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The Thesprotia Expedition
Medieval and
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THE THESPROTIA EXPEDITIONA Regional, Interdisciplinary Survey Projectin Northwestern GreeceThe preliminary results of the first two seasons of the Thesprotia Expedition are as follows. I. Archaeological survey Medieval and later finds Medieval and later pottery has so far been rather scarce in our survey. This may be due in part to the fact that during the Medieval and Early Modern periods the settlements withdrew to locations higher up on the surrounding mountain slopes that are now difficult to survey intensively due to dense vegetation. Pottery from the Medieval period has so far been encountered only in the form of random scatters in survey tracts. On the other hand we have four sites dating to the Early Modern period, two of which are located in the plain and two higher up on the slopes.
The three other sites are all different in character. One is a small fortified village located high on the slopes of the Paramythia mountain ridge. Another consists of two houses located on the valley floor. The third is located on the lower foothills and is according to local information a seasonal Vlach settlement. The amount and quality of pottery collected is surprisingly poor. |
The
first site (PS 8) is a large industrial installation located close to the
Kokytos river in an area rich in good clays. At least six kilns could be
identified within the site on the basis of slag densities and soil colours.
The slag that was collected has been analysed at the Demokritos laboratory,
indicating that roof tiles and/or pottery were manufactured here in the
second half of the eighteenth century.