Archaeological survey

This page gathers archaeological survey and excavation data of the kind that never comes from a text at all: LiDAR laser-mapping of buried structures, settlement-hierarchy surveys that rank sites by size, and direct architectural or acoustic measurement of surviving buildings and spaces.

Because this evidence is physical and locational rather than textual, it lets conjectures test historical claims that no manuscript could confirm on its own. Zimbabwe–Kilwa metrology compares metal-working evidence at Great Zimbabwe against trade records from the Swahili coast port of Kilwa to test a shared metrological standard, and Peutinger's seams reads the distorted geography of the Peutinger Map as a predictable kind of measurement error rather than simple ignorance. Caravanserai quantization and Day-sail ports both look at how trade infrastructure -- caravanserai spacing, harbour distances -- clusters at physically sensible intervals, and Hollow ways are slime mold treats old hollow-way roads worn into the landscape as behaving like a slime mould's efficient network rather than a planned one.