Fascinating example of how landscape archaeology is rewriting ancient history.
The ARTEMIS project — a joint effort by British and Greek researchers (University of Birmingham, Coventry University, the British School at Athens, and the Ephorate of Antiquities of East Attica) — is investigating the Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron, outside Athens.
For centuries, we've known this site through a strange ritual: young girls from the Greek countryside would come here every four years to "play the bear," a rite of passage guided by priestesses before marriage. But the sanctuary was abandoned in the 3rd century B.C. — and no one has ever known why.