EMERI FARINETTI ANDREAS KAPETANIOS Modelling the Topography of the Ancient Laurion: Epigraphical Sources, Mental Maps and GIS Introduction In this contribution, we present a research plan to explore what could be perceived as an “ancient landscape”1 by analysing a specific epigraphic corpus. The 4th C BCE poletai records inscriptions present a set of systematized spatial references that produce a verbal map for the ancient Laurion mining district, which could be read and comprehended by an Athenian Citizen of the time; in this manner, an inscribed set of collectively shared spatial concepts allows a glimpse of the mental map(s) of those who composed, inscribed and read the inscription texts. It is our intention that the decoding of the structural principles of the epigraphic sets of spatial concepts will provide the key to translating the ancient map 1 When it comes to terminology of spatial concepts, there is always a need to clarify their content; we thus define here the terms we employ hereafter: Space signifies the abstract entity defined by the measures of its dimensions (coordinates within a system of reference). Τόpos signifies the totality of the spatial entity with all constituent elements (usually distinguished in anthropogenic and physical) and all their relationships as lived by humans (individuals and collectivities) in time. Landscape stands for both the perception and the narration of tόpos. Τόpos corresponds to the ontology of the socio-spatial entity and Landscape to its phenomenology. Place is situated between and partially overlapping the two, as it is employed to denote a discrete portion of a Τόpos and/or a Landscape. As we all communicate via narratives of tόpos, it is the term landscape that dominates writing on humans in space. These definitions have evolved on a substratum of extensive and winding debates building upon Merleau-Ponty 1945; Heidegger 2001(=1952), 141-160; Piaget 1952; Husserl 1962 (=1913); Bourdieu 1990; Ingold 1993, 152-174; Bailey 2007, 198-223. Historika X - ISSN 2240-774X e-ISSN 2039-4985 251 Emeri Farinetti - Andreas Kapetanios (both verbal and mental) into a modern one (i.e. one that is comprehensible to modern people), employing a GIS platform; the ‘reconstruction’ of ancient people’s mental maps in a GIS environment has been a challenge since the late 1990s2. The next step is to establish links between the aforementioned maps and the present-day topography by obtaining a deeper understanding of the landscape palimpsest as the bearer of a diachronic thread of collectively shared spatial values. A first corollary of such an understanding will be the potential identification of certain material features of past “taskscapes” 3 (e.g. mining, metallurgical, agricultural, sacred), recorded in the inscriptions, with presently observable material remains. Laurion in Attica is the palimpsest of an ancient-to-modern mining district – it combines strong visibility regarding the remains of mines and metallurgical workshops with the presence of technology-laden materials, farms, roads, sanctuaries, burial enclosures, as well as all anthropogenic attributes of the Classical Athenian rural Deme spatial model4. A second consequence will be to apprehend the tόpos we experience today as integrally linked to the socioeconomics of a past society, thus visualizing a past socioeconomic landscape (or taskscape[s]). The reason for presenting this research attempt at such a preliminary stage is to stir up a discussion on the proposed methodology and develop a basis for potential collaboration, which would link cases analogous to the one presented here. In this way, we may ultimately arrive at a generally applicable tool. Our methodological premises are built upon a consensus that has been developing since the time of Merleau-Ponty’s body-space phenomenology (1945) and Piaget’s schemas (1952), namely that the experience and the subsequent learning of the landscape, in its three-dimensional spatial reference, is both generated by bio-physiological conditions (e.g. sensory organs) and structured via socio-cultural factors5.The latter emerge at the intersection between the individual, groups and society, that is, their corresponding mentality, as circumscribed by the Annales School6. Within this frame of reference, places may be defined as such on the differential basis of – among other things – intentions, naming, and the recurrent use or peculiar characters. Placenames relate to human perception Llobera 1996, 612-622; Gillings - Hacıgüzeller - Lock 2018; Landeschi 2019, 17-32; see Farinetti - Cavallero 2019. In the related field of geography, Ciobanu 2008, 25-34, sets an example of mental geography, which is similar to the attempt we present here. 3 Ingold 1993, 152-174. 