Samos - West Area of Samos Archaeological Project - 2024

Anastasia Christophilopoulou (Boston MFA), Michael Loy (Durham) and Naoíse Mac Sweeney (Vienna) report on the fourth season of the West Area of Samos Archaeological Project’s five-year research programme.

Work this year focused on intensive exploration of the site of Vel-1, first discovered in 2022; exploratory tract walking also took place between the Fourniotiko and Megalo Rema rivers, in the north part of the island; and preparatory work was completed for the project’s public engagement programme (Fig. 1). Four weeks (19th August –13th September) were devoted to fieldwork, with two weeks of ceramics study also taking place during the season, completed by project ceramics specialist Sabine Huy (Hamburg).

Intensive tract walking of 50 x 50m grids took place between 19th August and 13th September, covering 1.21km2 spread across 862 individual walker tracts (Fig. 2). Two strategies were employed throughout the season. First, long test-transects were walked in the area between Karlovasi and Sourides/Konteiika, bounded by Fourniotiko and Megalo Rema rivers, with more intensive walking conducted at those points on the transects indicative of hotspots. Second, areas were walked with complete coverage that had been suggested as possible points of interest through ethnographic survey and local knowledge, in the regions of Pradeiika, Leka and Hydroussa. Intensive gridded collection at Velanidia in 10 x 10m minigrids took place between 19th and 27th August, covering 278 minigrids, with the aim of shedding more light on this important site (Fig. 3).

A total of 49,980 pottery sherds were counted, with 2,390 collected as diagnostic feature sherds; 626 sherds were studied this year by the ceramicists. The density of pottery scatters was used to identify up to 20 possible Areas of Interest (AOIs) in the landscape (Fig. 4,5). While the composition of many of these AOIs comprised Byzantine and Early Modern pieces —much in accordance with previous knowledge about the area— Hellenistic black-glaze pottery was found in most areas of the landscape explored this year. In addition, 7 AOIs in the Fourniotiko area (around the old hamlet of Kofines) yielded high quantities of Archaic through Hellenistic pottery. Much of this was tableware, and the AOIs as a whole were very different in assemblage composition to the AOIs in the southwest; and with first millennium BC material found in much higher quantities in Fourniotiko than in the areas explored in 2023. The area also yielded the highest counts of lithics for the whole survey. 

53 Points of Interest (POIs) were registered as part of the extensive survey (Fig. 6). Most of the POIs registered were either built structures (19, including both walls and partial or whole buildings) and clusters (17, mainly ceramics, but also concentrations of rocks). In addition, there were three wells registered, and two points noted for terracing features.

This season the whole 2024 assemblage from Velanidia was sorted. The ceramics team studied 357 objects from across all grids (295 pieces), tracts (1 piece) and POIs (61 pieces) registered in the Velanidia area. In terms of chronology, most sherds were dated Archaic. Of the later periods, 34 sherds represent the whole spectrum Classical–Early Byzantine. Of vessel functions, most of the sherds were tableware, with amphoras, household wares, 4 cooking wares, storage wares and lamps making up less than 20% of the whole assemblage. Proportionally speaking, these statistics match the findings of the 2022 tract walking in the Velanidia area. In addition, 142 pieces were studied from the F-4 area of Fourniotiko. Although this AOI is located only a few hundred metres to the south of HK-10 (identified in 2023), the composition of the assemblage is completely different. Of the pieces studied so far, most are Archaic, Hellenistic, Byzantine or Modern.