Long-Term Settlement Dynamics in Ancient Macedonia: A New Multi-Disciplinary Survey from Grevena (NW Greece)

Giannis Apostolou (), Konstantina Venieri, Alfredo Mayoral, Sofia Dimaki, Arnau Garcia-Molsosa, Mercourios Georgiadis and Hector A. Orengo ()
Additional contact information
Giannis Apostolou: Landscape Archaeology Research Group (GIAP), Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), 43003 Tarragona, Spain
Konstantina Venieri: Landscape Archaeology Research Group (GIAP), Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), 43003 Tarragona, Spain
Alfredo Mayoral: Landscape Archaeology Research Group (GIAP), Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), 43003 Tarragona, Spain
Sofia Dimaki: Ephorate of Antiquities (EFA) of Grevena, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, 51100 Grevena, Greece
Arnau Garcia-Molsosa: Landscape Archaeology Research Group (GIAP), Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), 43003 Tarragona, Spain
Mercourios Georgiadis: Department of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Letters, University of Crete, 74100 Rethymno, Greece
Hector A. Orengo: Landscape Archaeology Research Group (GIAP), Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), 43003 Tarragona, Spain

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-27

Abstract: This paper discusses the evolution of human settlement in ancient Macedonia from the Neolithic to the Late Roman periods, based on the results of a new multi-disciplinary and multi-scale archaeological survey in northern Grevena (NW Greece). Building upon an unpublished (legacy) survey, we developed a GIS-structured workflow that integrates site-revisiting and surveying strategies (material collection and test pits) with multi-temporal remote-sensing analyses, offering analytical information about site distribution, characterisation, dating, and taphonomy. Notably, the new study led to a 64% increase in the number of known sites. The combined results indicate that prehistory is less represented in the surface record than historical periods, likely due to the impact of soil erosion episodes. The Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age saw increased site numbers and the emergence of a settlement structure that characterised the area until the Hellenistic period. During the Roman period, the pattern shifted from a seemingly limited use of the landscape towards a model of more extensive habitation. This was driven by the appearance of new rural sites that introduced a land-use regime designed to support agricultural intensification by implementing anti-erosion measures, such as field terraces.

Keywords: landscape archaeology; archaeological survey; legacy data; site revisiting; GIS; remote sensing; geoarchaeology; test pits; ancient Macedonia; Grevena (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/11/1769/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/11/1769/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:11:p:1769-:d:1508097

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().