Iznik Intensive Survey Project (Topoi A-6-6)

Despite of the abundant epigraphic sources from the urban center Nikaia/Nicaea and its extensive and well-connected agricultural hinterland, archaeological information on the regional rural landscape and settlement pattern are very scarce. The historic-geographic definition of the chora of Iznik has been based almost exclusively on the epigraphic evidence, shedding light on the socio-economic role of the village communities in the territorial organization. The research questions addressed in the framework of the project concerned the archaeological definition of the local rural settlement history, sites typology and function (villae, farms, and villages), land use and resource exploitation, production and distribution of food and ceramic commodities from the Hellenistic to the Late Antique period. For this purpose a body of integrated landscape archaeological methods including remote sensing techniques, archaeomorphological analysis, extensive and intensive fieldwork in test areas, as well as GIS-based mapping and spatial analysis was used.