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The Life and Death of a Mycenaean Port Town: Kalamianos on the Saronic Gulf

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Abstract

In the late fourteenth century bc of the Aegean Late Bronze Age (LBA), a large walled settlement was established at Korphos: Kalamianos, on the Saronic Gulf coast of the Corinthia, Greece. Archaeological and geological work by the Saronic harbors Archaeological Research Project has succeeded in reconstructing the LBA coastline and likely harbor basins, as well as documenting the well-preserved plan of an entire Late Helladic town. Kalamianos was a short-lived maritime outpost, purposely founded as a component of state expansion in a climate of intense peer-polity competition in LBA (fifteenth–thirteenth centuries bc) Greece.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the editor of this special issue, Adam Rogers, for his invitation to submit this paper, the three anonymous reviewers whose comments have improved it, and William Murray and David Blackman who kindly provided bibliographic items. The Saronic Harbors Archaeological Research Project operates under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens with a permit granted by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. I would like to thank Dr. Konstantinos Kissas and Panayiota Kasimis of the 37th Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities; Dr. Dimitris Athanassoulis of the 25th Ephoreia of Byzantine Antiquities; the Ephoreia of Underwater Antiquities (Enalion); and the Institute for Geology and Mineral Exploration (ΙΓΜΕ) for their assistance on all parts of our research. Thanks are due to the former director of the American School, Jack Davis, for his help and advice. Funding for SHARP has come from the following agencies and institutions: Institute for Aegean Prehistory; US National Science Foundation (BCS-08100960); Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation; Loeb Classical Library Foundation; Arete Foundation; Florida State University; and the University of Pennsylvania. I would also like to thank SHARP co-director Thomas Tartaron, SHARP lab director Amy Dill, and Joe Boyce who led the Canadian component of the marine geophysical study for their input. I have greatly benefited from discussions with William Parkinson, Dimitri Nakassis, and Michael Galaty over the years.

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    Daniel Pullen

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Pullen, D. The Life and Death of a Mycenaean Port Town: Kalamianos on the Saronic Gulf. J Mari Arch 8, 245–262 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-013-9113-5

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