The broad valley of the Bradano river and its tributary, the Basentello, separates the Apennine mountains in Lucania from the limestone plateau of the Murge in Apulia in southeast Italy. This book aims to explain how the pattern of settlement and land use changed in the valley over the whole period from the Neolithic to the late medieval.

The broad valley of the Bradano river and its tributary the Basentello separates the Apennine mountains in Lucania from the limestone plateau of the Murge in Apulia in South East Italy. For millennia the valley has functioned both as a cultural and political divide between the two regions, and as a channel for new ideas transmitted from South to North or vice versa depending on the political and economic conditions of the time. Archaeology on the Apulian - Lucanian Borderaims to explain how the pattern of settlement and land use changed in the valley over the whole period from Neolithic to Late Medieval, taking account of changing environmental conditions, and setting the changes in a broader political, social and cultural context. There are three levels of focus. The first is on the results of a field survey (1996-2006) in the Basentello valley by teams from the Universities of Alberta, Edinburgh, and Bari, directed by the authors. The second concerns the discoveries of earlier field surveys in the late 1960s and early 1970s undertaken in connection with excavations on Botromagno near Gravina in Puglia. The third is a much broader synthesis of the results of recent scholarship using archaeological, epigraphic and literary sources to reconstruct an archaeological history of the valley and the surrounding area. The creation of a vast imperial estate at Vagnari around the end of the 1st century BC and its long-lasting impact on the pattern of settlement in the area is a significant theme in the later chapters of the book.

The Routledge Handbook of the Archaeology of Urbanism in Italy in the Age of Roman Expansion explores trends in urbanism across Italy in the period when Rome extended its power across the entire peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. Chapters present the most up-to-date archaeological data in the first broad and detailed treatment of this topic, superseding traditional academic particularism. They present a significant re-evaluation of the process of Roman imperialism and the role of urbanization within it. Particular attention is paid to evidence for local agency in different regions and at different sites, but general trends are also highlighted. Various types of urban sites are examined, including Indigenous urban centers that pre-date Rome’s conquest, colonies, both Greek and Roman, small centers in the hinterlands of larger urban entities, and the symbiotic relationship between urban centers and their rural territories. This volume challenges the existence of a standardized “Roman model” imposed on Rome’s vanquished enemies through conquest and highlights that this was a period of intense experimentation. Archaeological data are used to challenge traditional text-based historiographic models and reveal the complex interplay and tensions between Roman imperial control, local and regional traditions, and broader Mediterranean trends. This book is of importance to archaeologists and ancient historians working on urbanism and Roman Imperialism, as well as those interested in early urbanism in the Western Mediterranean and Europe and the comparative study of imperialism and colonialism across geographical areas and historical periods.

Excavation reports and analysis of material remains from Vagnari, southeast Italy, facilitate a detailed phasing of a rural settlement, both in the late Republican period, when it was established on land leased from the Roman state, and later when it became the hub (vicus) of a vast agricultural estate owned by the emperor himself.

Slingers were an element in the Roman army over many centuries, their activities frequently reported in literary accounts of the Late Republic. Despite an ever-expanding body of ancient evidence, some books on the Roman army scarcely mention slingers. This monograph seeks to redress the balance and draws attention to their role and effectiveness.

Synthesizing some 30 years of archaeological research in south-east Italy, this book discusses a millennium that witnessed breathtaking changes: the first millennium BC. In nine to ten centuries the Mediterranean societies changed from a great variety of mostly small entities of predominantly tribal nature into the enormous state currently indicated as the Roman Empire. This volume is a case study discussing the pathway to complexity of one of the regions that contributed to the formation of this large state: south-east Italy. It highlights how initially small groups developed into complex societies, how and why these adapted to increasingly wide horizons, and how and why Italic groups and migrants from the eastern Mediterranean interacted and created entirely new social, economic, cultural and physical landscapes. This synthesis is based on research carried out by many Italian archaeologists and by research groups from quite a variety of other countries. Amsterdam Archaeological Studies is a series devoted to the study of past human societies from the prehistory up into modern times, primarily based on the study of archaeological remains. The series will include excavation reports of modern fieldwork; studies of categories of material culture; and synthesising studies with broader images of past societies, thereby contributing to the theoretical and methodological debates in archaeology.

The focus of this book is on the Italic people of Apulia during the fourth century BC, when Italic culture seems to have reached its peak of affluence. Scholars have largely ignored these people and the region they inhabited. During the past several decades archaeologists have made significant progress in revealing the cultures of Apulia through excavations of habitation sites and un-plundered tombs, often published in Italian journals. This book makes the broad range of recent scholarship - from new excavations and contexts to archaeometric testing of production hypotheses to archaeological evidence for reconsidering painter attributions - available to English-speaking audiences. In it thirteen scholars from Italy, the United States, Great Britain, France, and Australia present targeted essays on aspects of the cultures of the Italic people of Apulia during the fourth century BC and the surrounding decades.