This paper investigates the changing cultural landscapes of south-east Italy between the fourth and second millennia BC, a period that saw profound transformations in sociocultural spheres in the Central Mediterranean. It highlights the intertwined cultural and environmental processes that shaped the inhabited landscape during this period, integrating available environmental and economic studies to understand the changing human-environment interplay in a spatial perspective. The constructed dataset is based on an extensive survey of scholarly literature, including both excavated sites and those identified through surface collections in open-air contexts, potentially representing stable or temporary settlements. This dataset enabled the exploration of the types of ecosystems, ecological niches and places chosen by these communities to meet their subsistence and extra-subsistence economic needs. Utilizing different computational methods and data visualization techniques, this analysis identified major shifts in settlement strategies from various spatial perspectives. Furthermore, the study offers new insights into the dynamics of culturally-driven ecological niches and the construction, transformation and transmission of their social meaning in the Early Copper Age through to the Late Bronze Age.
HUMAN AGENCY IN DIVERSE ECOSYSTEMS: DYNAMICS OF CONTINUITY AND TRANSFORMATION IN SOUTH‐EAST ITALY DURING THE COPPER AND BRONZE AGES
Enrico Lucci
2025-01-01
Abstract
This paper investigates the changing cultural landscapes of south-east Italy between the fourth and second millennia BC, a period that saw profound transformations in sociocultural spheres in the Central Mediterranean. It highlights the intertwined cultural and environmental processes that shaped the inhabited landscape during this period, integrating available environmental and economic studies to understand the changing human-environment interplay in a spatial perspective. The constructed dataset is based on an extensive survey of scholarly literature, including both excavated sites and those identified through surface collections in open-air contexts, potentially representing stable or temporary settlements. This dataset enabled the exploration of the types of ecosystems, ecological niches and places chosen by these communities to meet their subsistence and extra-subsistence economic needs. Utilizing different computational methods and data visualization techniques, this analysis identified major shifts in settlement strategies from various spatial perspectives. Furthermore, the study offers new insights into the dynamics of culturally-driven ecological niches and the construction, transformation and transmission of their social meaning in the Early Copper Age through to the Late Bronze Age.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
