Limni Keri, Machairado and Vasiliko - 2015

Limni Keri, Machairado and Vasiliko. D. Isaakidou (Ephorate of Antiquities of Zakynthos) and G. van Wijngaarden (Netherlands Institute in Athens) report on the results of an intensive field survey conducted in the above three areas. The main fieldwork too place 2006–2012, with study seasons in 2013–2013 and a brief three-week programme of fieldwork in 2015, focussing around 30 hectares in the Skoulikado area.

Using a strategy of total-collection, 7524 objects were collected, mainly ceramics but also 487 stone objects. In the first area investigated there was a large number of finds from the Hellenistic and Roman periods; in the second, stone artefacts and prehistoric pottery date the area to the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. In the third area, the sherds ranged from prehistoric to Roman.

A geophysical survey of the area was also conducted by the University of Patras, focussing on a place where the landowner had reported prehistoric ceramics and a wall at a depth of 1.50m. Using both Electrical Resistance survey and magnetometry, no such remains were identified.

37 cores were taken from the site to reconstruct its geomorphological profile, all 8cm in diameter at a maximum depth of 5.90m. Samples were taken at 20cm intervals, and analysis to date has indicated that Alykes beach was closer in antiquity to the area under investigation, but none of the samples contained enough residues for radio carbon dating.