200 EVI MARgARITIS
protection against complete crop failure at the site, as would the intercropping
of olives with winter cereals or legumes (suggested also at the Roman site of
Pyrgoudhi: Hjohlman 2002 ), and the growing of ‘maslins’ of wheat/barley
indicated at Platania (Wagstaff and Augustson 1982 ) and/or of macaroni/bread
wheat (Halstead and Jones 1989 ). This diversified agricultural scheme observed
at Platania would also allow harvests, the periods requiring the greatest labour,
to be spread throughout the year, a system that would have had important
implications for the economical use of labour.
The engagement with olive cultivation at Platania provides the site with a
special character. It is the ‘multi-practicality’ of the olive, its oil and by-products,
which contribute to the special place the olive had in the economy and soci-
ety of the ancient and modern Mediterranean in general and at the estate of
Platania in particular (Mattingly 1996 ). The biological parameters and growth
cycle of the tree, the particular traditions of caring and tending, have created
specific ideological aspects linked with the cultivation of this crop (Margaritis
and Jones 2008c). Platania was producing for subsistence while it was also
engaged in the cultivation of a cash crop, the olive, but it did not specialize in
them alone due to their unpredictability of return. It has been suggested that
five hectares, three of which are devoted to cereals in combination with sixty
olive trees and some stock herding was sufficient to feed a family (Migeotte
2009 : 86). Platania however would have most likely exploited more land than
the typical small farmstead if we judge from its size, but also from the large
storage facilities, and it was certainly capable of feeding more than one family
and their slaves, although it is difficult to predict the actual number of people.
Some of the olive oil could have been channelled to local markets, between
different country houses or even with the nearby urban centres. Overall,
Platania shows intensification of production, involving the possible cultiva-
tion of cereals and pulses in rotation, where the crops are closely supervised
and tended with weeding and manuring, frequent tillage or continuous culti-
vation of the same fields (Halstead 1994 ). Intensive farming regimes can also
be inferred if some land plots were actually located within the enclosure and
hence very close to the site.Concluding Remarks
This case study from Macedonian Pieria presents new evidence for ancient
Greek agriculture. The diversity evident at Platania, along with the engage-
ment in a cash crop, provides hard data on agricultural practices and farm
management, previously mainly approached through the ethnographic record
and written sources (Forbes 1995 ).
Kompoloi, however, presents an alternative picture of agricultural activity of
a specialized sort, focusing primarily on wine production. Even if Kompoloi