Cave Scapes

The GeoSat ReSeArch laboratory of IMS-FORTH in collaboration with the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology (special regional department of the Ministry of Culture and Sports having the responsibility of all the archaeological caves of Greece) undertook the development of an application for the mapping of archaeological caves.

Region

The pilot region covered the areas of Aitoloakarnania and Lefkada due to extensive cave surveys recently conducted by the Eforeia, the detailed corpus of archival material on karst forms available, and a long-term research focus of the Ephorate and a team of affiliated researchers on ancient cave uses in this particular geographic region.

Goal

The goal of the project is to characterize diachronic cave use (ritual, domestic, funerary, monastic etc.) by exploring the relations between the variety of material archaeological evidence from caves and the variety of geographical landscapes and spatial features associated with the caves of the region (continental, mountainous, island, coastal, riverside).

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the project "POLITEIA II" (Politismos-Technologia, New Technologies in the Research, Study, Documentation and Access to the Information for Cultural Heritage Objects and Monuments II) (MIS 5002478), implemented under the "Action for the Strategic Development on the Research and Technological Sector" and funded by the Operational Programme "Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation" (NSRF 2014-2020) and co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund).