Settlement and land use in the Asopos Valley, in the chora of ancient Tanagra: a geoarchaeological approach (Κατοίκηση και χρήσεις γης στην κοιλάδα του Ασωπού Ταναγρικής: μία γεωαρχαιολογική προσέγγιση): in greco moderno

Intensive and systematic artifact surface survey work was carried out in 2000-2006 on the ancient Tanagra city site and the surrounding areas, in the framework of the Leiden Boeotian cities Survey project, directed by J.L. Bintliff. The city controlled two fertile valleys, the lower valley of Asopos river and its tributary Lari, including different landscape zones. These areas were covered in the survey in four transects which start from the city walls and direct E, W, N and S up to 3km from the city walls. The aim of the present paper is to look more carefully at the South transect which covers part of the lower course of Asopos, before it flows in the wide Tanagra basin. The geomorphological study of the area along with the study of the aerial photographs and cartographic maps helped to reconstruct the geomorphological evolution of the river valleys of the Asopos and Lari, to investigate the nature of the prehistoric activity and to examine the character of the Classical and Roman habitation and land use in this part of the plain.