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ARCHAEOLOGISTS WIN THE BATTLE OVER MARATHON

Greek archaeologists have won a partial victory in their effort to prevent a new Olympic rowing and sailing centre disturbing an ancient settlement on the site of the Battle of Marathon.

The Greek Government has agreed to dismantle the remains of three 4,500-year-old Neolithic homes, unearthed two months ago, and move them 50 yards. The decision was a retreat by Evangelos Venizelos, the Minister for Culture, who had played down the importance of the find.

Under pressure from the influential Central Archaeological Council, Mr Venizelos agreed to delay work on the seaside rowing and sailing centre, which is planned for the 2004 Olympic Games.

Mr Venizelos’s decision to locate the centre at Schinias Beach, 25 miles northeast of Athens, had been controversial from the beginning. The beach is the site of opening and closing stages of the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, when Athenian troops beat off a larger force of Persian invaders.

Archaeologists and environmentalists had joined forces to oppose the decision, hoping to preserve both the olive tree-studded battlefield and the adjacent wetland that is home to pelicans and a rare species of pine trees. The newly found ruins were already 2,000 years old when the battle took place.

Mr Venizelos says that in ancient times much of where the rowing and sailing centre is now being built was under the sea and thus nobody could have fought a battle at that spot. But Kathimerini newspaper said he had “failed to convincingly defend his main argument.”

THE TIMES, Sept. 28, 2002