The Exploration of Ancient Stymphalos, 1982-2002

Abstract

From 1982-84 the Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens and the University of British Columbia in collaboration with the Archaeological Society of Athens carried out topographical and geophysical surveys of the site of ancient Stymphalos; the work revealed an orthogonally planned city of the late classical period under farmers' fields. Since 1994 the University of British Columbia has excavated a number of different sites around the city, revealing houses, roads, a sanctuary with an archaic kore statue, fortifications, theatre seating and a Hellenistic stage building, several unidentified structures, and five small, early Christian cemeteries. The work has added considerably to our knowledge of the history of the city, uncovering, for example, Mycenaean pottery, an Augustan Roman resettlement possibly after the destruction by Mummius in 146 B.C., as well as five small cemeteries from an early Byzantine community.