SIPHNOS LANDSCAPE
Tracing the landscape
of ancient Siphnos
Mavro Chorio
The now ruined settlement of Mavro Chorio is located in the area of Kalamitsi on southwest Sifnos, north of the acropolis at Tis Baronas To Froudi and occupies a mountainside at an altitude of about 250m above sea level. On the basis of the surface pottery discovered, the settlement is estimated to have been founded at the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century.
The main settlement nucleus is located around the church of Ayios Polykarpos, which dates back to the 17th or 18th century, while the buildings erected to the northeast are probably later constructions. The dwellings of the settlement are single-roomed, single-storey houses with flat roofs made of schist plates and wooden beams, while the number of terraces, the presence of stabling areas, storehouses, threshing floors and olive mills emphasise its agricultural character.
Although there is no written evidence of this, the abandonment of the settlement probably occurred towards the end of the 19th century, which popular tradition associates with the burning of the village following a pirate raid or an endemic disease.
Moreover, the surface pottery of Archaic and Classical times (7th-5th century B.C.), the remains of walls and the presence of an ancient tower indicate a possible ancient settlement in the area, whose building materials were used for the construction of the newer buildings. The tower, known as_the tower “Stou Kalamitsiou to Froudi”, whose half-circular layout is preserved until this day, has a maximum surviving height of 1.60m. Its external annexes are visible on its northern side.
Mavro Chorio
