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The Mayor of Andros, Theodosis Sousoudis, visits Zagora

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Mayor Theodosis Sousoudis and Dr Stavros Paspalas
In the centre of frame, from left: Mayor Theodosis Sousoudis and Dr Stavros Paspalas, a co-director of the Zagora Archaeological Project. © AAIA; photo by Irma Havlicek

On Saturday 1 November 2014, the Mayor of Andros, Mr Theodosis Sousoudis, visited Zagora. He met the three project directors, Professor Meg Miller, Associate Professor Lesley Beaumont and Dr Stavros Paspalas.

The Mayor and his group were then given a tour of the site by Stavros, who took them to each of the excavation areas, and explained what work was being done and what was being discovered in each area.

Through these photographs, you can share some moments of the tour, which was appreciated by the Mayor and his group.

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Heavenly Zagora sky

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Sunlight streaming through clouds as seen from Zagora
Sunlight streaming through clouds as seen from Zagora during the day. © AAIA; photo by Irma Havlicek
by Irma Havlicek
Web content producer

As I mentioned in the last post with the ZAP team photo, today was the last day of excavation for this season at Zagora.

I wondered what would be my last glimpse of Zagora. The gods did not disappoint. I turned around on the path to see a spectacularly heavenly sky with rosy golden glow of sunlight shafting down to the Aegean below.

Zagora in a heavenly light
Zagora in a heavenly light, as I turned back from the path on, possibly, my last ever walk back from Zagora. © AAIA; photo by Irma Havlicek

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Hurrah final ZAP team

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The last 2014 ZAP team
The last 2014 ZAP team. © AAIA and Bob Miller; photo by Bob Miller
by Irma Havlicek
Web content producer

Today was the last day of excavation of this season of the Zagora Archaeological Project (ZAP).

Conditions have been extremely challenging with frequent strong, icy winds and also rain in the last two weeks. Yet the team forged on.

As I write this post, an end-of-dig party is taking place at the Kantouni Restaurant. It’s been a long hard haul. But everyone I’ve spoken to would come back to work on the project again in a heartbeat.

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Conical beehives in dry stone wall near Zagora

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Paul Donnelly, in front of a stone wall containing beehives
Paul Donnelly in front of a dry stone wall containing beehives.
by Irma Havlicek
Web content producer

On Sunday, the Zagora Archaeological Project (ZAP) day off, some of us take things slowly and rest up for the work of the week ahead. Others among us take this time to further explore the island of Andros.

Last Sunday, three members of the ZAP team, intrepid explorers, Paul Donnelly, Brady Kiesling and Andrew Wilson decided they wanted to explore the promontory to the south-east of Zagora.

Beatrice McLoughlin had originally conceived this plan – but then the opportunity came up to visit the olive oil museum, so she went there instead.

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Goodbye Zagora from Hugh Thomas

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Hugh Thomas on site in 2014 wearing his wind protection
Hugh Thomas on site in 2014 wearing his wind protection. © AAIA; photo by Irma Havlicek
by Hugh Thomas
Archaeologist

Ivana Vetta, Kristen Mann and I hold a prestigious record for the Zagora Archaeological Project. Although there are numerous people who have been on the project since the beginning, we happen to be the only three who have been to site every work day since the beginning (minus the odd sick day of course). We are the old folks of Zagora.

This fact only dawned on me a week or two ago when I thought about the site and the fact that, in all likelihood, I will not be back here for several years, if at all. This is primarily for two reasons.

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Invitation to public presentation about Zagora on 6 November

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Zagora as seen from the path
Zagora as seen from the path. © AAIA; photo by Irma Havlicek
by Irma Havlicek
Web Content Producer

The directors of the Zagora Archaeological Project extend an invitation to all living on or visiting Andros to a public presentation about the project. The presentation about this significant c. 900-700BCE settlement will be held at the Municipal Cinema, Chora, at 7pm on Thursday 6 November 2014.

