LEUKIOS
Τhe Laurion Historical Landscape Interdisciplinary Research Project

The Ionian University (dept. of History and Digital Humanities) has establish an interdisciplinary research team to conduct a multifaceted, on-site study of the historical landscape, across a complex of valleys and hills in southern Lavreotiki, tracing its evolution from antiquity to the present.

The Laurion Archaeological project, constitutes the core of a broader interdisciplinary research program which integrates archaeology, history, bio-anthropology, ethnography and social anthropology, geology, environmental studies and ecology. The archaeological component is being implemented in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Eastern Attica.

It combines the implementation of extensive and intensive survey methodology and strictly targeted excavation in the form of stratigraphic trenches.  In this composite context, we employ traditional archaeological recording methods, as well as topographic, and architectural recording (mapping, drawing, scanning with land and airborne laser scanners); scientific analytical field-methods (pXRF, pRAMAN, micro-core sampling, collection of palaeoenvironmental proxies) are deployed targeting certain archaeological materials (plasters, mortars metallurgical by-products).

The archaeological project aims to locate and investigate one of the Classical Sounion Deme collective centres -including the Leukios Agora- to decode functional qualities of the built space, to unravel mining and metallurgical processes and understand the archaeometallurgical and hydraulic technological apex of the 5th-2nd Cies BCE and to acquire safe chronological proxies for dating stages and phases in the evolution of the Laurion historical landscape while linking it to the wider historical context.

The Λεύκιος Project is an interdisciplinary archaeological initiative aiming to implement a threefold fieldwork methodology to develop a deep understanding of the Laurion historical landscape. 

Fieldwork is undertaken at the area surrounding “Mount Michalis” and the adjacent valley-system of Agrileza, within the Sounion National Park.

Building upon decades of research into the ancient topography and mining landscapes of Lavreotiki, the project investigates a historically significant area that may have served as a communal and administrative center of the Sunieis. According to epigraphic and historical sources, the agora of the deme may have been located here—on land donated by an athenian citizen of the Sounion Demos, named Leukios (IG II² 1180, mid-4th c. BCE).

The Λεύκιος Project also places strong emphasis on education and capacity-building. Students from the Ionian University and collaborating institutions actively participate in all phases of research: field survey, digital documentation, historical archiving, and ethnographic investigation. This living laboratory connects antiquity with recent histories, engaging with themes of social memory and landscape transformation.

Three key components structure the project:

• Archaeological Fieldwork: The project aims to document architectural and structural remains—including road networks, sanctuaries, workshops, residential zones, cemeteries, farmsteads, and mining infrastructure—to test the hypothesis regarding the location of the Sunieis deme center.
• Historical Archival Research: A major strand involves the study and processing of archival material from the French Mining and Metallurgical Company, which played a decisive role in the industrial revival of Lavrion during the 19th and 20th centuries. These records provide crucial insights into labor, social organization, and industrial heritage.
• Ethnographic Research: The project engages local communities to collect oral histories, memory narratives, and everyday practices tied to labor, space, and identity. These stories contribute to preserving Lavreotiki’s intangible cultural heritage and bridging ancient and contemporary lived experiences.

This triptych is operated to identify, record, analyse and interpret key aspects of material and intangible culture, diachronically active in the palimpsest of the Laurion historical landscape. In particular, it is the interplay between technology (mining / metallurgical and especially hydraulic) in the long term and historical dynamics (urbanisation emergence -  collectivities) that constitutes the main field of observation.  We are working towards an understanding of the advanced technology of materials and hydraulics, knowledge of geology, intense human labour in the mines, slaves and workers, seem to punctuate, repetitively, constantly changing forms and qualities, the historical timeline the Laurion landscape, from the antiquity to the present.

Ultimately, the Λεύκιος Project aspires not only to uncover material traces of the past, but also to foster a broader understanding of heritage as a dynamic, community-embedded process.