Settlement and Land Use on the Periphery

New Data on Southern Euboean Landscapes: Results of the Norwegian Archaeological Survey in the Karystia

“…Both of these fabrics were observed in the pottery from the Bouros-Kastri peninsula (characterised there as Plain Red Fabric [PRF] and Coarse Red Fabric [CRF]), although the colour of the clay recorded in that case does not seem to correspond directly to the one stated above. However, the fact that the Bouros-Kastri types are interpreted as most likely local (based on their abundant presence in the nearby kiln site of Akrotiri) could point to a local origin for the fabrics considered here as well (Wickens et al 2018, 93–4). A few Roman amphorae represent a third fabric type which is very hard-fired and reddish yellow in colour (5YR 6/8–7/8), and includes a modest quantity of shiny particles and white inclusions (possibly quartzite).…”

“…Trade connections with the northern Aegean or the Black Sea area are attested, furthermore, by the Benghazi Middle Roman 5 or Zeest 80 type amphorae (NASK14 0230, 1253), a type linked to those regions. The type was identified in Karystia itself, in the nearby Bouros-Kastri peninsula (Wickens et al 2018, 218) and, recently, in significant quantities in Dion, Macedonia (Fragoulis, Minasidis and Mentzos 2014, 298, figs 6–7).…”

“…The historical pottery provides critical information that helps to fill the gaps in the archaeological knowledge of the area. Although southern Euboea is represented in the bibliography of the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman pottery (Chatzidimitriou 2003–4; 2006; 2011; Chidiroglou 2011a; 2011b; 2012, 584–617; 2014; Chidiroglou and Chatzidimitriou 2006; Langridge-Noti 2004; Moutsopoulos 1960; Rotroff 2011; Wickens et al 2018, 93–109), this additional material significantly improves our understanding of the region in terms of habitation patterns, commercial connections, and subsistence strategies. The survey collected more than 9000 historical sherds, from which a collection of about 4340 diagnostic sherds was analysed.…”

“…Rotroff, on the other hand, presents a typological organisation of the material from the Bouros-Kastri survey based on the form of the rims and the presence (or not) of necks. A generic chronology is assigned to these types on the basis of similarly shaped examples found elsewhere and on other chronological indicators found at the same findspots as the pithoi fragments (Wickens et al 2018, 105–7). We focus here on the pithos fragments which offer more readily accessible chronological evidence, as well as some of the more important sherds from other types of vessels.…”

“…Keller's work was continued by the Southern Euboea Exploration Project (SEEP), which was founded in 1984 by Keller and the late Malcolm Wallace of the University of Toronto, to promote research into the Karystian past. Since its establishment, SEEP has conducted three systematic surface surveys in the area: the survey of the Paximadi peninsula (Cullen et al 2013); the ‘route survey’ of the portions of the Bouros-Kastri region located east of the Bay of Karystos (Wickens 2011; Wickens et al 2018); and the survey of the Karystian plain, also known as the Kampos (Tankosić and Chidiroglou 2010). These surveys discovered and mapped hundreds of previously unrecorded archaeological sites.…”