Geophysical Survey and Rural Settlement Architecture on the Lower Danube at the Transition to Late Antiquity
One of the key aims of the ‘Transition to Late Antiquity’ research programme has been to collect a systematic data sample in order to examine local patterns and disparities at a regional level. In this project, an understanding of inter- and intra-settlement patterns of occupation is primarily acquired by calculating total density distributions of surface material, but for the examination of individual architectural units and the relationships between them, a geophysical survey has been used because of its particular ability to provide detailed information about subsurface features over a large area without excavation. This chapter describes the approach and methodology employed in the geophysical surveys carried out to assess rural settlement patterns in Bulgaria (lower Danube) as part of the ‘Transition to Late Antiquity’ research programme. Examples of particular surveys — which in general have proved remarkably successful — are used to illustrate the results.