Plataia in Boiotia: A Preliminary Report on Geophysical and Field Surveys Conducted in 2002-2005

by Andreas L. Konecny, Michael J. Boyd, Ronald T. Marchese, and Vassilis Aravantinos

Hesperia, Volume 77, Issue 1
Page(s): 43-71
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25068049
Year: 2008
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ABSTRACT:

Surface and geophysical surveys at Plataiai elucidate the development of the settlement through nearly five millennia. Pottery distribution patterns show that the site was first occupied in the Neolithic and continued in use through the Bronze Age, with a possible hiatus during the Dark Age. The settlement recovered in Archaic and Early Classical times, expanded during the 4th century B.C., and underwent further development in Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Early Modern times. Geophysical survey has located a previously unknown section of the town's largest fortification circuit and a probable gateway. Results allow a detailed reconstruction of the city grid and the internal structures of some of the blocks surveyed.