Welcome, Justine, Athena and Taryn!

From L-R: Justine Lefebvre, Taryn Rankin and Athena Wakeling

The new academic year has begun at the Institute, and we welcome the Institute’s 2023-2024 Neda and Franz Leipen Fellow, Justine Lefebvre, Georgian College intern, Athena Wakeling, and Wilfrid Laurier University intern, Taryn Rankin.

Justine Lefebvre is a PhD candidate in History at Université de Montréal, under the supervision of the Institute’s Director, Prof. Jacques Perreault. Her research focuses on metal production in Northern Greece during the archaic and classical periods, through the study of the specific case of bronze production at Argilos during these periods.

Located a few kilometers west of the Strymon river in Northern Greece, Argilos is an ideal location for the development of its metal production: an abundance of surrounding metal resources, a prosperous economy, and good relations with the Thracian populations from whose metallurgical expertise it can benefit. In order to thoroughly study this metallurgical production, the thesis relies on a multidisciplinary approach, combining traditional archaeological methods and archaeometry. Indeed, a sampling of bronze artifacts from the vast inventory collected in Argilos since 1992 will be subjected to typological, metallographic, chemical, and isotopic analyses. The results obtained through these analyses will provide a detailed picture of metallurgical production in Northern Greece throughout the Archaic and Classical periods, by identifying the nature and quality of Argilos’ production, and by evaluating how it fits into its regional context, in terms of distribution of raw resources and finished products.

Thanks to the Neda and Franz Leipen Fellowship, Justine hopes to complete the writing of her thesis, to which her nine-month stay in Greece is instrumental. First, a presence in Athens will allow her to benefit from easy access to the valuable resources available in the libraries of the Canadian Institute and other foreign research institutes, as well as in the numerous archaeological museums. Moreover, a stay in Northern Greece will allow her to visit the archaeological museum of Amphipolis, with the aim of completing the study of archaeological material linked to Argilian metallurgical production, as well as to study that which is still in situ at Argilos.

Athena Wakeling is a Wilfrid Laurier University graduate who received her BA in Archaeology and Anthropology in 2021. Athena is currently completing her postgraduate degree at Georgian College, specializing in Museum and Gallery studies, and will be completing her semester internship at the Canadian Institute in Greece.

Throughout her three programs, Athena has gained knowledge and understanding around topics connecting theoretical concepts of culture and history, while applying them into the real function of Museums or Galleries in the 21st century.

Athena is eager to get hands-on experience in the archival documentation field of work and will be applying her skills to the archives at the Institute, continuing the organization and documentation of past site reports and records across Greece. While Athena is in Greece, she intends to travel around the country and educate herself about Greek culture and history since she has direct familial roots to the country.

Taryn Rankin is a fourth-year undergraduate studying at Wilfrid Laurier University with a double major in Ancient Studies and Anthropology. Upon graduating, Taryn is interested in continuing her ancient history and anthropological studies at a graduate level with a focus on ancient and modern ethnobotany.

In her studies, Taryn has learned how to work with and understand multiple forms of media and research which is important in being able to make information approachable to all audiences as well as the importance of easily accessible knowledge through physical and online libraries.

Taryn will use her skills and knowledge gained from her studies to work in the Institute’s library to increase its resources and the knowledge available to its visitors while also using her time in Athens to learn about Greek life and history. By the end of the internship, she hopes to have new-found knowledge and experience that will aid her in completing her studies and future career.

Jonathan Tomlinson
Assistant Director

The Central Achaia Phthiotis Survey (CAPS) 2023

The third fully fledged field work season of the Central Achaia Phtiotis Survey (CAPS) ran from July 14th to August 20th 2023. All of us were excited to welcome back staff, previous students as volunteers, and new students as part of the field school!

The CAPS 2023 Team. Unfortunately, Sophia Karapanou is missing in this picture

The CAPS project is co-run by Sophia Karapanou from the Ephorate of Antiquities in Larissa (Thessaly) and Margriet Haagsma from the University of Alberta. The project is supported by SSHRC and the Faculty of Arts of the University of Alberta, and we would like to thank the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, the Canadian Institute in Greece, the Municipality of Pharsala, and the town and people of Narthaki for their support and generosity. Special thanks goes to Pharsala’s mayor, Makis Eskioglou, who supported the renovation of the school where the students are staying and the acquisition of new mattresses and beds. Our project would be nowhere without the help and support of village proedros Thanasis Lelentzis and the ever-charming hospitality of Elias Papadopoulos and his family.

