The Kastro Kallithea Archaeological Project (KKAP) was a collaboraion between the 15th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities at Larissa and the Canadian Institute in Greece. Directed by Sophia Karapanou (15th Ephorate) and Margriet Haagsma (University of Alberta), the project was started in 2004 as an urban surface survey, with excavations at Kastro Kallithea conducted from 2007 to 2013.

The focus of the study was a heavily fortified Hellenistic city situated on a high hill near the modern village of Kallithea in southern Thessaly. While its name in antiquity is uncertain, ‘Peuma’ has been suggested based on epigraphical evidence. Over the course of 13 seasons, the team mapped the city’s layout, studied its public and private buildings, and examined its environmental, political, and economic contexts to build a comprehensive picture of the settlement’s history. The findings at Kastro indicate at least four phases of occupation, with early Iron Age tholos tombs, a Late Classical acropolis, and limited evidence of Roman and post-Roman activity discovered at the site. Most of the surviving remains, however, date to the Hellenistic period, when the acropolis was fortified and the city expanded. During this time, the settlement was reorganized on a regular Hippodamian grid plan, with the addition of an agora, public buildings, wells, and defined residential areas.

Select Bibliography

Haagsma, M.J., S. Karapanou, T. Harvey, & L. Surtees. 2011. “An Ancient City and its Agora. Results of the Archaeological Project at the Kastro of Kallithea, Greece.” 197-209. In The Agora in the Mediterranean: from Homeric to Roman time. E. Giannikouri ed. Athens: Archaeological Institute of Aegean Studies.

Haagsma, M.J., S.. Karapanou, C.M. Chykerda, & L. Surtees. 2019. The Kastro at Kallithea: A Guide Book.  Farsala: Ephorate of Antiquities, Larissa.

Surtees, L., S. Karapanou & M. Haagsma. 2014. “Exploring Kastro Kallithea on the Surface: the foundation and occupation of Kastro Kallithea, Thessaly, Greece.” 431-453. In Meditations on the Diversity of the Built Environment in the Aegean Basin and Beyond. Proceedings of a Colloquium In Memorium of Dr. Frederick E. Winter, Canadian Institute in Greece, June 22-23, 2012. D.W. Rupp & J.E. Tomlinson eds. Publications of the Canadian Institute in Greece 8. Athens: Canadian Institute in Greece.

For more, see https://sites.ualberta.ca/~haagsma/index.html