Constructing Messapian Landscapes : : Settlement Dynamics, Social Organization and Culture Contact in the Margins of Graeco-Roman Italy.

• Superior document: Dutch Monographs on Ancient History and Archaeology
• Author: Burgers, Gert-Jan.
• Place / Publishing House: Bielefeld : : BRILL,, 1998.; ©1998.
• Year of Publication: 1998
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Dutch Monographs on Ancient History and Archaeology
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (342 pages)

Over the last three decades, archaeologists have progressively embarked on field-walking projects all around the Mediterranean basin. The aim of most of these projects is to investigate the ancient settlement and landscape dynamics of specific Mediterranean regions. They greatly contribute to the new liveliness which characterizes present-day classical archaeology, not only by introducing new research methods but also, and in particular, by widening its subject matter to include the history of societies in the margins of the Graeco-Roman urban world. It is within this recent tradition that the present book has been written; the author aims to examine the ancient settlement and societal dynamics of the Brindisi region, in the north-east of the Salento peninsula. The field surveys indicate that during the pre-Roman period the regional society was characterized by processes of centralization and urbanization. Subsequently, from the 3rd century BC onwards, it gradually integrated into the Roman orbit. Burgers emphasizes an active indigenous role in the succesive colonial situations in southern Italy. He focuses on the internal dynamics of the local communities and investigates how social strategies manifested themselves, especially in external contacts and in the organization of settlement and landscape.

Table of Contents

Intro -- CONSTRUCTING MESSAPIAN LANDSCAPES -- Copyright -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF FIGURES -- PREFACE -- CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION -- 1.1 Aims of inquiry -- 1.2 The Brindisino project of the Free University of Amsterdam -- The Brindisi region -- The field surveys -- Incorporating intensive site surveys -- 1.3 Problem orientation -- Traditional research perspectives -- The advent of settlement excavations -- Native - Greek contacts and native society -- The theme of Romanization -- 1.4 The research strategy -- Data collection and analysis -- The framework of presentation -- PART I THE SURVEYS -- CHAPTER II - HISTORY AND METHODOLOGY OF THE SURVEYS -- 2.1 Previous ground reconnaissance in the Brindisi region -- 2.2 The intensive site surveys -- Methodological discussion -- The survey method -- The assessment of site formation -- Chronology -- CHAPTER III - THE SURVEY AT MURO TENENTE (MESAGNE) -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The site and its topography -- 3.3 Post-depositional biases -- 3.4 Chronology, extent and density of human occupation -- The Iron Age -- The Archaic/Classical period -- The early Hellenistic period -- The late Republican period -- The Roman Imperial and later phases -- 3.5 The fortifications -- The 1992 survey of the defences -- The 1993 trenches -- 3.6 Selection of surface finds -- CHAPTER IV - THE SURVEY AT MURO MAURIZIO (MESAGNE) -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 The site and its topography -- 4.3 Post-depositional biases -- 4.4 Chronology, extent and density of human occupation -- The Bronze Age -- The Iron Age -- The Archaic/Classical period -- The early Hellenistic period -- The late Republican and early Imperial periods -- The later Roman phases -- 4.5 Selection of surface finds -- CHAPTER V - THE SUR VEY AT LI CASTELLI (SAN PANCRAZIO SALENTINO) -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 The site and its topography -- 5.3 Post-depositional biases.

5.4 Chronology, extent and density of human occupation -- The Iron Age -- The Archaic/Classical period -- The early Hellenistic period -- The late Republican and Imperial phases -- 5.5 Selection of surface finds -- CHAPTER VI - THE SUR VEY AT MASSERIA MEA (CELLINO SAN MARCO) -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Topography, chronology, extent and density of occupation -- 6.3 Post-depositional biases -- 6.4 Selection of surface finds -- PART II SETTLEMENT DYNAMICS, SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CULTURE CONTACT IN THE ANCIENT BRINDISI REGION -- CHAPTER VII - THE IRON AGE -- 7.1 Introduction: from the late Bronze Age to the Iron Age -- 7.2 Iron Age surface debris in the survey areas -- Excavation contexts -- Occupational density and extent -- Greek ceramics -- Concluding remarks -- 7.3 Overseas contacts: the pottery evidence -- 7.4 Native - Greek exchange in Iron Age Salento: a native perspective -- An ethno-historical analogy -- Traditional value systems -- The influx of Greek objects: a reappraisal -- 7.5 The reclamation of the interior of Salento -- A critique of the argument -- Explaining the process -- 7 .6 The Greek colony of Taras -- CHAPTER VIII - THE ARCHAIC/CLASSICAL PERIOD -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Archaic/Classical surface debris in the survey areas -- The formalization of burial practices -- The stabilization of settlement -- The identification of domestic areas in the survey areas -- 8.3 Settlement differentiation on the Brindisi plain -- Isolated farmsteads -- The prominence of Oria -- Sanctuaries -- Conclusion -- 8.4 The Taranto plain -- 8.5 Coexistence of Greeks and natives -- 8.6 Native elite manifestations and political ideology -- Religious contexts -- Religious specialism and language -- Burial contexts -- Other contexts -- Surplus production and settlement reorganization -- 8.7 Increased integration of society.

CHAPTER IX - THE EARLY HELLENISTIC PERIOD -- 9.1 Introduction: focusing on the Brindisi region -- 9.2 Site expansion and hierarchization -- 9.3 Domestic debris in the survey areas -- Permanent rural occupation -- The fortified sites -- 9.4 House types -- Courtyard-houses -- Perystile houses -- Spatial distribution -- 9.5 Necropoleis -- Funerary debris in the survey areas -- Diverging trends in spatial organization -- Social aspects -- 9.6 Fortifications -- 9.7 Craftsmanship -- Pottery production -- Iron working -- Weaving -- 9.8 Agriculture and animal husbandry -- Intensification and expansion of agriculture -- The development of a polycultural system -- 9.9 Socio-political organization -- CHAPTER X - THE ROMAN PERIOD -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Roman surface debris in the survey areas -- 10.3 Regional settlement patterns -- Mesagne -- Oria -- Brindisi -- The manifestation of a central axis of population centres -- 10.4 The decline of the fortified settlements: diverging explanations -- The wars of the 3rd cent. BC -- Romanization -- 10.5 Rome as a focus for native politics -- 10.6 Native integration at Brindisi -- 10.7 Brindisi and native political economy -- 10.8 Integration and the transformation of society and settlement -- Political centralization and the role of Oria -- Economic centralization -- The decline of the peripheral centres -- 10.9 Agricultural intensification and the decline of the peasantry -- The Oria survey results -- Slave run farms and peasant perils -- CHAPTER XI - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS -- 11.1 Introduction -- The surveys -- 11.2 The pre-Roman urbanization process -- The Iron Age -- The Archaic/Classical period -- The early Hellenistic period -- 11.3 Integration into the Roman orbit -- Bibliography and abbreviations -- Dutch summary - Nederlandse samenvatting -- Plates.