AIGIALEIA survey - 2010

Aigialeia. A. Pontrandolfo (SAIA/Salerno), Z. Aslamatzidou (Director, Στ’ ΕΠΚΑ), and A. Rizakis (KERA/EIE) report on the 2010 survey season in the upper Krios valley, focused in the area between modern Seliana and Perithori (Fig. 1). The area surveyed, a level area formed from natural and artificial terraces plus the mountain slope which closes the river basin to the south, lay on the right bank of the river and was cut by the numerous fluvial actions of its tributaries. It was not particularly subject to erosion or alluviation, partly due to human activity in maintaining the area, and partly due to the conglomerate and solid marl substrate.

Prospection concentrated in a well sheltered valley defined to the north by the river, to the south and west by steep hill slopes, and to the east by a saddle marking the transition between the older fluvial terraces on which lies the most viable route between Seliana and Perithori. It is dominated by a modest high point to the north east, named locally Ag. Theodori after the church. Half way up the northwest slope of the valley, investigation revealed scattered small and medium-sized roughly cut conglomerate blocks, and squared blocks of various sizes, mostly finished. Some wall lines can be identified, and the evidence suggests a system of access routes, now disused, connecting the lower valley with the hilltop. Other blocks, not in situ, likely derive from further pre-existing structures. Survey in the area southwest of the hill revealed five accumulations of architectural terracottas together with pieces of stone slab, between which was a Hellenistic pithos fragment with an incised wave pattern on the neck (Fig. 2). The hypothesis that terracing on the south, east and west slopes indicates occupation in antiquity is strengthened by comparison with geomorphology, analysis of aerial photographs, and prospection on the ground.

In sum, research on the borders of the communities of Seliana and Perithori explored a valley or basin created by a meander in the course of the Krios and its tributory, which dominates the fluvial terraces to the interior. Archaeological evidence on the upper slopes, ca. 1 km from ancient Seliana and on the junction of routes towards Arcadia and the Krathis valley, suggests another pole of activity from the Early Helladic period to Late Antiquity in this part of the territory.