General Conclusions

Abstract

When we began this study, we hypothesized the following: (1) similar geology fosters similar urban development, but not every urban difference has a geological basis; (2) geological differences are likely to result in developmental differences; and (3) geology forms an active backdrop to human actions. We assumed that (1) the growth of classical cities was in response to the setting with which the inhabitants interact, (2) tectonic, sedimentary, structural, and engineering aspects of the geology affect how the city developed and its durability, and (3) hydrogeology defines the nature, amount, and location of water resources. At the end of the study, we have verified that implacable geological forces affected each city. Specific interactions between the local terrane and the residents of these ten sites during the Greco-Roman period can be documented. We have struggled with problems of scale and interpretation, and with which methodologies to use in weighing evidence. We have wondered which links between phenomena and process are the crucial ones. In our research, we have used both the optimism and the informed skepticism that Dincauze (1987) called for in her parallel work of reconstructing paleoenvironments. Temptations in research can be subtle, such as “equating what is observable with what is significant” (Snodgrass 1987). We do not claim to be exempt from these problems. New information does not of itself produce better science or better human history. The contributions of oversimplification to the scientific discourse continued unabated in the last half of the twentieth century, with Wittvogel’s Oriental Despotism (1957), which based urban development and the growth of the state on irrigation, or Vita-Finzi’s concept (1969) of one period of sedimentation for the whole Mediterranean area. The attentive reader may have noticed similar examples of arguing ahead of the data in this present work, in spite of our efforts to be moderate and truthful. We apply scientific and engineering data to the sites in question, and we offer the results as models for investigation rather than exhaustive studies.