Boundary stones of Mt Taygetos with Socrates Koursoumis – Mountain Stories, Mountain Futures
In this episode Jason König interviews Socrates Koursoumis about his archaeological work in the mountains of Greece, especially on Mount Taygetos.
Socrates is an archaeologist of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. He has been a staff member of the Central Department of the Ministry, as well as the Ephorates of Lesbos, Attica, Elia, Messenia and the Corinthia. He has undertaken several excavations in Attica, the Peloponnese, the Aegean islands, and Crete, and carried out three surveys at Lavreotiki, on Mount Taygetos (Messenia) and on Mt Lykaion (Arcadia).
We start by talking about Socrates’ early experience of the mountain regions of Lesbos in his childhood, before moving on to discuss the first steps in his archaeological work in the mountains.
A cattle herd grazing on the ridgeline at Voidolakkoula
Socrates talks about his work on Mount Lykaion and the mountains of Arkadia, and about the importance of walking if we want to understand the history of these places. We then to turn to his excavations on the site of the ancient mines at Laurion in Attica.
In the second half we take a look at Mount Taygetos, particularly Socrates’ work on the sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis in the northern Taygetos region on the borders with Messenia, his decades-long research project on the ancient boundary stones on the Taygetos summit ridge, and finally a recent project on the continuities between ancient and modern wine production in the region.
The valley of Volimnos and the chapel of Panayia Kapsocherovoloussa where the sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis is located.
Socrates ends with some final reflections on the (sometimes dangerous!) challenges of mountain archaeology, and its value for local communities.
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Sound editor: Zofia Guertin
Video editor: Mary Woodcock Kroble