Following recent excavations and geophysical prospection at Idomeni in the Kilkis prefecture of Northern Greece, this paper attempts to reconstruct through digital means, the tangible and intangible vestiges of historical episodes that come together to form multiple narratives of a diachronically terra incognita site, gradually unlocking its hidden secrets. The digital documentation and processing, with the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), of the spatial remains associated with historical episodes demonstrate the ways in which space at Idomeni was used within a multifaceted, diachronic framework. It is a place that is constantly being transformed over the past 7000 years from a seemingly “peaceful” agricultural community during the Neolithic period to a burial ground for a still invisible Middle Byzantine settlement, and finally, as a place of violence having been one of the battlefields of the First World War. The story of Idomeni has only recently been concluded as the theatre of a dramatic influx of modern refugees. Thus, the “multilayered” identity of a mnemonic place with various representations of the past unfolds: on one hand the distant eras, such as the still unknown Neolithic and Middle Byzantine period, and on the other, the relatively recent “traumatic” (war-related) past. Within the specific historical context of the First World War, this paper discusses the management of memories of locals and non-locals, e.g. the disappearance of entire settlements, or the emergence of new toponyms related to the protagonists and their actions during the war in the area of Idomeni remaining in the memory of locals today.
The Smart Eye Application is an augmented reality app for mobile devices that enables the in-situ 3D visualization of underground and inaccessible to the public archaeological sites and monuments.Accessibility to excavated archaeological sites and monuments is often hindered for reasons of preservation or urban development. Portable finds are transferred and, in some cases, exhibited in local museums, but the non-portable remains of ancient structures become eventually effaced from the landscape and the collective memory of local communities. The Smart Eye app provides an "x-ray" type view of excavation sites that have been backfilled and are now invisible. While common practice in heritage sites' digital dissemination to the general public uses 2D or 3D reconstructions in augmented or virtual reality environments, the Smart Eye app presents archaeological remains in the shape and form they were found in by archaeologists supplemented with augmented reality markers that provide simplified textual and visual information aimed toward a non-scholarly public. The aim is to re-instate these heritage sites into the interactive relationship that people have with their landscape and their history.The present paper discusses the chaîne-opératoire of developing the app, from the acquisition of primary documentation data of the excavation sites to the methodology used for the production of the 3D models of the archaeological sites and the development of the app itself and the technical equipment used. Finally, we discuss the results of the preliminary evaluation of the application and future steps to improve it before final testing by the local communities where the archaeological sites are located.
A persistent issue with the study of Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600–1100 BCE) chamber tombs in Mainland Greece remains our limited understanding of the factors that governed the choice of location for their construction. Mee and Cavanagh (1990) examined various parameters, such as religious beliefs, distance from settlement, the tombs’ use as territorial markers or relation to roads. They remained, however, inconclusive. The present study revisits this theme, but focuses on one of the factors formerly discussed, that is the relation of the tombs’ locations to roads. As the most extensive record of Mycenaean roads is preserved at the settlement of Mycenae in the Argolid and its hinterland, this site is considered to be the best case-study for analysis. In order to ascertain the significance of roads on the locations chosen for the chamber tombs, this paper builds a methodological approach that makes use of GIS-based mobility analysis and historical cartography. The analysis has shown that, at least at Mycenae, issues of accessibility to the tombs did not play as crucial role as the actual performance of rituals such as the funerary procession. It also sheds light on the form funerary processions probably took at Mycenae and on common notions of wheeled traffic use for the transfer of the dead to their tomb.
The scope of the present paper is to scrutinise the evidence regarding settlement continuity, especially where continuous replication of the same buildings is involved, and to investigate how it was practiced in Late Bronze Age mound settlements in terms of building methods. Furthermore, we aim to investigate how building continuity or change related to people’s lives and the spatial organisation of their mundane activities and social practices which concerned their biological and social reproduction.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.