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THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL URBAN SURVEY OF SAGALASSOS (SOUTH‐WEST TURKEY): THE POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF SURVEYING A ‘NON‐TYPICAL’ CLASSICAL SITE
Author(s) -
MARTENS FEMKE
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
oxford journal of archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1468-0092
pISSN - 0262-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0092.2005.00234.x
Subject(s) - archaeology , field survey , geography , geophysical survey , geology , cartography , geophysics
Summary. The merits of surface survey as a non‐destructive method of investigating ancient regions and towns are widely acknowledged, as is the lack of ‘cookbook strategies’ for this type of research. For the urban survey of the Roman town of Sagalassos (South‐West Turkey), a site‐specific field strategy was developed to study the functional organization and spatial evolution of the urban area. The location of the town on a steeply sloping and uncultivated site presented a totally different situation from any dealt with in other Mediterranean urban surveys. This paper outlines the development of a survey strategy for the town through a process of trial and error. Reliable results were obtained by combining research techniques and acknowledging the impact of site formation processes and post‐depositional disturbances upon the surface record.