Landscape Capital and Fragile Communities on Antikythera, Greece
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Institute of Archaeology
Abstract
Characteristic feature of most Mediterranean landscapes are highly complex and extensive systems of fields, trackways and terraces, but the relationship between these agricultural features and the social context in which they emerge is not clearly understood. Through archaeological, geoarchaeological, environmental and ethnographic study, this research project will build a detailed understanding of the relationship between human decision-making, long-term demographic patterns and the development of such capital investments in the landscape. The main question that will be addresses is whether the construction of terraces and associated structures is directly correlated with periods of dramatic population growth which made it necessary to invest more intensively in less-productive parts of landscape, or whether terraces emerge over a longer time-span, more organically and represent a potential causal factor of demographic growth rather than effect. This question is crucial for understanding the relationship between individual agricultural futures in which such re-useable landscape capital investments are an important issue. For example, rapid construction of terraces across a region provides possible evidence of significant labour organisation encouraged at the community level if not by large state authorities while longer, multi-generational, construction might suggest that highly-complex structures can emerge without the organisation of labour beyond that of the individual household unit.
The project will be undertaken on the island of Antikythera, the focus of an ongoing intensive archaeological investigation by the applicants. Many of the problems associated with understanding the relationship between landscape modifications, such as terraces, are militated against because of the highly episodic settlement history which thus improves our ability to link terrace construction with specific phases of the island's past. The outcome will be a clearer understanding of one of the most characteristic features of Mediterranean rural landscapes, and the social and demographic contexts in which they emerge.
The project will be undertaken on the island of Antikythera, the focus of an ongoing intensive archaeological investigation by the applicants. Many of the problems associated with understanding the relationship between landscape modifications, such as terraces, are militated against because of the highly episodic settlement history which thus improves our ability to link terrace construction with specific phases of the island's past. The outcome will be a clearer understanding of one of the most characteristic features of Mediterranean rural landscapes, and the social and demographic contexts in which they emerge.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Andrew Bevan (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
BEVAN A
(2012)
MEASURING CHRONOLOGICAL UNCERTAINTY IN INTENSIVE SURVEY FINDS: A CASE STUDY FROM ANTIKYTHERA, GREECE*
in Archaeometry
Bevan A
(2009)
Modelling spatial heterogeneity and nonstationarity in artifact-rich landscapes
in Journal of Archaeological Science
Johnston A
(2012)
POTS, PIRACY AND AEGILA: HELLENISTIC CERAMICS FROM AN INTENSIVE SURVEY OF ANTIKYTHERA, GREECE
in The Annual of the British School at Athens
Quercia A
(2011)
ROMAN POTTERY FROM AN INTENSIVE SURVEY OF ANTIKYTHERA, GREECE
in The Annual of the British School at Athens
Bevan A
(2011)
Terraced fields and Mediterranean landscape structure: An analytical case study from Antikythera, Greece
in Ecological Modelling
Bevan A
(2006)
The fragile communities of Antikythera
in Archaeology International
Bevan A
(2012)
The Long-Term Ecology of Agricultural Terraces and Enclosed Fields from Antikythera, Greece
in Human Ecology
Palmer C
(2013)
Vegetation recolonisation of abandoned agricultural terraces on Antikythera, Greece
in Environmental Archaeology
Description | They have provided the material for a two author book that has been widely and very positively reviewed. The methods have been cited as the basis for good practice in at least fours new fieldwork projects. |
First Year Of Impact | 2007 |
Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Title | Georeferenced and mosaic-ed set of 1944 aerial photographs of the island (originally from the Royal Commission and Aerial Reconnaissance Archive) |
Description | A mosaic of 18 images (600 dpi) taken by an RAF sortie in 1944 covering the whole of the Greek island of Antikythera (~20 sq.km, data now in UTM34N WGS84). The mosaic, like the original photos, remains under the copyright of the National Collection for Aerial Photography (http://ncap.org.uk/). We would be happy to share the georeferenced mosaic to anyone with permission from NCAP. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | None. |
Title | Point locations and detailed descriptions of artefact finds from intensive surface survey across the Greek island of Antikythera |
Description | Databases (.csv) of tens of thousands of pottery, worked lithics and other finds that were collected in 2005-2007 by an intensive surface survey of the entirety of the Greek island of Antikythera, and thereafter studied by a group of artefact specialists. The finds also have point locations to roughly the nearest 10m. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2007 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | As part of a wider data bundle from this project, this dataset was downloaded 838 times between February 2012 and October 2014 from the UK Archaeology Data Service archive (http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1024569), but with additional use via the project's website and by personal data exchange. It has been used for Masters-level teaching in at least three different university institutions, was re-used to support discussion on several project blogs, and its re-use is also discussed in Bevan, A and Conolly, J 2012. Intensive Survey Data from Antikythera, Greece. Journal of Open Archaeology Data 1:e3 (http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/4f3bcb3f7f21d). |
URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1024569 |
Title | Point locations of all visible built structures and buildings on the Greek island of Antikythera |
