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As the second issue of Seepage will indicate, we have been quite busy during the past year. M. Wallace and D. Keller have bought a Hyundai microcomputer and (thanks to the help of E. Schneider and C. Kosso) we have it functioning in the temporary Seep command post in Karystos. This PC is available for Seep members working on the Phase I monograph and it should insure that Seepage #3 reaches you before summer of 1990.

The work of the 1989 season, which lasted from mid-June to the end of July, was focused on three projects. The crews, which included five new volunteers from the Universities of Freiburg and Munster, were rotated to allow each person to participate in different tasks.

SEEP activities in the museum were organized by C. Kosso and R. Schneider, who developed (with the help of M. Wallace) and implemented an improved system for processing ceramics (see below) and a general artifact catalog sheet for uniform recording for all materials.

Survey crews followed and described the trails ("pre-modern land routes") on both the Paximadhi peninsula and the eastern side of the Karystos Bay. Work on the eastern peninsula was intended to aid our understanding of the history of communications between Karystos and Kastri (the ancient port of Geraistos) and to record new find spots near the trails. The survey succeeded at both tasks. Thirty-five new find spots, many with visible architectural remains, were discovered and the major portion of what is believed to be the ancient road between Karystos and Geraistos was identified and mapped. A 40-meter stretch of this road was found to be paved with large rough-cut blocks of local stone.

A. Akin continued her field study of goat mandri on the Paximadhi peninsula. Cheerful teams of volunteers measured and recorded features of these modern centers of transhumance herding in a contribution to the study of recent human activities on the Paximadhi peninsula.

When we arrived in Karystos this summer we discovered that the local museum, where we analyze and store our finds, had undergone mayor building repairs. Our work space was a mess and our first week was spent cleaning and rearranging. During this time (supplemented by hours of discussion over nescafes) we decided to reevaluate our inventory and cataloging procedures. The aim was to create a system that would be more efficient, consistent, and useful than the one we had in place.

For potsherds we devised a code of letters and numbers to describe characteristics of the different fabrics (e.g., the kind and size of inclusions), shapes, and surface treatment. These codes can be used independently or together depending on the amount of information we wish to record. So far we have found that despite some early modifications, the codes were far easier to use than we might have expected and they appear to be reproducible.

In the future we plan to computerize this data for the purpose of some comparative studies o, shapes and fabrics. We also decided to use the fabric code as the basis for a new ceramic inventory procedure. Survey sherds from each find spot are counted and are visually separated into fabric types. Each type is coded and a list made of the total number for each group. We also include a description of the vessel parts. (The final information list looks something like: R3aN002W3 (8/2 10YR): 2 rims, 1 handle, 1 base, 4 body sherds, total 8 sherds.)

We also began the preparation of a more detailed artifact catalog sheet, which we believe will help standardize our descriptive terms and make comparisons more productive. All in all the summer work in the museum went well and we were able to keep abreast of the incoming materials from this year's survey and to continue study of the materials that we are preparing for publication.

In early September Beata DeVligher and Rudi Goossens of the University of Ghent visited Karystos with their colleagues to continue their on-the-ground confirmation of information gained from satellite images. I was able to discuss problems of locating and dating land terraces on the Paximadhi peninsula with Rudi and to see Beata's dramatic images of the southeastern area of the Karystia before and after the large brush fire of last August.

At the end of the summer Sophie and Noel Gale and their young son Christopher, an expert at slag bashing (a technological process for initial extraction of possible C14 material), arrived in Karystos to collect slag and ore samples. We were later joined by Panos Perlikos of I.G.M.E. and together visited a number of abandoned mines in the Kallianou region. We would not have found the mines without the help of Baba Kosta of Kallianou who worked in the mines as a youth. The samples are now being examined in Oxford and we hope that this work will form the basis of continued research and a future Seep monograph on the subject.

In the October 1989 issue of The Athenian, Efi Sapouna-Sakellaraki, the director of the Euboean Department of the Greek Archaeological Service, has written a useful summary of the present state of knowledge on the Mount Ochi "Dragon House."

In September of 1989, Maria Panagopoulou, a former member of the Euboean Department of the Greek Archaeological Service (now assigned to the Cycladic Department), opened test trenches at the Archaic site of Archampolis, northeast of Karystos. Having worked on the site earlier with J. Ober, A. Mayor, and J. Slonaker (Keller, AJA 88 (1984) 249), I was able to provide her team with preliminary plans and information on the site.

