Reconstructing the Past in a changing Landscape. Reflections on the Area of Ephesus and other Sites in Western Asia Minor

Abstract

Landscapes are in perpetual transformation. This happens partly due to natural causes, like climatic changes or changes of soil quality, for example by salinization, partly due to human beings and their interventions, just to recall deforestation, or the regulation of rivers. Among others, the establishment of settlements and the construction of roads are common efforts to transform a natural space into a cultural landscape. – Historical geography tries to reconstruct the former state of a landscape, focusing on a special period, for example Late Antiquity or the Middle Byzantine Period. The reconstruction focus on different aspects, by using various methods, scientific approaches like geodesy and geophysics as well as historical or philological approaches like the analysis of written sources or archaeological data. Different time levels may appear in the picture presented as research result; some places are connected with diverse ideas and traditions during their history. Both the author and the reader of an academic study must be aware of the fact that subjective interpretation is always an important factor of each historical and historic-geographical work. Among other places in Western Anatolia, the area of Ephesus is a good example to illustrate this: a changing landscape and divergent interpretations of literary sources and the local archaeological material offer different pictures of the settlement conditions in that area during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Keywords

• ephesos
• araştırma metotları
• uzay
• orta çağ
• geç antik çağ
• ephesus
• late antiquity
• middle ages
• research methods
• space