Poleis, sanctuaries and lands in the xanthian valley in Greek and Roman times – Xanthiaca

Taking into account the hitherto gathered knowledge of this area, several surveys have to be organized in the lands of Tlos and Xanthos cities, under the highest and most up to date standards. A mapping of the area is also necessary. All the ceramic evidences have to brought together in order to investigates the trade ties inside and outside the area under consideration.

A short survey has been organize in 2012 in the territory of Patara.
A team of two specialists of ceramics have gathered samples which were analyzed.
A congress was organized in Poitiers (2013°.
The boundaries of Xanthos territory have been settled in a more precise way.
Investigations on ceramics are currently going on.

The program could not be brought to its end, due to the cancellation of the authorizations by the Turkish government.

Proceedings of a meeting in Munich (to be published in 2014).
Proceedings of the international congress on Lycian ceramics, to be published in 2014.

The valley of Xanthus river concentrated in Antiquity the main political, economical and social features of Lycia as a whole. One can follow there the stream of all important political events pertaining to the dynastic phase, the period of the Lycian League and so on. The aim of the present French-German project is to bring together all the evidences at hand in the field of archaology and history, as much as other fields such as archaeozoology, botanics. In that region, the ancient towns of Xanthus and Tlos played a proeminent role, as much as the neighboring sanctuary of Letoon. French archaeologists are currently digging in Xanthus and Patara, as for German colleagues, their are involved in the exploration of Tlos. They intend to bring together their works in order to build up a wide ranging study of any historical and archaeological aspects of this area throughout the Greek and Roman period.