The Karavas Water
Project
Timothy E. Gregory
(Ohio State University)
Lita
Tzortzopoulou-Gregory (Ohio State University)
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The Karavas Water Project is an example of a
new kind of history that seeks to learn from the past in order to maintain the
beauty and the richness of small-scale eco-niches. The project is based on the
recognition that the area of Karavas (in the northern part of Kythera) is known
for its plentiful springs and deep green gorges that create an environment that
more resembles a sub-tropical rain forest than it does the parched landscape of
many parts of Greece. The project has as its goal the detailed exploration and
recording of the main Karavas watershed that runs in a generally
southwest-northeast direction from the heights near Gerakari to the sea at
Plateia Ammos. The research includes the basic mapping of the area and the
identification of the many natural and humanly modified springs, as well as the
water devices that were constructed to convey and store the water and to
utilize water for a variety of purposes, including irrigation and power, most
notably the water mills that still mark the sides of the watershed at various
points.
A major consideration of the project is the
broader realization that natural resources in particular areas often allow
small or even isolated societies, over the centuries, to develop systems of
production and exchange so that they can survive, frequently despite political,
military, or even significant economic shifts. Indeed, many localities in
Kythera, such as Karavas, were able to develop and prosper, change their means
of subsistence, and survive – at least until modern times. Thus, the Kythera
Water Project uses an environmental approach to examine the interactions
between resources and production in order to understand better the systems of
interaction that lay behind the prosperity and resilience of local society in
the past, hopefully as a clue to imagine similar survival there, and in many
other areas, into the future.
Chronologically, the project begins most
naturally, with the “present,” meaning the location, condition, size,
characteristics, and use of these elements as they are now. We then seek to
push our research back into the past, using, first of all the characteristics
of the humanly-made structures, their chronological elements and what we can
say of their change over time. In addition, we make significant use of oral
information, which many inhabitants of Karavas or Kytherians living elsewhere
have provided, to help us understand the use of water and water power back into
the more distant past. Beyond this, we have begun an examination of documents
in the Kythera Historical Archive since these include contracts, wills, and
agreements that not uncommonly mention places and even specific buildings that
are of importance in our present study. Finally, although the project is not
formally archaeological in nature, we realize that many of the resources that
we have identified would also have been of use in the much more distant past
and that, on some occasions, we can hypothesize how they might have been used
in the past. Thus, it may not be an accident that one of the already known
tombs of prehistoric date in the Karavas area is located very close to some of
the more impressive cistern systems we explored. Although those cisterns, which
are still being used, are modern in their present form, it is not impossible
that they had also been used by individuals living in the prehistoric
settlement that must have been located nearby.
Our fieldwork over the past two years was
carried out with the assistance of students from the Ohio State University
(USA), who volunteered to help us clear many of the watercourses, springs, and
watermills that had become nearly completely impassable, covered over with a
thick covering of thorny vines and other unpleasant vegetation. Despite
uncountable scrapes and punctures, torn clothes and ripped boots, and many
falls into the cold Karavas water, these students opened many passageways and
cleared several springs, allowing us to examine in detail some of the
facilities that were built to move, store, and use water over the centuries. As
a result, we are beginning to see how people in the past were able to preserve
and maintain the natural resources on which their livelihood depended, in part
as an important lesson for us today.
In addition, the gorges around Karavas are a
beautiful retreat, where visitors can enjoy the wonders of nature, the coldness
of the clear water, and the works of human activity for centuries on end. We
hope that visitors and local people will do their best to keep the streams and
paths of the Karavas area clean and open, so all will be able to enjoy them.
You can contact us at : Tim Gregory (gregory.4@osu.edu) and / or Lita
Tzortzopoulou-Gregory (gregory.257@osu.edu)
, or 07360-33565.
kythera-family.net