Description | This was a mapping of all observable standing remains (i.e. buildings, rock cuttings, and agricultural installations such as threshing floors and wine presses) across the Greek island of Antikythera. The mapping was made in 2005-2007 via joint consideration of three kinds of evidence: (i) a Quickbird pan-sharpened satellite image, (ii) a comprehensive series for aerial photographs from March 1944 when the island was still under heavy cultivation and field systems were more visible than today, and (iii) field visits of these structures across the whole island, backed up by handheld GPS navigation and mapping. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2007 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | As part of a wider data bundle from this project, this dataset was downloaded 838 times between February 2012 and October 2014 from the UK Archaeology Data Service archive (http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1024569), but with additional use via the project's website and by personal data exchange. It has been used for Masters-level teaching in at least three different university institutions, and its re-use is also discussed in Bevan, A and Conolly, J 2012. Intensive Survey Data from Antikythera, Greece. Journal of Open Archaeology Data 1:e3 (http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/4f3bcb3f7f21d). |
URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1024569 |
Title | Soil sample database with infiltration and nutrient data for ca.100 sample locations across the island |
Description | A series of soil samples was taken from the top 20cm of soil cover at a spread of 100 locations across the Greek island of Antikythera and then subject to bulk sampling for composition (grain size) and geochemistry (P, Mg, K, pH, Zn,Mn). Accompanying soil infiltration data (dry and soaked) were also taken. The samples were not comprehensively studied however and there remained some concerns over geo-referencing so they have not been published in full online (but are available under open license on request). |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | None as yet. |
Title | Vector polygon datasets recording spatial units of intensive archaeological surface survey across the Greek island of Antikythera |
Description | This was a mapping of the first-stage ('tracts') and second-stage ('site grids') units used for a an intensive archaeological surface survey across the Greek island of Antikythera. The mapping was made via handheld GPS and with further reference t a Quickbird pan-sharpened satellite image (in UTM34N WGS84). |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2007 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | As part of a wider data bundle from this project, this dataset was downloaded 838 times between February 2012 and October 2014 from the UK Archaeology Data Service archive (http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1024569), but with additional use via the project's website and by personal data exchange. It has been used for Masters-level teaching in at least three different university institutions, was re-used to support discussion on several project blogs, and its re-use is also discussed in Bevan, A and Conolly, J 2012. Intensive Survey Data from Antikythera, Greece. Journal of Open Archaeology Data 1:e3 (http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/4f3bcb3f7f21d). |
URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1024569 |
Title | Vector polygons of bedrock geology across the Greek island of Antikythera |
Description | This was a re-mapping (mainly by Dr Ruth Siddall, UCL) of bedrock units observable from standing sections and the surface of the Greek island of Antikythera. The mapping was made via joint consideration of four kinds of evidence: (i) a Quickbird pan-sharpened satellite image, (ii) a decorellated and stretched ASTER SWIR satellite image, (iii) with background reference to a 1960s geology map from the Greek Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration and (iv) field visits across the whole island, backed up by handheld GPS navigation and mapping. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2007 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | As part of a wider data bundle from this project, this dataset was downloaded 838 times between February 2012 and October 2014 from the UK Archaeology Data Service archive (http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1024569), but with additional use via the project's website and by personal data exchange. It has been used for Masters-level teaching in at least three different university institutions, and its re-use is also discussed in Bevan, A and Conolly, J 2012. Intensive Survey Data from Antikythera, Greece. Journal of Open Archaeology Data 1:e3 (http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/4f3bcb3f7f21d). |
URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1024569 |
Title | Vector polylines of 12,000 terraces across the entire island of Antikythera, Greece. |
Description | This was a mapping of all observable agricultural terraces (i.e. the location of each drystone terrace riser) across the Greek island of Antikythera. The mapping was made in 2005-2007 via joint consideration of three kinds of evidence: (i) a Quickbird pan-sharpened satellite image, (ii) a comprehensive series for aerial photographs from March 1944 when the island was still under heavy cultivation and field systems were more visible than today, and (iii) field visits of these structures across the whole island, backed up by handheld GPS navigation and mapping. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2007 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | As part of a wider data bundle from this project, this dataset was downloaded 838 times between February 2012 and October 2014 from the UK Archaeology Data Service Archive (http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1024569), but with additional use via the project's website and by personal data exchange. It has been used for Masters-level teaching in at least three different university institutions, and its re-use is also discussed in Bevan, A and Conolly, J 2012. Intensive Survey Data from Antikythera, Greece. Journal of Open Archaeology Data 1:e3 (http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/4f3bcb3f7f21d). |
URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.5284/1024569 |