After six incredible weeks the 2024 Zagora Archaeological Project field season is coming to a conclusion this weekend as we prepare to say farewell to our second group of students and to many of our field specialists.
On Monday October 28th the Zagora Archaeological Project as part of its community outreach and engagement, held a public open day event. We were very gratified to receive and welcome approximately seventy people on a lovely autumn afternoon.
On Thursday evening October 24th two of the Co-Directors of the Zagora Archaeological Project, Dr Stavros Paspalas and Dr Lesley Beaumont, presented a public lecture at the Demotiko Theatre in Chora. The lecture “Australia in Andros: Archaeological Research at Zagora” was presented in Modern Greek and provided the wider community with an opportunity to learn about the Project’s aims and the work undertaken at Zagora this year in relation to the previous excavations.
An important aspect of the Zagora Archaeological Project is engagement with the local communities in which we work.
As members of the Zagora Archaeological Project we are warmly welcomed each field season by the Andriot community. We are grateful for this welcome and also acknowledge that we have been afforded a great privilege by the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sport to work at Zagora.
This week we were very fortunate to welcome a number of special visitors to Zagora. The Director of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens (AAIA) Professor Tamar Hodos and Administrative Assistant Mrs Panagiota Korompli of the Athens office visited on Tuesday. On Wednesday we welcomed Australia’s Ambassador to Greece, Her Excellency Alison Duncan and Mr Richard Palmer. On Friday we received a visit by eminent retired archaeologist Professor Ze’ev Herzog accompanied by his son.
As the first three weeks of the Zagora Archaeological Project come to an end, we say goodbye to our first group of students and prepare to welcome a new student team. This has been a wonderful group who have come a long way as budding field archaeologists from that first daunting day on site.
During the 2014 Zagora Archaeological Project’s excavation season Dr Hugh Thomas posted a great blog, enthusiastically explaining his use of emerging drone technology (also referred to as UAVs or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) at the site. Ten years on, drones and photogrammetry have become crucial tools in field archaeology.
Introducing Sanju Vairav, an Australian high school history and geography teacher in Sydney, volunteering on the Zagora Archaeological Project this year.
Day 3 saw the students begin the day on site with Andrew Wilson, the Zagora Archaeological Project’s GIS specialist, running a hands-on workshop on plotting and stringing out a trench area manually without the use of digital technology. Learning such basic fieldwork skills are an essential part of archaeological training.
Day 1 on the site was a busy one. Beginning with a predawn breakfast, it was followed by an induction, the challenging yet spectacular drive and walk to site, a site tour before the work of removing backfill from previous excavations began!
On a glorious autumn weekend, students and specialists made their way to the lovely harbour town of Batsi which will be home for the various team members over the course of the dig season.
We began our stay with a welcome dinner on Sunday evening at the Café Kantouni Pension, meeting our generous hosts, the directors and getting to know one another before the work on site begins!
A capacity crowd of 70 students, staff and researchers packed into the University of Sydney’s Vere Gordon Childe Centre boardroom on Tuesday 27 August for
Video of the spectacular site of Zagora and our work during the 2014 season is available !
by Paul Donnelly The co-directors and team are sprinting (Olympic fashion) towards the next season at Zagora, with the 2024 excavations nearly upon us. Permits
Public Lecture, Thursday 14 October 2021
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/zagora-the-foundations-of-greek-community-life-tickets-177602081607
Join us on Thursday 15 April at 6:30pm for a free lecture on the latest from the Zagora Archaeological Project. The lecture is being held