Torone Project

By Associate Professor Lea Beness

Torone, in the Chalkidiki, was an important trading centre in the Graeco-Roman world, particularly with regard to wine and timber. Its port was considered one of the assets of ancient Macedonia, and its situation made it one of great strategic importance.

Map of the Chalkidike placing Torone

The principal objective of this project is the meticulous exploration of the taphonomy of Torone’s environs with the purpose of reconstructing the area’s paleogeography.

Toronaean Gulf from the south, with the site of the classical city at the centre

The focus is both spatial and diachronic in nature, the intention being to measure long-term environmental change and settlement-evolution in response to that change, and, inversely, the effect of settlement on the environment. A collaboration between the humanities and the sciences, it combines historical research, landscape archaeology and paleoecological studies.