Francesco Iacono | Università di Bologna (original) (raw)
Books by Francesco Iacono
Dawson and Iacono (eds) 2021. Bridging Social and Geographical Space through Networks. Leiden: Sidestone Press. , 2021
Interaction and mobility have attracted much interest in research within scholarly fields as diff... more Interaction and mobility have attracted much interest in research within scholarly fields as different as archaeology, history, and more broadly the humanities. Critically assessing some of the most widespread views on interaction and its social impact, this book proposes an innovative perspective which combines radical social theory and currently burgeoning network methodologies.
Through an in-depth analysis of a wealth of data often difficult to access, and illustrated by many diagrams and maps, the book highlights connections and their social implications at different scales ranging from the individual settlement to the Mediterranean. The resulting diachronic narrative explores social and economic trajectories over some seven centuries and sheds new light on the broad historical trends affecting the life of people living around the Middle Sea.
The Bronze Age is the first period of intense interaction between early state societies of the Eastern Mediterranean and the small-scale communities to the west of Greece, with people and goods moving at a scale previously unprecedented. This encounter is explored from the vantage point of one of its main foci: Apulia, located in the southern Adriatic, at the junction between East and West and the entryway of one of the major routes for the resource-rich European continent.
Papers by Francesco Iacono
Groma, 2024
DROP ME A LINE FOR THE FULL PAPER - The Roca Archaeological Survey, the archaeological survey ce... more DROP ME A LINE FOR THE FULL PAPER -
The Roca Archaeological Survey, the archaeological survey centred on the landscape around the important settlement of Roca Vecchia (sometime spelled also Rocavecchia) in Southeastern Italy, has produced a wealth of new data on the landscape frequentation of one of the most important hubs in the central Mediterranean from later prehistory until medieval times. In this paper we present some of the results that can be drawn from the data analysed so far for each of the macro-periods of frequentation identified, trying to highlight how the specific features of a mobility hub like Roca Vecchia influenced occupation trends through time.
World Archaeology, 2025
DO DROP A LINE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE THE PAPER Over the last few decades, Italy has been ... more DO DROP A LINE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE THE PAPER
Over the last few decades, Italy has been at the forefront of mass migration flows. Starting from the late 1990s, facilities for the detention and expulsion of undocumented migrants have been established. In this paper, we analyse one of the earliest examples of such structures in the Mediterranean: the former temporary holding facility (or C.P.T. Centro di Permanenza Temporanea) ‘Regina Pacis’ located in south-eastern Italy. In 1997, the structure was repur- posed into one of the largest C.P.T in Italy until its closure in 2005. Through an approach that combines archaeology and ethnography, we aim to understand the role that material culture played in subjugating and controlling the life of the migrants, attempting to evaluate, at the same time, the impact that the facility had on its hosting community.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2024
Full paper available at the link below. Through the second millennium BC, Bronze Age communiti... more Full paper available at the link below.
Through the second millennium BC, Bronze Age communities of Southern Italy have shown a remarkable degree of resilience in coping with changes in both macro-trends of cultural interaction and the landscape. In this paper, we will examine long-term processes of adaptation to shifting historical and environmental conditions from the vantage point of the impasto ware production at the site of Roca Vecchia (Melendugno-Lecce, IT), one of the main hubs of interaction for the Bronze Age of the Central Mediterranean. Sixty-eight ceramic individuals coming from the Middle to the Final Bronze Age levels and seven soil deposits from the site surroundings were analysed by petrography and fifteen were selected for SEM-EDX examination. We explore how changes in the complex history of the settlement and the surrounding landscape are matched in technological choices operated by the community of practice responsible for producing impasto pottery at Roca, in a moment when the long-range connection with the Aegean world was at its historical peak.
Folder, 2023
The Torre dell'Alto archaeological project has undertaken in collaboration with the Museum of Pre... more The Torre dell'Alto archaeological project has undertaken in collaboration with the Museum of Prehistory and Protohistory of Nardò, the exploration of the most monumental to the Bronze Age in the Porto Selvaggion natural park. This is the dry-stone wall of Torre dell'Alto, a fortification dating back to the Bronze Age and measuring approximately 20 x 200 m, making it one of the largest in all of peninsular Italy. The Torre dell'Alto site, object of this research, is located close to a rocky outcrop bordered on three sides by dense vegetation and to the west by the sixteenth-century tower, built at a height of about 50 m above sea level. guarding the coast. The vast and compact pine forest, which characterizes today's landscape, is the result of an intensive redevelopment intervention, which took place during the fifties of the last century. The settlement of Torre dell'Alto was in a relationship of intervisibility with another settlement which at the moment would appear to be coeval. This is located at Punta dell'Aspide, a little further to the south. The site has produced material that can be dated to the entire chronological span ranging from the Middle Bronze Age to the Final Bronze Age.
Ocnus | Quaderni della Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Archeologici, 2022
When it comes to the issue of tracking the empirical reality of mobilities, archaeologists are co... more When it comes to the issue of tracking the empirical reality of mobilities, archaeologists are confronted with views that vary widely. In this paper, we suggest a way of conceiving mobility dynamics in contexts of complex interaction, adapted to the multidimensionality and variability of the archaeological record. It will be argued that new research questions must take on board a human-centered (not population centered) approach if we want to avoid naturalizing identities. A polythetic classification of analytical unities will be adopted in order to frame types and processes of movement and interaction in a broader continuum. Hypotheses are assessed on the basis of cross-cultural regularities of material interactions, practice and transmission of know-hows. The field of application of these insights will be the study of bronze swords of Naue II type, a class of the late prehistoric record of the Mediterranean related to long-range connections. The spectrum of interpretations placed on the same set of evidence is illustrative of different takes on movement and of a lack of a critical selfconsciousness.
