Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comAustraliaAussie Archaeologists off to Greece

Aussie Archaeologists off to Greece

26-J_area_houses_during_excavation_1971_View_from_westFifty Australian archaeologists are heading to Greece, and specifically to Zagora, willing to solve the ancient mystery of why an early Iron Age city in Greece was abandoned and whether the cause of that was the lack of fresh water, AAP reported.

Zagora, is a city that  thrived in farming and industry on the Cycladic island of Andros in the 9th century BC before it was inexplicably abandoned. That was about the time of Homer and before Sparta and the Athenian democracy.

Between 1967 and 1977 an Australian team excavated at the site of Zagora under a permit issued to the Archaeological Society at Athens.

Now, 50 Australians will begin working there again next week, in the hope of finally explaining why an entire population would leave a city at the heart of a major sea trading route.

“What we are able to do now, which couldn’t even have been dreamed of back then, is to use subsurface testing methods … to look underneath the surface of the ground before even putting a spade into it,” one of the dig’s co-directors, Lesley Beaumont from Sydney University’s Department of Archaeology, told AAP.

With three years of funding they began last year with big picture analysis and geophysical survey with the help of a geologist. This year includes satellite imagery work, aerial photography and a full excavation season from September 23 until November 4.

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!



Related Posts