Intensive survey and medieval rural settlement: The case of Nemea.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Athanassopoulos, Effie-Fotini.

Contributor:

Wailes, Bernard, advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Middle Ages.

Europe--History.

Europe.

History.

Archaeology.

0324.

0335.

0581.

Penn dissertations--Anthropology.

Anthropology--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Anthropology.

Anthropology--Penn dissertations.

0324.

0335.

0581.

Physical Description:

417 pages

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 54-12A.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

Intensive archaeological surface surveys have become increasingly common in Greece in the last fifteen years. The diachronic perspective of these surveys has led to a serious treatment of the medieval material, which was frequently dismissed in the past. This work presents the results of the Nemea Valley Archaeological Project, a multi-period intensive regional survey of a small region of approximately 80 sq. Kms. centered on the Nemea valley in the Northeast Peloponnese. The pattern and development of the medieval settlement system in the Nemea area is reconstructed on the basis of the archaeological evidence recovered by the survey. The archaeological evidence of the 11th-13th centuries A.D. reveals a pattern of dispersed settlement, a pattern which must reflect the intense level of agricultural activity in the countryside at this time. There are two large residential sites with archaeological material of this period and a substantial number of small sites, most probably the remains of farmsteads, scattered throughout the survey area. Intensive farming appears to be the preferred strategy in the Medieval period. Documentary evidence from other areas in Greece supports this interpretation. The 11th and 12th centuries A.D. are viewed as a time of prosperity, a period of economic and demographic expansion. The archaeological evidence from Nemea supports this trend of economic expansion. In particular, the 12th and 13th centuries A.D. were periods of dense settlement and intensive cultivation in the area. This picture changes in the 14th century A.D. In the Nemea region there is lack of widespread archaeological material from the 14th century onwards. Dispersed settlement ceases and is replaced by nucleated settlement and the emergence of a fortified town on a precipitous mountain known as Polyphengi. This reversal is interpreted as a result of the insecurity, conflict and the extreme fragmentation of the social and political structure of the Peloponnese, following the Latin conquest.

Notes:

Thesis (Ph.D. in Anthropology) -- Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, 1993.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-12, Section: A, page: 4493.

Supervisor: Bernard Wailes.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.