Mobility and interaction have been primarily analysed from the vantage point of the archaeologica... more Mobility and interaction have been primarily analysed from the vantage point of the archaeological sites representing the main hubs of interaction. However, such hubs were always immersed in a continuous landscape which had a considerable effect on interaction dynamics. An effect that has started to be taken in due consideration only recently. The Roca Archaeological Survey, of which we here present the first preliminary results, tries to integrate our detailed knowledge based on excavations of the site of Roca Vecchia in Apulia, with a systematic multi-period surface investigation able to assess whether and to what extent the surrounding landscape has affected dynamics of interaction recognised in the main site from the bronze age to modern times.
Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche, 2021
Please drop me a line if you would like a copy of the paper
Archaeology of the Ionian Sea: Landscapes, seascapes and the circulation of people, goods and ideas from the Palaeolithic to the end of the Bronze Age. Christina Souyoudzoglou-Haywood(Editor); Christina Papoulia(Editor), 2022
PLEASE DROP ME A LINE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACCESS THE FULL PAPER. The last few decades have marke... more PLEASE DROP ME A LINE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACCESS THE FULL PAPER. The last few decades have marked a considerable increase in our level of knowledge of the southern Adriatic/ Ionian area during the Bronze Age. However, observing these developments from the vantage point of the main- land masses lying at the north-western boundary of the Ionian, namely Salento in southeastern Italy, the picture we have remains primarily based on the record of a very limited number of well explored sites, with very few data on landscape occupation. Yet, as we know from these limited snapshots, during the 2nd millennium BC Salento is a privileged hub of long-range mobility and interaction, involving actors with origins as different as the Aegean world (broadly understood, but with intense connections with the Ionian area and western Greece), as well as northern Italy and selected areas of the Balkans. How is this landscape of mobility manifested in the archaeological record? What are the traces left on the ground? This paper tries to answer such questions using data from a survey project recently undertaken in the territory around the site of Roca, one of the main loci of Bronze Age connectivity in the area.
R. Jung, (ed) Punta Zambrone I, OAW, Wien, 2021
This article reports the results o an archaeometric study using NAA on 20 samples o wheelmade fin... more This article reports the results o an archaeometric study using NAA on 20 samples o wheelmade fine-ware pottery and one pithos from Roca Vecchia in Apulia. The study aims at elucidating the circulation of Mycenaean-type and Italo-Mycenaean-type vessels across southern Italy. For comparison with Punta di Zambrone, we have focused on ceramics from the RBA levels of Roca Vecchia, as this is a coastal settlement, which, according to previous studies, yielded both Aegean imports and local or regional Italo-Mycenaean products, all well-stratified in a continuous ertical settlement se uence. The chemical analysis identified a ew imports rom Greece (mainly rom Achaea Elis) and many Apulian products (forming two chemical groups), some of which adhere closely to the Mycenaean style, while others are of Italo-Mycenaean type. These Apulian chemical groups are absent from the previously analysed pots from Punta di Zambrone. One medium coarse pithos from Roca Vecchia turned out to be an import from the southern plain of Sybaris, i.e. the same region that is represented with a ew Mycenaean fine-ware essels at Punta di ambrone.
by Francesco Iacono, Maurizio Cattani, Claudio Cavazzuti, Helen Dawson, Maja Gori, Cristiano Iaia, Thibault Lachenal, Alberto J. Lorrio, Rafael Micó, Argyro Nafplioti, Kewin Peche-Quilichini, Barry Molloy, and Nicola Ialongo
Journal of Archaeological Research, 2021
-- Full-text paper available here: https://rdcu.be/cmCGI -- The Late Bronze Age (1700-900 BC) r... more -- Full-text paper available here: https://rdcu.be/cmCGI --
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.
Ocnus, 2020
Within mainland Greek societies, the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age is charact... more Within mainland Greek societies, the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age is characterised as having seen considerable social, political, economic and cultural transformations leading to the emergence of palaces. Yet, being the locus of elites, palaces are unlikely to inform us on the way these changes affected the full spectrum of Mainland societies. To achieve this, we turn here to non-palatial dwellings that are increas- ingly considered a fruitful domain of investigation for exploring broad societal change.
In this paper we analyse a sample of 149 domestic buildings, to assess whether social change happening in the Peloponnese at the transition between MH and LH influenced the layout of houses. The investigation reveals macro-trends related to the gradual disappearance of apsidal buildings and the growth of complexity in domestic buildings. This latter aspect seems to be geographically inflected and potentially connected to the unfolding of the trajectory of the Mycenaean palaces.
Bridging Social And Geographical Space Trough Networks, 2021
in: Dawson, H. and Iacono, F. (eds) 2021. Bridging Social and Geographical Space through Networks... more in: Dawson, H. and Iacono, F. (eds) 2021. Bridging Social and Geographical
Space through Networks. Leiden: Sidestone Press, pp. 89-102.