CAPS is focused on landscape use over time and we ask how different groups of people have interacted with this region, and how the human presence has resulted in anthropogenic change in the landscape. In addition to our own research questions, our work has now seen the added challenge that many agricultural fields have been designated for the construction of solar panels, in many cases in areas of archaeological significance. This has resulted in a complex situation, where we are just one stakeholder in the relationship between local landowners, energy companies, and the Greek archaeological service. Over the past years, and thanks to our work, various fields have been excluded from solar panel construction, as our role has been to prioritise and record the presence of archaeologically significant material in these areas.  Yet, throughout the season we saw evidence of construction beginning in many areas we were working in.

The areas surveyed by intensive survey up until 2023

As part of the project, CAPS has focused on scanning the shrub covered areas using LiDAR technology. Yet, the majority of our time is spent on pedestrian survey. Prior to this year, our team had covered around 430 hectares of cultivated and uncultivated land. This year, our team consisted of six staff, five volunteers, and 15 field school students from the University of Alberta. Over the course of the five weeks, we were able to survey approximately 150 hectares, and documented a looted tholos tomb (tholos 14), an ottoman fountain house, and a Hellenistic structure all located east of the Kastro.

While many fields (and their subdivided “tracts”) yielded little to no material, the team did discover areas where the increased density of finds point to areas of human activity. The majority of these areas could be dated to the Classical/Hellenistic, Late Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman periods, and most finds indicate activities of an agrarian character, such as storage jars and grinding stones. Of particular interest is an area called Paleochori, which staff and students spend the better part of two weeks surveying. While most of the region did not result in a lot of material, a large field contained a significant amount of Byzantine material. At the northern end of this field, the remains of a small walled citadel were found with material of Archaic/Classical date.

 Ed Middleton giving instruction to the pedestrian survey team

A second area of interest is a fortified so-called ‘magoula’ in the area known as Arabises, near Aghios Antonios which was identified in our 2019 survey. From the magoula alone, 52 kg of material was recovered, mostly of Classical/Hellenistic, but also EIA and Ottoman dates. The remains of a village of Ottoman date were found in the last week of the survey. From the data collected during the 2023 season (including the regions with little material), we are able to get closer to answering our overarching research questions.

In addition to the systematic survey, our team also ground truthed areas of interest. This team cleaned the architecture for documentation. Of special note is a structure of Hellenistic date located on the eastern side of the hill of Kastro Kallithea.

 Aerial photograph of the structure of Hellenistic date east of the Kastro

However, interpretations are currently varied as the structure does not appear defensive in nature and other interpretations suggest a monument serving a different purpose. Other activities in 2023 included flying our drone over a number of areas of human activity with architecture (including those cleaned by the ground truthing team!), allowing us to make detailed digital surface models of the areas.

Our field school students were extremely lucky to have an excellent team of instructors (if we do say so ourselves). Myles Chykerda was responsible for the GIS and setting out tracts with the GNSS and also provided a module for the students on GIS. The intensive survey was run by Ed Middleton and Magie Aiken who taught the basics of field walking and documentation. The apothiki was run by Adam Wiznura who taught students how to classify and date the finds and ran discussion groups. Margriet Haagsma orchestrated the entire project and still found time to teach the students modules on artefact drawing and LiDAR. In addition to the field school, Gino Canlas ran a ground truthing team composed of volunteers.

Beyond our archaeological work, staff, students, and volunteers had the opportunity to visit archaeological sites and museums (including the Kastro Kallithea exhibit in Farsala!), visit the local winery in Narthaki, attend the annual pazari, and enjoy the summer in Greece.

On site in Pharsala: grad students Josh Passey and Matthew Spinks presenting on the battles of Kynoskephalai (197 BCE) and Pharsalos (48 BCE)

Magie Aiken, Margriet Haagsma & Ed Middleton, CAPS

Mission archéologique d’Argilos 2023

Quelques semaines se sont déjà écoulées depuis l’achèvement de la 31^e mission archéologique gréco-canadienne à Argilos en Grèce du Nord, qui fut couronnée de succès.

Argilos, vue aérienne du site

À la fin du mois de mai dernier, un peu plus d’une soixantaine d’étudiants, recrutés dans les universités québécoises, canadiennes et américaines, mais aussi dans certains cégeps, se sont réunis dans le village d’Asprovalta avec un objectif commun : apprendre l’archéologie, c’est-à-dire les techniques de fouille sur le terrain, le catalogage, l’analyse et le traitement du mobilier archéologique découvert.

