Key Pages

Christopher Witmore |
-- |
Table of Contents |
-- |
Archive |
Scenographies |
-- |
Symmetrical Archaeology |
-- |
the Metamedia Laboratory |
-- |
Mediating Archaeology

Sunday August 10, 2003

I will begin with the reiteration of July 7, 1980 in the area of F58. Transects (marked on the 1:5000 trace map walked on this date took place in the highest stretches of olives on the south slope of the Fournoi valley (south slope of ridge seen at center of landscape panorama of the Fournoi Valley from north to the right of the village). Little was turned up.

Upon a reexamination of time and objectives I have decided to focus on the area of F58 instead. F58 is a small concentration of Classical black glazed pottery and roof tiles in a field just south of the Kranidhi/Fournoi road. I am currently transecting a recently plowed field with good visibility in an effort to locate the site.

Sherds are dispersed across the entire field. As I make my way parallel to the stream channel the densities seem to increase. Where I have kneeled in the shade of an olive to write my notes I have come across several flakes of obsidian. I also see many roof tile fragments in the immediate vicinity. I will take a video walk through the field, take a panorama and some photographs. This area of F58 is located @ N 37° 25.856 E 023° 09.845.

As with F57 olives have been recently planted in the open areas between the existing trees. I will take a walk back toward some older olives by the stream channel.

I have proceeded further up the valley along the road to Fournoi to revisit F18 and F19. Both are within fenced areas by houses next to the main road (refer to 1:5000 Fournoi village NW). I will attempt enter the areas. Given the intrusiveness of this plan I will try to ask permission. If not I will simply take GPS readings and a 360° video panorama.

I was able to ask the owner of the property adjacent to the groves where F19 is located whether I could have a look and take photographs. He found my timidity at doing so extremely humorous and said I could do whatever I liked. F19 @ N 37° 25.898 E 023° 10.339

F19 is located in a fenced plot with olives. It has been recently plowed and is covered in ceramics from one end of the field to the other. Across the road to the south F18 is located in another such area. These fields provide windows into a much larger scatter as deduced by the survey team in 1979.

I took a video transect running from W to E across the entire field parallel to the main road. I also filmed a video diary segment in F19. I didn't enter into the field containing F18. I am convinced that this is a continuous scatter.

I have moved on to the conical hill called Fournoi Magoula (F6). The hill is divided in two with one field fenced in for pasture. It contains dispersed olives set in pocket terraces. The second half is the site of a recent house with substantial amounts of landscaping taking place in the yard. I met with the home owner Vasilles Argiropoulos who told me that the Greek Archaeological Service conducted some excavations on the hill top a couple of years ago and found nothing but bedrock. I asked him if he came across anything while working in the yard. His response was "only bricks". The "bricks" of which he spoke were sherds. All I have seen are undiagnostic. I also found several roof tile fragments. That being said the owner has shipped in large amounts of topsoil for his landscaping projects. I will take GPS readings, video and photograph the area.

Summit of F6 hill @ N 37° 26.019 E 023° 10.357.

Areas around the hill are marked by the typical dispersed olive cultivation with grain in between. Many houses have been constructed in the area of F6 and many plots are fenced off.

The field just south of the enclosed Argiropoulos estate which occupies the NE portion of the hill is covered in ceramics. It has been recently plowed. I will film a video transect of this area.

The AEP Red Team 1979 notebook contains a nice 1:5000 map of the area. I will walk up the lanes between F6 and F15 / F17 and record it as a video walk down to the river.

12:30--I have just completed the video walk. I began near where the paved road meets the river. I proceeded along the lane and took a turn at the junction up the road between F6 and F15. I then turned down the lane that runs between F15 and F17.

There where a number of neat events hardened in the materiality of the road between F6 and F15 including an incident where an automobile drove through the wet cement. There are even more long turn processes taking place, such as the effects of gravity on the barbwire fence running above the stonewall which encloses the field of F15. How does one deal with this multiplicity?

I will now walk back to the car by the riverbed and move up to the fields that enclose F15, F32 and F17.

12:57--F32 is in the field at the end of the lane that runs between F15 and F17. I will revisit the area. The lane turns abruptly at the edge of the F32 field and ends with two houses that are located at the edge of the F-15 field area. It is almost 1:00 in the afternoon and the heat is getting intense. Fortunately there is a slight breeze.