FOLD & R Survey Series, 2020
Mobility and interaction have been primarily analysed from the vantage point of the archaeologica... more Mobility and interaction have been primarily analysed from the vantage point of the archaeological sites representing the main hubs of interaction. However, such hubs were always immersed in a continuous landscape which had a considerable effect on interaction dynamics. An effect that has started to be taken in due consideration only recently.The Roca Archaeological Survey, of which we here present the first preliminary results, tries to integrate our detailed knowledge based on excavations of the site of Roca Vecchia in Apulia, with a systematic multi-period surface investigation able to assess whether and to what extent the surrounding landscape has affected dynamics of interaction recognised in the main site from the bronze age to modern times. 1. Introduzione In anni recenti lo studio della mobilità ha attratto l'attenzione dell'archeologia in generale e dell'archeologia mediterranea in particolare. Tale studio riunisce in un'unica prospettiva d'indagine elementi apparentemente molto diversi come: la migrazione, lo spostamento di individui e nuclei di persone su scale diverse, il commercio e l'interazione commerciale. 1 Questi elementi hanno come trait d'union il movimento di individui e gruppi, identificato attraverso una notevole varietà di indizi che comprendono materie prime, manufatti ed il record bio-archeologico. 2 Da un punto di vista archeologico, fino ad ora, la mobilità è stata analizzata fondamentalmente attraverso i dati degli scavi e ciò ha prodotto una notevole asimmetria nella nostra comprensione delle sue dinamiche, specialmente in periodi come la tarda preistoria, nei quali un ruolo chiave è attribuito agli insediamenti principali, che talvolta rappresentavano "gateway communities" verso l'hinterland. 3 Ciò avviene a discapito dell'importanza del territorio circostante e delle tracce di occupazione meno appariscenti in esso diffuse. In determinati periodi (ad es. il II millennio a.C.) esistono testimonianze materiali (come la ceramica di tipo
Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 2019
Purple textiles were highly valued in the ancient Mediterranean as a symbol of prestige, social s... more Purple textiles were highly valued in the ancient Mediterranean as a symbol of prestige, social status and power. Despite the numerous publications focused on the production and spread of purple dye technologies, the discussion regarding this particular dye has often been compartmentalised regionally (eastern or western Mediterranean) and chronologically (second or first millennium bc). The aim of this paper is threefold: (1) to propose a full chaîne opératoire for the production of shellfish-purple-dyed textiles; (2) to synthesise the archaeological evidence on production and consumption of such textiles in the entire Mediterranean before the Romans; and (3) to discuss the social implications of the production and consumption of these textiles, to gain a better understanding of their economic and social significance.
Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, Vol 31, No 2 (2018), 2018
Purple textiles were highly valued in the ancient Mediterranean as a symbol of prestige, social s... more Purple textiles were highly valued in the ancient Mediterranean as a symbol of prestige, social status and power. Despite the numerous publications focused on the production and spread of purple dye technologies, the discussion regarding this particular dye has often been compartmentalised regionally (eastern or western Mediterranean) and chronologically (second or first millennium bc). The aim of this paper is threefold: (1) to propose a full chaîne opératoire for the production of shellfish-purple-dyed textiles; (2) to synthesise the archaeological evidence on production and consumption of such textiles in the entire Mediterranean before the Romans; and (3) to discuss the social implications of the production and consumption of these textiles, to gain a better understanding of their economic and social significance.
Dawson and Iacono (eds) 2021. Bridging Social and Geographical Space through Networks. Leiden: Sidestone Press. , 2021
Interaction and mobility have attracted much interest in research within scholarly fields as diff... more Interaction and mobility have attracted much interest in research within scholarly fields as different as archaeology, history, and more broadly the humanities. Critically assessing some of the most widespread views on interaction and its social impact, this book proposes an innovative perspective which combines radical social theory and currently burgeoning network methodologies.
Through an in-depth analysis of a wealth of data often difficult to access, and illustrated by many diagrams and maps, the book highlights connections and their social implications at different scales ranging from the individual settlement to the Mediterranean. The resulting diachronic narrative explores social and economic trajectories over some seven centuries and sheds new light on the broad historical trends affecting the life of people living around the Middle Sea.
The Bronze Age is the first period of intense interaction between early state societies of the Eastern Mediterranean and the small-scale communities to the west of Greece, with people and goods moving at a scale previously unprecedented. This encounter is explored from the vantage point of one of its main foci: Apulia, located in the southern Adriatic, at the junction between East and West and the entryway of one of the major routes for the resource-rich European continent.
Groma, 2024
DROP ME A LINE FOR THE FULL PAPER - The Roca Archaeological Survey, the archaeological survey ce... more DROP ME A LINE FOR THE FULL PAPER -
The Roca Archaeological Survey, the archaeological survey centred on the landscape around the important settlement of Roca Vecchia (sometime spelled also Rocavecchia) in Southeastern Italy, has produced a wealth of new data on the landscape frequentation of one of the most important hubs in the central Mediterranean from later prehistory until medieval times. In this paper we present some of the results that can be drawn from the data analysed so far for each of the macro-periods of frequentation identified, trying to highlight how the specific features of a mobility hub like Roca Vecchia influenced occupation trends through time.
World Archaeology, 2025
DO DROP A LINE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE THE PAPER Over the last few decades, Italy has been ... more DO DROP A LINE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE THE PAPER
Over the last few decades, Italy has been at the forefront of mass migration flows. Starting from the late 1990s, facilities for the detention and expulsion of undocumented migrants have been established. In this paper, we analyse one of the earliest examples of such structures in the Mediterranean: the former temporary holding facility (or C.P.T. Centro di Permanenza Temporanea) ‘Regina Pacis’ located in south-eastern Italy. In 1997, the structure was repur- posed into one of the largest C.P.T in Italy until its closure in 2005. Through an approach that combines archaeology and ethnography, we aim to understand the role that material culture played in subjugating and controlling the life of the migrants, attempting to evaluate, at the same time, the impact that the facility had on its hosting community.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2024
Full paper available at the link below. Through the second millennium BC, Bronze Age communiti... more Full paper available at the link below.