4 Kapetanios 2013, 185-187. 5 Merleau-Ponty 1945; Piaget 1952. 6 Bloch 1928, 15-50; 1949, Introduction, ix-xiv; Burguière 1982, 424-437; Burke 1986, 439451; Guervich 2008, 141-150. 2 252 www.historika.unito.it Modelling the Topography of the Ancient Laurion processes, as people construct places by giving them names7. Mental maps are the products of learning the landscape in the manner described above. These are continuously generated by individuals, who experience life within certain spatial coordinates (tόpos). Collectivities share similarly structured mental maps, the structure of which is regulated by shared conventions which reside in the aforementioned mentality. Fundamental relational values linked to notions of orientation and vicinity may be widely shared by collectivities. EF, AK The poletai records and the Laurion landscape The inscriptions The poletai fragmented inscriptions were found in the excavations in the Athenian Agora, or nearby; their chronologies fall in the period between 367 and 300-295 BC. They are official documents, once erected in the Agora, that record public property contracts; among them (the most prominent, in terms of the number of record-entries and the extent of inscribed text) are the leases of the Laurion mines8. There is standardization, by record-entry, in registering this practice of leasing mines to individuals by the Athenian polity (see Table 1): each entry is structured by the mine’s name (Table 1, line A) and its class9, usually the territorial Deme, a typically repeated location description (Table 1, lines B, C, D1-4), which is our focus here, the lessee’s name and demotic, and the fee payable (Table 1, line E). In this manner, catalogues of the mines named are produced, with their location described by a systematic mode of reference to geomorphological and anthropogenic features bordering them in all four directions (E, W, N, S). A series of place names, physical features and land-tenures or ownerships are mentioned, some of which are recurrent. A few of these match available archaeological data or modern landscape features (Fig. 1) and can be located in modern geographical space, with varying degrees of precision10. The process of place-naming can be understood within “nominalisme” and in the same vein with other taxonomic and classificatory systems for the constituents of the world we live in (LéviStrauss, 1962, 48-99; 1991, 51-84; cf. Bowden - Lowenthal 1965; Tilley 1994; Johnston 1998, 5468; Ingold 2000; Betts 2017, 23-38). 8 Crosby 1941, 14-30; 1950, 189-312; 1957, 1-26; Lalonde - Langdon et al. 1991. 9 Ανασάξιμον, εργάσιμον, συγκεχωρημένον, καινοτομία; for a discussion on the meaning of these terms, see Kakavogiannis 2005, 112-116. 10 Kapetanios 2013, 183-198. 7 Historika X - ISSN 2240-774X e-ISSN 2039-4985 253 Emeri Farinetti - Andreas Kapetanios Looking for an Ariadne’s thread When someone decides to start reading the book of the Laurion landscape palimpsest, the most appropriate sensory organ is his or her body moving into and within the landscape11. The scale at which material remains (mainly of the mining and metallurgical activities in classical times and in the late 19th and 20th centuries) unfold is overwhelming, as is their density; the effect is multiplied once someone enters the underground world of mining galleries and shafts. In this labyrinth, extending on the surface and underground, you need an Ariadne’s thread: a map and landmarks. Among the diachronic notional threads which permeate the Laurion palimpsest, stitching it to its integrity, the most prominent are geology, ore, metals, metallurgy and the need for guidance into these spaces. In the late19th and early 20th centuries, the mining and metallurgical companies involved in the exploitation of ancient scoriae (slugs) and other ore and metallurgical by-products (tailings and sand/mud residues), worked in this direction meticulously. As they moved towards implementing their production project, the need for large areas to be conceded by the Greek state generated maps, as well as landmarks that were erected on the ground (Fig. 2b). Fig. 2a shows a map of the Laurion Peninsula that records the distribution of ancient scoriae and tailings. The map was employed during the agile discussions in the Greek Parliament, in the 1860s or 1880s, on the terms and conditions for the ancient mining and metallurgical by products (scoriae and tailings) to be conceded to Serpieri and Roux Co. The vertices of this polygon were materialized on the landscape by cylindrical features known as the “Serpieri Horoi” (Fig. 2b). In an analogous manner, the leasing of the Laurion mines by the poletai demanded their spatial designation by landscape description and landmarking. Figs. 3a and b show respectively a stele bearing an inscription of the δηλωτικαί class and an in situ stele base; such pairs were erected close to the mine entrances, recording the name of the mine, the lessee’s name, and the class of the mine consisting the so-called metalla horoi12. Reference to its presence is recorded as part of the typical leasing entry in the poletai records by the phrase «…στήλην έχον…». AK 11 Merleau-Ponty 1946, 112-132. For the δηλωτικαί μεταλλείων class of inscriptions see Kakavogiannis 2005, 39-86. On the stele in Fig. 3a, see Kakavogiannis 2005, 48; it reads Ἀρτεμισ[ι]|ακόν | Θυμοχ[ά]|ρης κα|τέλαβ[ε] | καινο|τόμε[ιαν] | vacat. (Transl.: “Thymochares took over the Artemissiakon mine, which is a new venture”). 12 254 www.historika.unito.it Modelling the Topography of the Ancient Laurion Reading the poletai landscape As Muir13 writes, “in the course of sensing, the mind simplifies complex environmental reality into an environmental image”. In a certain way, the Laurion inscriptions report a somewhat simplified image of the specific landscape perceived at that time, allowing us to open a window into the shared mental map of the community which produced them: the scribes, the poletai, the bureaucracy they belonged to, the lessees, and eventually the Athenian citizens who would read them in the Agora, all shared conventionalities residing in the mentality of the Athenian society. The density and scale of the material culture in the area triggers in the reader of the Laurion landscape (who is simultaneously a reader of the poletai mine leasing records) a sense of familiarity. When you squeeze your body among the ruins of ancient mines and workshops, you get the impression that, as you grasp their materiality by merely stretching out your hand, you could just as easily identify them by the name of the owner or lessee, and thus identify the landscape you move within with that which emerges from within the poletai inscriptions. Why is this? Because we share with the composers of the inscription texts certain mental map structuring principles: orientation and reference to geomorphological features. ἡλίου ανιόντος ἡλίου δυομένου Βορράθεν Νότοθεν [to the side of the] rising sun [to the side of the] setting sun from the North from the South (four horizon-directions, Table 1, D1-4) Λόφος Χαράδρα Ποταμός Θάλασσα Οδός hill cliff/gorge river/stream sea road/route (geomorphological features as landmarks) 13 Muir 1999, 126. Historika X - ISSN 2240-774X e-ISSN 2039-4985 255 Emeri Farinetti - Andreas Kapetanios It cannot be argued, of course, that by sharing this terminology we also share the exact semasiological spectrum of the terms employed; but we do share that they are used heuristically to implement orientation and land marking. We do, also, share a minimum of the meaning founded in the experience of these geomorphological features, as well as relational terms such as proximity (ὧι γεί) and motion to and from (ἐς, ἀπό, -θεν, -ζε) – see Table 1. An understanding is thus certainly achievable. AK The project’s plan So far, in the relevant literature, the processing of the epigraphical data of the poletai records has targeted issues such as price statistics, mine categorization nomenclature and prosopography14. In this project, we attempt to visualize a flexible set of abstract mental maps, building upon the logical relationships generated by the substratum of shared concepts described previously, and beyond any defined geometric space. This “grasp” of the basic structure of the mental map(s) narrated in the inscriptions allows us to further explore the network of spatial relationships defined in the epigraphical record and trace the social and economic meanings involved. These meanings reside in how mental maps are structured in