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Several surveys have been carried out further eastward in Pontos by Turkish archaeologists. Projects initiated by M. and N. Öszait cover the districts of Amasya, Samsun and Ordu, and another group has been working in the areas around Tokat. In Paphlagonia, a team has been working in the area around Kasamonu.¹⁵ However, none of these surveys follow as systematic an approach as that mentioned above, nor are they as intensive. In addition, most of the projects focus predominantly on periods earlier or later than the Hellenistic and Roman era. What can be glimpsed from the many preliminary reports boils down to a generally wider distribution of sites in the Roman period. The evidence will not at present support broader conclusions because of the preliminary nature of many of the publications, and because the Hellenistic period was shorter than the Roman period – which is often taken to include the Byzantine period as well – and also because in extensive surveys Roman remains may be more readily recognizable than Hellenistic ones.

The sum of available evidence creates an impression of a Roman landscape that, contrary to what might be expected, did not concentrate settlement in the urban centres that were the focus of the Roman administration, but rather distributed the population across the countryside in a variety of settlement types. This development under Roman rule is quite different from that of the province of Achaea, by far the most thoroughly investigated area, where “the Classical and early Hellenistic periods appear exceptionally active, characterized by the presence of numerous, dispersed, small sites”. By comparison, with few exceptions the Roman landscape of Achaea appears “empty”.¹⁶ However, Achaea was probably not representative of the Empire in this respect, and developments in northern Asia Minor are parallelled elsewhere. This raises a question about the demographic potential of Pontos during the Hellenistic period. Where did Mithridates obtain soldiers for his campaigns against Rome if there were no large urban centres and little dispersed settlement?