Geophysical and Paleoecological Study

Since the beginning of its collaborative projects at Chersonesos, ICA has applied a range of technologies and scientific methods to its study of the ancient city and its countryside. In the course of the first decade of excavations in the chora, geophysical prospecting techniques including resistivity survey, magnetometry, and ground-penetrating radar were employed. This work, carried out by joint teams from both ICA and the NPTC, produced especially important results at the site of Bezymyannaya. In coming years, similar techniques may be brought to bear on the examination of a wide variety of buried remains, especially in the area of the proposed park of the chora.

Geophysical prospecting techniques add to our knowledge of the landscape with information about buried structures, but our understanding of that landscape requires a more diachronic view of change and development.   Paleoecological research, therefore, is also fundamental for the investigation of the relation between people and their environment. For that reason, palynological and geomorphological analyses have formed an important part of ICA's research at Chersonesos.  A systematic program of core sampling in and around the ancient chora was conducted by Paul Lehman of the University of Texas and Carlos Cordova of Oklahoma State University. This research has provided important information about changes in the landscape of the Herakleian Peninsula at specific points in time, including the period of Greek colonization. Their work has yielded valuable insights into vegetation changes, agricultural practices and land use over the last 10000 years.   Current research plans involve the identification and core-sampling of areas that preserve palynological evidence for the later Roman and Byzantine periods.