Explorations in Boeotian Population History In his Topography and Population of Ancient Boeotia (1988), John Fossey catalogued all

the then-known archaeological sites of this ancient region of Central Greece, from prehistoric to Late Roman times, relating them when possible or relevant, to the available ancient sources. Following an excellent catalogue, he analyzed the settlement system for each period in terms of the distribution patterns and population changes. One period stood out as the phase of maximal settlement numbers, and by implication of regional population- the Classical Greek (ca. 500-300 BC). Although the catalogue relied almost entirely on 'extensive ' topographical research rather than the more recent field-by-field 'intensive ' form of archaeological site prospection, so that it is likely to reflect trends in the occupation of the larger settlements rather than being an accurate reflection of absolute site numbers, nonetheless it does indeed reflect the maximum peak in site statistics discovered by subsequent intensive surveys such as our own1, and in John Fossey's own small survey in the territory of ancient Chorsiai.2 Whereas, however, the topographical database collected by John Fossey showed the next highest peak as Middle Bronze Age, followed by Early- to Late-Roman, here the under-representation of smaller rural sites in the extensive survey tradition needs to be drastically corrected by the results of later intensive field survey, because Late Roman i