This July and September, an international multi-disciplinary team lead by researchers from GIAP-ICAC, the Ephoria for Antiquities of Xanthi, the Universities of Athens and Crete and ISEM-Montpellier, has conducted archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research around ancient Abdera in the province of Xanthi (East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece), under MEDLANDS and DIPAX projects.
The coordinated effort focused on collecting data to reconstruct settlement patterns, landscape change and human-environmental interactions in long-term historical perspective. The 2026 campaign developed over six weeks and had ambitious, multidisciplinary objectives that were pursued simultaneously by several task groups. The main works developed in 2026 included:
- Systematic archaeological survey with objective to map the occupation of the rural countryside of Abdera between Late Prehistory and the beginning of the Middle Ages. Directed by Dr. Arnau Garcia-Molsosa (GIAP-ICAC), Dr. Jesús Martínez (GIAP-ICAC) and Prof. Eurydice Kefalidou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens).
- Archaeological characterisation of two hilltop Protohistorical Sites in the Nestos valley within the Rhodope mountains. Directed by Dr. Arnau Garcia-Molsosa (GIAP-ICAC), Dr. Jesús Martínez-Fernández (GIAP-ICAC)
- Archaeological characterisation of a prehistoric hilltop in the coastal plain. Directed by Prof. Merkouris Georgiadis (University of Crete).
- Geoarchaeological research based on drillings (percussion coring) in coastal areas around the Hellenistic and Roman Abdera, for palaeogeographical reconstruction, location of ancient harbour areas, and to obtain sedimentary sequences suitable for multiproxy palaeoenvironmental analyses. Directed by Dr. Alfredo Mayoral (GIAP-ICAC).
- PhD candidate Isabel Mattuzzi (GIAP-ICAC) led extensive archaeological surveys and the analysis of lithostratigraphical profiles to get geoarchaeological and palaeoenvironmental data, and complement palaeogeographic reconstructions.
- PhD candidate Marta Tosolini and Dr. Ana Ejarque (ISEM-Montpellier) conducted phytosociological studies and vegetation sampling to build a modern reference dataset for pollen-based palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental studies.
Along the sixth weeks of the campaign, a total of 28 researchers, including Bachelor and Master students and PhD candidates of 8 different countries, have participated in the fieldwork as part of their formation in field methods for conducting Landscape Archaeology research.