The SW field of F32 was enclosed so I hoped the fence. While in the SW field of F32 I filmed a short video diary, took a panorama, ad a video transect running from S to N across the field. The field has not been recently plowed. The ground is covered with low weeds and thistles. Archaeological materials thickly cover the surface of the field. To the E there was a sheep enclosure with multiple barriers and just over the rise farther E was a relatively recent house.

It has taken a little while to get settled into these experiments. My first roll of photographs was taken in a very traditional way. I have started experimenting with foreground focus on linear structures that blur in the distance. I think the video walks will be crucial. The sound footage taken with the omni-directional microphone in the Lectrosonics set is full wind which results in a dreadful background haze. I have to try to find a way to block out excess wind noise. The monitoring aspect of the multiple fields seems straight forward enough--characterize the transformations from the AEP reports. Here the issue is of course detail. I am focusing on the before mentioned experimental modes of mediation at the expense of more traditional forms such as mapping. When possible I am noting my work and observations or transformations onto the existing AEP 1:5000 trace maps in the AEP field notebooks. I will later transform these into a GIS, given time. Most of my mapwork (moving between the mediator of the map and the actual location on the ground) is conducted with the larger 1:20,000 scale maps provided in the 1994 AEP publication. When possible I am able to conduct more detailed mapwork with the AEP 1:5000 trace maps in the AEP field notebooks.

I will also try to focus on the experimental aspects of the revisiting process when there is time. Such creativity proves strained with so little time for all else. The intimate detail and articulation associated with the experiential can be difficult to force out when baking in the heat of the Greek sun and pulling the thistles out of your bleeding ankles. Nevertheless, I have reached a better pace now that I am better oriented within these landscape(s).

In the afternoon I revisited Fournoi village. This charming little village has several sites that were marked by the AEP. Based upon the many Classical remains found in and around the village Jameson et. al. conjectured that Fournoi is the site of ancient Philanoreia.

I took video diary segments and multiple photographs of and around F60. I also took GPS readings (in August 10, 2003 log entries).

It is hot in the afternoon. I am perspiring all over my equipment. There is a nice breeze near the lion head fountain. I will move up to the hillock with the modern chapel to the south of the village. On the north flank of this hill is Profitis Ilias, F5.

I filmed a panoramic sequence and a short walk across the top of the limestone outcrop with the modern chapel. While retracing my steps to the chapel I happened by what may be two wall cuttings in the bedrock. In fact one of the two cuttings has a wall stone set within it. I will now revisit the terraced plots on the N flank of the hillock where F5 is located.

5:20 pm--I walked up the lane separating many of the terraced plots toward F5. I took video footage as I did so. I turned left into one of the open field areas. Ground visibility was 0. The field was overgrown with uncut grain and it had been quite some time since it was last plowed. One could easily roll and ankle in such conditions because small cobbles where covered by grains, weeds and thistles. I proceeded to take some video transects of these conditions. I also took video footage of the walk down the lane from farther uphill. The terraces were collapsing in places. Most of the plots were fenced in with stepped entrances. The outer faces of the terraces were of larger stacked stones while the interior was filled with smaller pebbles. Construction can be discerned from the video walk segments.

I will drive up to the windmill above the Fournoi take some quick footage and head back.

Palios Milos F20. This is a great location for a windmill. It is extremely windy. All of the stones that would have framed the door jam have fallen out except for the lowest two. The portions of the grinding wheel mentioned in the Register of Sites are no longer visible inside. Accumulation and fill have covered whatever remains there may have been in the center. The cement wall matrix appears to be fairly hard and is holding up well. I took video walk footage up the old lane to the mill and I also took a panorama on top of the circular tower of the mill house.

While descending along the lane I filmed on the way up I noticed that it is the old road up to the mill. I began the footage roughly 20m or so from the bend in the road. The bend appears to swing wide to allow for cart traffic. The road is wide enough for two mule drawn carts to pass without any trouble.

Return to August 9, 2003

Forward to August 11, 2003

August 10, 2003 log entries

Return to Summer 2003 field notebook

Return to the Multiple fields and the Argolid Exploration Project home


Forum Home  -  Site Home  -  Find Pages: