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First 2013 Zagora trench discussions on site

Irmah

Irmah

by Irma Havlicek
Powerhouse Museum Web Producer

Yesterday morning (Sunday 22 September 2013), some of us headed out to Zagora to have the first discussions at each of the five trenches selected for excavation this season.

All three team leaders were there: Meg Miller, Lesley Beaumont and Stavros Paspalas. Also there, of course, were the trench supervisors for this year: Excavation area 1 – Ivana Vetta; Excavation area 2 – Mel Melnyczek; Excavation area 3 – Hugh Thomas; Excavation area 4 – Kristen Mann; Excavation area 5 – Paul Donnelly.

Following are photographs of each of the trench sites in order we visited them:

Excavation area number 3. Trench supervisor - Hugh Thomas
Excavation area number 3. This is the site of one of the test trenches which were excavated in the final couple of weeks of the 2012 season. Ivana Vetta was trench supervisor last year but this year Hugh Thomas (who was in Ivana’s team last year) will be trench supervisor. The surface you can see is backfill placed there at the end of the season last year to protect the area. From left: Mel Melnyczek, Ivana Vetta, Hugh Thomas, Lesley Beaumont, Meg Miller, Andrew Wilson, Paul Donnelly, Kristen Mann (behind) and Stavros Paspalas.

Excavation area number 4. Excavation area supervisor - Kristen Mann
Excavation area number 4. This is the site of one of the test trenches which were excavated in the final couple of weeks of the 2012 season. Kristen Mann was trench supervisor last year and she will supervise this trench again this year. The surface you can see is backfill placed there at the end of the season last year to protect the area. From left: Mel Melnyczek, Stavros Paspalas, Hugh Thomas, Lesley Beaumont, Andrew Wilson, Paul Donnelly, Ivana Vetta, Meg Miller and Kristen Mann.
Excavation area 2 Trench supervisor - Mel Melnyczek
Excavation area number 2. This trench is in the area which was previously excavated in the 1960s and 70s in the first excavations of the site, under the direction of Professor Alexander Cambitoglou. From left to right: Andrew Wilson, Paul Donnelly, Kristen Mann, Hugh Thomas (behind), Stavros Paspalas, Lesley Beaumont, Mel Melnyczek and Meg Miller’s elbow (behind).
Excavation area number 5. Trench supervisor - Paul Donnelly
Excavation area number 5. This is a previously unexcavated area which will provide an indication of what existed at the southern end of the site. From left, Meg Miller, trench supervisor Paul Donnelly, Lesley Beaumont, Kristen Mann, Ivana Vetta, Stavros Paspalas, Richard Anderson, Hugh Thomas and Andrew Wilson.
Walking to the next trench site
Walking to the next trench site
Excavation area number 1. Trench supervisor - Ivana Vetta
Excavation area number 1 to the north of the site, in a previously unexcavated area, where there have been indications we may find evidence of metalworking. Ivana Vetta, the trench supervisor, is our iron/slag specialist in the team. From left to right: Kristen Mann (in khaki), Ivana Vetta (in pink shirt), Lesley Beaumont, Stavros Paspalas (behind), Meg Miller, Andrew Wilson, Hugh Thomas.
A view of Zagora as we approached it on our first visit to the site this season on Sunday 22 September 2013
A view of Zagora as we approached it on our first visit to the site this season on Sunday 22 September 2013

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4 thoughts on “First 2013 Zagora trench discussions on site”

  1. I find this dig you are on really very interesting and I was wondering if I could ask a few questions. Are there other sites like Zagora on the Island? Did people migrate to the nearby islands like Panormous and rebuild there? Are there similar sites there or have any been noted (by topographical surveys) and are yet to be discovered? I have scanned the islands with Google Earth and maps and I am quite suprised at what you can see in terms of detail. The dry-stone walls that are around the site are very interesting(and look more recent of course than the buildings themselves). How old are they ? I have constructed dry-stone walls and dwellings myself, and done a lot of stone-masonry in my time, and I am always fascinated to see methods in other places in the World both ancient and modern and to understand the methodologies that went into constructing them.

    • Thank you for your very interesting question. Apologies that it has taken a few days to reply but I wanted to get you a more authoritative reply than I could possibly provide. Dr Stavros Paspalas, one of the three directors of the Zagora Archaeological Project has provided that reply:

      Zagora is not the only known ancient settlement site on Andros. There is, of course, Palaiopolis -the Archaic through to Roman period “city” of the island. Far earlier are the prehistoric settlements of Strophilas and Plaka. Hypsele is a settlement that is contemporary with Zagora and continues beyond the date (conventionally 700 BC) at which Zagora ceased to be a settlement.

      We don’t know where the inhabitants of Zagora moved. Palaiopolis is a possibility but so are other sites beyond Andros, including -ultimately- the colonies in the northern attributed by the ancient sources to Andros.

      Dating dry-stone field walls is fraught with difficulties. It is highly likely that the vast majority of these walls on Andros postdate the settlement at Zagora. The characteristic field walls of Andros are, I believe, best paralleled by examples on northern Tenos.

    • Hi Vanessa – I have a post in the works which provides an overview of the aims of this season. I expect to publish that in the next day or two, so keep checking back. Yes, the view hasn’t got any less brilliant.

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