reference to the politics of descent, landownership, production, ritual and finance. In achieving this, we have planned and begun to follow a four-step process: I) the construction and implementation of a database to investigate the “intermediate” logical network of relationships, which transforms the poletai records landscape into an intra-referential network (Fig. 4). With this step, we aim to reach a contingent apperception of the world contained in these maps, although at this stage we make no attempt to reach a charted map of the various objects (elements of the physical world – hills, gorges, and streams – and those of an anthropogenic nature – roads, paths, toponyms, properties, buildings, metal workshops, and cult places)15; II) the discrete, discontinuous textual references analysed in their network links are transformed into a continuous virtual surface, with virtual spatial dimensions, in a virtual space defined by a matrix of cells; III) we develop a methodology for transferring the intra-referential network into a spatially and geometrically correct “intermediate” virtual map. In other words, we should be able to mathematically form a coherent, geometrically correct idiosyncratic coordinate system of an intermediate virtual space (Fig. 5); 14 15 256 Aperghis 1998, 1-20; Shipton 2000; Bissa 2008, 263-273; Leonardos 2010, 47-52. Götz - Holmén 2018, 157-161. www.historika.unito.it Modelling the Topography of the Ancient Laurion IV) we proceed to a representation (insofar as it is possible) of the landscape of the area as it was in the 4th cent. BCE, mapping mines, workshops and physical features such as streams, ridges, cliffs and hills. As this landscape constitutes an integral part of the modern palimpsest, the process involves linking the intermediate map to the modern three-dimensional geo-topographical space; such links can then be identified by comparing archaeological data such as rupestral inscriptions and horoi, the archaeological remains of workshops, and mine stelae16 to the poletai inscription texts. EF, AK The work so far As explained above, we first have to tackle the construction and implementation of a database to investigate the “intermediate” logical network of relationships, with the aim of converting the poletai records into an intra-referential network that will constitute our series of mental maps. The implementation of the database (in SQL language within a Spatialite environment) is a worthy task on its own, as it enables the investigation of many queries on epigraphical issues and prosopography, landownership and the relationships between landowners, workshop owners and mine lessees (onetai), as well as the embodiment of the Athenian socio-economic structure (property management system). Of particular importance is a focus upon the logical relationship between prosopography and place names (involving mines, workshops, physical features such as ridges, streams and gorges) – topothesies, geomorphology, metalla and toposima in the ER model in Fig.4. In this context, relational terms of motion and proximity have to be analysed by studying the occurrence and use of particular prepositions in the indication of places (ἐν, ἐπί, είς) and of suffixes designating motion to and from (-θεν, - ζε) – protheseis in the ER model in Fig.3. The database records indications of the relative location of place names mentioned in the ἐγγραφαί μεταλλῶν, the poletai records. These indications can be understood by several possible combinations of their relative spatial distribution, marked by variable degrees of complexity. To reduce the number of alternatives, we could introduce additional Proxy factors, on top of the factors of proximity registered in the inscriptions. We could, for example, employ the recurrence of landowners or their relatives in conjunction with other, non-relatives, as an indicator of land proximity: a convergence of ownership and affinal landscapes. Space thus reflects personal or family relationships and acquires a social dimension. 