Australian Paliochora Kythera Archaeological Survey example essay topic

The medieval fortified township of Paliochora (or Aghios Demetrius as it was known in Byzantine times) is Kythera's most significant archaeological landmark. The Australian Paliochora-Kythera Archaeological Survey (APKAS) has set out to explore this fascinating area and, in particular, to study the relationship and interaction between Paliochora and surrounding towns and hamlets including the agricultural hinterland and how people lived. It is conducting a surface survey of a 64 square kilometre region around the site, recording archaeological features such as ceramic artefacts, walls of buildings, fields, churches and houses. The survey area essentially comprises the central plateau running north-south between Pot amos and Aroniadika and the ravines running east-west. The Survey is attempting to establish a history of the Paliochora and surrounding landscape throughout time as well as its relationship to the surrounding areas. For Australian-Kytherians this has special significance since many family names from the island can be traced back to the time of the existence of Paliochora.

Several of the villages in the vicinity of Paliochora (e. g., Zaglanikianika, Melitianika, Trifyllianika) are depopulated today. APKAS, through its fieldwork and investigations, is also hoping to find answers to one of the most perplexing problems in the history of Kythera: why the area of Paliochora was not settled until around 1000 AD, and why it was abandoned some time after the sack by the Ottoman pirate, Barbarossa. Fieldworkers systematically walk across a particular area, having to negotiate some barren ground, and as each area is sampled representative artefacts and other items are collected, described and dated. The finds are now kept in the museum in Hora. Out of some 10,000 objects encountered in the field the team has surveyed over 3000 artefacts and has found pieces of pottery going back thousands of years, covering the Minoan civilization (2000 BC), the Roman period and the early Helladic period (3200-2050 BC). APKAS has also surveyed more than 70 churches in the area which relate back to the medieval period (by virtue of their frescoes and architectural design).

This examination of the chapels surrounding Paliochora will also assist in explaining their links to the surrounding modem day villages. Most interesting is APKAS' work in the area around Aghios Georgios Kolokythias which lies north of A ghia Pelagic and where the remains of a medieval fortified settlement (including churches, buildings and fortification walls with towers) have been surveyed. It is thought to date back to the 11th century and therefore predates Paliochora. Ceramic remains found at Aghios Georgios suggest that this settlement had trading links with Monemvassia and Sparta. APKAS has been able to record the surveyed areas on the Geographical Information System (GIS) - a geo morphological study used to reconstruct the nature of the medieval landscape.

In that way, the team has created computer-generated maps and diagrams showing the fortified township of Aghios Georgios Kolokythias as it would have existed in medieval times..