The Chronique des fouilles en ligne – Archaeology in Greece Online has recorded close to 300 field operations dealing with fortifications in the last decade. It is impossible to account for each of them in this brief survey, but the reader can effortlessly find them in the database (http://chronique.efa.gr/). Here, instead, I wish to focus on the main achievements of the last decade (2006–2016) by reviewing the major publications, recording current trends and research objectives, and suggesting future directions for the field of fortification studies.

Strabo, who visited the island of Gyaros in 31 BC, described it as a village (kōmion, κώμιον Strabo 10.5.3) inhabited by fishermen. This comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with the Aegean islands today. Modern photographic promotions give local fish specialities, and the modest, traditionally whitewashed homes of the fishermen responsible for fresh catches, plenty of colourful emphasis. Not all the fish on offer in the islands are locally caught today, and many visitors arrive by air, rather than by boat, following one of the principal maritime itineraries (which do not, as it happens, normally include Gyaros).

More surprising, perhaps, is the fact that Strabo refers to Gyaros at all. This little island, no more than 17km2 and thus never big enough to provide much of a land-based way of life, even for a small community, lies midway, as the crow flies, between Kea to the west, Kythnos to the southwest and Syros to the south, and is flanked to the northeast by the long chain of islands which in effect extend the mountains of Euboea southeastwards into the heart of the Aegean — Andros, Tenos and Mykonos (map of the Cyclades). The geographer was simply articulating a memorable anecdote, according to which the Gyarians sent their own ambassador to Octavian in the hope of getting a reduction of the 150 dr tribute that had been laid on the inhabitants' reluctant shoulders. The Gyarians were not quite as inconspicuous as they wanted to appear in the eyes of Octavian, or as miserable as they looked to Strabo.

Geophysics has emerged as a significant and primary tool of archaeological research in Greece. It is no longer marginalized to a supporting role for excavations and pedestrian surveying, but has developed into a fundamental method of investigating layers of cultural heritage in its own right. This can be explained varyingly, from the increasingly holistic nature of archaeological fieldwork, to a broader appreciation of the diverse applications of geophysics to characterize historical contexts, the unique range of site assessment offered by geophysics and the capacity of geophysics to explore the subsurface in challenging conditions. Technology too plays a vital role. New generations of equipment have the ability to map archaeological features in high resolution, in rapid sequence and oftentimes in 3D. Geophysics along with other non-invasive methods, like satellite and airborne remote sensing, has also gained wider traction because of concerns about the costs, impacts and time horizons of traditional fieldwork practices. This brief report highlights some of the recent developments and applications of geophysical survey in Greece. It is not meant to be an inclusive account or an evaluation of each geophysical technique; instead, it emphasizes current trends in this important and expanding field of research and touches upon its future prospects in the country.