16 Kapetanios 2013, 185-187. Historika X - ISSN 2240-774X e-ISSN 2039-4985 257 Emeri Farinetti - Andreas Kapetanios Concisely, in this first step of the process we explore a network of discrete elements with a ‘relational’ spatial character (Fig. 3). In the second step, the discrete, discontinuous textual references, analysed in step 1 via their internal connections (intra-relationships by links of orientation, landmarks, etc.), are transformed into a continuous virtual surface, with a virtual spatial dimension, in a virtual space defined by a matrix of cells. Fig. 5 shows the mathematical transformation of each quartet of orientations (N, S, W, E) defined in each poletai record, in Cartesian space, each cell defined by four vectors (V1...V4) of the form V1=(1,0,0,0), V2=(0,1,0,0) V3=(0,0,1,0), V4=(0,0,0,1). Each digit of each quartet derives from the N-S-E-W set in the inscriptions; their values derive from the N4 group of IDs corresponding to unique places. Following this, the Database is queried in order to retrieve missing spatial information. For example: If Ω is located East of Δ, then V3 (Δ)=Ω and V4(Ω)=Δ. Given the quartets as in Fig. 6, if a Γ is located in 3rd place anywhere in the QUARTETS, the corresponding quartet would be the question mark and would fill a gap in the virtual map. In step 2, the virtual representation of the records investigated is a matrix, which maps, in a symbolic abstract virtual space, the assignment of spatial attributes that cannot yet be defined. The construction of the matrix is based on an algorithm working in a Cartesian space where the transition between the cells is feasible only by moving step by step from one cell to another. The transition between step 1 and step 2 is allowed through the dynamic interconnection PLACE NAMES – PROSOPOGRAPHY – SPATIAL ATTRIBUTES, due to the incorporation in the inscriptions of the Athenian socio-economic structure (in the form of the prosopographical record linked to spatial features and place names). From text strings representing discrete features, we move to cells that signify the link between the words and their spatial attributes. In order to move on to step 3, we need to develop a methodology for transferring the intra-referential network into a spatially and geometrically correct “intermediate” virtual map. In other words, we should be able to mathematically create a coherent and geometrically correct coordinate system. To move on to the third stage, and then the fourth, we need to complete the first two stages and resolve the matrix in all its possible components, in order to build up a proper topology of the Laurion landscape. EF 258 www.historika.unito.it Modelling the Topography of the Ancient Laurion Perspectives The research presented here is still in its very initial stage; yet, we have attempted to set out its framework and guidelines to progress further. The methodology we are trying to prescribe could produce a decoding of social dynamics linked to landscape properties during certain periods: poletai records refer to the second half of the 4th cent. BCE; other inscriptions from the same area, such as those of the Salaminioi, move forward to the 3rd cent. BCE17, while those of the sacrificial calendars expand the scope both earlier and later18. It is time that generates a conjectural socioeconomic pattern of a certain past community, which is perceived by agents/members of the community and is implemented in the long-term dynamics of the landscape; in this manner, an active palimpsest is formed, experienced in (each) present. At this intersection of space and time, we may find the key concepts to unlock an understanding of further principles which structure ancient mental maps as intrinsic elements of the collective ideology of an ancient community – namely, its mentality. EF, AK emeri.farinetti@uniroma3.it kapetanios@ionio.gr Bibliography Aperghis 1998: G.G. Aperghis, A Reassessment of the Laurion Mining Lease Records, «Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies» 42(1), 1-20. Bailey 2007: G. Bailey, Time Perspectives, Palimpsests and the Archaeology of Time, «Journal of Anthropological Archaeology», 26(2), 198-223. Bathe - Wilson 1976: K.J. Bathe, E.L. Wilson, Numerical Methods in Finite Element Analysis, Prentice-Hall. Betts 2017: E. Betts, The Multivalence of Sensory Artefacts in the City of Rome, in Senses of the Empire: Multisensory Approaches to Roman Culture, ed. by E. Betts, Oxford, 23-38. Bissa 2008: E.M. Bissa, Investment patterns in the Laurion mining industry in the fourth century BCE, «Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte» 57, 263-273. Bloch 1928: M. Bloch, Pour une histoire comparée des sociétés européennes, «Revue de Synthèse Historique» 46, 15-50. Bloch 1949: M. Bloch, Apologie pour l’histoire ou Métier d’historien, Paris. 