction of these enclosures, (originally more than a meter high and with a total length of ca 150 km), show that they belonged to the sites. These features were mapped with GPS and used for the GIS study of land use and topography. Archaeologists in the past believed a few of the then known sites (ca. 5, while enclosures and connecting paths were unknown) situated on the old roads, to have been defensible forts or watch-towers because of their so-called “monumental” or “Cyclopean” masonry, but this study shows that the massive settlement including landscape opening (landnam) and structuring (covering an area of ca. 30 sqkm min.) must have been used for mixed agriculture/animal husbandry. The area has been re-used by mixed agriculture (emphasis on pastoral economy) from the second half of the 19th century. Data gained from ethnoarchaeological study are used to corroborate and classify archaeological findings.
ArchéoSciences, 2012
Since 2001 the Aegialia Survey Project (A.S.P.) has sought to reconstruct the dynamics of human occupation in Aegialia, northern Achaea (Greece). In doing so it has followed a multidisciplinary approach, with the involvement of various skills and institutions. Th e surveys in the Krios Valley also entailed the recognition and recording of the current fl ora in the area. Th e survey made it possible to identify the site of Kassaneva, characterised by a high concentration of ceramic artefacts near the surface, which were subsequently subjected to chrono-typological analysis and attributed to the Early Helladic II phase (3 rd millennium B.C.). Th e archaeological excavation yielded palaeoenvironmental data directly from the ancient context. Specifi cally, systematic sampling strategies were adopted in order to recover burnt plant remains belonging to arboreal, shrub and herbaceous species. Together with data from the regional-scale palaeoenvironmental survey, the archaeobotanical analyses enabled us to reconstruct the palaeovegetation in the Bronze Age and the ways in which ancient communities supplied themselves with fuel in numerous ecological areas. In addition, the recovery of seed and fruit remains provided a rare opportunity to highlight agricultural practices in these marginal and inland areas, raising questions about olive cultivation in Achaea from the Early Helladic period onwards. Résumé : Depuis 2001, l' Aegialia Survey Projet (ASP) a cherché à reconstruire la dynamique de l'occupation humaine dans la région de Aegialia, dans le nord Achaïe (Grèce). Ce faisant, on a suivi une approche multidisciplinaire, avec la participation de diverses compétences et institutions. La recherche dans la vallée de Krios impliquait aussi la reconnaissance et l'enregistrement de la fl ore actuelle dans la région. La recherche a permis d'identifi er le site de Kassaneva, caractérisée par une forte concentration d'artefacts en céramique sur la surface, qui ont ensuite été attribuée à la phase de l'Helladique Ancien II (3 e millénaire avant J.-C.). Les fouilles archéologiques ont fourni des données paléoenvironnementales directement sur ce contexte ancien. Plus précisément, des stratégies d'échantillonnage systématique ont été utilisés afi n de récupérer les restes des plantes brûlées appartenant à espèces des arborées, arbustives et herbacées. Avec les données de la recherche à l'échelle régionale paléoenvironnementale, les analyses archéobotaniques nous ont permis de reconstruire la paléovégétation dans l'Age du Bronze et les façons dont les communautés anciennes se sont approvisionnés en bois dans les diff érents zones écologiques. En outre, la récupération des restes des graines et des fruits off ert une rare occasion de mettre en évidence les pratiques agricoles dans ces zones marginales et intérieures de la Grèce, ce qui soulève des questions aussi sur la culture des oliviers en Achaïe a partir de la période Helladique Ancien.
Agropastoral land use and landscape in later prehistoric Greece
2002
T/¡e lIa/l/re alld sea/e 01 agropastoral lalll! use in Neolilhic Greece are problems 01 cOlISiderable signiJicallce 10 lile I1l1derstal/(Jing 01 early Jarmillg sociel)' olUlecollomy_ Relcvam archaeological ami pallleoec%gical cvidellce is sparse and afren ambiguous. /¡owever, cmd is ¡merpreled. eil/¡er implicitly 01" explicitly, by comparisoll wilh allemmive 111m/e/s based 011 recent agropastora/ praclice. T/¡ is paper explores Ihe relevallce 10 prehistory. alld compmibiliry lVirll ,he avai/able evidence, ofrhree sI/eh models: floodwater ¡armillg; extensive agriculture COIIpled will¡ specialised tral/shumanf pastoralism; and small-scale. ¡mellsive, mixed farming. 11 is arglled rha! ¡he las/ of rhese models is Ihe 1110.\'( rele\'allf 10 ,he Neo/ilhic ol/d is also compatible lVitll Ihe Iimited arclllleological amI palaeoecological data. while the /leed is highIig}¡led forfllrt}¡er researcll ¡litO lhe "ature al/d sea/e of Neolithic (/Ilimalllllsba/ldry.