The Harbour(s) of Ancient Torone: the search for their location and reflections on Honor Frost's hypothesis concerning shipbuilding in the area

Torone, towards the southwestern tip of Sithonia, Chalkidiki, remained an active port from the Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine period, often considered to have been of great strategic importance. Its economy seems to have focused on the wine and timber industries, the latter making the port of particular interest to maritime historians. This paper begins by speculating about Torone's role in the timber trade and then reviews attempts to precisely locate the city's limen, first by underwater exploration, which has revealed transformations of its coastline, and currently by the geophysical investigation of its environs, which points to the same phenomenon.