Periodic Reporting for period 1 - URBANet (Urban networks: multidisciplinary research into the formation of early urban societies in Campania (Italy))
Reporting period: 2016-10-01 to 2018-09-30
Living in cities has been one of the most transformative innovations in human history: it has heavily impacted social and political interaction between people, and has significantly changed the relationship between man and his natural environment. Understanding why people in the past started living together in cities in the first place, provides crucial tools for the study of urban life from a comparative perspective.
One of the earliest urbanised regions of Europe was Campania, in Southern Italy. The first traces of urbanisation date to the early first millennium BCE. Innovative archaeological research on urbanisation in Campania is still lacking. With the URBANet project, I proposed an innovative approach to early Campanian urbanisation, informed by multidisciplinary perspectives. I started with the specific hypothesis that the processes underlying the formation of early urban societies in the past were social and political. At the same time, the topographical component was fundamental. Furthermore, early urban societies interacted with each other. This observation suggests, in addition, that urbanisation also rose as the result of connectivity and networks.
I proposed to verify the hypothesis with the collection and analysis of data, focusing on four selected case-studies.
One of the earliest urbanised regions of Europe was Campania, in Southern Italy. The first traces of urbanisation date to the early first millennium BCE. Innovative archaeological research on urbanisation in Campania is still lacking. With the URBANet project, I proposed an innovative approach to early Campanian urbanisation, informed by multidisciplinary perspectives. I started with the specific hypothesis that the processes underlying the formation of early urban societies in the past were social and political. At the same time, the topographical component was fundamental. Furthermore, early urban societies interacted with each other. This observation suggests, in addition, that urbanisation also rose as the result of connectivity and networks.
I proposed to verify the hypothesis with the collection and analysis of data, focusing on four selected case-studies.
The research activities followed closely the pre-defined workflow, specified in the research proposal: DATA COLLECTION > DIGITISATION OF DATA > QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS > COMPUTED ANALYSIS > INTERPRETATION
Oral dissemination of knowledge and exploitation:
2018, March 20th: Tübingen.
2017, December 11th: Berlin, Germany.
2017, September, 27th: Mainz, Germany.
2017, September 1st: Maastricht, Netherlands.
2017, April 8th: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2016, November, 24th, Ghent, Belgium.
On invitation:
2018, September 27th: Taranto, Italy.
2017, February, 8th: Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2016, November 19th: Tübingen, Germany.
2016, October, 21st: Groningen, Netherlands.
Written dissemination of knowledge, including exploitation of research results, is covered in the section "publications"
Dissemination of knowledge to students at the host institute was embedded in regular course work:
2017-2018: course “City and Countryside in Roman Italy”
2016-2017: course ”Great debates in Archaeology"
Training activities:
GIS training at the VU University
SNA training at the LINKS Centre (Kentucky University)
SNA training at workshops organised at the EUSN 2017 and Sunbelt 2018 conferences
University teaching qualification at the VU University
Oral dissemination of knowledge and exploitation:
2018, March 20th: Tübingen.
2017, December 11th: Berlin, Germany.
2017, September, 27th: Mainz, Germany.
2017, September 1st: Maastricht, Netherlands.
2017, April 8th: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2016, November, 24th, Ghent, Belgium.
On invitation:
2018, September 27th: Taranto, Italy.
2017, February, 8th: Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2016, November 19th: Tübingen, Germany.
2016, October, 21st: Groningen, Netherlands.
Written dissemination of knowledge, including exploitation of research results, is covered in the section "publications"
Dissemination of knowledge to students at the host institute was embedded in regular course work:
2017-2018: course “City and Countryside in Roman Italy”
2016-2017: course ”Great debates in Archaeology"
Training activities:
GIS training at the VU University
SNA training at the LINKS Centre (Kentucky University)
SNA training at workshops organised at the EUSN 2017 and Sunbelt 2018 conferences
University teaching qualification at the VU University
In terms of historical interpretation, the following hypotheses are proposed for the case-studies:
Pithekoussai: The dataset is exceptional in terms of quality of published material. Despite usually seen as a Greek foundation, it is proposed as a result of the study undertaken, to see the transformations as part of gradual cultural transformations. The introduction of a local industry for the production of wine consumption vessels, wine storage vessels and (probably) of wine itself, marks important transformations in labour organisation and hints at the establishment of economic and political institutions. These processes can be considered powerful drives behind a concentration and intensification of the settlement. Thus, rather than explaining changes as “colonisation”, the can be seen as the result of participation in Mediterranean networks.
Cuma: The datasets suffer from lacunae, but nevertheless some trends can be hypothetically reconstructed. The sequence of events is not as clear as in Pithekoussai, but nevertheless, a similar economic transformation may have stimulated a dramatic change in the use of space. It is proposed as the result of the URBANet study, to identify the establishment of a local perfume industry as factor underlying the development of economic and political institutions that instigated an expansion and concentration of settlement in a previously uninhabited area (the burial grounds of earlier periods). Again, rather than “colonisation”, integration of connectivity and the effects on social dynamics explain the urbanisation processes.