A number of the Seep crew managed to attend the joint celebration of the Euboean Department of the Archaeological Service and the Swiss Archaeological Mission which recognized 25 years of cooperative research at Eretria. Other members later made the trip north and were thoroughly impressed by the informative and well-designed display in the Eretria Museum illustrating the history of the excavations.

INCOME $1,016.00 EXPENDITURES $385.98 BALANCE $630.02

As you can see, we are still ahead. All of Seep's organizational funds to date have come from member donations and most of our expenditures (i.e., $265.38) have gone toward postage and distribution of the first newsletter. Although we have been very restrained about transferring funds to cover summer expenses, we did acquire four needed books for the Seep field library. Most of the excavation reports, offprints, and other resource material in the library, however, have been donated by members.

Thus far, all of Seep's field research, conducted under the auspices of the Canadian Archaeological Institute, has been supported by the actual collaborators. Airfares, time, shoe leather, etc. were donated by the participants. Lodging, storage, and work space were provided by the town and museum of Karystos. Partial board, vehicle rental, supplies, and other expenses have been met by small grants and private donations. In 1989 three crew members earned partial room and board by working in their free time for the Ithaka Program.

By the time this newsletter reaches your hands our reserves will have been halved. This is a subtle plea for members to help the project with their contributions. 0f course, donations are encouraged on a continuing basis, but financial support is not a prerequisite for continued membership in Seep. Other ways in which members might help Seep are to do volunteer work during the summers or to help us locate and approach potential individual and corporate donors. Our short- and long-term objectives in fundraising are as follows:

1) To build our membership of persons interested in research in southern Euboea, disseminate information through newsletters and other means, and begin a collection of specialized reference materials for individuals working in the area.

2) To enlarge the library and map collection, and eventually lease a room in Karystos to provide an ongoing reference and work center for field research. Ideally, this material will be accessible even if no Seep associate happens to be in residence in Karystos.

3) To reach the financial state whereby we can actually support field research efforts in the region.

Four papers reporting on current research in the Karystia were read by our members at the First Joint Archaeological Congress held 5-9 January 1989 in Baltimore, Maryland:

Cynthia K. Kosso,"Roman and Byzantine Sites on the Paximadhi Peninsula: Survey Results 1986-1988"

Malcolm B. Wallace, "Athenian Settlements in Euboia in the Fifth Century B.C.

Donald R. Keller, "Classical Greek Agricultural Sites: The Karystian Evidence"

Donald R. Keller, "Southern Euboea Exploration Project: Efforts Toward Reconstructing the Diachronic Human Ecology of a Region"

Abstracts of the first three are to be found in the American Journal of Archaeology 93 (1989) 261, 275. The fourth paper was basically an illustrated report of the information in Seepage #1.

Reports on the 1989 survey will appear in the Bulletin of the Canadian Archaeological Institute and in Classical Views in 1990.

We have already submitted a permit request to continue the survey of pre-modern communication routes in southern Euboea. In addition we hope to see the completion of D. Beyer's study of Paximadhi coarse ware sherds, which are now being examined by the Fitch Lab in Athens, and of A. Akin's study of transhumance on the peninsula.

As noted above, the Karystos museum has undergone some renovation and the Archaeological Service is continuing its efforts to open the display room to the public. The summer of 1990 seems a possibility and we will keep you informed. In September of 1989, another large brush fire burned for three days above the villages of Methochi and Aetos.

Among the visitors to Seep this summer was J. Perrault, director of the Canadian Archaeological Institute, who managed to time one of his visits for the annual July EHII Beach Party. This was fortunate because construction of the Karystos sewage treatment plant continues at Ay. Pelagia and the beach and site might be less pleasant by next summer. A later visit by J. Perrault and M. Tollis of the CAI resulted in an exciting caique voyage in the direction of Cavo D'Oro (trying to reach Archampolis), but only the crew members who took their dramamine will speak about it. On a similar note, E. Schneider claims that he saw a group of Karystian fishermen pulling a 6-foot shark out of the bay this summer. We had thought that this might discourage tourism and commercial development around the bay, but so far Eric remains our only source for this report. Hope he has no trouble with his resident permit next summer.