Refining collection-unit survey methodology: the Maharal Valley project case study

Archaeological field surveys frequently rely on collection unit methodologies to map surface artifact distributions across landscapes. While effective in rapidly covering large areas, these methods face persistent limitations that arise from sampling biases and post-depositional histories. The Maharal Valley Project, Israel, tackles these challenges through an innovative integrative framework that strengthens the analytical capabilities of collection unit field surveys. This includes high-resolution, contiguous collection-unit survey integrated with hexagonal tessellation for post-field data standardization as well as considering multiple parameters that influence artifact collection numbers. These steps enable modeling the effects of visibility conditions to adjust artifact counts for sampling biases towards a more accurate exploration of their distribution across time and space (To this end the article is accompanied by substantial methodological detail in the supplementary materials). We further emphasize the importance of incorporating geoarchaeology as an integral part of the survey and, accordingly, excavated several trenches to assess post-depositional processes, aiming to exclude sediment displacement and support the integrity of surface scatters as proxies for ancient activity. The results are discussed in comparison to former work in the southern Levant, highlighting the importance of landscape exploitation and reveal several distinct patterns from the Middle Paleolithic to the Ottoman-period. This integrative framework enhances the analytical power of surface surveys, providing a replicable model for bridging field data collection and spatial analysis in regional archaeological research.