Olympia (Greece) as a multi-dimensional space – a landscape archaeology approach to structure, interdependency and change of spatial networks

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Hans-Joachim Gehrke; Professorin Dr. Franziska Lang; Professor Dr. Andreas Vött
• Subject Area: Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology
• Term: from 2015 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 270113181

The research at the sanctuary of Olympia has a long tradition. In spite of this, its integration within the regional environment has not yet been fully researched. Therefore, a systematic landscape archaeology project was initiated (2015 to 2018). A unique aspect is that a sanctuary, rather than a city, forms the centre of the region. Whether this peculiarity had any influence on the regional configuration has to be examined in comparison with other surveys.The update on previous research in the vicinity of Olympia resulted in the first characterization of settlement structures, the visualization of an extremely sacralyzed landscape and immense changes of the (palaeo-)environment.The detailed evaluation of these results, the correlation of the mythistory and general history as well as clarifying essential paleoenvironmental questions represent main issues of the continuation phase of the project (2019-2022).This research aims to capture the structure, dynamics and diversity of the surrounding area of Olympia due to natural, socio-political, economic and cultural conditions. This enables the recording and evaluation of the settlement patterns in different periods, as well as their changes, on a regional and supra-regional scale.In addition, the comparison of survey results with literary tradition will increase the level of knowledge about the socio-political organization, cultural history and mental, mythical and religious view on space. This can be used to generate a chronological order of mythological and sacral-memorial topographies. The resources available in the surrounding of Olympia are systematically studied through combined analysis of archaeological objects, textual evidence and geoarchaeological studies. The use of local resources within the sanctuary itself will also provide lead on cult ecology in the sacral environment.One important element for the development of the sanctuary and its environs is the presence of 'water'. In this respect, the geoarchaeological focus will be on the Alpheios River, and especially on the "Lake of Olympia", discovered during the first phase of the project. For the development of the sanctuary within and with the landscape, this lake is considered to be of outmost importance. Furthermore, the role of groundwater and surface water will be clarified for the sanctuary itself as well as for the lower Alpheios basin where a possible river port was discovered.The acquired results will be compared with the development of the sanctuary in order to determine the relationship between the cult place and rural surroundings as well as its significance for the cultural-historical landscape.The complexity of the project goals and different perspectives on the study area require a multi-methodological analytical strategy. This complexity is reflected through the core of participating disciplines: archeology, ancient history and geoarchaeology, which follow an integrative interdisciplinary research approach.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria
• Cooperation Partner: Privatdozentin Dr. Birgitta Eder