Interpreting long-lived-in dwelling spaces: integrated spatial analysis of a Late Bronze Age area at Coppa Nevigata (south-eastern Italy)

Spatial analyses have been increasingly used to investigate behavioural patterns and human activities in archaeological and ethnoarchaeological studies. For the Bronze Age in the central Mediterranean spatial analyses integrating various ranges of data, from artefacts to ecofacts, still remain limited in number. Moreover, studies have mainly focussed on well-preserved contexts affected by sudden destructions; spaces inhabited over long periods and so subjected to dynamic depositional processes, are more challenging to interpret as to their function(s). Yet, these latter are commonly encountered archaeological contexts. Representing palimpsests of repeated activities, they are valuable case studies for investigating the spatial organisation of activities. This paper presents an integrated spatial analysis of a long-occupied area of the Coppa Nevigata settlement from the Late Bronze Age. It is a trial, aimed at both building a viable methodology to deal with ‘dynamic’ deposits and verifying the potential of the observed record in terms of activity areas and fossilised patterns of behaviour