This paper presents the findings of the inaugural season of the Bays of East Attica Regional Survey project (BEARS). The project aims to clarify the history of human activity around the bay of Porto Rafti in eastern Attica. Surface finds from Raftis Island demonstrate that it was the location of a major Late Helladic IIIC site probably linked to the cemetery at Perati, as well as of limited Late Roman occupation. The Pounta peninsula yielded a large quantity of obsidian lithics, indicating significant activity during the Final Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, with lesser quantities of material dated to the Late Helladic IIIC and Roman/Byzantine periods. At Koroni, surface finds of Late Helladic IIIC and Archaic/Classical date indicate that activity at the site predates the third-century Ptolemaic military camp excavated by American archaeologists in 1960. Overall, these survey data provide a range of new evidence and insight into the history of the Porto Rafti area and its connections to other regions of the Aegean. Methodologically, the project’s work also demonstrates the value of conducting archaeological surface survey even in areas with extensive modern development.

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This paper presents the work of the Bays of East Attica Regional Survey project in 2020 and 2021. The project focuses on documenting evidence of human occupation and land use around the bay of Porto Rafti in eastern Attica, Greece. Work in 2020 and 2021 built on the progress achieved in the 2019 pilot season, which established the presence of a Final Neolithic/Early Bronze Age obsidian processing centre on the Pounta peninsula, a sizeable Late Helladic IIIC settlement on the islet of Raftis, and some minor pre- and post-Ptolemaic activity on the Koroni peninsula, previously assessed as a single-period military camp. Fieldwork in 2021 documented a dense, multi-period surface scatter on the islet of Praso, including Final Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Late Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman material. Remains of waste products from the manufacture of Late Helladic IIIC White Ware, Classical/Hellenistic tile, Late Roman tile, and metal indicate the frequentative presence of industrial activity. Additional study of material from the 2019 season in 2020 and 2021 provided new insights into the chronological and typological character of material from Pounta, Koroni, and Raftis. The survey data from the first two field seasons of the project contribute to an increasingly rich and detailed reconstruction of society and economy in Porto Rafti bay throughout antiquity.