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Το πλούσιο αρχαϊκό ιερό του Απόλλωνα, που βρίσκεται στη θέση Μάνδρα στο Δεσποτικό, δυτικά της Αντιπάρου, αποτελεί τον κύριο πόλο ερευνητικού ενδιαφέροντος για την ακατοίκητη νησίδα. Ωστόσο, η εν εξελίξει ανασκαφή έχει φέρει στο φως μια εκτεταμένη εγκατάσταση, που περιλαμβάνει 22 κτίρια, που εκτείνονται χρονολογικά από την Πρώιμη Εποχή του Σιδήρου έως την ελληνιστική περίοδο. Η κατανόηση του χαρακτήρα και της χρήσης αυτών των κτηρίων είναι ουσιαστική για την ερμηνεία της θέσης. Η αποσαφήνιση των ορίων μεταξύ «λατρευτικού» και «κοσμικού» σε χωροταξικό επίπεδο μπορεί να επιτευχθεί με την εφαρμογή αυστηρής μεθοδολογίας. Στο πλαίσιο Ερευνητικού Ευρωπαϊκού Προγράμματος προορισμένου για υποψήφιους διδάκτορες, επιχειρήθηκε η συστηματική μελέτη της αρχιτεκτονικής και της υλικής σκευής συγκεκριμένων οικοδομημάτων που χρονολογούνται πριν την διαμόρφωση του αρχαϊκού ιερού με στόχο τη διασαφήνιση της λειτουργίας του. Στο παρόν άρθρο συζητείται η μεθοδολογία που υιοθετήθηκε για την επίτευξη των παραπάνω, καθώς και τα διαφορετικά τεχνολογικά μέσα (φωτογραμμετρία, Γεωγραφικά Συστήματα Πληροφοριών [GIS] και τα Εφαρμοσμένα μαθηματικά). Έμφαση δίνεται στα πρώτα αποτελέσματα της συνδυαστικής μελέτης των αρχιτεκτονικών καταλοίπων και των κινητών ευρημάτων., In the frame of the Research Project Sacred, Public or Private Buildings? Ambiguous sites and structures in the Early Cyclades, a strict methodology has been adopted, aiming at deciphering the “character” of a number of buildings. The adopted methodology has been based on the detailed documentation of the architectural remains and the related finds. In the former case, the photogrammetry of the buildings, including ground plans and wall sections, has been combined with a structural analysis mainly involving the descriptive representation of the architectural remains and the examination of the techniques and materials used during the construction process. The various types of finds from each building have not been only classified according to their types, but an emphasis has been placed on their spatial distribution revealed through the use of the Geographic Information System (GIS). On this basis, a synthetic study both of the architectural remains and of the artefacts in their original context was possible, elucidating the function of the selected buildings and their components. At the same time, a list of material correlates was created to provide a basis as secure as possible for designating each building’s “character”.

The increasing need for data trading has created a high demand for data marketplaces. These marketplaces require a set of value-added services, such as advanced search and discovery, that have been proposed in the database research community for years, but are yet to be put to practice. In this paper we propose to demonstrate the Topio Marketplace, an open-source data market platform that facilitates the search, exploration, discovery and augmentation of data assets. To support filtering, searching and discovery of data assets, we developed methods to extract and visualise a variety of metadata, as well as methods to discover related assets and mechanism to augment them. This paper aims at presenting these methods with a real deployment of the Topio marketplace, comprising hundreds of open and proprietary datasets.

Based on information extracted from the diary of excavations conducted in the late 1930s, the present article discusses for the first time the child-burials of the archaic north necropolis of Vari, dating from the late 7th to 6th century BC. The spatial organization of the cemetery shows that children are buried together with adults and not separately in necropoleis reserved for pre-adults, as is the case in contemporary Attika. More importantly, a number of child-burials attracted special attention, and were venerated like those of adults, indicating that despite their age, young members of the local elite were treated as deserving of respect as heirs of their high status.

