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Modern Description: The site, c. 6 km west of the modern town of Karystos, extends on the summit and north, west, and south slopes of a natural rock (schist) outcrop called locally Gourimadi, which means ‘large rock’ in the local Arvanitika dialect. In 2018 the Norwegian Institute at Athens conducted the first season of a 5-year (2018-2022) project directed by Dr. Zarko Tankosic and co-directed by Drs. Fanis Mavridis and Paschalis Zafeiriadis. The site was discovered during the Norwegian Archaeological Survey in the Karystia (NASK) and immediately recognized as important, based on the composition of the artifacts collected from its surface (e.g., large quantities of obsidian including more than 50 projectile points, pottery that indicated the existence of multiple chronological strata, metallurgical remains in form of small quantities of slag and an excellently preserved bronze axe, etc.). Particularly in chronological terms, the surface pottery scatter indicated the habitation at the site during the final Neolithic-Early Bronze Age I (FN-EBA, respectively) transition, which is elusive both in the Karystia and the Aegean. The site forms a natural hillfort with excellent vistas including most of southern Euboea, east Attica, and the northern Cycladic islands of Andros, Tinos, Giaros, and Kea. (Norwegian Institute)

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(JBK)

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