The Ancient Methone Intensive Survey Project: New Research at a Harbor City in the North Aegean

Summary

Methone (located in Pieria, Greece) was a key trading hub in the prehistoric and historic North Aegean, visible in the discovery of an array of workshops, production tools, and imported artifacts, and by some of the earliest evidence for the Greek alphabet in the Mediterranean. The 2014-2016 Ancient Methone Archaeological Project aims to enrich our understanding of the settlement and situate it within the wider Mediterranean world. The principal components of the project–intensive surface survey, excavation, and geophysical and geomorphological survey–work together in interdisciplinary collaboration to enhance our current understanding of this significant site.

This presentation outlines the initial findings of the 2014 survey, focusing on critical information concerning the surrounding natural and cultural landscapes of the settlement. Over six weeks in summer 2014, a total of 80 hectares was surveyed via intensive pedestrian survey methods. Geographically-linked data was digitized and visually presented in ESRI’s ArcMap 10.2. General trends show a rich material assemblage ranging from the Late Neolithic (ca. 3500 BCE) onwards, with a number of individual finds attesting to the industrial manufacturing and trade that took place at this center. Other materials represent military, cultural, and economic spheres of Methone throughout its rich occupational history.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage