Sepolture urbane nell’Apulia tardoantica e altomedievale. Il caso di Herdonia

The practice of burying the dead within the city walls, although initially sporadic, grew to become common practice as from the sixth century B.C. This was a clear infringement of the law as laid down in the mid fifth century, in the Twelve Tables. Former studies have concentrated on the practice of burying the dead in those areas of Rome and Northern Italy leaving the areas of Southern Italy much neglected. The aim of this paper is to amend this neglect by analysing the practice of burying the dead within the urban area in the city of Herdonia which is one of the most studied archeological sites of Southern Italy, thus a good example of the social and cultural situation of Apulia in the late Roman and early medieval period. In view of the lack of documentation pertaining to the chronology of the tombs in the city of Herdonia prior to the medieval period, this research will focus on the spread of urban burials in terms of space and quantity so as to understand how frequent the law infringement of the Twelve Tables was during its enforcement up until the mid Ninth century A.C.This research will also try to ascertain whether the practice of burying within the city walls and the decision to infringe the law of the Twelve Tables was caused by a radical change of ideas concerning the conception of death.