Isolated farmsteads
Isolated farmsteads as a form of rural settlement haveoccupied a place in historical-archaeological research since the 1950´s.Initial studies of these settlements reflected the difficulties involvedwith defining the &Quot;farm" building type a! nd thus focused on the documentationand presentation of a selective, well-preserved sample of farm complexes.The investigation of settlements and the methodology associated with analyzingthe rural landscape came to the foreground first with the establishmentof extensive and intensive field research, or "surveys", such as thoseinitiated by Anglo-Saxon scholars during the 1970´s. Due to the limitednature of the ancient sources, questions regarding the settlement structurewithin the territory (chora) of ancient communities and the forms and patternsof these rural settlements require a strong foundation of evidence collected as a result of intensive, systematic surveys.
The goal of the Lycia Project research in the Yavu mountain region, which for the most part corresponds to the territorial boundariesof the Central Lycian polis of Kyaneai, is to reconstruct the settlementstructure and history of a defined settlement area from the Archaic through Byzantine periods. In this effort, the first stage of investigation consists of the recording and analysis of all settlement remains visible on the surface. Outside of the major settlement centers and small townor hamlet-sized settlements, approximately 60 so-called tower farmsteadsand 430 isolated farms have been documented in a 106 sq.km. area sincethe 1997 field season. These rural estates are often associated with gravesites (tumulus burials, chamber tombsof various types, sarcophagi), agricultural and livestock installations(extensive terracing, presses and mills, cisterns and troughs, internaland external animal enclosures). The graves located nearby attest to the residential function of the farmsteads; the agricultural and pastoral structuresunderscore the economic basis of the farmsteads.