“CAPITANIA VALISSO CASTRUM DICTI LOCI”: SETTLEMENT PATTERNS AND DEFENCE ON NORTHERN CHIOS, 9TH - 16TH CENTURIES by IOANNA NIKOLAOU KOUKOUNI A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity College of Arts & Law University of Birmingham December 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. TO THE REVERED MEMORY OF MY FATHER AND OF MY GRANDPARENTS, AND ALL OUR NORTH-CHIOT ANCESTORS FOR THEY PLOUGHED THIS LAND WITH THE TEARS OF THEIR TOIL. I PAY THIS TRIBUTE ABSTRACT This thesis is a survey of Mount Amani, the northwestern province of Chios island (east Aegean). The thesis examines the natural environment and explores the landscape using different kinds of information, in order to reconstruct the medieval historical topography of this region and to contribute to the problématique of the history and evolution of the Byzantine village and its remarkable longevity. The methodology applied ranges from the scanty literary sources, and visible archaeological evidence, and extends to the tracing of any sign of human activity on the landscape. Additionally, toponymy, ethnography and oral tradition are implemented for the examination of other aspects, such as the peasant architecture and material culture. From many perspectives, the study is paramount. It presents archaeological evidence for sites, for which there are no literary sources to rely upon. It highlights their share in the economy of Chios during the Byzantine and the Genoese periods. Finally, it aims to contribute to the debate over the ‘depopulation’ or ‘demographic decline’ of mountainous terrains in the ages prior to the eleventh century. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I thank the Board of Directors of the Giannis & Penelope Kougioulis Foundation, for supporting my studies all those years (including my MPhil). I thank with all my heart and soul my family, for they nourished me with the images of Amani and our home-island. They were the source of my inspiration throughout my life; from the precious years of my childhood until now the stories of their life, with which I was brought up, were always leading me. I especially thank my late father and grandparents, for what I have accomplished today I owe it to them. Behind every line and through every page, it’s them. This book belongs to them. I thank particularly Dr Eurydice S. Georganteli, Professor Dimiter G. Angelov and little angel Alexander, for all the unconditional love and support, and the precious advices that gave me all this time; to a large extent, this thesis has been realised due to them. I would like to thank Professor Piero Spagnesi, of the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ and Dr Enrico Basso of the University of Torino, for all the help, advice and generous aid to my topic and research. I am particularly grateful to both. I acknowledge my supervisor’s contribution during those five years of my PhD studies at the University of Birmingham, Dr Archie W. Dunn, and also Dr Lesley Beaumond, of the University of Sydney, for the kind permission which she gave me for access to her excavated ceramic material from Kato Phana. My thanks are also due to Mr Adam Mylonas, my photographer and assistant, for all the valuable help. He had the laborious task to accompany me during the hours of toil under the summer sun of Chios and also to provide me with the photographic implements for an as perfect as possible photographic documentation. Behind the scenes, he is also undertaking the task to classify and put in a proper order my gigantic photographic archive. LIST OF FIGURES 1. Geology of Chios. 2. Streams and drainage. 3. Relief map of Chios. 4. The main communication lines. 5. Sketch of the castle of Volissos. 6. Plans of keeps and towers. 7. Plans of keeps and towers. 8. Sketch plan of the castle of Volissos. 9. Sea routes to eastern and western Mediterranean in the middle ages. 10. Sketch plan of the fort Ta Markou. 11. The three stages of the mastic production. LIST OF PLATES 1. Birdseye view of the settlement of Volissos and the bay. Source: Google earth (2011). 2. The old road Chios (Chora) – Volissos and detail. 3. a. Volissos, the settlement and the castle. View from the south. b. The castle seen from the NW. 4. a. View from the castle hill to the Aegean, west. b. Panoramic view to the Aegean and the western Amani from inside the castle. 