Through the second millennium BC, Bronze Age communities of Southern Italy have shown a remarkable degree of resilience in coping with changes in both macro-trends of cultural interaction and the landscape. In this paper, we will examine long-term processes of adaptation to shifting historical and environmental conditions from the vantage point of the impasto ware production at the site of Roca Vecchia (Melendugno-Lecce, IT), one of the main hubs of interaction for the Bronze Age of the Central Mediterranean. Sixty-eight ceramic individuals coming from the Middle to the Final Bronze Age levels and seven soil deposits from the site surroundings were analysed by petrography and fifteen were selected for SEM-EDX examination. We explore how changes in the complex history of the settlement and the surrounding landscape are matched in technological choices operated by the community of practice responsible for producing impasto pottery at Roca, in a moment when the long-range connection with the Aegean world was at its historical peak.
Folder, 2023
The Torre dell'Alto archaeological project has undertaken in collaboration with the Museum of Pre... more The Torre dell'Alto archaeological project has undertaken in collaboration with the Museum of Prehistory and Protohistory of Nardò, the exploration of the most monumental to the Bronze Age in the Porto Selvaggion natural park. This is the dry-stone wall of Torre dell'Alto, a fortification dating back to the Bronze Age and measuring approximately 20 x 200 m, making it one of the largest in all of peninsular Italy. The Torre dell'Alto site, object of this research, is located close to a rocky outcrop bordered on three sides by dense vegetation and to the west by the sixteenth-century tower, built at a height of about 50 m above sea level. guarding the coast. The vast and compact pine forest, which characterizes today's landscape, is the result of an intensive redevelopment intervention, which took place during the fifties of the last century. The settlement of Torre dell'Alto was in a relationship of intervisibility with another settlement which at the moment would appear to be coeval. This is located at Punta dell'Aspide, a little further to the south. The site has produced material that can be dated to the entire chronological span ranging from the Middle Bronze Age to the Final Bronze Age.
Ocnus | Quaderni della Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Archeologici, 2022
When it comes to the issue of tracking the empirical reality of mobilities, archaeologists are co... more When it comes to the issue of tracking the empirical reality of mobilities, archaeologists are confronted with views that vary widely. In this paper, we suggest a way of conceiving mobility dynamics in contexts of complex interaction, adapted to the multidimensionality and variability of the archaeological record. It will be argued that new research questions must take on board a human-centered (not population centered) approach if we want to avoid naturalizing identities. A polythetic classification of analytical unities will be adopted in order to frame types and processes of movement and interaction in a broader continuum. Hypotheses are assessed on the basis of cross-cultural regularities of material interactions, practice and transmission of know-hows. The field of application of these insights will be the study of bronze swords of Naue II type, a class of the late prehistoric record of the Mediterranean related to long-range connections. The spectrum of interpretations placed on the same set of evidence is illustrative of different takes on movement and of a lack of a critical selfconsciousness.
Mobility and interaction have been primarily analysed from the vantage point of the archaeologica... more Mobility and interaction have been primarily analysed from the vantage point of the archaeological sites representing the main hubs of interaction. However, such hubs were always immersed in a continuous landscape which had a considerable effect on interaction dynamics. An effect that has started to be taken in due consideration only recently. The Roca Archaeological Survey, of which we here present the first preliminary results, tries to integrate our detailed knowledge based on excavations of the site of Roca Vecchia in Apulia, with a systematic multi-period surface investigation able to assess whether and to what extent the surrounding landscape has affected dynamics of interaction recognised in the main site from the bronze age to modern times.
Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche, 2021
Please drop me a line if you would like a copy of the paper
Archaeology of the Ionian Sea: Landscapes, seascapes and the circulation of people, goods and ideas from the Palaeolithic to the end of the Bronze Age. Christina Souyoudzoglou-Haywood(Editor); Christina Papoulia(Editor), 2022
PLEASE DROP ME A LINE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACCESS THE FULL PAPER. The last few decades have marke... more PLEASE DROP ME A LINE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACCESS THE FULL PAPER. The last few decades have marked a considerable increase in our level of knowledge of the southern Adriatic/ Ionian area during the Bronze Age. However, observing these developments from the vantage point of the main- land masses lying at the north-western boundary of the Ionian, namely Salento in southeastern Italy, the picture we have remains primarily based on the record of a very limited number of well explored sites, with very few data on landscape occupation. Yet, as we know from these limited snapshots, during the 2nd millennium BC Salento is a privileged hub of long-range mobility and interaction, involving actors with origins as different as the Aegean world (broadly understood, but with intense connections with the Ionian area and western Greece), as well as northern Italy and selected areas of the Balkans. How is this landscape of mobility manifested in the archaeological record? What are the traces left on the ground? This paper tries to answer such questions using data from a survey project recently undertaken in the territory around the site of Roca, one of the main loci of Bronze Age connectivity in the area.
