Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Laura Morabito
University of Siena
dr. N. Volante
LAURA MORABITO
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
- MORABITO L., PIZZIOLO G. 2012, Let del bronzo nella Toscana meridionale: analisi
territoriali in ambiente G.I.S, in NEGRONI CATACCHIO N. (a cura di), Atti X Incontro di Studi
Preistoria e Protostoria in Etruria, Milano, pp. 895-913. ISBN 9788882656553
- MORABITO L., PIZZIOLO G., SARTI L. (in press), Rapporti culturali e vie di comunicazione
tra Toscana settentrionale e Emilia Romagna durante let del bronzo: un approccio
territoriale, in Atti XLV Riunione Scientifica I.I.P.P. ISBN: still undefined
- MORABITO L. (in press), Mobilit e interazioni culturali: lEt del Bronzo nella Piana
Fiorentina, B.A.R. International Series, Archaeopress, Oxford. ISBN: still undefined.
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- Recording of the available archaeological data for the entire Bronze Age in
Tuscany
- Design and construction of a GIS platform for the analysis of collected data
- Analysis of the relationship between the spatial distribution of the sites and
variables like geomorphology, aspect, slope, soil capability
- Analysis of the relationship between the spatial distribution of the sites and water
or mineralogical resources
- Analysis of the relationship between Tuscany and Emilia Romagna on the basis of
precise comparisons between the ceramic materials received at the various sites
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- Development of least cost paths between sites with comparable materials and
comparison with the hypothesis of cultural exchange routes already known in
literature
- Statistical analysis aimed at identifying specific trends in locational choices for the
whole study region
- Visual analysis in CAD environment and spatial analysis in GIS environment for the
above-mentioned sites
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The main subject of this research project is to analyse the settlements network
and the dynamics of prehistoric population in Tuscany during the Bronze Age.
As settlement strategies are one of the effects of the historic and cultural
evolution of a territory, this topic turn out to be a combination of diverse
archaeological and methodological matters.
- Apart from their cultural and funerary use, caves and rock shelters are only
temporary occupied as refuges in connection with pastoral activities like
seasonal transhumance (Grifoni Cremonesi 1996; Cocchi Genick 1996c;
Maggi, Nisbet, Barker 1991).
- Strong interest for the occupation of coastal and internal wetlands during
the entire Bronze Age (see, for instance: Chapman 2000; Pacciarelli 2001,
2009b; Pizziolo, Sarti 2005; Azzari, Marcaccini, Pizziolo 2000).
The last part of Chapter 1 identifies the general outgoing purposes and specific
objectives of this research project, which can be illustrated as follows:
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General outgoing purposes
Specific objectives
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2. Geographical and chrono-cultural framework.
Bronze Age in Central Italy
Summing-up the main characteristics of the Ancient Bronze Age in Central Italy,
the main remarkable element is a strong cultural fractioning, which several Authors
described and reviewed during the last forty years (Peroni 1971; Guidi 1979;
Negroni Catacchio, 1981a, 1998a; Negroni Catacchio, Miari 1991-92; Cazzella,
Moscoloni 1992a; Cocchi Genick, 1996b; Di Gennaro, Pacciarelli 1996; Pacciarelli
2001). The earliest attestations of the Ancient Bronze Age in the analyzed region
can be identified in the final Chalcolithic period, with the last persistence of the Bell
Beaker phenomena (Sarti 1995-96), while its latest limit corresponds to the first
appearance of the Grotta Nuova facies, which characterizes the early Middle
Bronze Age (stages 1 and 2) in the entire Central Italy.
In this period we can observe a dual process: on one hand the formation of a
large cultural unit (the Grotta Nuova facies) probably due to the widest and most
diffused circulation of people and models, and on the other hand the consolidation
of the individuality of local sub-groups due to the stronger relationship between
community, settlement and territory (Cocchi Genick 2002).
This process evolves during the final period of Middle Bronze Age (stage 3),
when the entire peninsular Italy is affected by the diffusion of the Appenninic facies
(see, for instance, Macchiarola 1995) opposing the coeval Terramare facies,
documented in Northern Italy (Bernab Brea, Cardarelli, Cremaschi 1997a).
