As the year changes, we return to our blog with an overview of our recent work. The past months have been particularly hectic, with finalising our first major publication, the preparation of new presentations, the chemical analysis of finds and laying the groundwork of a new museum exhibit focusing on our recent research. For now, we present you with a general overview of our recent and upcoming work; a more detailed report on our activities will follow shortly.

Publication: ΕΝΤΟΣ ΑΜΩΜΗΤΟΝ: An Argive-type shield from the Sanctuary of Oisyme

Dr. Yangos Chalazonitis, in collaboration with Drs Chaido Koukouli-Chrysanthaki and Dimitria Malamidou, has published an article in the Annual of the British School at Athens: an INT1-ranked peer-reviewed journal of Greek Archaeology. The article is available through Cambridge Core (final version) and the institutional repository of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (postprint version). Continue reading “2018-2019: A retrospective of the end of 2018 and future plans”

On the 19th of October (19:15-19:30 Athens time), we will be participating in the 2nd Conference of Local History, hosted by the Municipality of Mt. Pangaion. The conference aims to promote the dissemination of scientific reasearch relating to the region to the local community.

Our presentation will be titled: “Metallurgy, Religion and War: an Argive shield from the sanctuary of Oisyme”, and will involve the first unveiling of our photogrammetry reconstructions. The proceedings will be streamed live are available here

Shape from Light!

As part of our project, we are attempting the photogrammetric rendering of arms from our studied sites. Currently, we are working on the 3d reconstruction of spearheads and swords from Tragilos (Aidonochori) as well as weapons from the sanctuary of Oisyme.

Photogrammetry is a fascinating method of reconstructing a three-dimensional object from a set of photographs, taken from different angles. These photographs are fed into a specialized software suite, where points of reference are identified on the objects; then, through a process called ‘Structure from Motion’, these points are used to track the movement of the camera between photos and, through that, ‘assemble’ the shape of the photographed object.

Continue reading “From Forge to Pixel: Photogrammetry and the Metal Blade Challenge (a blog supplement)”

We are happy to interrupt our usual schedule, for an important announcement!

From 9 to 20 July, we will be hosted by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kavala and Thasos, in their headquarters, in the Archaeological Museum of Kavala.

Our stay there will enable us to have a close look at the finds from Aidnochori / Tragilos, one of the most important 6th-century cemeteries in eastern Macedonia.

The site was excavated from the 1970s onwards and is still visible today, near the Monastery of Timios Prodromos. It has yielded several dozen graves, most of which were looted, or contained very few grave goods. However,these graves also include several ‘warrior’ burials, with spears, swords, knives and other pieces of military equipment. All of these finds remain unstudied and unpublished, and only one knife is currently exhibited in the Kavala Museum!

We are also excited to report that, as part of our research trip, we will be using photogrammetry techniques to reconstruct many of our finds as 3d models! We will be using 3DF Zephyr, an excellent, lightweight and fast photogrammetry software suite. We will be making many of these models available here, on the project website, so stay tuned for future updates!

We are pleased to report that the Warriors on the Periphery project has received an extension for the academic year 2018-2019. This will allow us to incorporate the finds from the sites of Drama and Tragilos in our study, establish a geographical and historical context for the developments in the Kavala Gulf and chemically analyse the metal alloys of our dataset, for more in-depth provenance studies.

Our sincere thanks go to the Wiener-Anspach Foundation for their kind support and to the Université Libre de Bruxelles for hosting us for another year.

Once more, we interrupt our posting schedule for an announcement:

From 23 to 28 April, we will be hosted by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Drama, in the Archaeological Museum, for a first overview of the finds from the Drama tumulus cemetery.

The tumuli were located in the Industrial Zone of the modern city and were first explored in 1979. They are no longer visible, but they remain one of the key Early Iron Age sites of eastern Macedonia to this day.

Our main interest lies with the ‘warrior graves’ that were explored in the tumulus cemetery. They offer an excellent counterpoint to the Early Iron Age burials in Kastri (Thasos) and may provide some insight into what may have been a Thracian warrior ‘elite’.

At least two Naue II swords (of a type that is very popular in the Aegean world, but also in Late Bronze Age / Early Iron Age Europe in general), two spearheads, and two iron ‘picks’ are mentioned in the early excavation reports. Some of these finds are exhibited in the Drama Museum, but they have yet to be studied and published.

We are very grateful to the superintendant of the Drama Ephorate, Dr. Eustratios Papadopoulos, for his kind welcome and his valued support. Please stand by for upcoming photographs and our first impressions of the finds!