R. Jung, (ed) Punta Zambrone I, OAW, Wien, 2021
This article reports the results o an archaeometric study using NAA on 20 samples o wheelmade fin... more This article reports the results o an archaeometric study using NAA on 20 samples o wheelmade fine-ware pottery and one pithos from Roca Vecchia in Apulia. The study aims at elucidating the circulation of Mycenaean-type and Italo-Mycenaean-type vessels across southern Italy. For comparison with Punta di Zambrone, we have focused on ceramics from the RBA levels of Roca Vecchia, as this is a coastal settlement, which, according to previous studies, yielded both Aegean imports and local or regional Italo-Mycenaean products, all well-stratified in a continuous ertical settlement se uence. The chemical analysis identified a ew imports rom Greece (mainly rom Achaea Elis) and many Apulian products (forming two chemical groups), some of which adhere closely to the Mycenaean style, while others are of Italo-Mycenaean type. These Apulian chemical groups are absent from the previously analysed pots from Punta di Zambrone. One medium coarse pithos from Roca Vecchia turned out to be an import from the southern plain of Sybaris, i.e. the same region that is represented with a ew Mycenaean fine-ware essels at Punta di ambrone.
by Francesco Iacono, Maurizio Cattani, Claudio Cavazzuti, Helen Dawson, Maja Gori, Cristiano Iaia, Thibault Lachenal, Alberto J. Lorrio, Rafael Micó, Argyro Nafplioti, Kewin Peche-Quilichini, Barry Molloy, and Nicola Ialongo
Journal of Archaeological Research, 2021
-- Full-text paper available here: https://rdcu.be/cmCGI -- The Late Bronze Age (1700-900 BC) r... more -- Full-text paper available here: https://rdcu.be/cmCGI --
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.
Ocnus, 2020
Within mainland Greek societies, the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age is charact... more Within mainland Greek societies, the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age is characterised as having seen considerable social, political, economic and cultural transformations leading to the emergence of palaces. Yet, being the locus of elites, palaces are unlikely to inform us on the way these changes affected the full spectrum of Mainland societies. To achieve this, we turn here to non-palatial dwellings that are increas- ingly considered a fruitful domain of investigation for exploring broad societal change.
In this paper we analyse a sample of 149 domestic buildings, to assess whether social change happening in the Peloponnese at the transition between MH and LH influenced the layout of houses. The investigation reveals macro-trends related to the gradual disappearance of apsidal buildings and the growth of complexity in domestic buildings. This latter aspect seems to be geographically inflected and potentially connected to the unfolding of the trajectory of the Mycenaean palaces.
Bridging Social And Geographical Space Trough Networks, 2021
in: Dawson, H. and Iacono, F. (eds) 2021. Bridging Social and Geographical Space through Networks... more in: Dawson, H. and Iacono, F. (eds) 2021. Bridging Social and Geographical
Space through Networks. Leiden: Sidestone Press, pp. 89-102.
FOLD & R Survey Series, 2020
Mobility and interaction have been primarily analysed from the vantage point of the archaeologica... more Mobility and interaction have been primarily analysed from the vantage point of the archaeological sites representing the main hubs of interaction. However, such hubs were always immersed in a continuous landscape which had a considerable effect on interaction dynamics. An effect that has started to be taken in due consideration only recently.The Roca Archaeological Survey, of which we here present the first preliminary results, tries to integrate our detailed knowledge based on excavations of the site of Roca Vecchia in Apulia, with a systematic multi-period surface investigation able to assess whether and to what extent the surrounding landscape has affected dynamics of interaction recognised in the main site from the bronze age to modern times. 1. Introduzione In anni recenti lo studio della mobilità ha attratto l'attenzione dell'archeologia in generale e dell'archeologia mediterranea in particolare. Tale studio riunisce in un'unica prospettiva d'indagine elementi apparentemente molto diversi come: la migrazione, lo spostamento di individui e nuclei di persone su scale diverse, il commercio e l'interazione commerciale. 1 Questi elementi hanno come trait d'union il movimento di individui e gruppi, identificato attraverso una notevole varietà di indizi che comprendono materie prime, manufatti ed il record bio-archeologico. 2 Da un punto di vista archeologico, fino ad ora, la mobilità è stata analizzata fondamentalmente attraverso i dati degli scavi e ciò ha prodotto una notevole asimmetria nella nostra comprensione delle sue dinamiche, specialmente in periodi come la tarda preistoria, nei quali un ruolo chiave è attribuito agli insediamenti principali, che talvolta rappresentavano "gateway communities" verso l'hinterland. 3 Ciò avviene a discapito dell'importanza del territorio circostante e delle tracce di occupazione meno appariscenti in esso diffuse. In determinati periodi (ad es. il II millennio a.C.) esistono testimonianze materiali (come la ceramica di tipo
Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 2019
Purple textiles were highly valued in the ancient Mediterranean as a symbol of prestige, social s... more Purple textiles were highly valued in the ancient Mediterranean as a symbol of prestige, social status and power. Despite the numerous publications focused on the production and spread of purple dye technologies, the discussion regarding this particular dye has often been compartmentalised regionally (eastern or western Mediterranean) and chronologically (second or first millennium bc). The aim of this paper is threefold: (1) to propose a full chaîne opératoire for the production of shellfish-purple-dyed textiles; (2) to synthesise the archaeological evidence on production and consumption of such textiles in the entire Mediterranean before the Romans; and (3) to discuss the social implications of the production and consumption of these textiles, to gain a better understanding of their economic and social significance.
Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, Vol 31, No 2 (2018), 2018
Purple textiles were highly valued in the ancient Mediterranean as a symbol of prestige, social s... more Purple textiles were highly valued in the ancient Mediterranean as a symbol of prestige, social status and power. Despite the numerous publications focused on the production and spread of purple dye technologies, the discussion regarding this particular dye has often been compartmentalised regionally (eastern or western Mediterranean) and chronologically (second or first millennium bc). The aim of this paper is threefold: (1) to propose a full chaîne opératoire for the production of shellfish-purple-dyed textiles; (2) to synthesise the archaeological evidence on production and consumption of such textiles in the entire Mediterranean before the Romans; and (3) to discuss the social implications of the production and consumption of these textiles, to gain a better understanding of their economic and social significance.