This opposition persists during the Late Bronze Age with the Subappenninic
facies, which represents a clear breech in pottery techniques and decoration and
the birth of a metallurgical koin reflecting new socio-economic dynamics due to
the increasing cultural exchange with the Aegean area but, simultaneously, also
with Northern Italy (Peroni 1997; Cocchi Genick 2004a).
During the Final Bronze Age, Northern Italy is affected by the collapse of the
Terramare system and a strong settlements decrease in opposition to Central Italy,
where settlements and society complexity evolves until the formation of a proto-
urban system. During this period Central Italy (Etruria in the later periods), is
divided in two geographically and culturally well distinct macro-groups: the Cetona-
Chiusi facies (Zanini 2000a, 2001) in Central and Northern Etruria and the Tolfa-
Allumiere facies (Di Gennaro, Guidi 2000) in Southern Etruria.
After contextualizing the cultural evolution of Central Italy during the Bronze
Age, Chapter 2 includes a precise definition and description of the wide study area,
including Tuscany and a large part of Emilia Romagna up to the morphologically
higher part of the Po Valley (fig. 1).
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Fig. 1. The study region with an indication of the recorded Bronze Age archaeological sites.
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complex for the pre-protohistoric period. Where possible (mainly in the case of
paleo-hydrography) the paleo-environmental data has been mapped and included
in the modelling of ancient landscape (see, for instance, fig. 2).
Fig. 2. Reconstruction of paleo- hydrography. The case study of Southern Tuscany coastal wetlands.
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3. Theoretical background
This chapter explicates the theoretical fundamentals which have been at the
base of the entire research project. Starting from the solution of the dichotomy
between time and space up to the issues of regional analysis and landscape
archaeology, with a special focus on the difficulties of reconstructing prehistoric
landscapes and on the computer-science based approach.
Among the main methodological issues in dealing with prehistoric or, however,
ancient landscapes, primarily we have to think at the formation of a landscape as
the result of different kinds of both conscious and non-conscious choices, either
rational or non-rational (fig. 3); for this reason, thinking of presenting schematic
and universally valid models is, to say the least, a nave conviction.
Fig. 3. Diagram of the bi-univocal interaction between physical substratum and human communities
in the landscape formation process. (Personal rielaboration after Vallega 2003)
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Admittedly, there are some essential pre-requisites which condition the choice
of the occupation of an area and its evolution (Macchi Janica 2001). Adopting
suitable methods for detecting these pre-requisites is, at last, one of the main goals
of any study pertaining to landscape archaeology.
Aside from this general consideration, there are lots of more practical matters
to deal with; first of all, the discrepancies mentioned above between the landscape
as it is now and as it once was, which are extremely complex for the pre-
protohistoric period; these discrepancies must not be ignored, however complex it
may be to overcome them.
The main computer science resources used for this research project are:
- CAD technology; CAD software have been used in the intra-site analysis,
mainly due to their ability to deal with the third dimension, which has been of
primary importance for the check of sites stratigraphy and micro-morphology.
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- GIS technology represented the last and ultimate computer science support.
The development and use of GIS applied both to landscape archaeology and to
intra-site analysis has not only simplified the comparison and interaction among
different kind of sources but has also significantly increased their informative
potential by their greater interconnections, thanks to their layer-organized
structure and to the ability of topologically overlaying the information levels.
As we can partially deduce from the goals of this research (see Chapter 1) one
of the basis of this work is the conviction that the most correct approach in
analysing archaeological landscapes can be defined as multi source and multi
scale. This approach is based on a bi-univocal interaction between analysis done
on a reduced scale (regional or sub-regional) and analysis done on a more detailed
scale (intra-site). Through this dialogue and through the interaction among
different kinds of sources, we obtain the largest number possible of information
concerning a particular area (Pizziolo, Sarti, Volante 2009; Francovich, Campana
2007). Starting from general analysis and reaching a detailed point of view and vice
versa, its possible to supply a landscape with the component of concreteness
which helps in its interpretation.
