The Cambridge/Bradford Boeotian Expedition: The First Four Years

This is a preliminary report (the first substantial publication to appear) on the first four seasons ' work of an archaeological survey project in Boeotia, central Greece, reinforced by the results of a further study season. After a brief general consideration of survey strategies, the article concentrates on the specific conditions of the sample area chosen in western Boeotia. A full account is given of the field procedures adopted in the opening season (1979), with the changes introduced in subsequent years. The findings, based on the 21.5 sq km covered so far in this high-intensity survey, are then reported period by period, and a summary account of the nonarchaeological studies undertaken in collaboration with the expedition is appended. The ar-ticle is supported by full tabulation of sites and periods. I. Introduction: the Crisis in Greek Archaeology To understand the true state of archaeology in Greece in the 1970s and 1980s is to understand the strength of the case for conducting archaeological survey there. On