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Christopher Witmore |I located the well below the modern house as mentioned by Red Team on 7/8/81. I drove down the road just beyond a fenced in area and parked in front of a recently plowed field just below the spur indicated as E49. I decided to undertake some early morning reconnaissance across this spur and up to the ridge top in order to get my bearings.
As I hiked through a recently plowed area I came upon a scatter of materials in extremely red soils. Given the location I presumed this to be E49. However, I needed to verify my location by locating the church indicated on the 1:5000 map of the area on page 82 of the Red Team field notebook.
I hiked on to the top of the ridgeline through a number of divided fenced plots.
On top of the ridge a couple of concrete cisterns for the collection of the water needed in olive cultivation have been constructed. I followed a small dirt road into a saddle to the northwest and located the small chapel. I walked a short distance down the hill from the chapel and came upon a scatter indicated as E73 @ N 37° 24.579 E 023° 12.409.
Fortunately the breeze picks up significantly on top of the ridge. There is a light wind blowing on the slopes which seems to be picking up as the sun rises higher. This is the first day that I have worn jeans in place of shorts. The jeans allow me to plow through the nettles but at the expense of both mobility and comfort.
I will take a video walk sequence along the road adjacent to E47 and E48 then turn into the area of E49. If I can get into the fenced off area I will walk across the areas of E47 and E48.
In the area immediately north of the well I encountered a relatively dense scatter of ceramics—rim sherds, roof tiles, courseware fragments, etc. I interpreted this as E45. I will take a panorama and sound sample in the area before I proceed with the video walk.
Sound sample taken at 10:17 am @ N 37° 24.770 E 023° 12.539.
I just completed a video walk up from the well near E45 through a recently plowed field around an estate which encloses E47 through the field of E49.
Panorama taken @ N 37° 24.632 E 023° 12.638. Sound footage taken at 10;55 am.
The scatter seemed continuous although there were breaks in the ground visibility as recorded in the video footage. Indeed, the field team speculated that E47, E48 and E49 were all part of a large scatter/site.
I will now reiterate some of the transects taken by the Red Team across the area of E49.
I completed the reiteration of the transects across a deep plowed field. Walking across such a dry and irregular surface was challenging when focusing on the camera or the pottery.
I have driven up to the small chapel, Agia Panagia, above E73. I have taken a series of photographs of the patio outside the chapel, which rests on the former roof tiles of the church. These roof tiles now provide a foundation below the concrete patio. The church has a relatively new roof.
I also took a photograph of the stone plaque above the door to the church inscribed with the year 1861. This differs from the plaque described by Red Team as having a date of 1799.
I will take a sound footage on the chapel terrace then proceed with a video walk from E73 to E72.
Sound footage taken at 12:01 pm.
Just completed my video walk from the chapel to E72 and back. E72 is a scatter of roof tiles and various courseware sherds.
I took a panorama in the maquis @ N 37° 24.504 E 023° 12.468.
On the way back to Ermioni for lunch I stopped off at an abandoned farm complex @ N 37° 24.816 E 023° 12.591 and took some video footage for later reference.
After lunch the plan is to venture up to E32 and E33 while the sun is high so as not to obscure the images from the top. A contemporary service road for the cell towers has been cut to the saddle between the two peaks upon which E32 and E33 are located.
I was fortunate enough to locate the road up to Profitis Ilias without too much trouble. The road can be seen for some distance and the beginning is at aright angle to the main road between the service garage and the line of houses. I drove up and parked beneath the 1st tower.
Profitis Ilias has been enclosed by a wire fence so I walked along the stones just west of the fence till I found a way through. The chapel has received a new roof and a few tiles lay scattered about. I will take a panorama from the east and west of E32 before I hike up to E33.
The chapel is located @ N 37° 23.532 E 023° 13.586 and has fantastic views to the east in the direction of Ermioni, to the Katafiki Gorge in the north and to the west in the direction of Kranidhi. Sound footage taken at 2:45 pm.
I only took a video panorama from the south atop the contemporary cistern constructed in 77 (mason’s marks). I was able to get a great 360° of the area.
The hilltop of E33 is covered in thick pine. It may be rough rough going working my way to the top.
I have just made my way through unforgiving pine and maquis cover to E33, the potential Zeus sanctuary near the topographical column. The locale is spectacular. The wall is constructed on three sides with the north line running W—E as the longest. There are two spurs off this wall on the E and W running to the edge of the cliff face.
Sound footage taken at 3:47 pm @ N 37° 23.306 E 023° 23.306.
I have taken a video walk around the structure and a video panorama inside. Jameson et al. doesn’t mention the condition of the wall when it was last documented. Visibility inside the structure was poor.
I seem to have forgotten an important rule when thrashing off into the wilds, “stick to the trails.” From the point where I parked the car the summit of B33 was another 600m through jagged limestone, pine and maquis. On the way in I made my way by moving about the rocks; difficult. On the way back I followed the goat trails and the going proved much easier. Pine and thyme were a welcome smell as I hiked back to the car.
I will now return to the Katofiki Gorge for the afternoon.
I drove to Katafiki Gorge to and parked by the road and took a video walk a little way into the entrance. The sheer face on the left side facing into the gorge has a number of climbing routes. I took some footage of the names, which are painted in red at the base of the routes—classics, like "Heroes", "Villains", "Saints", etc.
I then hiked back to where I had parked the car and decided to drive up the road into the gorge not knowing how far it would take me. I braved the old bridge with 1937 carved in the mortar on the top only to discover that the road ended on the other side without any room to even turn around. I was not too excited about backing across the bridge so I hiked up the old path from the bridge a little ways in search of any remnants of watermills.
I hiked in for a 1/3 of a mile as far as the turn marked upon the map below E80 Katafiki cave. I did not see the cave or the boundary marker denoted as E13 so I filmed the hike back. There was no evidence of mill leats or millhouses from the trail.
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