But the excavation goals go far beyond developing an understanding of one site.
Reports Haggis and Mook: "The excavation constitutes the first case study of the political economy of Archaic Crete, while augmenting our knowledge of the agropastoral resource base of Aegean communities in early stages of urbanization." Researchers hope that knowledge gained from the excavations will inform further exploration of the beginnings of urbanization and the formation of early Greek city-states in Crete.*
For the coming season of work, set to begin at the end of May, 2014, Haggis and Mook intend to field a team of professional staff, students and volunteers to take up the task of gathering additional archaeological data to help fill in more gaps in the total picture of urban beginnings.
"Our plan of work for 2013-2017 is to excavate an early Greek temple (ca. 1000-700 B.C.E.) and several Archaic-period houses (6th and early 5th c. B.C.E.), and to conduct a number of stratigraphic soundings in the area of the civic buildings in order to refine our understanding of the chronology and history of the site."**
See the project website for more information about the excavations, field school, and how one can participate as a student or volunteer.
The Azoria excavations are conducted under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
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*
http://www.unc.edu/~dchaggis/**
http://www.unc.edu/~dchaggis/Fieldschool.html______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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