Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 June 2015
Caria south of the Maeander (Büyük Menderes) river has fascinated travellers since antiquity. Mountainous in character and moderately populated today, the region served as a political and cultural frontier between the Greek mainland and the more ancient centres of civilization in the Near East. After a century of exploration, a wealth of data now illuminates the historic past of ancient Caria (von Diest 1909, Ramsay 1890, Paton and Meyers 1896, Winter 1887, Chamonard 1895, Fowler 1906, Hicks, 1892, Humann and Dörpfeld 1893, Miller 1916, Paton 1900, and Weber, 1904). Although informative, such scholarship has also had a negative impact. All too often, the view taken in the published literature is that previously identified sites offer little additional information. Scholars have tended to accept this view and the “authoritative research” of others without further examination of the region or its rich physical remains.