SettleinEastCrete

Principal Investigator: Dr Nadia Coutsinas

Funded by: Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) & General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT) - Grant agreement No 2388.

Duration 2018-2021

Research team ΙΜS/FORTH:

• Konstantinos Roussos, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
• Marianna Katifori, Research Fellow
• Nikos Beteinis, Research Fellow
• Aris Kydonakis, Software Engineer
• Nasos Argyriou, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

This project attempts to highlight the developments of the settlement patterns in Eastern Crete from the Classical to the Venetian period. The main goal is to enlighten the transition from the ancient autonomous city-states to the medieval cities and villages. This work aims to a better understanding of the economic, social, political and also environmental issues that influenced that evolution.

Concentrating on the eastern part of Crete, it is the occasion to see how, on a same territory but on a long chronological period, through very different administrative systems, population has organized itself, balancing between a centralized and a disseminated mode of settlement.

The project gives great emphasis to geographical parameters. One of the goals of the project is the collection and analysis of information about the geographical and environmental background of the settlements.

The methodology of the project combines the historical and archaeological data with the geographical data, all registered in the poly-parametric database created for the project.

• the first step is the retrieval and recording of all historical and archaeological data from published written and archaeological sources.
• the second step is the fieldwork which aims at getting information on the environing landscape and the different geographical features of each site.
• the third step is the spatial analysis through Geographic Information Systems (G.I.S.), which uses field survey data, remote sensing (satellite images and aerial photographs) and Digital Elevation Models (D.E.M.).

Participation in Conferences

1. Nadia Coutsinas, « Creating a Database to Study Landscape Archaeology in Eastern Crete (Classical-Venetian Period) » (poster), Conference On shifting grounds – the study of archaeological practices in a changing world, Arkwork, Cost Action  CA15201, Rethymno, Crete (3^rd-5^th October 2019).
2. Marianna Katifori, « Mapping and documentation of the churches in Sitia region: an approach of the rural landscape of Crete during the Venetian period » (poster), Conference On shifting grounds – the study of archaeological practices in a changing world, Arkwork, Cost Action  CA15201, Rethymno, Crete (3^rd-5^th October 2019).
3. Nadia Coutsinas, « The Project SettleInEastCrete: Spatial Dynamics and Settlement Patterns in Eastern Crete from the Classical to the Venetian Period », 5^th Meeting for the Archaeological Work in Crete, Rethymno, Crete (21^st-24^th November 2019).
4. Konstantinos Roussos, « Studying the settlement patterns of Eastern Crete between the 4^th and the 12^th c. A.D. », 3^rd International Conference of Byzantine and Medieval Studies, Nicosia, Cyprus (17^th-19^th January 2020).
5. Nadia Coutsinas, « Itanos (Eastern Crete): A Greek City-State with a Mediterranean Territory », 26th EAA Virtual Annual Meeting (26^th-30^th August 2020). Session #276 Networks as Resources for Ancient Communities.
6. Nadia Coutsinas, Marianna Katifori, Athanasios Argyriou, « GIS-based landform classification of settlements in the Pantelis Valley (Sitia, Crete) to assess water management, from the Classical to the Venetian periods », International Conference on Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) 2021 – “Digital Crossroads”, Virtual (14^th-18^th June), S18. Urban Complexity in Settlements and Settlement Systems of the Mediterranean.
7. Online International Workshop (Thursday 30^th September 2021)
   “Settlement Patterns in Crete from the Classical to the Venetian period” (IMS – FORTH)
   - Nadia Coutsinas (IMS-FORTH): “The SettleInEastCrete project: goals and method”
   - Athanasios Argyriou (IMS-FORTH): “Landform classification and the study of settlement dynamics”
   - Marianna Katifori (IMS-FORTH): “Settlements patterns in the territory of Sitia during the Venetian Period”
   - Konstantinos Roussos (IMS-FORTH): “The Mirabello bay in the Byzantine period: interaction between land and sea patterns”
8. Nadia Coutsinas, « Intra-island and Intra-Mediterranean Connections in Roman Crete », Roman Archaeology Conference 2020 (postponed twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic), Split (6-8 April 2022). Session 24. The Networks of Roman Crete.
9. Nadia Coutsinas, Marianna Katifori, Konstantinos Roussos, « Settlement patterns in the wider Ierapetra isthmus: continuity and ruptures from the Archaic to the Venetian period », 13^th International Congress of Cretan Studies, Hagios Nikolaos (5^th-9^th October 2022).