International Journal of Heritage Studies , 2018
Revolutions have powerful e ects on the way the past is presented and perceived. In former commun... more Revolutions have powerful e ects on the way the past is presented and perceived. In former communist states of Eastern Europe, following the revolutions establishing the regimes, a further sudden inversion has been regularly experienced in the aftermath of the fall of the Eastern Bloc. In this paper, I will comparatively discuss these changes through the lens of Albania. The discussion will highlight how the rst communist revolution of the 1940s changed the way the Albanian state looked at its heritage and how this perspective was again completely transformed in the aftermath of the 1991. In both cases the perception of the periods immediately preceding the revolutionary events were those mostly a ected. In particular, as regards the second revolution, in Albania, as in many other cases, after a long silence, the perspective adopted by the main stakeholders in the new democratic order was to characterise the heritage of communism in terms of trauma and terror. While these aspects undoubtedly encapsulate key features, there is more to processes of memory and heritage making related to this period. Private memories can sometimes produce rather di erent narratives of the same recent past, creating a clash with the representation put forward by the state.
PLEASE DROP ME A LINE IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY from: The Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Theory... more PLEASE DROP ME A LINE IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY
from: The Oxford Handbook of Archaeological Theory
Edited by Andrew Gardner, Mark Lake, and Ulrike Sommer
Abstract:
Marxist archaeologies have represented one of the most important theoretical developments of archaeology. The approaches that go under this label can be extremely diverse, but often maintain the use of and/or the engagement with some basic ideas derived from the thought of Marx, Engels, and subsequent thinkers of the Marxist tradition. These concepts can be identified, for instance, in the notions of means, relations, and mode of production as well as in that of class. Contrarily to many other strands of archaeological theory, however, Marxism is not only a philosophy but has had an active role in recent global history, being related to both emancipatory struggles and dictatorial regimes worldwide. Because of this, the development of Marxist archaeologies (variously declined) will be discussed also in their historical development through the twentieth century and beyond, until the present day.
with K.L. Këlliçi (Univ of Bari) Amidst the multifaceted heritage discourses emerged in ex-east ... more with K.L. Këlliçi (Univ of Bari)
Amidst the multifaceted heritage discourses emerged in ex-east bloc countries through the last two and a half decades, there is one that, for obvious reasons, has been conspicuously absent. This is the one related to the monumental heritage of the most recent past of ex-communist countries, i.e. to the period of socialist regimes. All over central and eastern Europe, monumental traces of this critical historical phase are notable but thought to be seen with suspicion from many inhabitants of these countries. Notions of unwanted or contested heritage developed for these as well as for other contexts can help us to better understand the complex and yet unavoidable relationship between these monuments and the collective memory of ex-eastern bloc countries. In this paper we will try to address these issues through the case study of the Pyramid, a building in Tirana, Albania that is both a very much laden relic of the regime and, at the same time, a familiar element of the landscape of the capital. We will combine a thorough theoretical and historical analysis with the discussion of the results of a recently completed survey aimed at exploring the opinions of the public on this issue.
Diffusion, interaction or the displacement over space of identical or analogous cultural elements... more Diffusion, interaction or the displacement over space of identical or analogous cultural elements has always represented both one of the chief interests of archaeological practice and one of the most blatantly unresolved nodes of theory. What is diffusion? How does it come about? What are the features beyond its manifestation in the archaeological record? In order to answer to these questions a number of different solutions have been produced over time, in agreement with the constant shift of general paradigms occurring in archaeology. From meta-historical narratives of migrations, to gravity models inspired by geography and other more abstract metaphors of connectivity. My claim is that underlying all this debate is actually a basic tension between what archaeology can (the material traces) and cannot (the immaterial domain, the living flesh of societies) cope with. In this paper I will try explore in depth this complex relationship, advancing yet another theoretical model that tries to grapple with the issue at stake. Building up from non-orthodox Marxism, this model will try to maintain the material as a starting point, reconstructing the immaterial underpinnings of diffusion, and exploring how the model might work in a number of Mediterranean Bronze Age case studies.
with Luigi Coluccia (SAIA) Despite many scholars have through time engaged with Aegean maritime ... more with Luigi Coluccia (SAIA)
Despite many scholars have through time engaged with Aegean maritime interaction, new fieldwork in once neglected regions of the Middle Sea continually changes our knowledge. In this paper we will explore, parallel developments connected to Aegean maritime interaction in two of these relatively little known areas. These are Apulia in the Central Mediterranean, with the site of Roca, and the north-eastern Aegean, with the site of Hephaistia on the island of Lemnos. By the means of these examples, we will look at Aegean interaction from the unusual perspective of two of its peripheries, which are also boundaries between different worlds (Southern Italy, Greece, Anatolia and the Balkans) and social models (kin-ordered societies, tributary states). The sea and maritime interaction will represent the main connecting elements between these diverse realities and an in-depth assessment of the seascape will be the starting point of our analysis. We will address similarities and differences of these two contexts through the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, gaining important insights on the nature of maritime interaction in all its multifaceted expressions, as well as of its most critical social consequences within and beyond the Aegean.
Nell’ambito dell’archeologia del Mediterraneo dell’ultimo decennio, ha acquisito particolare impo... more Nell’ambito dell’archeologia del Mediterraneo dell’ultimo decennio, ha acquisito particolare importanza un indirizzo di ricerca che guarda alla relazione tra i fenomeni di differenziazione sociale che si sviluppano in una determinata area e i contatti tra le varie società espressi attraverso scambio di beni materiali.
