This volume is the first scientific publication of the results of a systematic, intensive archaeological field survey conducted in the agricultural territory (chora) of a Greek colony in Southern Italy. Over twenty years, nearly six hundred sites, ranging in date from the prehistoric through the modern periods, were documented in an area of approximately forty square kilometers, resulting in a comprehensive record of the chora's occupation and settlement over the course of more than six thousand years. This volume presents compelling new documentation of the expansive nature and dense population of rural settlement in the western Greek colonies.
The larger archaeological survey is complemented by specialist studies on the environment and landscape (geology and geomorphology), the classes of artifacts (stone tools, ceramics, and metal objects) of greatest cultural and chronological significance, and the methods and procedures employed before, during, and after the fieldwork. This volume is also one of the first studies of its kind to employ Geographic Information Systems software (GIS), remotely-sensed data (aerial photography, satellite imagery, digital terrain models), mathematical modeling, and three-dimensional rendering as the platform for spatial analysis and interpretation, alongside traditional statistical analyses using databases. The text is richly illustrated with hundreds of line drawings, photographs, and maps, and a separate large-format atlas will contain detailed maps of the entire study area.
