Settlement and Economy in Southern Italy in the Neothermal Period1

Ruth D. Whitehouse

doi:10.1017/S0079497X00013931

Settlement and Economy in Southern Italy in the Neothermal Period1

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 May 2014

Ruth D. Whitehouse

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The post-Pleistocene archaeology of southern Italy is a rapidly developing study and for this reason, while many facets of it are still little known, others are undergoing fundamental changes as new discoveries are made. Particularly notable contributions have been made in the last 20 years by, among others, L. Cardini, P. Graziosi, A. Palma di Cesnola, E. Borzatti von Löwenstern, O. Cornaggia Castiglioni and F. Zorzi in the palaeolithic and mesolithic field, R. B. K. Stevenson, L. Bernabò Brea, D. Trump and S. Tinè in the Neolithic sphere and D. Trump, S. M. Puglisi, R.Peroni, F. G. Lo Porto and H. Muller-Karpe for the bronze age. As a result of this work it is now possible for us to reconstruct in outline the later prehistory of southern Italy. Most of the work that has been done has been on individual topics, and, while some attempts at synthesis have been made (most notably those of A. M. Radmilli, D. Trump and R. Peroni), these have taken the form of a culture-by-culture description, as it were a commentary upon a vast composite stratigraphy of the area. No attempt, however, has yet been made to produce a history of the human occupation of the land and it is towards this aim that my paper is directed.

The emphasis in this paper is on settlement and economy in relation to environment. It is through the techniques of his subsistence economy that man deals with (or in evolutionary terms, adapts to) his environment, and in this sense it can be regarded as the most important factor contributing to the nature and development of society.

Type: Research Article
Information: Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 34 , February 1969 , pp. 332 - 367

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0079497X00013931 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1969

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References

^{page 332 note 2} Radmilli, A. M., La preistoria d'Italia alla luce delle ultime scoperte. Istituto Geografico Militare, Firenze, 1963Google Scholar.

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^{page 334 note 1} For information on this section I have drawn largely on Walker's admirable general geography: Walker, D. S., A Geography of Italy, second edition, Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, 1967Google Scholar.

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^{page 338 note 3} For Mediterranean vegetation in general I have drawn on M. Rikli, ‘Lebensbedingungen und Vegetationsverhaltniss der Mittelmeerlander und der Atlantischen Inseln’, Jena 1912. Information on Italy came, inter alia, from Walker, op. cit (see footnote p. 334).

^{page 342 note 1} It is of course not possible for me to do more here than to summarize my own beliefs about the cultural succession in southern Italy, but a detailed and fully documented account can be found in my Ph.D. thesis.

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^{page 359 note 2} di Cesnola, A. Palma, ‘Contributi alia conoscenza delle industrie epigravettiane nell'Italia centro-meridionale’, R.S.P., XVII, 1962, 1Google Scholar.

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^{page 362 note 3} G. Buchner, op. cit. (see footnote 3, p. 352).

^{page 362 note 4} D. H. Trump, op. cit. (see footnote 1, p. 352).

^{page 362 note 5} See footnote 2, p. 352).

^{page 362 note 6} Unpublished Apennine bronze age site. Material in Potenza Museum.

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^{page 364 note 3} A. Mosso, op. cit. (see footnote 1, p. 357).

^{page 364 note 4} Gervasio, M., ‘I dolmen e la civiltà del bronzo nelle Puglie’, Documenti e Monografie per la Storia di Bari, 13, 95Google Scholar, Bari, 1913.

^{page 364 note 5} M. Gervasio, op. cit. 106.

^{page 364 note 6} Drago, C., ‘Notiziario’, R.S.P., V, 1950, 125Google Scholar; Drago, C., ‘Lo scavo di Torre Castelluccia (Pulsano)’, B.P.I. N.S., VIII, parte V, 1953, 155Google Scholar.

^{page 364 note 7} F. G. Lo Porto, op. cit. (see footnote 1, p. 350).

^{page 364 note 8} Quagliati, Q., ‘Oggetti micenei sullo Scoglio del Tonno in Taranto’, B.P.J., XXVI, 1900, 285Google Scholar; Saflund, G., Le Terremare, 1939Google Scholar.

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^{page 364 note 11} R. Lorenzoni, op. cit. (see footnote 3, p. 363).

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^{page 364 note 13} Buchner, G., ‘Nota preliminare sulle ricerche preistoriche nell'isola d'Ischia’, B.P.I. N.S. I, 1936–1937, 68Google Scholar.

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^{page 365 note 1} Lord William Taylour describes most of these finds in his Mycenaean Pottery in Italy and Adjacent Areas, C.U.P., 1958, See also the Leporano report, (see footnote 1 p. 350). The material from Santa Maria di Ripalta is unpublished in Foggia Museum.

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