The Leukos Survey Project

From 2008 to 2011, we conducted archaeological explorations in the area known today as Kato Leukos on the Greek island of Karpathos. Our interest in the site was sparked by the late Gilbert Bagnani. In June of 1923, as a graduate student and a member of the Italian School of Archaeology at Athens, Bagnani traveled to Karpathos in the company of the director of the School and a fellow student. While investigating the visible remains at Kato Leukos, Bagnani commented in his notebook, “there can be no doubt that it is the site of an ancient city, perhaps Nysiros, the only one of the four cities of Karpathos whose site is still unknown.” His suggestion was in direct response to Strabo’s claim that Karpathos was home to a tetrapolis. Three of the four cities, Pigadia, Arkassa and Vrykous, are known, the fourth remains unidentified (fig. 1). In addition, Bagnani also noted architectural blocks with cuttings and moldings characteristic of temple architecture strewn about the upper portion of the site. He did not publish his work, but deposited his field notes in the archives at Trent University and the Italian School at Athens. Armed with Bagnani’s observations, we superficially inspected the area in 2004 and then commenced four seasons of intensive archaeological surface survey in 2008. Our goals in the field were fourfold, to determine: 1) the chronological parameters of the settlement; 2) the extent of the settlement and its relationship to the land- and sea-scape; 3) the settlement’s urban institutions, and; 4) the settlement’s role in seafaring and maritime trade. Although the results of our field work could not confirm Bagnani’s suggestion that Kato Leukos was the fourth member of Strabo’s tetrapolis, our survey established the remains of two later settlements: a 4th- to 6th-century CE port settlement (hereafter, Leukos) and an 11th- to 13th-century CE fortified islet (hereafter, Sokastro) (fig. 2). Karpathos lay at the crossroads of two major shipping lanes and the ceramic evidence recorded at both settlements confirms their participation in seaborne trade.5 Because Karpathos lacks natural resources and arable land, the Leukos Survey Project sought to determine whether the two settlements were entirely dependent for survival on the ships transporting their tradable cargos which plied the island’s waters and sheltered in its natural harbors. The tumultuous history of the Aegean during the medieval period no doubt also contributed to the short-lived nature of both settlements. Our project was the first scientifically-based archaeological survey conducted on Karpathos, and the preliminary results presented here begin to define the medieval history of the island with newly-gathered data.

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