Perachora Peninsula Archaeological Project 2023: Investigating the Town above the Sanctuary of Hera and Sites Further Afield in the Perachora Peninsula (15 min)

Presenters

Susan Lupack, Macquarie University; Panagiota Kasimi, Ephoreia of Antiquities of the Corinthia; Shawn Ross, Macquarie University; Adela Sobotkova, University of Aarhus; and Barbora Weissova, Bilkent University

Abstract

The Perachora Peninsula Archaeological Project returned to the field for its second season during June–July 2023. Building on the survey and legacy data verification that was begun in the project’s first season (2020), we were able to identify and map several additional features of the town in the upper plain above the eighth to second century B.C.E. Sanctuary of Hera, including quarries and the structure called Dunbabin’s House. The remains of the ancient road running through the town were also more systematically traced and total pick-ups were conducted around the Heraion to gain further information about key areas surveyed in 2020. This season we also documented many features with a DJI Phantom 4 RTK drone. All this work is contributing to a more holistic understanding of the lived experience of the inhabitants of the town associated with the sanctuary.

Fieldwork was also conducted elsewhere in the Perachora Peninsula: teams of fieldwalkers intensively surveyed the agricultural plain of Asprokampos, providing context for two archaic–classical structures situated on the slopes to the southeast of the plain: The first set of extant walls is associated with the Church of the Zoodochos Piyi and the second with the nearby Church of Profitis Elias, both of which incorporate ancient remains in their construction. Sherds from a range of time periods were identified, including a number dating to the Late Helladic period, attesting to the long use of this fertile plain. Drone visualization was also undertaken, with the guidance of the Ephoreia, at Diokastro, the fortified site above Schinos recorded by Xenophon (Hellenica 4.5; Oinoe) as having been captured by Agesilaos in 390 B.C.E. Close collaboration with the Ephoreia of the Corinthia is producing a map of the sites of Perachora that reflects all the archaeological work done in the region.