Excavations at Lefkandi 2008 Season

The team:
Director: Irene S. Lemos, Professor in Classical Archaeology, Oxford
Excavation team: Field Sub-Director: Dr Doniert Evely (BSA)
Trench Supervisors:
Christina Bouthillier (Cambridge); Dr Anastasia Christophilopolou (Cambridge); Rachel Flynn (Dublin); Artemis Georgiou (Oxford); Dr Katerina Kolotourou (Temporary Lecturer, University of Edinburgh); Dr Astrid Lindenlauf (Bryn Mawr); Dr Antonia Livieratou (Museum of Thebes); David Mitchell (Oxford); Dan Sausins (Oxford Archaeological Unit).
Trench and Apotheke Assistants:
Andrena Ball (Cambridge); Sadie Beck (Dublin/UCL); Alec Brown (Harvard); Simon Chandler (Reading); Imogen Clark (Oxford); Megan Daniels (British Columbia); Helen Enders (Cambridge); Sophie Frew (Oxford); Alice Gardner (Oxford); Sabine Geissler (Edinburgh); Francesca Hughes (Cambridge); Natalia Kim (Cambridge); Alex Knodell (Brown); Tobias Krapf (Zurich/Sheffield); Matthew Lloyd (Oxford); Joanna Palermo (British Columbia); Eleftheria Pappa (Oxford); Tarryn Peinke (Oxford); Rosie Scott (Oxford); Elina Salminen (Edinburgh); Chris Swann (Oxford); Caroline Thurston (King’s, London); Clio Williams (King’s, London); Rik Vaessen (Sheffield).

Specialists:
Apotheke coordinator: Holly Parton (BSA)
Pottery specialist: Prof. Irene S Lemos
Architects: Dr Alexandros Gounaris (B’ Ephoreia, Attica/ University of Thessaly) and Dr Rune Frederkisen
Surveyor: Theodore Hadjitheodorou (Ephoreia of Palaeontology and Caves).
Geologists: Professor Donald Davidson (Stirling); Dr Ben Pears (Stirling)
Archaeobotanical experts: Georgia Kotzamani (Ephoreia of Palaeontology and Caves); Alex Livarda (Leicester)
Animal Bones Expert: Eleftheria Christodoulou (Ephoreia of Ioannina)
Shells Expert: Tatiana Theodoropoulou (University of Thessaly)
Conservator: Ageliki Kostaki (London)
Draftswomen: Roxana Duscan

In the sixth season of Lefkandi-Xeropolis excavations, both Regions I and II were investigated. Our aims this year were to investigate further the Early Iron Age structures in Region I – namely the Iron Age ‘Megaron’ and in Region II, to extend excavation in the area of the ‘Walls’ in order to understand their function, extent, and date and to excavate further the structures to the west of the ‘Walls’.

The 2008 excavation produced some 1020 pottery excavated units nearly all of which were processed and cleaned. The Director provided preliminary study of the pottery and gave dates to the necessary units for the needs of the running of the excavation. A digital and a data-base recording were also completed. The small finds and a number of complete pots were restored by the conservator and handed to the Museum of Eretria. Some 320 soil samples were also processed this year. Preliminary studies were also undertaken by the experts in faunal remains, animal bones, and shells. A dedicated team of three students recorded 357 diagnostic sherds and complete pots which have been drawn and, in most cases, photographed.

Every year we try to keep the local community updated with discoveries made on Xeropolis. This year the local elementary school visited the site. The children were shown various aspects of the excavation and learned about the importance of their own town and its significance for the history of the region as well as in the Aegean and beyond .