Siteless Survey and Intensive Data Collection in an Artifact-rich Environment: Case Studies from the Eastern Corinthia, Greece

Archaeological survey in the eastern Mediterranean has become increasingly intensive over the last 20 years, producing greater and more diverse data for smaller units of space. While complex, siteless data sets have allowed more sophisticated reconstructions of natural and cultural regional histories, the employment of more intensive methods has refocused the scope of Mediterranean surveys from region to ‘micro-region’. Such increasingly myopic approaches have been criticized for their failure to address research questions framed by a large-scale, regional perspective and the analytical categories of ‘settle- ment’ and ‘site’. This paper uses results from a survey in southern Greece to show how artifact-based approaches make valuable contributions to ‘big-picture’ historical and archaeological issues in a Mediter- ranean context

Archaeological Data and Small Projects: A Case Study from the Pyla-Koustopetria Archaeological Project on Cyprus

A case study in how small projects use digital tools

Towers and Fortifications at Vayia in the Southeast Corinthia

An article describing and analyzing the rural towers in the Southeast Corinthia, Greece

The Diolkos of Corinth

Since the mid 19th century, the paved portage road known as the diolkos has been central to interpreting the historical fortune of the city of Corinth and the commercial facility of its isthmus. in this article, I reevaluate the view that the diolkos made the isthmus a commercial thoroughfare by reconsidering the archaeological, logistical, and textual evidence for the road and overland portaging. Each form of evidence problematizes the notion of voluminous transshipment and suggests the road did not facilitate trade as a constant flow of ships and cargoes across the isthmus. the diolkos was not principally a commercial thoroughfare for transporting the goods of other states but facilitated the communication, transport, travel, and strategic ends of Corinth and her allies. the commercial properties of the Isthmus of Corinth subsist in its emporion for exchange, not in a road used for transshipment

The Diolkos and the Emporion: How a Land Bridge Framed the Commercial Economy of Roman Corinth

Territory has always formed a common theme in explanations of the wealth and power of the city of Corinth. Thucydides was the first to connect Corinthian wealth to the city’s situation on the Isthmus and its commercial facility (1.13.5). When the Greeks developed navies, he noted, the Corinthians built a fleet, suppressed piracy, and provided a trade market making their city wealthy and powerful. Roman writers repeated, expanded,and reinterpreted the explanation of Thucydides about the commercial facility of the Isthmus and its relationship to Corinthian wealth. By the end of antiquity, Corinth was inextricably associated with the image of a maritime city whose Isthmus fostered commerce, prosperity, and power

Regional Survey and the Boom-And-Bust Countryside: Re-Reading the Archaeological Evidence for Episodic Abandonment in the Late Roman Corinthia

This paper reexamines the archaeological evidence for three episodes of rural abandonment and resettlement in the countrysides of Late Roman Greece (200-700 CE): an abandoned Late Hellenistic-Early Roman countryside (second century BCE to third century CE), a decline in the third to early fourth centuries CE, and the Dark Age beginning in the seventh century CE. the first and third episodes of abandonment, especially, have sharply defined Late Antiquity (250-700 CE) as a healthy period of new rural settlement and economic resurgence, and the entire pattern has been described in the terms of \ boom-and-bust\ demographic and economic cycles. Closer readings of the archaeological data can contribute to more sensitive pictures of continuity and change in settlement and connectivity in the late antique Corinthian countryside and other regions in Greece. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

The Busy Countryside of Late Roman Corinth: Interpreting Ceramic Data Produced by Regional Archaeological Surveys

Using data generated by the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey, the author examines the evidence for the frequently attested \ explosion\ of Late Roman settlement in the Corinthia, assessing the degree to which the differential visibility of pottery from the Early and Late Roman periods affects our perception of change over time. Calibration of ceramic data to compensate for differences in visibility demonstrates a more continuous pattern of exchange, habitation, and land use on the Isthmus during the Roman era. The author also compares excavated and surface assemblages from other regional projects, and suggests new ways of interpreting the ceramic evidence produced by archaeological surveys