A river ran through it

The goal of this chapter is to contextualise the material assemblage and to introduce the current approach taken to study the assemblage as material metaphors in ongoing research on networks of communities and economies in the ancient Aitoloakarnanian environment. Presenting a material assemblage from a cave sanctuary in Aitoloakarnania, the aim is to introduce and contextualise the finds in order to understand better worshippers’ gatherings and their engagement with the regional Aitoloakarnanian network landscape, rituals, other sanctuaries, and sites. The Greek geographer Strabo refers to the wider area extending over the mouth of the Acheloos River as the Paracheloitis. Ancient Alykirna, and Makyneia revealed extensive remains of Hellenistic houses and tombs proving that those living in the Paracheloitis were immersed in a dense cluster of ancient settlements, too, particularly during the Classical and Hellenistic periods, when the Mastro Cave sanctuary and Paianion, according to the relative chronology introduced, was most frequently visited.