The thirteenth-to-sixteenth-century kastro of Kephalos: a contribution to the archaeological study of medieval Paros and the Cyclades (original) (raw)
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Archaeological Studies Leiden University 40. Leiden: Leiden University press, 2017
This 40th volume of the ASLU series is concerned with the study of the Cycladic settled landscape in Late Antiquity and the Byzantine Early Middle Ages. It offers a fresh approach to the history and archaeology of the Cyclades under the light of current archaeological investigations. It is an attempt to interpret human-environmental interaction in order to “read” the relationship between islands, settlements, landscapes and seascapes in the context of the diverse and highly interactive Mediterranean world. The methodology proposed is an interdisciplinary approach, which combines archaeological evidence, literary sources, and observations of the sites and micro-landscapes as a whole, with the advantages offered by the application of new technologies in archaeological research (Geographic Information Systems). The islands of Paros and Naxos are used as case-studies. It is a challenging task to trace how these neighbouring insular communities reacted under the same general circumstances pertaining in the Aegean and to what extent the landscape played a role in this process.
An archaeological survey in the Gulf of Keramos 1997
Most of the time of our field work has been focused on the ancient city of Keramos, today the pretty town of Ören including its hinterland; thenceforth we moved to the east boating as far as the island of Kedreai, having once again checked the frescoes in Alakışla and some monuments and inscriptions on the shore of Aşağı Mazı.
Archaeological Studies Leiden University 22, 2012
This ASLU volume examines the built environment and aspects of domestic material culture of the Late Byzantine/Frankish, Ottoman and Early Modern Cyclades in the Aegean (13th – 20th centuries). On the basis of primary archaeological data gathered by the Cyclades Research Project, this monograph’s aims are the reconstruction of everyday domestic life in towns and villages, the identification of socio-cultural identities that shaped or were reflected on pre-Modern material remains, and the history of island landscapes through the study of certain aspects of material culture. Aspects of ‘material culture’ analysed in this study include settlement layout (fortified settlements and undefended nucleated villages), domestic buildings (housing of urban character, peasant housing and farmsteads), ceramics (locally produced and imported glazed tableware), internal fittings (built structures and mobile fittings) and island-costumes (male and female dress codes).
Oria Kastro on Kythnos: analysis of the built remains
Iron, Steel and Buildings: The Proceedings of the Seventh Conference of the Construction History, 2020
Oria Kastro is a ruined fortified settlement on the island of Kythnos in the western Cyclades in Greece. Built on a remote cliff, it is considered to have been Kythnos’ medieval capital, founded Byzantine times in the 7th century AD. Its present form, however, is the result of alterations made by the Latins in the early 13th century, after they established their Aegean Duchy. Its walls include about 130 buildings of various uses (houses, churches, cisterns etc.). What is special about this stronghold, is that after being captured and destroyed by the Ottomans in the 1570s, it was abandoned never to be inhabited again, becoming a valuable fossil of the original layout of such settlements. While most other contemporary Aegean kastra gradually transformed into modern settlements, Oria preserved an amalgamation of both Byzantine and Latin construction phases. Despite its importance the site has not been subject to systematic research so far. Kythnos has always been a poor island with limited resources. Its landscape is rocky and barren with barely any woodlands. The only material found in abundance is stone. This lack of variety in raw materials is also reflected in Oria’s remains which are very poor, mostly in local rubble stones. Timber was used sparingly, and mortar was reserved only for important public buildings (churches and cisterns) and the walls. Imported building materials were a rare luxury, so building methods and techniques are very local. This study is part of a wider attempt to document and analyse the remains of the Kastro. Through detailed surveys it aims to record the building materials, identify their origins (Byzantine or Latin) and understand how their availability determined size and form. Analysis of prominent buildings (townhouse of the Gozzadini lairds, churches) reveals a gradual sophistication in construction from local Byzantine practice, either in the diversification of elements or the more precise use of stone like schist in creating arches and piers. Limit State analysis of the few remaining vaults will further support the assessment of the masons’ skills. Although vernacular in character, Oria was very important on a local scale, shaping the historical course of Kythnos. Oria possibly represents the broader contemporary development of settlements in Latin Cyclades outside the better known and more elaborate central islands like Naxos or Paros, so this study takes a snapshot of construction culture of the time. There are very few studies on similar sites in medieval Cyclades, with very limited analysis of building fabric.
The medieval Kato Kastro (Lower Castle) of Andros: excavation data and ceramic material
B.Böhlendorf-Arslan, A.O.Uysal, J.Witte-Orr (eds.), Çanak, Proceedings of the First International Symposium Late Antique and Medieval Pottery and Tiles in Archaeological Contexts, Canakkale 1-3 June 2005 (Byzas 7), Istanbul , 2008
The purpose of this paper is to present the excavation data from the islet fort at the Lower Castle of Andros, focusing on the ceramic material studied so far. The aim of the research was to record the existing buildings (curtain wall, Central Tower, Northeast Tower), to conduct a surface survey of the area and finally to excavate trenches at the most significant points (Northeast House). The excavation (1991-1996) concluded that the Lower Castle was constructed in the beginning of the 13th century, when Andros became a domain of the pro-venetian Ducat of the Archipelago (1207) following the 4th crusade (1204) and the dismantlement of the Byzantine Empire. In 1566 Andros was conquered by the Ottoman navy, and the Castle was afterwards only sporadically used. The pottery collected, along with coins and other minor objects, offers valuable evidence concerning questions of date, provenance and interrelations, thus enlightening the state of the island during the medieval and early modern period. The presence of ceramic wares, such as glazed sgraffito, slip painted, Italian maiolica, Spanish lustre, marbled, “Miletus”, Iznik and Çanakkale, also recorded in various centres of both eastern and western Mediterranean, proves beyond doubt the close commercial ties and contacts between the island and these centres, and the intense naval activity in the Aegean from the 13th century onwards.
Commercial Activity in the Aegean of the 13th-16th Century: The ceramic evidence from Andros
w/S.Arvaniti, published in S.Antoniadou, A.Pace (eds.), Mediterranean Crossroads, Athens 2007, pp. 623-641, 2007
The ceramic material from the excavation of the Lower Castle (Kato Kastro) in the island of Andros serves as evidence to enlighten questions of movement, commerce and fluidity in the Aegean world during the period of the island’s Venetian Rule, 1207-1566. The categories detected belong to four different cultural spheres in the Mediterranean: the Byzantine, the Italian, the Spanish and the Ottoman one. In the period of the 13th-15th cent., the majority belongs to Byzantine workshops with only a small number of ceramics imported from Italy and Spain. During the latter Venetian period (up to 1566) the majority originates from Ottoman centres, with again a small number of imports from Italian workshops.
Journal of Greek Archaeology, 2022
This article aims to summarise the results of three periods of fieldwork carried out at Keros in the Cyclades since 2006. These are the Cambridge Keros Project of 2006–2008, the Keros Island Survey of 2012–2013, and the Keros-Naxos Seaways Project of 2015–2018. Taken together, these form a coherent, large-scale project that aimed to study a maritime landscape in some depth, putting the Kavos and Dhaskalio sites in a broader context, while through excavation understanding in great detail the formation, use and abandonment of the sanctuary site on Kavos and the large built-up area on Dhaskalio.