The Bays of East Attica Regional Survey (BEARS) is a research project co-directed by Sarah C. Murray (University of Toronto) and Catherine E. Pratt (University of Texas at Austin), with permission of the Ephorate of Antiquities of East Attica. Between 2019 and 2022, the BEARS team conducted a systematic survey of the area surrounding the modern town of Porto Rafti in eastern Attica, with an emphasis on its bay. Framed by the Pounta and Koroni peninsulas, the Porto Rafti bay spans approximately 3.1 kilometers and contains three islands: Raftopoula, Raftis, and Praso. The primary objective of the BEARS project was to develop a more comprehensive historical understanding of the area and to investigate its connections and interactions with neighboring regions.
The 2019 season revealed an obsidian processing center on the Pounta Peninsula, indicating close ties with the island of Melos during the Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The bay appears to have been abandoned thereafter, until its reoccupation around 1200 BCE. The high density of Late Helladic IIIC material on Raftis Island suggests it was the site of a major settlement during this period, likely associated with the Mycenaean cemetery at Perati, which was excavated in the late 19th century and again in the 1960s. Evidence of local craft production was also identified at this site, but is especially concentrated on nearby Praso Island, which appears to have functioned as a center for the manufacture of ceramics, groundstone tools, and metal objects. The absence of additional LH IIIC material around the bay suggests that, during this period, settlement activity was concentrated on the islands, with a focus on craft production and long-distance maritime trade.
Select Bibliography
Murray, S., C. Pratt, R. Stephan, M. McHugh, G. Erny, & P. Sapirstein. 2021. “The 2019 Bays of East Attica Regional Survey (BEARS): New Evidence for the Archaeology of the Bay of Porto Raphti,” Mouseion 17.2: 323–393.
Murray, S., M. Godsey, J. Frankl, B. Lis, G. Erny, R. Stephan, P. Sapirstein, M. McHugh, & C. Pratt. 2022. “The Bays of East Attica Regional Survey 2020–2021: Recent Results and Implications for Reconstructing the Social and Economic Dynamics of Porto Rafti, Greece, from Prehistory to Late Antiquity,” Mouseion 19.2: 112–174.
Murray, S. and B. Lis. 2023. “Documenting a Prosperous Maritime Mercantile Community through Surface Survey: Porto Rafti Bay in the Post-Collapse Aegean,” Antiquity Project Gallery 97.393:e13 https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.49
Perreault, J.Y., S.C. Murray & C. Pratt. 2023. “Fieldwork of the Canadian Institute in Greece 2019-2021: The Bays of Eastern Attica Regional Survey: The Bears Project ,” Mouseion, 20.2: 171–174.
For more information, visit https://bearsarchaeologicalproject.org/
