A mountain path to complexity: the case study of inner Sabina between the Iron age and the Roman conquest
(2024) 30th EAA Annual Meeting – Persisting with change — Location: Rome, Università di Roma “Sapienza” (28.May.2024)
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- Even though mountainous areas represent around 35% of Italy’s national territory, they have been archaeologically under-studied over time. Although there has been a trend reversal in recent decades, especially in the Apennines this gap is still far from being bridged. Moreover, there is also a lack of recognition of the particularity of this environment, which is often evaluated based on criteria that are alien to it. This is particularly evident in relation to the phenomenon of (proto-)urbanisation. Scholars attribute a fundamental role to this process in the complexification of society on the peninsula. This perspective relies on the great complexity achieved for example by Etruscan cities as well as the pivotal role played by the city (the Urbs) par excellence, Rome, in subsequent Italian and European history. This led too often to defining the process of complexification of societies on a teleological evolutionary basis, in which the urban phenomenon is a necessary step. Because of its absence, the mountainous communities have for long time been considered as isolated, marginal, and backward. An increasing number of studies in the last decades, on the contrary, is showing instead the adaptability to local geographical contexts, the dynamism and cultural elaboration of mountain communities. In other words, their own path to complexity. The paper wants to highlight these latter characteristics through the case study of Nursia territory (south-eastern Umbria) between the Iron Age and the Roman conquest (290 BC). The first aim is to show the vitality of the area in pre-Roman times, through the analysis of the new data from survey research, as well as the study of unpublished material from local deposits. The second is to underline how this settlement pattern did not change even following the Roman conquest and colonisation of the territory, demonstrating its adaptation to the local context.
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Monti, D. (2024). A mountain path to complexity: the case study of inner Sabina between the Iron age and the Roman conquest. 30th EAA Annual Meeting – Persisting with change, Rome, Università di Roma “Sapienza”. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/245852