For this paper, I propose to outline the preliminary results of the first of four regional case studies covered by my PhD. My project focuses on a re-examination of the known archaeological data for four peripheral territories of Attic peninsula in the period between the fall of the Mycenaean Palaces and the Cleisthenic reforms (1200 to 500 BC). It uses a 1:1 scale GIS and connected database to facilitate an archaeological, landscape-based reading of the territory at different scales (individual structures, sites, areas, and Attica as a whole). Through these, it seeks to place the archaeological material from all known published sources in as precise a topographical and stratigraphic context as possible. By using spatial analysis and the concepts surrounding the social use and construction of space, the project aims to consider the long-term changes in each territory and to understand how their relation to Athens, and to the wider Greek world, evolved through time.

The area of Laurion, which I will look at here, contains two major Attic sites, the sanctuaries on cape Sounion and the long-lived habitation site at Thorikos. Although much has been written about this area, studies of its landscape beyond these two sites have tended to focus on the changes it underwent from the late archaic period onwards, when the area grew in importance following an explosion in mining activities. By focusing instead on the use of the territory before these changes, I propose to consider its development in the preceding centuries, including its role in the growth and repopulation of the peninsula and its position within the growing Athenian sphere of influence.

Mariana Silva Porto

PhD candidate, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, part of the Landscape Archaeology and Architecture programme of the Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies.