In this paper, we describe the development and state of archaeological surface survey in the Mediterranean. We focus especially on surface survey as a means of documenting long-term settlement patterns at various scales, as an approach to the archaeology of regions, and as a pathway to the interpretation of past landscapes. Over the last decades, the literature on Mediterranean survey has increasingly emphasized a distinct set of practices, viewed both favorably and critically by regional archaeologists in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. We show that Mediterranean survey in fact comprises several discrete regional traditions. In general, these traditions have much to offer to wider dialogs in world archaeology, particularly concerning sampling and research design, the interpretation of surface assemblages, and the integration of complex, multidisciplinary datasets. More specifically, survey investigations of Mediterranean landscapes provide comparative data and potential research strategies of relevance to many issues of global significance, including human ecology, demography, urban–rural dynamics, and various types of polity formation, colonialism, and imperialism.

在本文中，我们描述了地中海地表考古调查的发展和状况。我们特别关注地表调查，作为记录不同尺度的长期聚落模式的一种手段，作为地区考古学的一种方法，以及作为解释过去景观的途径。在过去的几十年里，有关地中海调查的文献越来越强调一套独特的做法，地中海和其他地方的地区考古学家对这些做法既有赞成的也有批评的。我们表明，地中海调查实际上包含几个离散的区域传统。总的来说，这些传统可以为世界考古学中更广泛的对话提供很多帮助，特别是在采样和研究设计、表面组合的解释以及复杂的多学科数据集的整合方面。更具体地说，地中海景观的调查提供了与许多具有全球意义的问题相关的比较数据和潜在的研究策略，包括人类生态学、人口学、城乡动态以及各种类型的政体形成、殖民主义和帝国主义。