17 18 Ferguson 1938. SEG 33:147; Daux 1980; 1984. Historika X - ISSN 2240-774X e-ISSN 2039-4985 259 Emeri Farinetti - Andreas Kapetanios Bourdieu 1990: P. Bourdieu, The Logic of Practice (Le sens pratique, Paris 1980, En. transl. by R. Nice), Stanford, CA. Bowden - Lowenthal 1975: Geographies of the mind, ed. by M.J. Bowden, D. Lowenthal, Oxford. Burguière 1982: A. Burguière, The Fate of the History of Mentalités in the Annales, «Comparative Studies in Society and History» 24, 424-437. Burke 1986: P. Burke, Strengths and Weaknesses of the History of Mentalities, «History of European Ideas» 7, 439-451. Ciobanu 2008: C. Ciobanu, The Mental Map of Neighborhoods in Bucharest. Introductive Study of Mental Geography, «Journal of Studies and Research in Human Geography» 2, 25-34. Crosby 1941: M. Crosby, Greek Inscriptions: A Poletai Record of the Year 367/6, «Hesperia» 10, 14-30. Crosby 1950: M. Crosby, The Leases of the Laurion mines, «Hesperia» 19, 189312. Crosby 1957: M. Crosby, More Fragments of Mining Leases from the Athenian Agora «Hesperia» 26, 1-23. Daux 1980: G. Daux, Recherches préliminaires sur le calendrier sacrificiel de Thoricos «CRAI» 2, 463-470. Daux 1984: G. Daux, Sacrifices à Thorikos, «GMusJ» 12, 145-152. Ferguson 1938: W. S. Ferguson, The Salaminioi of Heptaphylai and Sounion, «Hesperia» 7, 1-74. Farinetti - Cavallero 2019: E. Farinetti, F. Cavallero, Mapping Roman Athens, in Spreading Excellence in Computer Applications for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage. Proceedings of the 3rd CAA-GR Conference (18-20 June 2018, Limassol, Cyprus), ed. by P. Kyriakidis, A. Agapiou, V. Lysandrou, Limassol-Cyprus, 33-37. Gillings - Hacıgüzeller - Lock 2018: Re-Mapping Archaeology: Critical Perspectives, Alternative Mappings, ed. by M. Gillings, P. Hacıgüzeller, G. Lock, London. Götz - Holmén 2018: N. Götz - J. Holmén, Introduction to the Theme Issue: “Mental Maps: Geographical and Historical perspectives”, «JCultGeogr», 35, 157-161. Guervich 2008: A. Guervich, Approaches of the ‘Annales School’. From the History of Mentalities to Historical Synthesis, «Scandia» 58, 141-150. Heiddeger 2001 (=1952): M. Heidegger, Building, Dwelling, Thinking, (Bauen, Wohnen, Denken, Pfullingen 1952, En. transl. by A. Hofstadter), in M. Heidegger, Poetry, Language, Thought, transl. and introduction by A. Hofstadter, New York, 141-160. Husserl 1962 (=1913): E. Husserl, Ideas: A General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology, (Ideen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Philosophie, Erstes Buch: Allgemeine Einführung in die reine Phänomenologie, Halle a.d.S. 1913, En. transl. by W.R. Boyce Gibson), New York. 260 www.historika.unito.it Modelling the Topography of the Ancient Laurion Ingold 1993: T. Ingold, The Temporality of the Landscape «World Archaeology» 25, 152-174. Ingold 2000: T. Ingold, The Perception of the Environment: Essays in Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill, London-New York. Johnston 1998: R. Johnston, Approaches to the Perception of Landscape: Philosophy, Theory, Methodology, «Archaeological Dialogues» 5, 54-68. Kakavogiannis 2005: E. Kakavogiannis, Μέταλλα Εργάσιμα Συγκεχωρημένα (The Organisation of the Exploitation of the Lavreotiki Ores by the Athenian Democracy), (Δημοσιεύματα του Αρχαιολογικού Δελτίου, 90), Athens. Kapetanios 2013: A. Kapetanios, Ο χώρος και οι άνθρωποι στην αρχαία τοπογραφία της Λαυρεωτικής (Space and People in the Ancient Topography of Laurion), in Αρχαιολογικές Συμβολές, Τόμος Α: Αττική (Archaeological Contributions, Vol. A’: Attica), epimel. M. Dhonga-Tole, S. Ikonomou, Athens, 183-198. Langdon 1991: M.K. Langdon, Poletai Records, in Lalonde - Langdon et al. 1991, Princeton, 53-143. Lalonde - Langdon et al. 1991: The Athenian Agora XIX. Inscriptions. Horoi. Poletai Records. Leases of Public Land, ed. by G.V. Lalonde, M.K. Langdon, M.B. Walbank, Princeton. Landeschi 2019: G. Landeschi, Rethinking GIS, Three-dimensionality and Space Perception in Archaeology, «World Archaeology», 51.1, 17-32. Leonardos 2010: I. Leonardos, Statistical Analysis of the Mine Names in Ancient Laurion, «Mineral Wealth» 2010, 47-52. Lévi-Strauss 1962: C. Lévi-Strauss, La Pensée Sauvage. Paris. Lévi-Strauss 1991: C. Lévi-Strauss, Le totémisme aujourd’hui. Paris. Llobera 1996: M. Llobera, Exploring the Topography of Mind: GIS, Social Space and Archaeology, «Antiquity» 70, 612-622. Merleau-Ponty 1945: M. Merleau-Ponty, Phénoménologie de la Perception, Paris. Muir 1999: R. Muir, Approaches to Landscape, London. Piaget 1952: J. Piaget, The origins of Intelligence in Children. New York. Shipton 1998: K. Shipton, The Prices of the Athenian Silver Mines, «ZPE» 120, 57-63. Shipton 2000: K. Shipton, Leasing and Lending: The Cash Economy in FourthCentury BC Athens, (BICS, Suppl. 