The session will be presented in Greek by two of the co-directors of the project, Associate Professor Lesley Beaumont (from the University of Sydney) and Dr Stavros Paspalas (Deputy Director of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens).

The Zagora information session last year was popular and well-attended. We hope even more members of the local Andros community attend this year. All are warmly welcomed. This poster gives the details in Greek.

This presentation follows the popular and successful tour of the site held on Saturday 25 October.

Visit to Zagora of Ambassador John Griffin

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Stavros Paspalas, Ambassador John Griffin, Meg Miller and Peter in the Zagora dig hut
From left: Zagora Archaeology Project (ZAP) director, Dr Stavros Paspalas; Australian Ambassador to Greece, His Excellency, MrJohn Griffin; ZAP director, Professor Meg Miller and Mr Pakapat Thipayaprapai in the Zagora dig hut. © AAIA; photo by Irma Havlicek
by Irma Havlicek
Web Content Producer

On Friday 10 October 2014, we had the pleasure of a visit by the Australian Ambassador to Greece, His Excellency, Mr John Griffin, and his partner, Mr Pakapat Thipayaprapai.

John Griffin had only recently taken up the post of Ambassador, so we were particularly privileged that he visited us so early in his term.

After meeting Professor Meg Miller and Dr Stavros Paspalas, two of the three Zagora Archaeological Project directors (Associate Professor Lesley Beaumont was not on site that day) in the Zagora dig hut, Stavros took John and Pakapat for a tour of each of the excavation areas around the site.

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A party for ZAPpers at Batsi Gold

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ZAPpers getting into the spirit of the night with some Greek dancing
ZAPpers getting into the spirit of the night with some Greek dancing. © AAIA; photo by Irma Havlicek
Last night most of the Zagora Archaeological Project (ZAP) team attended a party at Batsi Gold, the jewellery shop of Eftihios Tsivourakis, who had kindly invited us all to the party he put on especially for us. He taught team members how to make a variety of Greek specialties, such as spanakopita and tiropita (spinach and cheese pies both made with freshly made, hand-rolled filo pastry), dolmades (stuffed vine leaves), tzatziki, barbecued rissoles (bifteki), lemon chicken and sweet honey treats.

Eftihios bought all the food, wine and soft drinks, and the barbecue and cooking vessels and tools to make everything.

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Local Andros community enjoys tour of Zagora

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One of the groups about to start their tour, led by Stavros Paspalas in Greek
One of the groups about to start their tour, led by Stavros Paspalas in Greek. © AAIA; photo by Hannah Gwyther
by Irma Havlicek
Web Content Producer

Even though we had wild weather in the few days leading up to our public tour, we were very pleased that this didn’t deter some 50 members of the local Andros community who made the trek down to Zagora yesterday, Saturday 25 October 2014, to learn more about our work there.

The three Zagora Archaeological Project co-directors each led a group to excavation areas around the site and explained what we are learning about this c. 900-700 BCE settlement through the archaeological work being done there. Associate Professor Lesley Beaumont and Dr Stavros Paspalas led their groups in Greek, and Professor Meg Miller led her group in English.

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Wild weather prevents work at Zagora

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Choppy waves at Batsi
Choppy waves at Batsi on Thursday 23 October 2014. The team stays at Batsi on Andros while working on the Zagora Archaeological Project (ZAP). © AAIA; photo by Irma Havlicek
by Irma Havlicek
Online content producer

The Zagora directors check the weather forecasts assiduously to help plan whether or not it is safe to work on site at Zagora. If wind at Beaufort 9 or higher, or heavy, constant rain is forecast, the directors cancel work on site for that day. Although everyone is keen to complete as much work to as high a standard as possible during the season, safety is paramount, and risk is assessed in order to be minimised at every step.

Team members are advised at dinner the night before if work is not to proceed on site the following day. If work on site at Zagora is not possible, all team members are allocated to other important project tasks.

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