Considering this specific case study, this kind of approach allowed to enucleate
particular elements which could somehow "tell" the story of a complex landscape
and a particular time period, in which it is not possible to ignore issues such as
cultural exchanges, communication between communities and definition of
pertinence areas (Morabito, Pizziolo 2012).
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4. Materials, methods and procedures
The general method used in this work result from the constant interaction
between the methodological background, inherited by the good practices of some
Italian and foreigner institutions, and the need to answer to new historical and
archaeological questions at the update of the dataset.
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2009; Vallega 2003) and system theory (Von Bertalanffy 1968) with a computer-
science linked approach for data management and processing.
The choice of this approach partially influenced the sequence of the general
work stages; these stages can be presented as follows:
The second part of Chapter 4 presents all the different sources of this research
and explains their way of use. Sources are sorted by typology in: archaeological
publications, digital and analogical cartography, Digital Elevation Models and
WebGIS portals.
The final part of this chapter describes the technological tools used for the
research; in particular, a complete description of the relational database and the
GIS platform is provided for a better understanding of the general organization of
raw data.
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5. Scale 1: 1.250.000 - Data presentation and quantification
For every phase of the Bronze Age, single-phase sites have been analyzed
independently from sites presenting continuity of occupation, in order to possibly
identify differences between this two macro-groups. As a result of this subdivision,
the dataset has been divided into:
- Sites with continuity of occupation starting in the Middle Bronze Age stage 1-2
- Sites with continuity of occupation starting in the Middle Bronze Age stage 3
- Sites which occupation starts in the Final Bronze Age (coherently to the
chronological limits of this research, continuity of occupation in later periods has
not been considered)
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Separating mono and multi-phase sites and comparing the distribution of these
two macro-groups in the different administrative areas was also useful to visualize
which areas present the largest number long-term continuity sites. From the first
identification of these areas, an in-depth investigation of the factors which could
have influenced the prolonged continuity of occupation will follow.
As particular categories of
archaeological sites tend to prefer
specific geomorphological contexts
(for example, metal hoards and
ritual sites are usually connected
to hills/mountains, as shown in fig.
6), every sub-group sites have
been divided by function and Fig. 5. Sites density in the different administrative areas
compared with their location of Tuscany (increasing from green to red), with an
indication of sites frequency and percentage. The
context. This allowed a correct
example of the Ancient Bronze Age
reading of the general results,
avoiding biases coming from the statistic influence of those particular sites
categories which could be over-represented (for example, in regards to metal
hoards, during the Ancient Bronze Age they represent almost 40% of all the sites
located on morphological highs).
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Continuity duration and geomorphological context have been crossed for the
sites presenting continuity of occupation, in order to possibly check the influence of
particular locations on continuity duration (fig. 7).
Fig. 6. Locational context analysis. The particular case of metal hoards for
the Ancient Bronze Age, an example of potential over-represented data.
(Pink=Hillsides; Green= Plains; Brown= Plateau)
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The focus of this chapter is the importance of considering possible biases in any
analysis concerning archaeological sites distributions.
After an highlight on high density vs. low density areas due to the history of
researches (Fig. 8), the initial dataset has been compares with several biases
affectin the archaeological visibility, such as land cover (Fig. 9) and post-
depositional factors (in particular, alluvial accumulation and erosion, as in Fig. 10).
Last step has been the identification of particular categories of data which statistic
incidence could have induced an incorrect interpretation of the settlements
strategies during Bronze Age. This is for example the case of metal hoards, which
during the Ancient Bronze Age represent almost 40% of all the sites located on
morphological highs. Another example are Middle Bronze Age-Stage 3 and Late
Bronze Age sites, highly under-represented because of an admitted difficulty in
identifying the non-strictly diagnostic finds (Morabito, Pizziolo 2012; Bietti Sestieri
2010; Di Gennaro 2012).
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Fig. 8. High density (red) vs. low density (blue) areas in the archaeological
sites distribution, due to the history of researches.
