Excavations and Explorations 

 
Three principal field operations, involving regular excavation campaigns, are being lead in Thasos, in collaboration with the ephorates of Kavala. 

  Since 1996, the FSA is leading the excavation and study of the Southern outskirts of the agora: a vast space bordering the agora in the South and stretching as far as the principal artery of the city, which links the shrines of Dionysus and Heracles via the passage of the theoroi. A large peristyle court, fitted in the centre with a marble paving surrounding a well, was bordered in the South-East and in the South-West by two buildings comprised of rooms (workshops, retail shops) and in the North-West by an apparatus whose purpose has yet to be fully understood. The North-East side was closed off by the rear wall of the porticos that define the space of the agora; a monumental Ionic passage allows the two spaces to be linked. In the imperial period, the edifice of the square courtyard housed the commercial activities of the city-state, as the macellum did in Roman cities. The latest campaigns have furthered our understanding of the construction of the buildings and has enabled us to study the intersection of this set of buildings with the “courtyard of the hundred paving stones”, situated in the South; these campaigns have also revealed that a set of buildings with a more or less identical layout was probably already in existence in the Hellenistic period. 

In collaboration with the Greek archaeological service of Kavala (18th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities; 12th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities), the FSA is continuing the excavation and study of the Northern surrounds of the Artemision. A previous survey revealed that this residential zone, situated at the fork of two roads, involves a stratification of more than 7 metres wide in parts, retracing the entire ancient history of Thasos from the 8th century BC until the beginning of the 7th century AD. The recent campaigns have facilitated the uncovering of a vast dwelling from the 5th and 6th centuries AD, organized around a central courtyard and in largely the same spirit of a more ancient edifice. This dwelling provides a place for the study of a very large number of animal and vegetal finds, as well as personal effects (ceramics, currency) and architectural finds (mosaics, tiles, re-used pieces of marble). In the future, deep trial trenches should allow for the exploration of levels from the Archaic period.

Since 2012, a program has been put in place to study the management of water in Thasos’s agora, both in antiquity and in the contemporary period, once its excavation has been completed. A topographical, geomorphological, hydrological and archaeological study should allow us to understand the stratigraphy of the field as well as the means employed for managing water in antiquity. This study should also provide a solution to the repeated flooding of the agora in recent years.

 

Studies and Synopses

 
Parallel to these excavation operations, a number of cross-sectional studies are being done at the site itself and at the archaeological museum of Thasos, using data collected from previous excavations. Studies of the public monuments of the agora, the shrines, and the agricultural and craft facilities of the island’s terrain are currently in progress. All georeferenced elements will then be incorporated into a system of geographical information (SIG) that is currently in development.
 

© EFA / Julien Fournier