Surveying the Greek Chora. The Black Sea Region in a Comparative Perspective

"Any discussion of landscape archaeology, of the relation between Greek poleis and their territory, and between Greek settlers and the indigene environment is unthinkable without the rich evidence from the Black Sea region. In 2003 the Danish National Research Foundation''s Centre for Black Sea Studies hosted an international conference with the aim to establish an understanding of the territories of the larger Greek Black Sea cities and to take the pulse on the current status of landscape archaeology in the Black Sea region - seen in a comparative, Mediterranean perspective. Though "landscape archaeology" and "survey" are well-known field methods, it soon became clear that the scope and approaches which the two terms describe differ fundamentally. This led to a heated methodological debate. Such a debate is to be welcomed, because this is exactly what leads to scientific progress.."