Étudiants au travail sur le chantier du secteur commercial

Cet été, le travail sur le terrain s’est concentré dans deux secteurs. D’abord, a été poursuivie la fouille dans le secteur commercial, atteignant des proportions toujours plus impressionnantes ! Dans les bâtiments préexistants, les étudiants ont été occupés par la fouille de 4 unités d’habitation du bâtiment Q, ainsi que de 3 boutiques du bâtiment P. L’objectif : révéler la dernière phase d’occupation, datant de l’époque de la prise de la cité par Philippe II de Macédoine en 357. On se rappellera très certainement cette saison de fouille pour l’abondance et la richesse – presque inégalées! – du mobilier archéologique qui a été découvert dans ce secteur.

Prof. Jacques Perreault dégageant un cratère à figure rouge avec les étudiants

Naomi, étudiante, montrant une tête de figurine

Shelby Vieira dégageant un squelette de chien

Équipe P10 devant leur découverte

Afin de préciser notre compréhension de l’urbanisme du secteur, quelques étudiants ont, quant à eux, attaqué la fouille d’une zone directement à l’ouest du bâtiment P. De plus, la fouille du bâtiment S, tout nouvellement dégagé, a également été amorcée. Bien qu’une seule de ses pièces n’ait été fouillée, celle-ci a déjà permis de mettre au jour non seulement des vestiges architecturaux d’une construction remarquable, mais aussi un matériel particulièrement abondant, ce qui s’annonce très prometteur pour les années à venir. Il faut remercier Keven Ouellet, Justine Lefebvre, Shelby Vieira et Chloe Morris qui ont encadré les étudiants et partagé leurs connaissances tout au long du programme. 

Équipe S2 au travail

D’autre part, nous avons également poursuivi la fouille dans le secteur d’un plateau situé à mi-hauteur de la colline amorcée en 2022. Alors que les sondages effectués l’année dernière ont permis de révéler une rue reliant potentiellement l’acropole au secteur commercial au pied de la colline, cette année a permis d’en dégager un impressionnant segment sur plusieurs dizaines de mètres.  Avec sa largeur de plus de 4 mètres, tout nous permet de supposer qu’il s’agit bel et bien de l’artère principale de la cité! Merci à Marie Clermont-Mignault et à Ariane Poulin qui ont supervisé les opérations dans ce secteur.

L’équipe conjointe CEGEP-Université dégage un nouveau tronçon de rue

Avec un si abondant matériel mis au jour sur le site, le travail au musée fut d’autant plus stimulant! Notre équipe, constituée de Saskia Deluy, Frédéric Lemyre-Corbeil, Daphné Sauvé et Laure Sarah Ethier Boutet, a travaillé d’arrache-pied afin d’encadrer les étudiants et de leur transmettre toutes leurs précieuses connaissances nécessaires au lavage et au catalogage du mobilier qu’ils ont eux-mêmes découvert. Notre conservatrice, Vasileia Liakakou, et notre dessinatrice Laurie De Serre ont également grandement contribué au traitement de tout ce matériel! Merci également au personnel du musée, notamment Dimitra Malamidou, directrice, et Giorgos Galios, gardien chef, pour leur disponibilité et leur gentillesse habituelles.

Les étudiants au musée

Frédéric Lemyre-Corbeil au travail, assisté de la petite mascotte du musée

Nous avons aussi eu la chance de côtoyer Angelos Gkotzinas et Rudy Alagich, membres de notre équipe scientifique, qui ont été de passage notamment en prévision de plusieurs projets (très prometteurs!) à venir. François Gignac, dessinateur, a également profité d’un séjour dans la région pour travailler sur le plan du site qui ne cesse de grandir.

Le stage archéologique d’Argilos a également été complémenté par les visites de sites et musées archéologiques habituels, comme Vergina, Pella, Stageira, Philippes et Thasos, et par de nouvelles additions au programme, dont la célèbre tombe de Kasta. Ces visites ont permis aux étudiants de profiter de leur présence dans la région afin de voir tout ce qu’elle a à offrir, en plus d’en gagner une connaissance plus approfondie.

Visite du musée archéologique de Pella

Keven Ouellet et étudiants devant la fortification de Stageira

Forts de nouvelles connaissances archéologiques, de découvertes et de souvenirs inoubliables, c’est avec un sentiment de devoir accompli que les étudiants et l’équipe se rappelleront cette très réussie saison de fouille 2023. Merci à toute l’équipe et à tous les participants pour une 31^e saison mémorable!

L’équipe Argilos 2023