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.
AIA-2C