The ASCE was a synergasia between the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the Canadian Institute, co-directed by R. Angus K. Smith (Brock University), James C. Wright (Bryn Mawr College), and Mary K. Dabney (Bryn Mawr College/American School of Classical Studies at Athens), and formerly by Evangelia Pappi (GSC: 4th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities) and Sevasti Triantaphyllou (Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki). The Ayia Stoira Cemetary Excavation (ASCE), which ran from 2006-2010, was a research program that focused on a Mycenaean Cemetery associated with the Bronze Age settlement of Tsoungiza in the Nemea Valley. The primary accomplishment of the ASCE was the excavation of six tombs which dated from the Late Helladic IIIA1 to IIIB2. The tombs also showed evidence of activity in the Archaic Period (late 8th century/early 7th century BCE) and in the Byzantine period. One tomb had already been excavated prior to the program, in 2002, while tombs 2 through 6 were excavated between 2006-2008 as part of ASCE. With the knowledge that these tombs were re-opened several times over their lifespans, this project focused on macro- and microstratigraphic studies of the six tombs, as well as GIS documentation and geophysical studies.
For more information, see http://www.portal.cig-icg.gr/node/251
