The Survey of Thisve, Geophysical survey 2006-2007: Season 2006
Survey: Geophysical survey
Dr A. Dunn (Birmingham), Mrs K. Koilakou (1 st Ephoreia of Byzantine Antiquities) and Dr V. Aravantinos (9th Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities) report that topographical (GPS) survey carried out in July 2005 logged 47 urban and rural monuments and rural sites in and around Thisve, and three man-made cuttings to a maximum depth of 12 m. The Byzantine Ephoreia is concentrating on the search for the architectural sculptures removed from Thisve to various locations over the years. Urban monuments include, so far, remains of nine or ten Early and Middle Byzantine churches, and elements of a significant Greco-Roman rock-cut necropolis. Rural sites and harbours were found by checking (and correcting) Professor Gregory's Thisbe Basin Survey's preliminary reports. As part of Dr Atherden's and Dr Anagnostou's parallel environmental survey, 2004's pilot coring programme with hand-held augers (of 3 types) was completed, at Lake Paralimni, to assess the value of deep-coring with a percussion corer; and a local vegetational survey to build on Dr O. Rackham's survey throughout Boeotia (ABSA 1983) was begun. Their work explores the physical environmental factors affecting the archaeologies of settlement, land use, and maritime traffic. Thisve's complex of sites, monuments, and other installations - the monumental multi-period dams mentioned in ancient sources, harbours, and the murex shell dumps which help to explain its Byzantine name of Kastorion (identified by Dunn) - constitute a rich case study for the exploration of factors in the post-Roman trajectory which complements the post-Roman elements of many of the Greek multi-period regional surveys. To develop this the 2006 season focused on the systematic recording (topographical, architectural, and geophysical) of the remarkable remains at Thisve itself. Twenty-six further monuments (mostly post-Byzantine productive installations and chapels) were recorded topographically. The extramural geophysical survey contextualised visible Byzantine walls within a large complex of buried buildings, and the architectural survey of ten Byzantine and Frankish monuments was carried out using a High-Definition Three-Dimensional Laser-Scanner. The approved, and fully funded, underwater survey of the harbours of Thisve had to be postponed however.
Active in 2006.
Dunn, Dr Archibald W.