| Sumario: | The Tappino Area Archaeological Project, initiated in 2013, investigates ancient settlement dynamics in Molise, Italy. Ancient literary sources suggest a unique, non-urban settlement system for this mountainous region. Preliminary surveys for the Hellenistic period indicate a concentration of rural settlements on hill plateaus, suggesting a societal organization based on rural clusters. However, we must rigorously assess whether this pattern reflects genuine settlement organization or a research bias, a frequent challenge in landscape archaeology. This paper applies standard survey techniques with a proportionate stratified sampling approach, incorporating less-studied landscape areas. Additionally, we examine how factors like archaeological visibility, land use, and lithology may influence our understanding of settlement patterns and demography, using a statistically adequate framework to strengthen the analysis.
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