5. a. The east wall. b. The entrance – gate. 6. The entrance blocked by the collapsed keep. 7. The east wall from the inner side and the collapsed keep. 8. The SE tower. 9. a. The SE tower and part of the proteichisma. b. The SE tower seen from the middle town. 10. a. The castle (S tower) seen from the middle town. b. The S tower. 11. S and SW towers. 12. a. The SW tower. b. Part of the western wall. 13. Details of the western wall and its foundation on the bedrock. 14. The W tower. 15. a. The point of junction of the W tower and its adjacent wall. b. View of the castle from the lower town, the neighbourhood Pythonas 16. a. NW tower looking west towards the settlements. b. The NW tower. 17. Details of the NW tower seen from the outside (1) and from the inside (2). 18. Details of the masonry of the NW tower. 19. a. Remains of the north wall and imprint of the northern proteichisma. b. The N tower seen from the north. In the foreground the remnants of the proteichisma. 20. The western proteichisma. 21. a. The N tower. b. The NE tower and part of the Pyrgos neighbourhood of the settlement. 22. a. The NE tower and the east wall. b. NE tower, view from north. 23. a. Detail of the masonry of the NE tower. b. Eastern wall and the proteichisma. 24. a. The circuit wall separating the middle from the lower town. b. Inside the middle town. 25. a. Middle town, detail. b. View of the settlement of Volissos and its plain from atop the middle town. In the background, a vigla (watch tower). 26. a. View of the castle hill from the lower town. b. Pythonas, one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Volissos in the lower town. 27. Abandoned sector in the Pyrgos neighbourhood. 28. Abandoned houses in the Pyrgos neighbourhood. 29. a. Church of Taxiarchis Mesochoritis in the middle town. b. The Pyrgos neighbourhood, seen from the south. In the background, St. George of Pyrgos. 30. a. St. George Pyrgoussis and the houses in its square. b. View of the castle hill and the settlement. 31. a. A likely tower of the lower acropolis transformed into a residence. b. Sideroporta (Iron Gate): the marble pole of one of the entrances to the town 32. Anavatos. 33. Anavatos and the Triorofon. 34. a. Anavatos. b. The mountain landscape of Anavatos. 35. a. The settlement of Pyrama. b. The tower. 36. a. Parparia. b. The old sector, ‘Kastron’ area. 37. a. Parparia, detail of the surviving defensive circuit . b. Volissos: material culture (storage jar). 38. Artificial canals, at Amythounda. 39. Threshing floors at Amythounda. Ruined structures at Amythounda. 40. Huts north of Amythounda. Canal at Amythounda. 41. a. The trail ‘ridge of Angelos – ridge of Amythounda’. b. Trail Phyta – Amythounda. 42. a. Cuneiform ‘forks’ on the trail Phyta – Amythounda. b. The sources of the stream Angelos, known as ‘Tou Angelou to nero’. 43. a. The stream of Amythounda, seen from the peak Horos. b. Hypothetical location of Sant’Angelo. 44. a. Exokklesi of Saint George at Angelos. b. Another shrine of Saint George at Angelos. 45. a. Metochi of Konstantios Phytousis at Zartoulida. b. Saint Nicolaos at the Koufos stream. 46. Ta Markou. 47. The tower at Ta Markou and part of the deserted settlement. 48. a. The ruined entrance of the tower Ta Markou. b. Embrasure penetrating the west wall at Ta Markou. 49. Ta Markou: the apsidal door leading to the second room of the keep. In the background, the apsidal window. 50. a. The barrel vault of the second tower. b. Other buildings. 51. Other parts of the settlement Ta Markou. 52. a. The old track Aria – Sellada. b. Aria. 53. Wells at Aria. 54. The church Panaghia at Loutra. 55. a. Watermill NE of the church Panaghia at Loutra on the Malangiotis stream. b. Likely structures of the medieval settlement at the Loutra. 56. a. The site Vasilika. b. The tower. 57. a. The entrance to the tower at Vasilika partially blocked. b. The tower and its later extension. 58. a. Inner side of the ground floor of the tower: the barrel vault and the blocked northern embrasure. b. Upper floor of the tower. 59. a. Detail of the masonry: the quoins. b. Surrounding landscape at Ta Vasilika. 60. a. One of the watch towers at Volissos seen from the foothills of the castle- hill. b. The land vigla of Parparia. 61. a. Panoramic view to the south from Parparia. b. Watch tower at Parparia: the flight of stairs to the guard’s chamber.