New Perspectives on Site Function and Scale of Cerro de Trincheras, Sonora, Mexico: The 1991 Surface Survey

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 501
Author(s):  
Todd L. VanPool ◽  
Maria O'Donovan
1992 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia A. Hendon

This paper explores certain methodological issues relevant to the interpretation of archaeological data derived from surface survey. Recognizing the significance of survey to the study of regional settlement patterns, I argue that how we classify these data bears directly on our ability to reconstruct the past. Comparison of site typologies created by the Seibal and Copán projects with their excavation results provides a way to evaluate the accuracy of site classifications based on surface features. I discuss the effectiveness of the typologies in capturing variation pertinent to the study of social organization and site function, and consider the importance of variation within sites, within types, and across types not expressed in the typologies to suggest that such elaborate typologies assume a higher degree of data visibility than is generally possible. The analysis underscores the critical role excavation plays in mesoamerican archaeology as a source of data unavailable through survey.


Author(s):  
Maria-Foteini Papakonstantinou ◽  
Arto Penttinen ◽  
Gregory N. Tsokas ◽  
Panagiotis I. Tsourlos ◽  
Alexandros Stampolidis ◽  
...  

In this article we provide a preliminary report of the work carried out between 2010 and 2012 as part of the Makrakomi Archaeological Landscapes Project (MALP). The programme of research is carried out in co-operation between the Swedish Institute at Athens and the 14th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities at Lamia. The interdisciplinary project started in the summer of 2010, when a pilot survey was conducted in and around the hill of Profitis Elias, in the modern municipality of Makrakomi, where extensive traces of ancient fortifications are still visible. Systematic investigations have been conducted since 2011 as part of a five-year plan of research involving surface survey, geophysical survey and small-scale archaeological excavation as well as geomorphological investigation. The primary aim of MALP is to examine the archaeology and geomorphology of the western Spercheios Valley, within the modern municipality of Makrakomi in order to achieve a better understanding of antiquity in the region, which has previously received scant scholarly attention. Through the archaeological surface survey and architectural survey in 2011 and 2012 we have been able to record traces of what can be termed as a nucleated and structured settlement in an area known locally as Asteria, which is formed by the projecting ridges to the east of Profitis Elias. The surface scatters recorded in this area suggest that the town was primarily occupied from the late 4th century BC and throughout the Hellenistic period. The geophysical survey conducted between 2011 and 2012 similarly recorded data which point to the presence of multiple structures according to a regular grid system. The excavation carried out in the central part of Asteria also uncovered remains of a single domestic structure (Building A) which seems to have been in use during the Late Classical and Hellenistic periods. The combined data acquired through the programme of research is thus highly encouraging, and has effectively demonstrated the importance of systematic archaeological research in this understudied area of Central Greece.


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian G. Robertson

AbstractIn the 1960s, the Teotihuacan Mapping Project (TMP) focused an ambitious, multiyear survey program on the pre-Columbian urban center of Teotihuacan. In addition to creating a highly detailed map, the TMP made systematic records of surface remains and collected nearly one million artifacts from roughly 5,000 provenience tracts. Taken together, the spatial, descriptive, and artifactual data collected by the TMP still constitutes one of the most extensive and most detailed records in existence for any ancient city. This paper characterizes and provides an update on TMP surface observations, particularly as they exist in digital format. Several analytical case studies illustrate substantive ways in which these data have been used in the decades since the TMP survey to investigate the culture and history of ancient Teotihuacan. The utility of extensive surface survey data for investigating key urban organizational elements such as neighborhoods and social districts is briefly considered, along with the growing importance of the TMP collections and records as increasingly large parts of Teotihuacan are lost to urban sprawl and destructive agricultural practices.


1999 ◽  
Vol 94 ◽  
pp. 265-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley Beaumont ◽  
Aglaia Archontidou-Argyri

The first two fieldwork seasons of the Kato Phana Archaeological Project took place in 1997 and 1998 as a collaborative venture between the British School at Athens and the Mytilene Ephorate of the Greek Archaeological Service. The work comprised archaelogical surface survey and mapping of the lower Kato Phana Valley, cleaning and planning of the sanctuary of Apollo Phanaios and geophysical testing of selected areas around the sanctuary site. This article first sets out the aims of the Project and describes earlier work at the cult centre (Geometric to Early Christian periods) by K. Kourouniotes and W. Lamb. This is followed by an account of the survey methodology and of the results gained: these include the location of Bronze Age findspots NE and SW of the cult centre and a dense concentration of sherds, tile and ancient masonry, ranging in date from the Archaic to Early Christion periods, radiating out from the sanctuary, particularly to the S and SE. To the NW, the survey also succeeded in identifying the ancient quarry site from which grey limestone blocks were cut for the sanctuary constructing. The paper concludes with an account of the geophysical testing carried out at Kato Phana, and looks forward to the next projected phase of the Project's fieldwork.


2007 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 219-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyprian Broodbank ◽  
Thilo Rehren ◽  
Antonia-Maria Zianni

Scientific analysis of samples takes from metal objects and metallurgical products excavated during the 1960s at Kastri on Kythera provide new evidence concerning, variously, the Aegean metals trade and metallurgy on Kythera. The samples date to the Second Palace (Neopalatial), Classical and Late Roman periods. The Bronze Age material comprises fragments of copper ingots and silver cups, neither of which metal is locally available in Kythera, and the later material relates largely to local smelting and possibly smithing of iron, whose origin is uncertain. These activities are related to preliminary information concerning the distribution at each period of metallurgical activity across the island that has been generated by the intensive surface survey of the Kythera Island Project.


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