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Thomas F. Tartaron (University of Pennsylvania) will speak on "Korphos-Kalamianos: Twenty-five Years of Research at a Mycenaean Harbor". Lunch will be at 12, and the lecture will be at 12:30.

Lecture abstract:

On a bright morning in May 2001, a group of archaeologists waded ashore at an unpromising, rocky headland near the fishing village of Korphos on the Saronic Gulf in southern Greece. We never imagined that within minutes, we would discover the exposed foundations of a nearly complete Mycenaean harbor settlement. In this presentation, I describe the many ways we have explored and learned about this place, today called Kalamianos, in the last 25 years, focusing first on the archaeological site itself before moving outward to its hinterland; to a Saronic “maritime small world”; and finally to the bigger world of the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean. This journey has involved classic techniques of architectural documentation of some 50 buildings and on- and off-site pedestrian survey. It has included marine geophysics and dive surveys to explore the harbor and work back to the Bronze Age shoreline, and archaeometric analysis of pottery. The Saronic Harbors Archaeological Research Project, or SHARP, is poised to publish a final report. My aim is to show how diverse skill sets and areas of expertise came together to paint a vivid portrait of a unique site that may have been Mycenae’s main harbor on the Saronic Gulf.