AgRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN HELLENISTIC gREECE 189
Attica (Jones et al. 1962 ; 1973 ). There is an obvious need for more data to clar-
ify the issues highlighted herein. This chapter seeks to investigate ‘the missing
link’ – the agricultural practices and economy of specific country houses of
the Hellenistic period located within a defined region – and to answer defined
research questions through extensive excavation programmes where recovery
techniques for organic remains have been employed.
Such an opportunity presented itself during the construction of the newrailway line connecting southern and northern Greece, which was planned
to pass through the lowlands in southern Pieria, the core of the Macedonian
countryside. Due to this project many new sites came to light, dating from the
Neolithic to the Byzantine period (Poulaki 2007 ). They are all located in the
lowlands of Mount Olympus, in a very fertile strip of land close to the sea,
which connects Thessaly with Macedonia (Figure 8.1).
Four of them, dated to the Hellenistic period, were excavated: Krania(Poulaki 2003 ; Margaritis 2014 ), which represents the harbour area of the
ancient city of Heraklio, and the country houses of Platania (Gerofoka forth-
coming), Kompoloi (Poulaki, Mourati and Margaritis forthcoming) and
Duvari (Poulaki 2003 ). Their excavation presented a unique opportunity to
study the relationship between the polis and the chora, and to explore the rural