Since 1996, SRAP has been focused on investigating long-term patterns of land-use and settlement and communication networks in the Black Sea coastal region of Sinop, Turkey, from the Neolithic to the Present. The integrated research approach to the Sinop region is the first of its kind in the southern Black Sea area.  The main components include
(1) archaeological survey and excavation, (2) integrated geomorphological-paleoecological investigations, (3) historical and ethnohistorical research, and (4) detailed stylistic, physical and chronometric study of archaeological finds.  The project integrates studies at multiple scales into a methodologically innovative structure that specifically prioritizes regional scale (as opposed to site, building or object scale) processes.  In order to prioritize the promontory-wide  processes over others we select particular sites,  monuments and objects for more intensive analyses based on their ability to shed light on the larger context.  The project is organized around a systematic  archaeological survey but also includes excavations, geomorphological research, ecological studies, physical characterization and dating of finds (particularly ceramics), documentary research and ethnohistorical investigations. To date SRAP has completed one season of general archaeological survey (1996), three seasons of systematic survey in the Demirci and Karasu valleys (1997-1999), a geomorphological coring study of the Karasu delta (1998-99), a scarp excavation just outside of the NW corner of Sinop Kale (2000), a series of study seasons and preliminary investigations (2002, 2003, 2006) including geophysical investigation of sites, luminescence dating of pottery from ca. 10 sites (Casson 2005; 2006; Doonan, Casson and Gantos 2008), physical characterization studies of handmade ceramics from ca. 70 prehistoric sites (Bauer 2006a; Doonan and Bauer 2005), and paleoecological research (Besonen in Doonan and Hiebert in preparation). Through these investigations, SRAP has recorded over 170 archaeological loci in the Sinop region including over 70 from pre-Greek colonial periods (before ca. 630 BC).

Several broad questions guide our current research: 1) How did the relationship between overseas, coastal and interior communities develop over time?  This requires documenting a) changes in the intensity of the political and economic engagement of hinterland communities, b) patterns of overseas exchange, and c) emergence of a structure of interdependent specialized communities through time. 2) How did the ecology of the promontory develop from the early Holocene to Roman times?  This requires a) clarifying the human impacts on soils, sediments and landforms, b) documenting the changes in floral communities through time, and c) testing hypotheses about the relationship between human social and economic practices and ecological change. 3) Did the structures of interaction that evolved in pre-Greek and colonial times persist?  Proposed structures include part-time exploitation of fish resources, significant non-economic contact among small-scale political units, and a dispersed regional power structure.