Objective Italy, in light of its central position in the Mediterranean and complex histories throughout the period, represents the ideal context for analysing how patterns of continuity and discontinuity determined medieval Europe’s birth. The proposed project aims at comparing 1st millennium AD economic and settlement patterns between two territories of Italy, using an innovative cross-disciplinary approach. A comparison between a territory in southern Tuscany, a part of central Italy that became economically marginal during the late Roman period, and a sample area in south-eastern Sicily, a region that maintained a central role in the economic and political Mediterranean framework, can show how local economies developed in different ways during and after the decline of Roman world and thus witnessed the development of new proto-European economies. This project proposes to develop and use innovative technologies, among these an intensive use of DGPS during field work, to improve the quality of recording and enter that detailed data into a GIS base for further processing. Field survey will be integrated by novel techniques of remote sensing, such as LiDAR, to allow us to investigate woodlands of low archaeological visibility, which are quite widespread especially in southern Tuscany. The research strategy has also planned to integrate field walking survey with geo-archaeological survey for reconstructing Roman and medieval links between the agricultural communities and the surrounding environment. Finally the analysis of the Roman and medieval pottery will be carried out through an analytical and statistical approach to reconstruct past trade and industrial practices. The work programme that we propose consists of an advanced laboratory-based activity and new field methodologies to strengthen the base of data on which we will construct long term interpretative models. The research results will be published in international journals and web pages. Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesphysical geographycartographygeographic information systemshumanitieshistory and archaeologyhistorymedieval historyengineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringremote sensing Keywords GIS analysis Humanities Roman and medieval settlement network in Italy comparative archaeology geo-archaeology landscape archaeology novel techniques pottery and past trade remote sensing Programme(s) FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008 - Marie Curie Action: "Intra-European Fellowships for Career Development" Call for proposal FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF) Coordinator THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE EU contribution € 171 867,63 Address TRINITY LANE THE OLD SCHOOLS CB2 1TN Cambridge United Kingdom See on map Region East of England East Anglia Cambridgeshire CC Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Edna Murphy (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data