Fortifications and settlement organization: An example from pre‐Roman Italy

Abstract

Abstract Although providing a general discussion of recent studies on the settlement system of the Italic communities of the later Iron Age (V and IV centuries B.C.), the paper addresses the specific problem of the Lucanian fortified sites (in the hinterland of South Italy) and their meaning in the context of the rapid ‘ developments which those communities underwent during the period immediately preceding the Romanization of Italy. The recent archaeological exploration of individual settlement sites is producing clear evidence on the degree of ‘centrality’ of many such fortified sites and the complexity of their functions within the settlement patterns of pre‐Roman Italy.