Archaeological Survey in an Artifact-Rich Landscape: A Middle Neolithic Example from Nemea, Greece

Surface studies of a Middle Neolithic site near Nemea have produced pottery, chipped stone, and other finds which can be used to investigate economic and social links with contemporary settlements in the northeast Peloponnesos. Discovery of the site by survey and its subsequent archaeological and geological exploration exemplify the methods developed by the Nemea Valley Archaeological Project to examine terrain in which large quantities of artifacts of many different dates are regularly found to be widely dispersed in the landscape. Examination of the extent and total distribution of Neolithic finds in the Nemea area provides a perspective on changes in settlement within the Neolithic period and in the subsequent Early Bronze Age.