"It is a rare and happy situation when a 'useful' book is also a pleasure to read. Such is the case with this book . . . which should be required reading for every person with a serious interest in any period of Greek history. . . . The presentation of the story is engaging, leavened throughout with wit and common sense. . . . The gracefully written text is accompanied by numerous maps and superb illustrations." --American Historical Review
"This charming and humane book deserves the attention of all those interested in archaeology in the widest sense of the word and of those keen to understand man's relationship to the natural landscape." --The Times Literary Supplement

This volume presents the results of the Argolid Exploration Project, an archaeological, historical and geological survey of a part of the Peloponnese of Greece. It is a study in human ecology that analyses the dynamic relationship between human communities and their environments, both cultural and natural. Before 8,000 years ago, particularly during the last Ice Age, the most important determinant of landscape evolution was climate change. However, in the last 8,000 years, human settlement and land use have had drastic effects upon the land, resulting in deforestation and erosion. For this period a cyclical pattern of settlement growth and decline that correlates with successive episodes of catastrophic damage to the soils and environment is revealed. A shorter study of the Project intended for the general reader has already been published (Beyond the Acropolis by van Andel and Runnels, Stanford, 1987), and at least two other volumes will continue to set out the findings.