Today the plan is to begin near Petrothalassa with B85, B86 and B87 located between July 11 and July 14, 1981. Yaliza #6, 7 and 8 are located on several terraces adjacent to the sea. I have driven by the area several times in the last week and there are a number of new buildings in the immediate area. These are both adjacent to the seashore and on the opposite side of the road. Many of the open areas near these building are marked out for construction and show signs of recent grading.

A great deal of change has occurred in this area since July of 81. On the 13th Read Team transected a field of which appears to only half left. The other half is now within a stone walled villa complex. I will conduct a video walk around the complex then attempt to reiterate a few transects from the 13th of July 1981. The weather is hot and muggy. It feels humid. There is a heat wave setting upon Greece for the next few days. What fun.

I took a few shots of the beach scarp below this area. Strata containing quantities of pottery were easily discernable along the seashore.

I am afraid that my “mapwork” skills have truly failed me today. I have been working in an area about 1 kilometer east of where I should be. I can only say that there has been much building in the area and that I was relying heavily upon the 1:5000 trace maps in the notebooks without working with the smaller 1:20,000 scale maps provided in the 1994 AEP publication. The depression I walked transects in was very similar to that marked by the Red Team in 1981. The sea scarp also appeared to be similar. I will not regard this as a waste of time but rather as a learning experience.

I will now do my best to quickly locate the sites I set out for this morning before it gets entirely too warm and I run completely out of water. I realized my error when I ventured in to Club Ermioni and noted the natural outcrop of conglomerate rock which did not match the hill in the 1:5000. I also saw that I was entirely too close to the small island off the coast when I cross-referenced the AEP publication map. It is now 12:30.

I took a short video walk and transect along the road where transect 1 was taken on the 13th of July 1981. I also took a video walk in step with the original transect toward the sea to the south. I shot a video panorama @ N 37° 20.537 E 023° 11.855. There was a light scatter in the area near the road. As it is I will drive down to the fenced in series of luxury villas that now occupy the area of the transects from 1981 and take some video footage.

The northern portion of this field has been recently planted in olives with a relatively new irrigation system.

I have returned to Ermioni for lunch. Along the way I attempted to locate E86 along the coast. Unfortunately, the winds were high, as was the sea. Here in Ermioni it is extremely windy.

Returned the area from before lunch. Hiked to the vacant lot next to the large estates to the E. Walked along hill I presumed was B86, but I only saw a couple of roof tile fragments. The area has been recently grated. The neighbors yard has had allot of exterior fill hauled in to raise the foundation of the plot. All the same I took a video panorama on the hill @ N 37° 20.539 E 023° 11.823.

Because of the limited access to the area due to the new estates with private beaches I have decided to try my luck with Red Team’s July 15, 1981 transect during which they located B88.

After ten minutes I locate the area in a field of wheat stubble adjacent to the new paved road to Krandihi. In 1981 the road was marked as a dirt road on the 1:5000 map associated with B89. I will follow the same transect line as Red Team from the NW to the SE running parallel to the road as noted on the 1:5000 map.

I have just completed reiterating a series of transects from 15 July 1981 adjacent to the road on the general line noted above. Red Team 1981 Log notes associate this scatter with the huge amount of material across the road. B88 sits just on the rise as they describe it and thereby claim it as a separate site. I will now take a closer look on the rise.

I took a panorama off the low rise of B88 @ N 37° 20.801 E 023° 11.566. Sound footage taken at 3:45PM. I looked for the small hump with the roof tiles discussed by Red Team to no end. There are several overgrown areas adjacent to the rise denoted as B88. I also could not locate a gap in the scatter between B88 and the concentration of pottery adjacent to the road. It is continuous. I will take one more panorama from the area of the scatter next to the road.

I have walked up to the site B89 situated on a low hill of conglomerate bedrock north of B88 (1:5000 map). B89 was discovered by Red Team on July 17, 1981. There are ceramics everywhere; large jug handles, roof tile fragments, etc. The hill top is overgrown with low lying shrubs. I have seen a few exposed building walls and one appears to have been dug into fairly recently. There is a new house which has been constructed to the west of the hill. I will take some video footage of the area: a video walk to the top, panorama, sound sample and some photographs. @ N 37° 20.999 E 023° 11.448.

Just N of B89 in an adjacent field some digging into a circular cairn of limestone has taken place. The whole is about 1.20 m x .80 m and roughly .60 m deep. I will take some photographs of these dug out areas.

I have been working at this non-stop for 11 days now from around 7:15 to often as late in the evening. This has definitely taken its toll upon my performance and surely has much to do with my poor mapwork this morning. It is now 5:30 PM and I will try to get in another site before the end of the day. I also need to contact the journalist this evening—journalist discussion

I took a video walk through the sheep herd up to the top of E4. E4, Kinetta ia a low mound near the shore of Potikia bay. I could discern no rectangular foundations as described in the "Register of Sites" but there are pottery sherds thinly scattered about the top. I took a panorama @ N 37° 22.010 E 023° 13.631. It is too windy to obtain good sound footage of the mound. I will simply take a few photographs of the contemporary garbage left nearby and take a video walk back up over the mound and through the sheep herd if the dogs will permit me.

Go back to August 17, 2003

Forward to August 19, 2003

August 18, 2003 log entries

Return to Summer 2003 field notebook

Return to Multiple fields and the Argolid Exploration Project Home