Pontecagnano: The datasets are exceptional in terms of quantity and quality, especially for the pre- to proto-urban transition. The earliest phases of occupation have been hypothetically reconstructed in past research as consisting of separate and independent settlement nuclei. The URBANet project identified important degrees of interaction between these pre-urban nuclei and proposes the hypothesis of reframing the pre-urban phase as one of low-density urbanism: a socially integrated but not yet spatially concentrated society. Economic and political institutions might have differed from the coastal “Greek” cities. However, also the economy is considered the driving factor behind settlement concentration and transition to a proto-urban society: the production of textiles, considered also elsewhere as an important factor of the urbanisation process (Gleba REFS) is proposed as underlying factor at Pontecagnano. Participation in Mediterranean networks, mediated through the sites of Pithekoussai and Cuma, stimulated local transformations.
Capua: the datasets are of unequal quality, however, a number of hypotheses could be proposed. Processes appear to have been quite similar to those in Pontecagnano. A similar industry, geared towards an intensification of the production of textiles is proposed to have been the underlying factor of the settlement concentration and the development of political and economic institutions.
An important observation is the degree of integration in the early phases of the urbanisation process. Rather than identifying a pre-urban phase and contrasting this with a proto-urban phase of concentrated settlement, we need to look at these groups as socially integrated communities before spatial concentration occurred. The notion of low-density urbanism, in which neighbourhoods, existed mixed with functionally defined open space, e.g. for agriculture or meeting, seems to be more appropriate. The reasons for settlement concentrations are thus not the occurrence of a linear process, moving from simple to complex, but more dynamic and negotiated, responding to particular historical needs.
The results of the research suggest that the integration of an increased connectivity via Mediterranean networks, which brought new people, goods and ideas, led to social changes local societies. In order to integrate and respond to the connectivity, new institutions (political, economic, ideological) were developed. These institutions and the way they integrated connectivity required a spatial concentration of the population and led to the development of the early cities in Campania. Particular differences existed between cities that later developed a Greek identity and those that developed an Etruscan identity. Rather than being the result of primordial identities, we need to look at institutions and the materiality of social reproduction to explain the cultural differences in Campania.
Pithekoussai: The dataset is exceptional in terms of quality of published material. Despite usually seen as a Greek foundation, it is proposed as a result of the study undertaken, to see the transformations as part of gradual cultural transformations. The introduction of a local industry for the production of wine consumption vessels, wine storage vessels and (probably) of wine itself, marks important transformations in labour organisation and hints at the establishment of economic and political institutions. These processes can be considered powerful drives behind a concentration and intensification of the settlement. Thus, rather than explaining changes as “colonisation”, the can be seen as the result of participation in Mediterranean networks.
Cuma: The datasets suffer from lacunae, but nevertheless some trends can be hypothetically reconstructed. The sequence of events is not as clear as in Pithekoussai, but nevertheless, a similar economic transformation may have stimulated a dramatic change in the use of space. It is proposed as the result of the URBANet study, to identify the establishment of a local perfume industry as factor underlying the development of economic and political institutions that instigated an expansion and concentration of settlement in a previously uninhabited area (the burial grounds of earlier periods). Again, rather than “colonisation”, integration of connectivity and the effects on social dynamics explain the urbanisation processes.
Pontecagnano: The datasets are exceptional in terms of quantity and quality, especially for the pre- to proto-urban transition. The earliest phases of occupation have been hypothetically reconstructed in past research as consisting of separate and independent settlement nuclei. The URBANet project identified important degrees of interaction between these pre-urban nuclei and proposes the hypothesis of reframing the pre-urban phase as one of low-density urbanism: a socially integrated but not yet spatially concentrated society. Economic and political institutions might have differed from the coastal “Greek” cities. However, also the economy is considered the driving factor behind settlement concentration and transition to a proto-urban society: the production of textiles, considered also elsewhere as an important factor of the urbanisation process (Gleba REFS) is proposed as underlying factor at Pontecagnano. Participation in Mediterranean networks, mediated through the sites of Pithekoussai and Cuma, stimulated local transformations.
Capua: the datasets are of unequal quality, however, a number of hypotheses could be proposed. Processes appear to have been quite similar to those in Pontecagnano. A similar industry, geared towards an intensification of the production of textiles is proposed to have been the underlying factor of the settlement concentration and the development of political and economic institutions.
An important observation is the degree of integration in the early phases of the urbanisation process. Rather than identifying a pre-urban phase and contrasting this with a proto-urban phase of concentrated settlement, we need to look at these groups as socially integrated communities before spatial concentration occurred. The notion of low-density urbanism, in which neighbourhoods, existed mixed with functionally defined open space, e.g. for agriculture or meeting, seems to be more appropriate. The reasons for settlement concentrations are thus not the occurrence of a linear process, moving from simple to complex, but more dynamic and negotiated, responding to particular historical needs.
The results of the research suggest that the integration of an increased connectivity via Mediterranean networks, which brought new people, goods and ideas, led to social changes local societies. In order to integrate and respond to the connectivity, new institutions (political, economic, ideological) were developed. These institutions and the way they integrated connectivity required a spatial concentration of the population and led to the development of the early cities in Campania. Particular differences existed between cities that later developed a Greek identity and those that developed an Etruscan identity. Rather than being the result of primordial identities, we need to look at institutions and the materiality of social reproduction to explain the cultural differences in Campania.