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Fig. 9. Archaeological distribution compared to a reclassification of Corine Land Cover map in terms
of archaeological visibility (increasing from red-no visibility- to green-high visibility-);
percentage of sites for every visibility class.
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Fig. 10. Archaeological distribution compared to a map of alluvial planes (left) and highly
eroded soils (right). The percentage of sites found in alluvial planes is 21%,
the percentage of sites found in highly eroded soils is only 6%.
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This chapter presents the criteria used for the definition of the physiographic
units used as analysis units for the sub-regional scale analysis and their description.
The identification of physiographic units has been of primary importance in order to
make the heterogeneity and the extension of the study area more manageable.
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After this detailed subdivision, an accurate reading of sites nature and spatial
distribution made it possible to outline two macro-physiographic units, almost
perfectly corresponding to the macro-basins of the two main Tuscan rivers, Arno
and Ombrone (Fig. 12).
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For this particular territory, the main point of interest has been the
investigation of the relationship between forms of population and forms of mobility
along time.
The starting point has been the generation of thematic maps for the
synchronical and diachronical display of settlements network, but also for the
visualization of the cultural comparisons between archaeological materials from
both mountainsides of the Appennines during the different phases of the Bronze
Age (Fig. 13).
Fig. 13. Map of the cultural comparison between Tuscan sites and Emilia Romagna sites.
The example of the Florentine Plain during the Ancient Bronze Age.
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At a first stage, this allowed to compare sites distribution with a previous
elaboration of all the communication paths which have been traditionally
conjectured in the archaeological literature (Fig. 14).
This first hypothesis of mobility paths has been compared with other ways to
reconstruct the connection between sites with analogous materials.
Next stage has been in fact determining least cost paths between comparable
sites. Again, GIS technology has been of primary importance in this kind of analysis.
In order to create optimal paths, the starting point has been the generation a
cost surface based mainly on slopes, but also including (by a weighted sum) rivers
as a friction element in the paths (Fig. 15).
Fig. 15. Diagram of the criteria used for the cost surface generation.
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In order not to use only present river cartography or, at least, to correct from
this cartography elements like modern canals or artificial lakes I used a GIS based
approach to stream network delineation. Stream networks can be delineated from
a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) using the output from the FLOWDIRECTION and
FLOWACCUMULATION functions. FLOWDIRECTION uses a DEM to determine the
direction of flow from every cell in the raster. Flow accumulation, in its simplest
form, is the number of upslope cells that flow into each cell. By applying a threshold
value to the results of FLOWACCUMULATION, a stream network can be quite easily
delineated.
To this stream network model different cost values for different stream orders
has been assigned. In a few words, I assumed that the larger the basin, the greater
the accumulation flow, the greater the cost to cross it. The stream hierarchy has
been calculated by Strahler algorithm (included in ArcGIS as a specific tool).
On this basis of this cost surface, least cost paths have been calculated for
every site presenting cultural analogies in the archaeological finds (Fig. 18).
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Fig. 18. Least cost paths between Tuscan and Emilia Romagna sites.
The example of the Florentine Plain during the Ancient Bronze Age.
As optimal paths only connect basically two sites, presuming the existence of
an effective relationship between them, the last step in the analysis of mobility
through the study region has been the generation of an experimental model for the
analysis of mobility without a destination.
This has been possible thanks to the generation of a MADO, an acronym for
optimal accumulation model of movement from a given origin (Fbrega lvarez
2006), that is a determination of spontaneous mobility from a starting point in any
direction, with no need to specify an ending point.
The workflow to generate this model follows the same steps of the stream
network delineation (see Fig. 16), with the only exception of the starting data,
which is not the DEM but, in this case, the cost surface. This model can be so
defined as the representation of an accumulation model of lowest cost paths from
a given origin, and is concretely a continuous image with a gradation of values, in
which the highest are the areas which naturally attract displacement.
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Fig. 19. The MADO network; high cost value cells (light blue) flow toward low cost value cells
(orange) accumulating in linear elements corresponding to least cost value paths.
Fig. 19. Workflow for the generation of the MADO model (from left to right):
cost distance, cost direction and cost accumulation for every analyzed site.
