THORIKOS - 2015

Thorikos. Roald Docter (Belgian School/Ghent) reports on continued survey and studies at Thorikos. The last parts of Velatouri hill were surveyed as part of a collaborative project between Ghent University (Prof. Roald Docter) and Utrecht University (Dr. Floris van den Eijnde). In addition, the 2012-2015 survey finds were studied. Some 45% of the c. 60,000 sherds belong to all periods: Final Neolithic to Early Modern. The hill was used for habitation from the Final Neolithic to the Archaic period. The presence of Mycenaean (Fig 1), Daedalic and Archaic terracotta figurines points to ritual activities having been performed on the hill. The Acropolis, like the rest of the site, seems to have been abandoned in the final stages of the Peloponnesian War. The 4th century BC, otherwise well represented on the lower slopes near the mining installations, is virtually absent from the survey finds.

The subterranean part of Thorikos was also surveyed. Starting from Mine entrance N^o 6 to the East of the Theatre, more than 4000 meters of underground mining network were surveyed and 3800 meters were mapped (Fig 2). Finds mainly date to three different periods: the 4^th century BC, the 5^th century AD, and the 19^th- 20^th centuries A.D. Mine N° 3 to the West of the Theatre attests to mining activities dating since the Final Neolithic/ Early Bronze Age.