Populating the coastal landscapes of Greece. Assessing coastal engagement in later prehistoric (7000-1100 BCE) southern Greece.

This project provides a large-scale Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis of later prehistoric (7000-1100 BCE) sites in southern Greece to determine whether coastal habitation was an inevitable circumstance.

The purpose of the project is to change how coastal landscapes (coastscapes) are interpreted through highlighting chronological variability and utilising new methods from spatial analysis.

The project challenges the focus on domesticated landscapes as an essential component in the development of social complexity in Greek prehistory. Instead, the study elucidates the complex land use in coastscapes and population dynamics over time.

The project achieves these aims by identifying regions and periods of increased land use through large-scale GIS analysis of later Greek prehistoric coastscapes.

The project takes the form of 1) spatial data collation from relevant archaeological evidence; 2) GIS analysis using novel spatial analytical methods and 3) exploring human-sea engagement in coastscapes through time and region-specific case studies.The project introduces coastal analysis methods into archaeology, offering an innovative objective model to understand coastscapes, applicable to any chronological period or region in the Mediterranean.

The project will impact our understanding of whether coastscapes were attractive places to live and why, whether coastal habitation was an inevitability and help to shape new approaches to understanding these dynamic spaces.