Applying all this kinds of mobility analysis to the analyzed case study and
comparing themselves led to:
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9. Scale 1: 500.000 Continuity and change: the Bronze Age in
Southern Tuscany
As for northern Tuscany, the first step of this analysis has been the generation
of a series of maps in order to read both synchronically and diachronically the
settlement network and its connection with several kinds of natural resources
(basically, water and metallurgical resources).
- application of the same workflow described for the generation of the MADO
model (see Chapter 8), with the generation of cost distance, cost direction
and cost accumulation for every analysed site, (Fig. 20) which outcomes
have been defined as focal mobility network (Llobera, Fbrega Alvarez,
Parcero Oubia 2011)
- definition of paths classes (Fig. 21) and accessibility signatures (Fig. 22) in
order to compare the results coming from different sites
MADO and focal mobility networks are a perfect example of how an identical
procedure at different scale of analysis can be useful for different purposes.
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Fig. 21. Each section of the
focal mobility network is
identified by the minimum
threshold value needed to
include it as part of the
model. Applying the same
classes to the network
generated for different sites
allows an easier comparison
between them.
Fig. 22.Accessibility model for the case study of Pitigliano, with its ccessibility
signature showing the number of accessibility paths (y) within 1 km from the site.
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Fig. 23. Comparison between accessibility signatures for the selected case studies.
First of all, the analysis focused on the importance of water resources both for
production and everyday activities; the basis for this kind of observation has been
the creation of a paleo-environmental model based on previous studies (see
Paragraph 2.8. in the full text) and the extension of this model to areas with no
available paleo-environmental data.
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Fig. 24. Examples of compatibility between the paleo-hydrological
model (blue) and sites distributions
The in-depth analysis of sites nature and relation with the coastal water
resources showed how both for settlements and for manufacturing sites the
phenomenon of coastal occupation is not tied to cultural aspects or chronological
phases, presenting the same characteristics in several parts of Tuscany and during
the entire Bronze Age.
Crossing all these data, it has been possible to confirm how, during Bronze Age,
Southern Tuscany is affected by a phenomenon of settlements stabilization,
understood as the appearance of a long term continuity occupation of sites
connected on the one hand to the exploitation and control of economic and
environmental resources, on the other hand to tactical and strategic control of the
territory lato sensu. Unequivocal evidence of this change in settlement strategies is
represented by the progressive increase in the incidence of sites which give priority
to the requirements of high position and sharp delimitation of natural boundaries,
such as the parallel phenomenon of the occupation of coastal and wetland areas.
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10. Scale 1: 350.000/1:250.000 - Physiographic units analysis
For those physiographic units for which it is not possible to carry out statistical
testing, each site has been simply described in relation to each of the considered
variables, in order to highlight possible trends in the settlements choices for every
unit in the different phases of the Bronze Age.
In any case, in order not to consider the archaeological data as mere points, a
specific buffer has been created in order to supply a suitable degree of consistence
to the sites; the size of this buffer (diameter: 120 m.) has been chosen as a
reasonable mean of the few available data concerning sites shape and size (small
offsites, single items and metal hoard has been anyway considered as points).
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11. Scale 1:100/1:10 The Florentine Plain during the Bronze Age:
intra-site analysis as integration to territorial data
The choice of two particular case studies in the area of Sesto Fiorentino
(Florence), that is the sites of S. Antonio-Area A4 and Cilea is due to different
factors. First of all, the availability of a great amount of data coming from the thirty-
year Sesto Project (see, for instance: Leonini et alii 2008; Pizziolo 2010; Pizziolo,
Sarti 2008a, 2008b, 2011;). Above that, the peculiarity of the context, an alluvial
plane affected by severe erosion/accumulation processes, was surely a point of
interest; the resulting difficulty in the reading of archaeological stratigraphy has
been in fact highly stimulating from a methodological point of view. Another reason
to choose the Florentine Plain is that, as resulted from the MADO analysis (see
Chapter 8), this area played a leading role in the cultural exchange process during
Bronze Age. Finally, the particular choice of S. Antonio and Cilea is due to their
chronology (the two sites cover almost the entire Bronze Age) and their particular
stratigraphic situation (both sites are multi-stratified and present a complex reading
of the anteriority).