Secondo questa innovativa prospettiva di indagine, di particolare interesse risulta essere la posizione di un determinato sito in relazione ai suoi vicini oltre che in relazione alla totalità dell’insieme interconnesso. Nonostante l’importanza di queste proposte metodologiche esse sono state applicate raramente allo studio dell’età bronzo del mediterraneo centrale. In questo intervento proverò ad analizzare attraverso la network theory un piccola porzione di tale ambito geografico che viene tradizionalmente considerata come relativamente marginale nell’economia dei traffici di quel periodo e cioè l’Albania. Un ruolo centrale sarà svolto, all’interno di questa analisi, dalla distribuzione dei materiali importati/imitati dal mondo egeo che costituiscono indubbiamente il corpus di beni allogeni più ampio ravvisabile in quest’area durante l’età del bronzo. I risultati ottenuti attraverso l’uso della network analysis verranno poi confrontati con il record archeologico (sia funerario che, laddove possibile, insediamentale) al fine di ottenere un quadro complessivo esauriente delle dinamiche in atto.
Albeit undoubtedly an Anarchist Archaeology can be potentially able to offer a fresh perspective ... more Albeit undoubtedly an Anarchist Archaeology can be potentially able to offer a fresh perspective on issues which have been at the centre of the interest of archaeologists for long time (i.e. social complexity, state formation process etc.), in this paper I would like to discuss some of the most problematic underlying assumptions which is possible to recognize within anarchist social theory as well as their implications for the interpretation of the archaeological record.
Since Bakunin, concepts such as liberty, authority and coercion have been often presented by anarchist theorists as universals out of history. This is because anarchist approaches, lacking theoretical tools able to grapple with the diachronic dimension of these issues, ultimately rely on moral categories in order to justify their discourse. I will argue that this kind of characterization reifies our modern sensibility and actually keeps us away from a fuller understanding of power as an historical process, ultimately hampering our comprehension of its very functioning.
On the positive side, I will also highlight how the critical attitude expressed by anarchist anthropologists towards commonly accepted notions of “social evolution”, when freed from these moral orientation, may prove to be extremely fruitful for archaeological interpretation, shedding new light on old problems.
Interaction has been always one of the main research themes within Mediterranean prehistory. This... more Interaction has been always one of the main research themes within Mediterranean prehistory. This interest is of course due to the wealth of evidence for inter-societal contact available in the area as well as to the very characteristics of the Mediterranean sea which, as it has been noted by many since Braudel's time, connects more than separates different geographic realities and human populations. Despite all this interest, however, there have been very few recent attempts to formalize interaction in a coherent theoretical whole. In this paper, drawing upon non-trivial version of Marxist social theory, I will try to sketch out how this kind of approach would look like. The basic starting point of this perspective resides in the acknowledgement that the form that interaction can take is fundamentally influenced by the different social organization which is possible to recognize in societies involved in those activities, and that, conversely, these differences feed back in general trends (often termed in the archaeological literature with terms such as “route”) which is possible to distinguish at a Mediterranean-wide scale. I will support my point by the means of the archaeological record of the Bronze Age site of Rocavecchia in Adriatic Southern Italy.
"In the last decades a number of archaeologists have stressed the politically laden nature of cre... more "In the last decades a number of archaeologists have stressed the politically laden nature of creating archaeological knowledge. If this is the case, then in the modern “globalized” Europe any attempt to resurrect the ghost of Marx in any field of scholarship may appear at a first sight unnecessary if not offensive or harmful. Yet, almost twenty years after the fall of the Berlin wall, the time appears to be ripe for a reappraisal of the role Marxism played, and to a more limited extent still plays, in the dialectic of archaeological discourse in European countries. The aim of this session is to address this topic.
Naturally any revaluation of this influential stream of scholarship in archaeology cannot avoid taking into consideration the different historical contingencies as well as the different modalities and conditions in which the various Marxist archaeologies operated.
As a result, a first segment of the session will be more historically oriented, devoted to a reconsideration of how and to what extent Marxist approaches in archaeology managed to cope with these different conditions.
The second half of the session will be dedicated to an overview of current trends and possible future developments of Marxist archaeology and, more broadly, of any archaeology inspired by Marxist perspectives either from a theoretical or methodological point of view.
"
The end of the sixties and beginning of the seventies in Italy were a period full of enthusiasm a... more The end of the sixties and beginning of the seventies in Italy were a period full of enthusiasm and contradictions. The birth of the journal “Dialoghi di Archeologia” is to be placed in those by now almost mythical days of youth protest and growth of the middle class, of social modernization and political stagnation.
This outstandingly innovative editorial project, which merged together historical and archaeological research with civil protest and activism, saw the light firstly as a social experiment deliberately (as well as openly) inspired by Marxism. Beyond this project were the “Amici”, a group of people encompassing both “enlightened” established academics and younger scholars.
In this paper I will explore the social and political context in which Dialoghi di Archeologia emerged tracing the history of the journal as well as that of the group of the “Amici” from 1967 when the journal was established to 1975 when “Dialoghi” abandoned its political dimension reframing itself as one of the many purely academically oriented archaeological journals.
Keywords: Italy, Second half of the 20th cent., Marxism, Civil activism, Archaeology.
The twilight of Mycenaean Palaces and the subsequent post-palatial era have been always topics ar... more The twilight of Mycenaean Palaces and the subsequent post-palatial era have been always topics arousing an outstanding interest in the academic community as well as among the general public.
