Patterns of Imports in Iron Age Italy - 2007 (original) (raw)
Related papers
2013
(2013) - Throughout the local Bronze and Iron Age, European and Mediterranean societies appear to have been involved in complex systems of exchange networks which invariably affected local customs and historical developments. Archaeological evidence suggests social and economic phenomena, cultural expressions and technological skills stemmed from multifaceted encounters between local traditions and external influences. Examples of cultural openness and transcultural hybridisation seem to be more of a norm than an exception. The articles in the volume explore the dynamic relationship between regionally contextualised transformations and inter-regional exchange networks. Particular effort has been put in approaching the issue in a multi-disciplinary perspective. Continental Europe and the Mediterranean may be characterised by specific development and patterns of relations, but the authors draw attention to how those worlds were not alien to each other and illustrate how common interpretative tools can be successfully applied and a comprehensive approach including both zones adopted. more info and table of content at http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/oxbow-books-imprint/exchange-networks-and-local-transformations.html"
The paper will briefly introduce the session “Long-distance contacts and Acculturation in central Italy from 1000 to 700 BC” that was organised for the XVII International Congress on Classical Archaeology in Rome, September 22-26, 2008. The other contributions to this session discuss contacts with various regions to the North, West and East of Italy but do not introduce the pan-Adriatic koinè and therefore the article will open with a brief review of data for exchange between East Italy and the regions on the opposite side of the Adriatic. Evidence for these contacts increased during the 8th century BC as is demonstrated by excavations at sites such as Verucchio in the province of Emilia Romagna. Some elite tombs from this site can act as an example of developments that are also traced in other Italian regions, meaning the selection and gradual spread of Levantine artefacts and symbols of power within a Late Villanovan context during the 8th century BC. Subsequently the article focuses on the internal network of Iron Age centres crossing from South to North Italy by examining the mounting deposition of amber and iron in tombs. The spread of iron and its technology is reconstructed as emerging during the 10th century BC, being locally worked in the whole Peninsula during the 9th century BC and more widely employed during the following 8th century BC. The general adoption of iron during the 9th century BC in Italy is reconstructed as a regional process on account of typical artefact types produced at some key sites. The cultural shift referred to, emerges from 850-800 BC onwards, when the elite of Italy became buried with a growing number of artefact types that refer to the Levant and the Eastern Mediterranean. The Orientalising idiom of the artefacts and symbols of power supplemented and replaced those of Villanovan origin with their link to central Europe, north of the Alps. This cultural redirection was not just restricted to goods but also affected architecture, burial customs and religion. There were direct, personal contacts with people from the Near East since not only the form of the artefacts is mimicked but also their function. The Orientalising phenomenon came to shape several aspects of society in central Italy and was important for the rise of City States/Early States, which were formed on the sound foundations of stratified Iron Age/Villanovan centres. This cultural shift is presented here as one of longue durée, lasting at least 75 to 100 years. Thus distinctions and preferences of the select few triggered the hybridization process that resulted in the archaeological characteristics of the subsequent Orientalising period (ca. 725-580 BC) documenting centralisation and urbanisation.
Economy and Cultural Contact in the Mediterranean Iron Age. Perspectives from East and West
Martin Guggisberg and Matthias Grawehr (Eds.) Economy and Cultural Contact in the Mediterranean Iron Age Panel 5.9 Archaeology and Economy in the Ancient World – Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Cologne/Bonn 2018, 2022
In the past decades, the study of cultural contacts in the Mediterranean has tested an ever-increasing number of theoretical models to describe the exchange between people from different backgrounds, and, as one of the outcomes of the still ongoing discussion, the basic concept of culture, as a monadic entity has been questioned. A growing discomfort has been felt in dividing the people of the Mediterranean into distinct cultural entities, which then can come into contact with each other. As an alternative, in the panel "Economy and Cultural Contact in the Mediterranean Iron Age", an approach was chosen, that turns away from the discussion of theoretical models and instead tries to understand economy as a basic driving force of cultural exchange: Which commodities and objects were shifted from on place to another, and which were not? In our introductory contribution we will concentrate on the 8th century BC and develop two perspectives on the east and the west, both involving traders from the Aegean.
The Iron Age in South Italy: Settlement, Mobility and Culture Contact
In a study concerned with understanding the types of population and modes of contanct in the multiple ecosystems of Iron Age southern Italy, ranging from the Greek poleis of the coastal flood plains to the Appenine mountain regions of Calabria and Lucania, it is necessary to examine the contexts carefully, as each culture or cultural or social group and every region may react differently to contacts with other cultures. Particularly instructive in this respect is the picture that emerges from the Ionnian coast between Taras and Sybaris and its immediate hinterland, where it is possible to compare and differentiate realities that are not necessarily homogeneous or fully standardised. This paper discusses three different contexts along the Ionian coast, namely L'Amastuola, Incoronata and Francavilla Marittima, where the traditional reconstruction of the settlement dynamics, as proposed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, saw the presence of the Greek as a disruptive element which shattered a static indigenous situation and that led first to the conquest and subjugation of the indigenous inhabitants who lived around the immediate hinterland of the colonial settlements, and then resulted in full-blown inter-ethnic conflict. This perspective interpreted the clear traces of transformations between the eight and the seventh centuries in the indigenous settlements around the area later occupied by the Greek chorai as evidence of local communities succumbing to the impact of the Greeek arriva. In this paper, I will first discuss this traditional reconstruction, with particular attention to the inland regions of the Appennine mountains, before considering mobility and cultural contact in the Italic world and exploring the settlements and developments of indigenous communities between Iron Age I and II.
The book under review is in line with the growing popularity of Social Network Analysis in archaeology. The Mediterranean region in particular is witnessing a surge in studies on ancient networks and their significance for cultural development in different regions and periods. The importance of maritime connectivity has eloquently been made clear by N. Horden and P. Purcell,1 C. Broodbank2 and several others. Social Network Analysis is emerging as a powerful tool to quantitatively map and evaluate connectivity and its effects on material culture.3 Time will tell whether this popularity of Social Network Analysis constitutes a veritable paradigm shift in the study of the ancient Mediterranean. But it does lead to new perspectives on established fields in archaeology, of which this book is an example.