Key Pages
Christopher Witmore |The cappuccino really hits the spot this morning. The crowds at Cafenion Aktaion all appear to be in heated conversations. It is pretty much the same every morning. The sea is extremely calm and a light breeze is less frequent than one would like. Today I will revisit B4. Panayitsa is located on the Argolic Gulf and is app. 3.0 ha or more. Material culture was found in 1972 to run more than 250m along the coast. Coastal erosion has transformed portions of the site. I will access the effects of the sea on the site. Time permitting I will stop by C1, a quarry site on a small promontory just north of B4. I then plan on reiterating some of the survey process from the Blue Team 1980 notes around the Ververonda lagoon near Porto Kheli.
At this point finding the correct road to B4 is basically guesswork. The road map I have of the southern Argolid isn’t the best and they don’t sale the one I am searching for in Porto Kheli. At any rate I have pulled off road into a field on one of the highest promontories to take in a panorama of the area and a sound sample. I will record the location with the GPS. The elevation measurements given by the GPS has been consistently off so I have been comparing elevations to the maps in order to calibrate it. However whenever I turn it off it seems to loose the last calibration and can be off by as much as 20m. I am on one of the higher hilltops in the area southeast of Lakkes—elev. 185m @ N 37° 22.044 E 023° 07.355.
Sound footage was taken at 8:50am.
It turns out that I chose my route poorly. The road to Dhouroufi is farther to the north (it runs southwest from Koiladha). The road I am currently on changed abruptly from a well paved surface to a rocky and derelict gravel road that leads to a few olive fields and some newly constructed houses. Upon retracing my route I stopped off by the roadside to shoot some footage of a sheep herd close by. While I was filming the flock I met the shepard who was watching over them by the main road. He was a migrant worker from India who had been working as a farmer, then as a shepard for about 2 years.
I have decided to make for the area just north of Ververonda Lagoon near A31, A3 and A35.
I took some time on the way to stop of at the antiquities shop at the fork in the road between Porto Kheli and the northern portion of the Lagoon. I took some footage and spoke with the shop owner. His prices were exorbitant. A large portion of his inventory appears to be what someone would find in some of the abandoned buildings throughout the countryside—the collector.
I have pulled into the parking area adjacent to the small chapel of Agios Nicholaos. First order of business will be to revisit A31 which is at the church. I took a short video diary segment in the area of the church of Agios Nicholaos. I began where the road meets the parking lot. To the NW and S of the main road a new house with a large fence has been constructed in the area. Across the street the area is covered with thistles and to the E of this area a steel mesh fence encloses the land around what is marked as a new house on the AEP 1:5000 trace map of the area. Agios Nicholaos @ N 37° 20.537 E 023° 07.475.
I will walk down to the beach to where transects # 5 and 6 marked on the map picked up the scatter from A3.
I took a video walk down the beach toward the field where A3 was located on the 13th of July by Blue Team. I conducted a video walk and transect across a fresh-cut field. I picked up the scatter from A3 at the western end of the field near a line of Cyprus trees. A3 scatter @ N 37° 20.272, E 023° 07.620.
Sound footage was taken at 12:00pm. The area is flat; therefore I am picking up sounds from some distance.
I have taken a video walk from the center of A3 back toward the coast to the west and proceeded back along the beach to A31 and the chapel. I drove back to the area where A35 was located. The entire area has new houses upon it. I will take a photograph of the building and a video diary segment.
I am in the Port of Eels, Porto Kheli, for lunch. This must be the hottest day I’ve yet experienced. There are many tourists in Porto Kheli at the moment. The place is loud and feels congested.
A36 is located @ N 37° 19.928, E 023° 07.271. Sound footage at A36 taken at 2:55pm. The area defined by the AEP on the 16th of July 1980 was located. However, the spatial extent noted on the 1:5000 map is less than what appears to me on the ground. There is a fair amount of pottery that continues some distance from the area of site to the E for perhaps 50m or more. I have taken a video walk from where I parked the car. Now I will return to a higher terrace if possible.
Upon transecting a higher terrace line to the East with reference to the map I came across site A37. The site consisted of Hellenistic roof tiles and some pottery. I will do the stuff with the site then head back to the car. Sound sample taken at 3:40 pm. A37 is on a fairly steep terrace so many materials were working their way down slope. A37 is located @ N 37° 19.779, E 023° 07.450.
Walked west over a few of the fields from the eastern end of the Ververonda lagoon to A34. The area is near a small dirt road not more than 10m off the lagoon. The area is covered with roof tiles, black glazed bowls (interior only), larger fragments of course ware and other ceramics. There has been recent plowing in the area. I will do a few transects with the camera across the site after I take a panorama and sound footage @ N 37° 19.676, E 023° 07.874.
Sound footage was taken at 4:35pm.
I took a video walk from A34 up to the beginning of a grain terrace near A33 when I started picking up a thin scatter that was probably plowed out from A33. I proceeded up to the summit with the video walk, but could see no material culture. I then turned down slope to the NE and came across a piece of millstone and a quern. I took photos and I will take a panorama and a sound footage @ N 37° 19.539, E 023° 08.111.
Sound footage was taken at 5:25pm.
I would not be assuaged from locating B4 and I found it! On the south side of a small promontory with a chapel there is an area being cut back by the sea. Here a great deal of ceramics and building materials are eroding out from the shore. The are some rectangular blocks lying in the water. This is the small rectangular building of ashlar mentioned by Jameson et. al is @ N 37° 23.509, E 023° 06. 168.
Sound footage was taken at 6:30pm. I took several video walks in the area and a sound sample at the sea bank. I also took some video diary footage here.
Dhouroufi is a pleasant are with tall cypress lanes along the road and many older stone villas. There has been a fair amount of house construction in the vicinity. The area to the immediate north of B4 and just south of C1 has a number of houses with closed off portions of the beach and no trespassing signs. To the south of B4 and set back from the sea is another block of recently constructed homes.
Go back to August 13, 2003
Go forward to August 15, 2003
Return to Summer 2003 field notebook
Return to the Multiple fields and the Argolid Exploration Project Home