74), Oxford. Tilley 1994: C. Tilley, A Phenomenology of Landscape: Places, Paths and Monuments, Oxford. Whitehead 1990: D. Whitehead, Abbreviated Athenian Demotics, «ZPE» 81, 105-161. Historika X - ISSN 2240-774X e-ISSN 2039-4985 261 Emeri Farinetti - Andreas Kapetanios Abstract In questo contributo, presentiamo un tentativo di avvicinamento al paesaggio antico dell’area del Laurion, in Attica, prendendo in considerazione come mappe mentali alcune iscrizioni datate al IV secolo a.C., la lista dei poletai, che registravano gli affitti delle miniere da parte del sistema politico ateniese ad individui. Lo scopo della ricerca è triplice: in primo luogo, ricostruire un insieme flessibile di mappe mentali astratte, al di là di uno spazio geometrico definito, al fine di esplorare la rete di relazioni spaziali definita nella registrazione epigrafica e i significati sociali ed economici coinvolti; in secondo luogo, sviluppare una metodologia per la produzione di una mappa “intermedia”, spazialmente e geometricamente corretta, che trasformi la mappa mentale in una mappa intra-referenziale; in terzo luogo, obiettivo finale è quello di procedere a una ricostruzione (per quanto possibile) del paesaggio e dell’assetto topografico dell’area come si presentava nel IV secolo a.C. In this contribution, we present an attempt to approach the past landscape of the Laurion area, considering inscriptions dated to the 4th cent. BCE, recording the leases of mines by the Athenian polity to individuals (the poletai records) as mental maps. The research aim is threefold: first, to reconstruct a flexible set of abstract mental maps, beyond a defined geometric space, in order to explore the network of spatial relationships defined in the epigraphical record and the social and economic meanings involved; second, to develop a methodology for the production of an “intermediate” map that is spatially and geometrically correct, thus transforming the mental map into an intra-referential map; finally, we proceed to a reconstruction (insofar as is possible) of the landscape and the topographical layout of the area as it was in the 4th cent. BCE. 262 www.historika.unito.it Table 1: An example of the spatial relationships recorded in mine-lease entries in the poletai record for the Laurion area and the 4th C BC metallurgical workshops. Modelling the Topography of the Ancient Laurion Historika X - ISSN 2240-774X e-ISSN 2039-4985 263 Fig. 1: GPS archaeological survey of the Souriza area (Laurion), a topographical base useful for the reconstruction of the past real map of the ancient Laurion. Emeri Farinetti - Andreas Kapetanios 264 www.historika.unito.it Modelling the Topography of the Ancient Laurion Fig. 2a: Map of the Laurion Peninsula (second half of the 19th century) recording the distribution of ancient scoriae and tailings. Red, green and brown areas signify large concentrations of these materials. The red polygon outlines the administrative border between two communities. The yellow polygon marks the area conceded to a private company to exploit ancient residues. (Source: The Hellenic Parliament Library, Map Collection). Fig. 2b: One of the cylindrical features known as “Serpieri Horoi”. Historika X - ISSN 2240-774X e-ISSN 2039-4985 265 Emeri Farinetti - Andreas Kapetanios Fig. 3a: A δηλωτική μεταλλείων stele inscription. Photo after Kakavogiannis 2005, 48, fig. 7, Inv. no. ML961. Fig. 3b A stone base of a stele in situ, by the entrance of a mine. 266 www.historika.unito.it Modelling the Topography of the Ancient Laurion Fig. 4: The simplified ER model on which the Database implemented for the project is based. Fig. 5: The 4 steps of the process: from the poletai inscription to real landscape via the construction and the virtual representation of mental map Historika X - ISSN 2240-774X e-ISSN 2039-4985 267 Emeri Farinetti - Andreas Kapetanios Fig. 6: The mathematical transformation in Cartesian space, each cell defined by four vectors (V1...V4) of the form V1=(1,0,0,0), V2=(0,1,0,0) V3=(0,0,1,0), V4=(0,0,0,1). 268 www.historika.unito.it