For Antiparos in historical times, the literary evidence is virtually non-existent, the epigraphical is minimal, finds are fragmentary and the excavation research is still in its early stages. At present, therefore, it is not possible to reconstruct the image of life and habitation on the island.
Arboriculture, viticulture and wine production
In various coastal locations of Paros, Antiparos (Glyfos, Agios Spyridon) and the surrounding islets (Firo, Despotiko) are found elongated trenches carved into the white limestone soils. They are visible for many metres, usually running parallel to the coast; they are of varying widths and set at varying distances apart. Geological research has shown that the features – now below current sea level – had not been submerged before Roman times. This suggests that they were originally cut on dry land, as has also been demonstrated in a recent rescue excavation in the area of Agios Spyridon.
The existence of the trenches indicates some systematic cultivation in antiquity, most likely that of vines, or of a combination of tree types. As ancient sources testify and as is confirmed by corresponding ditches in other parts of Greece, arboriculture follows specific rules regarding the orientation of the plants and the way they are planted. The cutting of the trenches, a particularly laborious task, has to do with efforts to ensure that, in places relatively poor in soil and water, the roots of the cultivated trees have access to and space at deeper levels, where moisture is better retained.
It seems, therefore, that both Paros and Antiparos had a highly developed cultivation of trees and especially of vines in antiquity (as they do in modern times). This notion is strengthened by the identification of wine-amphora workshops on both islands and by the wide diffusion of the region’s wine in the Mediterranean.
Agia Kyriaki: A centre of wine production
On the eastern side of Antiparos, in the area of Agia Kyriaki, building remains belonging to amphora-manufacturing workshops were discovered. They supplied the wine-producing units that existed in the area during Hellenistic times.
The movable finds largely comprise fragments of amphorae, which bore on their handles the seals of PARION (of the Parians), and of GORGOS, KLEON and DIONYSIOS. The discovery of seals with the ethnic PARION is of particular interest as it proves the economic, and probably also political, dependence then of Antiparos on neighbouring Paros. The three male names that consistently recur on the stamped impressions of the wine-amphorae of Agia Kyriaki may be associated either with the owner of the pottery workshop or with the winemaker. According to initial assessments, at least three different types of wine-amphorae were produced in the workshop.
A short distance from the pottery workshops are visible the remains of an actual wine-making facility with a linos (press) and a pithos for receiving the must. A little further south, at Glyfos, cultivation trenches can still be seen on the coast and in the shallow sea waters.
