‘Finding Old Sikyon’, 2015: A preliminary report

The project “Ancient Sikyon” is a cooperation between the Ephorate of Antiquities of Corinth, the National Museum of Denmark, the Danish Institute at Athens and the Institute of Geoscience of the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel. Conceived as a five-year project, its main aim is to identify the exact location, the major features and the urbanistic development of the city, prior to its relocation in 303 BC to a plateau nearby. This, however, is intended to serve the greater purpose of answering general questions of Archaic and Classical urbanism and the structure and organization of a famous centre of art and culture in comparison with other such centres like Corinth and Athens. The first year of research has already brought important information about the topography and material culture of Ancient Sikyon, which is presented in this preliminary report

A regional approach to ancient urban studies in Greece through multi-settlement geophysical survey

The systematic exploration of large archaeological sites in the Mediterranean has evolved considerably since the “big dig” excavations. Pedestrian field surveying and remote sensing applications, including satellite and airborne image analysis, are now practical and relatively cost-efficient methods of characterizing large and diachronically diverse landscapes on regional scales. However, the use of geophysical techniques as a means for exploring manifold archaeological contexts is still in its infancy. In this paper, we highlight the advantages of archaeological geophysics to conduct regional surveys in the Mediterranean. Through a multi-site geophysical fieldwork campaign to investigate the patterns and dynamics of ancient cities in Greece, we show how geophysics offer new opportunities for characterizing the spatial attributes and regional dynamics of urban landscapes, and, in doing so, we make an argument for its wider adoption on regional survey projects

Towards an agora: The spatial and architectural development of Greek commercial and civic space in the Peloponnese

Despite the presence of sufficient archaeological and literary evidence, the Peloponnese is a region of the Ancient Mediterranean that is underrepresented in studies on the Greek agora. Many scholars prefer to draw on the more familiar paradigms, such as the Athenian agora or the impressive Hellenistic agoras of Asia Minor, rather than incorporate other models to gain a more comprehensive perspective. This study changes this circumstance by exploring the structure and mechanics of the Greek agora at Argos, Corinth, Elis, and Megalopolis during the Archaic and Classical periods. Agoras in these Peloponnesian settlements show great diversity in their architectural and spatial development, which is a reflection of their (unique) urban and social realities. Taken together the Peloponnesian experience allows us to adopt a more fluid and idiosyncratic interpretation of the Greek agora, rather than base our assumptions on preconditions or universal models. Through a detailed examination of the archaeological and literary evidence, the physical features and social framework of the agoras at Argos, Corinth, Elis, and Megalopolis come into greater focus and help write a different history of the Greek agora. Despite the disproportionate emphasis placed on the political underpinnings of the agora, this study shows that political activity and civic buildings played a less conspicuous role in the agora's early development. There is also no measurable impact of democracy on the agora's physical composition at those Peloponnesian cities that adopted democratic constitutions (Argos, Elis, and Megalopolis). Instead, the agoras at these centers were shaped by disparate factors, such as trade and commerce, urban cults and religious festivals, and the means of transportation and communication. It is this mixing of activities that characterizes the Greek agora, and marks its inherently diverse role in the urban fabric of city

Permittivity mapping in the VLF-LF range using a multi-frequency EMI device: first tests in archaeological prospection

International audienc

Neolithic settlements in the Tavoliere Plain (Apulia, Southern Italy): predictive probability maps

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Ground-Based and Satellite-Imaging Technologies for Mapping the Ancient Settlement of Gortyn, Crete

International audienc

Towards an integrated remote-sensing strategy for revealing the urban details of the Hellenistic-Roman city of Demetrias, central Greece

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Slow Journeys: What Does It Mean to Go Slow?

Established in the late 1980s, the Slow Food movement stated its interest in defending the pleasures of the table from the homogenization of fast food and fast lives. Because of this it has often been disregarded as yet another food and wine club, or misunderstood as a nostalgic desire for bourgeois living. By addressing this partial understanding of the movement, I wish to illustrate, through a case study of Marks and Spencer, the qualitative differences between fast and slow food cultures. I continue to reflect on slow food and draw out some of the resources the movement offers for the understanding of a wider practice of "slow" or slow living in general. Through a Foucauldian reading of care this piece aims to illustrate how "slow" can be cultivated and developed into a wider praxis that goes beyond the dinner table. (Author abstract