“…So, basically, SU 212 might be an eroded and reworked SU 202 with very few Roman potsherds, which come from the layers above SU 202: SU 201 and SU 203. The ceramic assemblage of the layer (see also the potsherds published in [149], which have been partly collected in the same place) is very similar to that of the SU 202. The percentage of bowls and cups in the total ceramic assemblage is 70%, thus pointing at a domestic context.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 70%
“…In central Tyrrhenian Italy, the Bronze Age is the period in which the small, egalitarian, horticultural societies develop in much bigger chiefdom and early states. The trajectory to these more complex polities was not easy nor straightforward, with local and significant differences ([4,170–175], all with different nuances). This substantial socio-political shift coincides, all over Italy, with some clear trends in settlement patterns: stabilization , which indicates a progressively longer life of the villages, and selection and concentration , which indicate a decrease in the number of settlements together with an increase of their average dimensions [3,176].…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Data from [175]. Map derived from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission elevation datasets (SRTM NASA V3).…”
In 2017, an excavation led by the Groningen Institute of Archaeology and in collaboration with the Tor Vergata University of Rome, took place on two small islands in the Caprolace lagoon (Sabaudia, Italy), where Middle Bronze Age layers had previously been reported. Combining the results of an environmental reconstruction of the surroundings and a detailed study of the pottery assemblages, we were able to trace a specialised area on the southern island, in all probability devoted to salt production by means of the briquetage technique. The latter basically consists of boiling a brine through which a salt cake is obtained. The technique was widespread all over Europe, from Neolithic to Roman Times. Since the evidence points to an elite-driven workshop, this result has deep implications for the development of the Bronze Age socio-economic framework of Central Italy. Pottery evidence also suggests that in the Bronze Age sites along the Tyrrhenian coast of Central Italy where briquetage has already been hypothesised, more complex processes may have taken place. On the northern island, we collected a large number of so-called pedestals, which are characteristic features of briquetage, while chemical analyses point to salt or fish sauce production, like the roman liquamen, in a Middle Bronze Age domestic context.
“…So, basically, SU 212 might be an eroded and reworked SU 202 with very few Roman potsherds, which come from the layers above SU 202: SU 201 and SU 203. The ceramic assemblage of the layer (see also the potsherds published in [149], which have been partly collected in the same place) is very similar to that of the SU 202. The percentage of bowls and cups in the total ceramic assemblage is 70%, thus pointing at a domestic context.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 70%
“…In central Tyrrhenian Italy, the Bronze Age is the period in which the small, egalitarian, horticultural societies develop in much bigger chiefdom and early states. The trajectory to these more complex polities was not easy nor straightforward, with local and significant differences ([4,170–175], all with different nuances). This substantial socio-political shift coincides, all over Italy, with some clear trends in settlement patterns: stabilization , which indicates a progressively longer life of the villages, and selection and concentration , which indicate a decrease in the number of settlements together with an increase of their average dimensions [3,176].…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Data from [175]. Map derived from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission elevation datasets (SRTM NASA V3).…”
In 2017, an excavation led by the Groningen Institute of Archaeology and in collaboration with the Tor Vergata University of Rome, took place on two small islands in the Caprolace lagoon (Sabaudia, Italy), where Middle Bronze Age layers had previously been reported. Combining the results of an environmental reconstruction of the surroundings and a detailed study of the pottery assemblages, we were able to trace a specialised area on the southern island, in all probability devoted to salt production by means of the briquetage technique. The latter basically consists of boiling a brine through which a salt cake is obtained. The technique was widespread all over Europe, from Neolithic to Roman Times. Since the evidence points to an elite-driven workshop, this result has deep implications for the development of the Bronze Age socio-economic framework of Central Italy. Pottery evidence also suggests that in the Bronze Age sites along the Tyrrhenian coast of Central Italy where briquetage has already been hypothesised, more complex processes may have taken place. On the northern island, we collected a large number of so-called pedestals, which are characteristic features of briquetage, while chemical analyses point to salt or fish sauce production, like the roman liquamen, in a Middle Bronze Age domestic context.
“…This is the first definitive proof for human activity on the banks of the Tiber River as early as the twelfth century BC. Previous studies of Bronze Age Latium have accepted the premise of settlement almost exclusively on defensible hilltops (Cazzella et al 2007: 808; Alessandri 2013: 15, 29–53; Fulminante 2014: 175–77). These discoveries at Sant'Omobono augment this model by offering convincing evidence for early human activity and environmental impact in the floodplain as well.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Even into the last centuries of the second millennium BC, the material record still remains spatially intermittent and largely without stratigraphic context. With the exception of a small ceramic assemblage excavated in deposits near the Arch of Augustus (Gjerstad 1956; Peroni 1979), the sporadic Late Bronze Age sherds from the Palatine Hill and the Forum Romanum valley are largely limited to secondary contexts (Figure 1; Carafa 1996: 793; Arvanitis 2005: 13; Bartoloni 2009: 101–102; Alessandri 2013: 370–77). Figure 1. Satellite image of Rome showing key locations: A) Sant'Omobono in the Forum Boarium; B) Giardino Romano on the Capitoline Hill; C) Palatine Hill; D) Forum Romanum; E) Forum of Caesar.…”
The Late Bronze Age (1700–900 BC) represents an extremely dynamic period for Mediterranean Europe. Here, we provide a comparative survey of the archaeological record of over half a millennium within the entire northern littoral of the Mediterranean, from Greece to Iberia, incorporating archaeological, archaeometric, and bioarchaeological evidence. The picture that emerges, while certainly fragmented and not displaying a unique trajectory, reveals a number of broad trends in aspects as different as social organization, trade, transcultural phenomena, and human mobility. The contribution of such trends to the processes that caused the end of the Bronze Age is also examined. Taken together, they illustrate how networks of interaction, ranging from the short to the long range, became a defining aspect of the “Middle Sea” during this time, influencing the lives of the communities that inhabited its northern shore. They also highlight the importance of research that crosses modern boundaries for gaining a better understanding of broad comparable dynamics.
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