Acaia Survey Project: le ragioni di un metodo

The article illustrates the theoretical and practical considerations that have guided the choice of the most suitable strategies for a survey of Egialea (Greece), a joint project of the Sixth Ephoria of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of Patras, the Italian Archaeological School of Athens, the KERA, and the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Salerno. The aim of this project is to shed further light on the territory of eastern Acaia, with special emphasis on prospecting methods employing a combination of advanced technological instruments and traditional methods of analysis. The first part of the article is a theoretical reflection on the present debate on surface prospecting, on the results one can expect from this investigation technique, and on other aspects as well. Notably, the author deals with territorial sampling strategies, the concept of ‘site’, and the influence of visibility and information collecting in a research involving a wide range of expertise, from the humanities to the earth sciences. Subsequently, the author illustrates the approaches used in the successive stages of surface prospecting, from its preparation to field-walking and the final processing of the data. The objective is to conduct a wellordered, methodical research where strategies, techniques, instruments and collected data take on the form and finality of a system, an organic whole articulated in interdependent parts. In this perspective, the author illustrates the Acaia Survey Database, an archaeological GIS consisting of a spatial database (the actual GIS) correlated to external alphanumerical databases. This software was created for the twofold purpose of making available to researchers a powerful information management and analysis tool, and a system (DSS) capable of providing a valid support to decision-making and the historical and archaeological interpretation of the natural and anthropic phenomena underlying the evolution of an area or region