Multi-scalar approach to long-term dynamics, spatial relations and economic networks
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 25/02/2017

In Roman landscapes particular sites defined as secondary settlements, (known also as vici/villages, minor centers, agglomération secondaire, stationes/mansiones) have played an 'intermediary' role between the cities and the other rural structures (villae/farms), linked to the medium- and long-distance economic and commercial trajectories. The aim of this paper is to apply a multi-scalar approach to modelling the long-term spatial relations and the connectivity with the Mediterranean exchange network of the Roman secondary settlements. On a macro-scale we have analyzed a sample of 219 edited sites to understand the diachronic trends and the spatial dynamics of attraction / proximity to the significant elements of the landscape as towns, roads, rivers and coastline. The Ombrone Valley (Tuscany – Italy) represented a micro-scale case study of a complex systems in which the imported pottery (amphorae, ARS, ingobbiata di rosso) found in the vicus/mansio of Santa Cristina in Caio, the Roman villa of La Befa and the town of Siena (Saena Iulia) held diagnostic ‘macro-economic’ perspectives. The results showed how the secondary settlements played a nodal position in the Roman landscape in terms of resilience (long period of occupation until the Early Middle Ages), spatial organization with a close relationship to natural and anthropic infrastructures and trade functions linked to the Mediterranean routes.

Angelo Castrorao Barba (University of Palermo), Stefano Bertoldi (University of Pisa), Gabriele Castiglia (Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology)