Fieldwork on aerial discoveries in Attica and Rhodes. Part II. Ancient field systems on Mt. Hymettos, near Athens

Abstract

The scene of my inquiries in Attica in 1955 was the coastal plain south of Athens, on the very doorstep of the city. The background was formed by the magnificent profile of Hymettos, with its long, impressive, but not forbidding skyline. The bare rounded mountain sides are steep but towards the foot they give place to gentler slopes composed of soil washed down from above; and even the narrow plain itself is tilted towards the sea. The soil of this zone is notably rich, terra rossa and rendzina —some of the best soil near Athens. The importance of this fact would have been as obvious to ancient farmers as it is to those who today are restoring large-scale cultivation to the zone.