In the spectrum of hypotheses proposed in order to explain this puzzling transitory phase exogenous factors have periodically re-emerged as something which cannot be ruled out completely.
These exogenous elements, or more specifically their material traces, are the principal data that I will discuss in this paper. They are by no means new; indeed they were recognised long ago as well as extensively treated by various authors in the last decades.
What is really new here is the will to openly challenge one of the more long lasting underlying assumptions in Mediterranean archaeology, namely that of directionality of cultural influence, from east to west, from the “civilized” to the “uncivilized”. Can cultural influence travel the other way round?
My point here is that it is possible and I will try to show in this paper how, after the dissolution of mainland states, the contraction occurring in the sphere of cultural influence in the Mycenaean “core” left room for a variety of “peripheral” elements to be accepted and become largely influential in Greece.
Keywords: Aegean, Europe, World System Theory, Trade, Cultural Influence, Capital Accumulation
In the long-range game of Late Bronze Age trade, the Central Mediterranean has often appeared as ... more In the long-range game of Late Bronze Age trade, the Central Mediterranean has often appeared as a sort of obscure and semi-deserted terra incognita occasionally enlightened by the presence of entrepreneurially-minded Aegean traders. Such oversimplification is of course a direct outcome partly of dependence of local chronologies on Aegean materials and partly of research designed to take in account exclusively Mycenaean imports and their “consumption”; constitutionally unable to escape a “Myceneanocentric” perspective. This perception seems to be even worsened for areas or “routes” which are often considered “marginal” or “minor” even within the Central Mediterranean.
In this paper I will examine one of these minor “routes” namely that encompassing regions facing the Southern Adriatic Sea on both the Italian and Balkan shore, trying to pursue a different direction from those attempted so far. I will discuss all the available traces of exchange and interaction across (and along) this branch of sea before and after the “Mycenaean” period so to place Aegean materials in a broader historical context.
In doing so I will adopt a theoretical approach which draws upon non-trivial versions of World System theory which, albeit maintaining the existence of a core-periphery relationship, acknowledge the importance of forms of interaction other than trade.
Keywords: Southern Adriatic, Italy, Balkans, Mycenaean imports, World System Theory
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI LECCE TESI DI LAUREA METODOLOGIA E TECNICA DELLA RICERCA ARCHEOLOGICA A... more UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI LECCE TESI DI LAUREA METODOLOGIA E TECNICA DELLA RICERCA ARCHEOLOGICA ANNO 2004-5
In the last decade, critical heritage studies have highlighted the importance of authority in dif... more In the last decade, critical heritage studies have highlighted the importance of authority in different historical and social realities. Heritage theories, however, have been chiefly formulated from the standpoint of Western democracies. While authority is a relative property, common to all state (and nonstate) societies, the extremes of authoritarian political regimes have always exerted a special influence on cultural heritage. Despite being articulated in very diverse ways in the different contexts in which it takes place, this influence has produced remarkable similarities through space and time.
The Central Mediterranean is one of the most intensively researched regions of prehistoric Europe... more The Central Mediterranean is one of the most intensively researched regions of prehistoric Europe in subjects including, but not limited to, landscape and environment, settlement patterns, exchange and mobility, technology and economy, life-and death-ways, social complexity, and early urbanism. Recent discoveries and scientific analysis have furthered our understanding of its material and social dynamics, but debate is often hindered by hyper-specialisation as well as disciplinary and country boundaries discouraging comparative, cross-subject, and cross-period research. The session aims to take a 'critical snapshot' at prehistoric studies in the region since the time of the first EAA meeting. We will discuss key disciplinary developments occurred in the last 25 years and capture the most innovative present-day research advances, which may shape the agenda of Central Mediterranean prehistoric studies in the next 25 years. We invite doctoral students, early career researchers, and established scholars to submit papers discussing recent advances and new directions in central Mediterranean prehistory from the Palaeolithic to the Iron Age. The region ranges from the Southern Alps to coastal Tunisia/Libya and from the eastern Adriatic/Ionian Seas to Sardinia, Corsica, and Provence. The papers should offer broad, bold, and conceptually engaging perspectives in any subject of prehistoric studies, focusing on how research has challenged established paradigms and interpretations, or how it is likely to challenge them in the future. Collaborative papers cutting across traditional geographic, methodological, and period boundaries are especially welcome, as are those showing how the regional dynamics affected other areas of prehistoric Europe and the Mediterranean. A parallel poster session will host contributions with narrower period and area foci.
FOLD&R Fasti On Line Documents & Research, Archaeological Survey, 13, 2020
Mobility and interaction have been primarily analysed from the vantage point of the archaeologica... more Mobility and interaction have been primarily analysed from the vantage point of the archaeological sites representing the main hubs of interaction. However, such hubs were always immersed in a continuous landscape which had a considerable effect on interaction dynamics. An effect that has started to be taken in due consideration only recently.The Roca Archaeological Survey, of which we here present the first preliminary results, tries to integrate our detailed knowledge based on excavations of the site of Roca Vecchia in Apulia, with a systematic multi-period surface investigation able to assess whether and to what extent the surrounding landscape has affected dynamics of interaction recognised in the main site from the bronze age to modern times.
Appendix 2 to "The Archaeology of Late Bronze Age Interaction and Mobility at the Gates of Europe"
Appendix 1, 2019
Appendix 1 to "The Archaeology of Late Bronze Age Interaction and Mobility at the Gates of Europe"