How to access ancient landscapes? Field survey and legacy data integration for research on Greek and Roman settlement patterns in Eastern Sicily

Abstract

The integration of field survey data from Eastern Sicily (the Plain of Catania) with legacy data available for the region will expand our knowledge on Mediterranean ancient rural landscapes. With an extent of 430 km2, the area is a perfect case study due to its geographical characteristics and the number of archaeological projects (both excavations and surveys) carried out within it in recent decades. Indeed, combining archaeological data from earlier research projects with new survey data allows us to conduct a settlement pattern analysis of the project’s study area. Heterogenous datasets have been integrated through their implementation into a geo-database, featuring the management and integration of topographical units and archaeological entities through semantic relations. Through geospatial data analysis based on the complete gazetteer of archaeological sites (whether sherd scatters, ruins, caves dwellings, tombs or tracks), a new image of rural landscapes for this area of Eastern Sicily from the Greek Archaic to the Late Roman Age can be visualized, beyond the traditional Sicilia frumentaria narrative.

Keywords

• landscape archaeology
• legacy data
• settlement patterns
• rural landscapes
• ancient topography