This project, co-directed as a synergasia between the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the Canadian Institute by Zisis Bonias (18th Ephorate) and Jacques Perreault (University of Montreal) was a systematic excavation of Argilos, the earliest Greek colony on the Thracian coast, founded in 655/654 BCE. Running from 1992 to the present (?), the goal was to attain a better understanding of how the Greek colonies on the northwestern coast of the Aegean Sea were established and organized. Researchers have concentrated on four sectors: the acropolis, the national road sector, the Koutloudis plot, and the southeast sector. The structures unearthed in the acropolis sector cover all the periods of the city’s existence, including that after the destruction caused by Philip II in 357 BCE, whereas the National Road Sector’s excavations have shown the city’s earliest occupations, likely going back to the first half of the 7th century BCE. In the Southeast sector, several major buildings and houses have been uncovered which give valuable information about the architectural and urban development of the city, such as the fact that the city was significantly remodelled at the beginning of the 5th century BCE.
More information here: http://www.argilos.org
