Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project 2007- 2009
The Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project has conducted two seasons of intensive surface
survey as a synergasia of the Canadian Institute in Greece and the 9th Ephoreia of Prehistoric
and Classical Antiquities. Co-directors of the project are Brendan Burke (University of
Victoria), Bryan Burns (Wellesley College), Susan Lupack (University College London), and
Vassilis Aravantinos (Thebes Museum, 9th Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities).
The long-term goals of EBAP are to document and interpret the diachronic evidence for the
land use, settlement patterns, and burial practices resulting from the human occupation of
eastern Boeotia, an area relatively neglected in recent archaeological work but of great
importance for understanding the network of communities within the Theban territory. We
have located our study specifically on the plains surrounding the modern villages of Arma,
Eleon, and Tanagra, (Fig. 1) partially because of the clear indications of significant occupation
and partially because this area connected the Boeotian center of Thebes to the eastern sea
and was therefore a major route for external contact. Our primary research interests focus
on developments during the Late Bronze Age, for which evidence in the region is clearly
present, yet our methods of study include a broader analysis of the region's long-term
history. We are therefore pursuing documentation and study of all periods, employing an
intensive survey strategy with walkers spaced 10 m apart. Preliminary analysis was conducted
on all collected ceramic and lithic objects, which are stored in the apotheke of the Thebes
Archaeological Museum.
In 2008 survey teams walked 703 units within a 5 squared-kilometer area surrounding the
modern village of Tanagra (Fig. 2). With student volunteers from Canada, the US, UK, Italy,
and Australia, we walked transects totaling nearly 175 km in length. Our goal was to provide
context for several known centers: the Mycenaean tombs at the locations of Dendron and
Gephyra to the east of the village, the kastro located on the peak south-west, and the
medieval tower to the north-west. We were able to accurately locate several of the chamber
tombs excavated in the 1960s and 1970s, which contained the famous painted larnakes, and
also indications of settlement remains.
The cemeteries are composed primarily of groups of chamber tombs, roughly hewn spaces
cut into the natural bedrock. The largest concentration of tombs around Eleon is below the
church of Profitis Eleias, where over 20 chambers have been identified. A similar number of
chamber tombs were mapped and surveyed in olive groves near modern Tanagra village, in a
location known as Dendron in the excavations of the 1960s by T. Spyropoulos. Some
impressive surface ceramics that were collected in 2008 in the vicinity of the tombs clearly
date to the Mycenaean period, including an LH IIB goblet with pendant rock pattern (Fig. 3).
Also in 2008 Ruth Siddall began a geological and petrographic survey of our survey area,
focusing on the eastern side of our total region. She is currently completing a map of
subsurface deposits, the sourcing of building material, and a reconstruction of tectonic
history and shifts in water sources.
Before 2007, the site of ancient Eleon and the surrounding region were never systematically
studied, despite the report of several settlements within the region following rescue
excavations and casual investigation (Fossey 1988; Hope Simpson & Dickinson 1979). The
region has also not been included in the systematic surveys of the Skourta Plain (Munn 1990)
and the classical city of Tanagra (Roller 1989). This area, however, connected the Boeotian
center of Thebes to the eastern sea and was a major route for external contact. The need to
investigate the prehistoric landscape of eastern Boeotia is underscored by the analysis of
the “Boeotia Project,” the multi-year intensive survey of several areas west of Thebes
(Bintliff and Snodgrass 1985).
Our project is addressing methodological issues related to survey archaeology in Greece,
including problems with under-representation of Bronze Age remains based on surface
collection elsewhere in Boeotia, the so-called ‘hidden landscape’, as noted by Bintliff and his
colleagues (Bintliff, Howard, Snodgrass 1999). EBAP is well aware of these methodological
debates in archaeological survey, some of which, in reference to Boeotia, have spurred
vigorous discussion in recent literature (Davis 2004; Schon 2000). Our results thus far are
preliminary and we very much look forward to future collaborations with our Canadian and
Greek colleagues to better understand this important landscape.
Works Cited:
J.L. Bintliff. P. Howard, and A.M. Snodgrass, 1999. “The Hidden Landscape of Prehistoric
Greece.” Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 12, pp. 139-168.
J.L. Bintliff and A.M. Snodgrass, 1985. “The Cambridge/Bradford Boeotian Expedition: The
First Four Years.” Journal of Field Archaeology 12, pp. 123-161.
J.L. Davis, 2004. “Are the Landscapes of Greek Prehistory Hidden? A Comparative
Approach.” In Side-by-Side Survey. S.E. Alcock and J.F. Cherry, eds., pp. 22-35. OUP.
J.M. Fossey, 1988. Topography and Population of Ancient Boeotia, (Univ. Chicago).
R. Hope Simpson and O.T.P.K. Dickinson, 1979. Gazetteer of Aegean Civilisation in the Bronze
Age, 1 (Göteborg).
M. Munn, 1990. “On the Frontiers of Attica and Boiotia.” In Essays in the Topography, History,
and Culture of Boiotia. Teiresias Suppl. 3. A. Schachter, ed., pp. 32-40. Montreal.
D.W. Roller, 1989. Tanagran Studies I: Sources and Documents on Tanagra in Boiotia.
Amsterdam.
R. Schon.2000. “On a Site and Out of Sight: Where Have Our Data Gone?” Journal of
Mediterranean Archaeology 13, pp. 107-111.
Fig. 1. Survey zone for EBAP
Fig. 2 Survey units covered in 2008 around Tanagra village.
Fig. 3. Mycenaean goblet fragment from Tanagra