The landscape and networks of southwest Samos: new evidence from surface-survey ceramics

Abstract

This article uses the assemblage of surface-survey ceramics collected in the 2021 and 2022 WASAP field seasons to discuss the landscape structure and networking patterns (internal and external to the island) of Archaic through Byzantine southwest Samos. Collected in the basin of Marathokampos with intensive field pedestrian methods, a subset of a dataset of 2,106 ceramics is discussed alongside the environmental context of their findspots. Spatial analysis is used to identify 15 ‘Areas of Interest’ in the landscape, densely populated by surface ceramics, while detailed typological analysis of the ceramics helps to assign dates of activity across the region. The ceramic assemblage is compared to material from the Heraion Sanctuary of Samos, to local Ionian ceramics, and to ceramics from the broader Aegean and Mediterranean, to evaluate the network of contacts sustained by southwest Samos gradually expanded between the Archaic and Byzantine periods.