As different social actions may have the same spatial modality, and the same
action can be spatially performed in different ways, finding a way for testing
regularity or randomness in archaeological field data as a possible bias element is a
necessary requirement before more sophisticated interpretations. Again, this has
been possible thanks to the interaction between Computer Aided Design and GIS
systems.
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of the stratigraphy, as well as the relationship between archaeological materials
and the base morphology of the paleo-riverbeds.
GIS technology has also been very useful in terms of 3D reconstruction of micro
morphologies and structures, thanks to the opportunity to create actually 2.5D
raster. This kind of analysis has been very useful in the case study of the Sesto
Fiorentino plane, where the typical settlement strategy is the exploitation of paleo-
riverbeds. The reading of such morphologies, often subjected to flooding and
erosions as well as a substantial human impact, can be very difficult especially
concerning the natural or artificial origin of some shapes. Concretely, using (where
available) data from the base morphology, mainly contour lines, and interpolating
them with specific algorithms (Kriege algorithm, in this case study) makes possible
to generate a Digital Elevation Model of the paleo-riverbed. This model has been
the base element for flow and slope analysis, in order to test interpretation
hypotheses emerged during the excavation and not clarified by visual analysis
carried out with CAD. Both density analysis and 3D reconstruction have been
carried out also for the documented structures, such as pits, postholes, fire places.
For a complete outline of the different typologies of intra-site analysis, cf. Fig.
189-236 in the full text.
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The main methodological means to face this partiality has been the multi-
source and multi-scale approach used in this work. The starting point of this
research has been the preliminary quantification and regional scale analysis
presented in Chapter 5; this allowed to highlight some issues that have been at a
later stage examined in depth at other scales of analysis and/or with specific
methods.
The importance of water resources has been also analyzed from the point of
view of the possibility to use river valleys as natural communication paths. In
Chapter 8 an in-depth and innovative analysis of this perspective has been
presented for the case study of the cultural relationship between Tuscany and
Emilia Romagna; the application of MADO model (innovative in Italian archaeology)
and the comparison with other ways to reconstruct prehistoric mobility allowed to
generate a contact network between the two analyzed cultural groups. In this
network, sites with analogous materials represent the strongest nodes to which
compare the remaining archaeological sites distribution.
Mobility analysis highlighted how the Florentine Plain played a leading role in
the process of cultural exchange between Tuscany and Emilia Romagna; considering
moreover the peculiarity of this contest, an alluvial plain which was a wetland
during the Bronze Age, this area and particularly the boundary of Sesto Fiorentino
has been chosen as case study for the intra-site analysis (see Chapter 11), being a
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focal point from different points of view. Coming down to this scale of analysis
allowed a better understanding of the contacts with Emilia Romagna cultural
groups and, especially, of the relationship between communities and wetland
resources. In Sesto Fiorentino, in fact, the research for this natural resource implies
the reiteration of the same settlements choices for centuries during prehistory and
over.
Recomposing all the data, it has been possible to highlight some general trends
and patterns in settlements strategies during the Bronze Age in Tuscany. One of the
main focus point is the accurate reading and interpretation of differences and trait
dunion between the two cultural and territorial maro-phisiographic units
corresponding to Southern and Northern Tuscany.
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One innovative outcome of this research is the impossibility to confirm, for this
area, another pattern often specified in the archaeological literature, which is
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settlements selection and concentration (see Chapter 1), consisting basically on
expansion for most suitable sites versus settlements abandonment for non-
strategic sites during the last phases of the Bronze Age, with a consequent
decrease of sites number.
This particular process is not clearly readable from this works results as
remarkable in Tables 2-6, where is possible to see how during the Final Bronze Age
the number of Southern Tuscany sites actually increase.
L.M.
41
Settlement strategies during the Bronze Age in Tuscany: reconstructing structures, relationships, landscapes