The Sphakia Survey

Stacked sanctuaries at the mouth of the Samaria Gorge, Sphakia, Crete: Classical temple, Late Roman basilica, Venetian-period church. Photo: O. Rackham, July 1987.

Stacked sanctuaries at the mouth of the Samaria Gorge, Sphakia, Crete: Classical temple, Late Roman basilica, Venetian-period church. Photo: O. Rackham, July 1987.

The Sphakia Survey is an interdisciplinary archaeological project investigating  the sequence of human activity in Sphakia, from the arrival of people in the area (certainly by the later 4th millennium BC), to AD 1898, the end of the Turkish period in Crete, using environmental, archaeological, material, and local ('ethnographic') information. Lucia Nixon (Wolfson College, Oxford) and Jennifer Moody (University of Texas at Austin) are co-directors.  Simon Price (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford) was project historian; Oliver Rackham (Corpus Christi, Cambridge) was project botanist and historical ecologist.  Jane Francis (Concordia University, Montreal) is a co-editor of the final publication, in two volumes, now nearing completion.

Survey publications include three preliminary reports, specialized articles, and a short book. An important goal has been to train students, directly by fieldwork, and indirectly through this website, which now includes the Sphakia Survey video. We have reported on the Survey to the widest possible audience: inhabitants of Sphakia and other people in Greece; general public in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, and elsewhere; academics and researchers; and students (school, university).

Further details:
Co-director: Ms Lucia Nixon

Email: 
lucia.nixon@classics.ox.ac.uk

Website: 
https://doi.org/10.25446/oxford.c.6816405