Research Grant from the Research Center for the Humanities
Gianluca Cantoro, Postdoc Researcher of GeoSat ReSeArch Lab (Lab of Geophysical Satellite Remote Sensing and Archaeoenviroment) of F.O.R.T.H., together with Cristina Tsigonaki (Assistant professor at the Univ. of Crete) and Stefania Michalopoulou (PhD candidate at the University of Athens), earned a research grant from the Research Center for the Humanities (John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation and Stavros Niarchos Foundation funding) for the project "HIGH-ABOVE-THE-MOUNTAINS, Fossil Built Landscapes on Mountainous Uplands from the Sky". Acting as a PI of the research team, Gianluca Cantoro will direct the research towards an extensive aerial archaeological survey over mountainous uplands of Crete (Greece). The land of Crete holds a wealthy heritage of isolated contexts of fossil landscapes - such as terrace walls, disused threshing floors, structured field-divisions, stone corrals, water reservoirs and cisterns, abandoned villages and more.
The difficulty of reaching most of those areas seems to be a direct ratio of their importance and, often, to their degree of preservation. The creation of a map of heritages of our recent past will provide essential information for the reconstruction of cultural identities of mountain people.
The project will cover the entire 2017 with archives and bibliographic survey, aerial recognition, targeted artefact inspections and interaction with locals. Deliverables will be a WEBGIS platforms, open workshop and a photographic exhibition.