Constructing Messapian Landscapes: Settlement Dynamics, Social Organization and Culture Contact in the Margins of Graeco-Roman Italy (Dutch Monographs on Ancient History and Archaeology)

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. Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 LIST OF FIGURES 10 PREFACE 14 CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION 18 1.1 Aims of inquiry 18 1.2 The Brindisino project of the Free University of Amsterdam 19 The Brindisi region 19 The field surveys 20 Incorporating intensive site surveys 22 1.3 Problem orientation 23 Traditional research perspectives 23 The advent of settlement excavations 25 Native - Greek contacts and native society 28 The theme of Romanization 31 1.4 The research strategy 33 Data collection and analysis 34 The framework of presentation 36 PART I THE SURVEYS 38 CHAPTER II - HISTORY AND METHODOLOGY OF THE SURVEYS 40 2.1 Previous ground reconnaissance in the Brindisi region 40 2.2 The intensive site surveys 44 Methodological discussion 45 The survey method 46 The assessment of site formation 49 Chronology 51 CHAPTER III - THE SURVEY AT MURO TENENTE (MESAGNE) 54 3.1 Introduction 54 3.2 The site and its topography 56 3.3 Post-depositional biases 58 3.4 Chronology, extent and density of human occupation 61 The Iron Age 62 The Archaic/Classical period 64 The early Hellenistic period 64 The late Republican period 67 The Roman Imperial and later phases 69 3.5 The fortifications 71 The 1992 survey of the defences 72 The 1993 trenches 74 3.6 Selection of surface finds 77 CHAPTER IV - THE SURVEY AT MURO MAURIZIO (MESAGNE) 96 4.1 Introduction 96 4.2 The site and its topography 99 4.3 Post-depositional biases 101 4.4 Chronology, extent and density of human occupation 103 The Bronze Age 103 The Iron Age 105 The Archaic/Classical period 105 The early Hellenistic period 107 The late Republican and early Imperial periods 107 The later Roman phases 109 4.5 Selection of surface finds 111 CHAPTER V - THE SURVEY AT LI CASTELLI (SAN PANCRAZIO SALENTINO) 130 5.1 Introduction 130 5.2 The site and its topography 132 5.3 Post-depositional biases 134 5.4 Chronology, extent and density of human occupation 136 The Iron Age 136 The Archaic/Classical period 138 The early Hellenistic period 138 The late Republican and Imperial phases 140 5.5 Selection of surface finds 144 CHAPTER VI - THE SURVEY AT MASSERIA MEA (CELLINO SAN MARCO) 162 6.1 Introduction 162 6.2 Topography, chronology, extent and density of occupation 164 6.3 Post-depositional biases 166 6.4 Selection of surface finds 168 PART II SETTLEMENT DYNAMICS, SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND CULTURE CONTACT IN THE ANCIENT BRINDISI REGION 172 CHAPTER VII - THE IRON AGE 174 7.1 Introduction: from the late Bronze Age to the Iron Age 174 7.2 Iron Age surface debris in the survey areas 175 Excavation contexts 176 Occupational density and extent 176 Greek ceramics 180 Concluding remarks 180 7.3 Overseas contacts: the pottery evidence 181 7.4 Native - Greek exchange in Iron Age Salento: a native perspective 184 An ethno-historical analogy 184 Traditional value systems 186 The influx of Greek objects: a reappraisal 186 7.5 The reclamation of the interior of Salento 187 A critique of the argument 190 Explaining the process 191 7.6 The Greek colony of Taras 192 CHAPTER VIII - THE ARCHAIC/CLASSICAL PERIOD 196 8.1 Introduction 196 8.2 Archaic/Classical surface debris in the survey areas 197 The formalization of burial practices 197 The stabilization of settlement 198 The identification of domestic areas in the survey areas 200 8.3 Settlement differentiation on the Brindisi plain 201 Isolated farmsteads 201 The prominence of Oria 202 Sanctuaries 205 Conclusion 207 8.4 The Taranto plain 208 8.5 Coexistence of Greeks and natives 213 8.6 Native elite manifestations and political ideology 215 Religious contexts 217 Religious specialism and language 218 Burial contexts 219 Other contexts 221 Surplus production and settlement reorganization 222 8.7 Increased integration of society 223 CHAPTER IX - THE EARLY HELLENISTIC PERIOD 226 9.1 Introduction: focusing on the Brindisi region 226 9.2 Site expansion and hierarchization 228 9.3 Domestic debris in the survey areas 232 Permanent rural occupation 233 The fortified sites 234 9.4 House types 235 Courtyard-houses 237 Perystile houses 239 Spatial distribution 241 9.5 Necropoleis 242 Funerary debris in the survey areas 243 Diverging trends in spatial organization 244 Social aspects 245 9.6 Fortifications 248 9.7 Craftsmanship 249 Pottery production 250 Iron working 252 Weaving 254 9.8 Agriculture and animal husbandry 255 Intensification and expansion of agriculture 255 The development of a polycultural system 256 9.9 Socio-political organization 260 CHAPTER X - THE ROMAN PERIOD 266 10.1 Introduction 266 10.2 Roman surface debris in the survey areas 267 10.3 Regional settlement patterns 271 Mesagne 272 Oria 273 Brindisi 274 The manifestation of a central axis of population centres 275 10.4 The decline of the fortified settlements: diverging explanations 277 The wars of the 3rd cent. BC 277 Romanization 279 10.5 Rome as a focus for native politics 279 10.6 Native integration at Brindisi 281 10.7 Brindisi and native political economy 283 10.8 Integration and the transformation of society and settlement 286 Political centralization and the role of Oria 287 Economic centralization 287 The decline of the peripheral centres 288 10.9 Agricultural intensification and the decline of the peasantry 290 The Oria survey results 291 Slave run farms and peasant perils 292 CHAPTER XI - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 294 11.1 Introduction 294 The surveys 295 11.2 The pre-Roman urbanization process 296 The Iron Age 296 The Archaic/Classical period 298 The early Hellenistic period 301 11.3 Integration into the Roman orbit 304 Bibliography and abbreviations 310 Dutch summary - Nederlandse samenvatting 326 Plates 330 Text engl. m. holländ. Zusammenfass