Between 2012 and 2015, a team of Ghent and Utrecht Universities conducted an intensive survey of the southern slopes of the Velatouri Hill, covering the area of the lower settlement of Thorikos as well as parts of the acropolis. This project was completed in 2015, after which the inventorying and study of the 56,906 finds continued through 2016-2017. Awaiting the comprehensive publication of the entire Thorikos Survey Project, we present here some preliminary results regarding the post-Classical period, which has historically received only very limited attention. We will 1) outline the scientific aims of the Thorikos Survey Project and its methodology, and 2) focus on the Hellenistic, Roman, Late Antique, Byzantine and (Early) Modern occupation. This is a first attempt to arrive at an integrated account of all post-Classical activity on the slopes of the Velatouri until the present day. Our investigation shows that while activity decreased significantly after the Early Hellenistic period (early 3rd century BCE) owing to a general decline in mining activity, the site was periodically revisited in later times. Here we attempt to relate these fluctuations to changing settlement patterns elsewhere in Attica. Most notably, we posit that a relative increase in finds during in the Late Antique period may be connected to a limited resumption of the silver and/or lead industry in the 4th century CE.

The Areopagus Oval Building (AOB) provides a rare insight into Athenian architecture during the Geometric period, a time in which the archaeological record is mostly confined to graves. Dorothy Burr’s original 1933 publication of the building remains an exemplary and exhaustive presentation of the archaeological evidence (Burr, 1933). Even so, both the date and the function of the building have been matters of debate for decades. Burr herself identified the structure as a house (e.g., Burr 1933, 637). In 1968, however, Homer Thompson suggested that the structure served as a cult of the dead rather than a domestic house (Thompson, 1968, 58-60; Thompson, 1978). He based his theory on the seemingly isolated position of the building, its superposition directly over an Early Geometric I child’s burial, and its proximity to the so-called Areopagus Geometric Burial Lotnearby burials (fig. 1). Thompson also suggested that “a thin, low stone socle for the bounding wall, a clay floor cobbled in part, and traces of burning on the floor, would be equally and perhaps more appropriate to a temenos open to the sky” (Thompson, 1968, 60). A large Protoattic votive deposit covered much of the building’s collapsed remains. This deposit included fine pottery, figurines of horses and chariots, rectangular pinakes, and miniature shields of terracotta. (fig. x). Burr suggested that the deposit was not associated with the AOB, but rather ; it was refuse from a nearby sanctuary (Burr 1933, 636-640). For Thompson, the deposit secured the AOB’s identity as a shrine, for he considered the votive assemblage was considered “closely matched in the votive deposit found in the dromos of the Mycenaean tholos tomb at Menidhi,” and therefore suitable for a “cult of the dead” (Thompson, 1968, 60). Until recently, most scholars have accepted Thompson’s interpretation (e.g. Wycherley 1978, 193; Snodgrass 1982, 678; Whitley 1994, 225; Antonaccio 1995; Parker 1996, 34, n. 20 (no.3); Coldstream 2003, 30; Papadopoulos 2003, 275). In the past decade or so, however, this standard orthodoxy has come to be questioned (Alexandridou (forthcoming); Mazarakis Ainian 1999, 21; Boehringer 2001, 69; van den Eijnde 2010, 114-16; Laughy 2010, 257-294). These recent works have raised four main issues with Thompson’s theory: 1) The surviving architectural features do not accord with an open-air shrine; 2) The chronological relationship between the building and the child grave has never been fully understood; furthermore, a child’s burial as the impetus for a full-fledged ancestor cult would be unique to the Greek world; 3) There is no reason to connect the function(s) of the AOB with the Protoattic votive deposit on top ofthat covered it; and finally 4) There is evidence of domestic use associated with the AOB. All of these considerations underscore the need for a fresh analysis of the AOB’s material remains. Based in part on a reexamination of the pottery lots, the excavation notebooks, and excavation summary reports, we offer here some preliminary conclusions. We have two main objectives. The first is to offer a fruitful contribution to the debate over the chronology and architecture of the AOB. To this end, we incorporate into our discussion of the AOB an analysis of nearby graves, wells, and other architecture, which we feel provides crucial clues insight into the building’s history and the people who used it. Our second objective is to place the building in the context of similar contemporary buildings throughout Attica. Doing so reinforces the notion that a black and white distinction between ritual and domestic use of many of these buildings is unwarranted; the two functions were, in fact, closely related.