Settlement, space organization and land-use of a small Middle Bronze Age community of central Italy. The case study of Gorgo del Ciliegio (Arezzo-Tuscany)

Abstract

The Middle Bronze Age site of Gorgo del Ciliegio is located in the Afra valley (Upper Tiber basin) in the proximity of strategic trans-Apennine passes connecting the Tyrrhenian regions of Central Italy to the Po plain and the Umbrian-Marches territories. At Gorgo del Ciliegio a Middle Bronze Age small settlement composed of a single house and various kinds of ancillary features was discovered. Through a multi-disciplinary approach it was possible to gather a large amount of information about settlement dynamics implemented by people living at Gorgo del Ciliegio and about the ways in which this community interacted with and took advantage of the surrounding environment/landscape, while adapting the site's economy to natural features.This paper focuses on the evidence provided by material culture, environment and landscape considered as interrelating indicators of social identity and economic strategies. In order to contextualize these issues, broad space was given to the spatial organization and the architectural features as key factors of socio-economic complexity. The authors conclude that Gorgo del Ciliegio was a farm settlement being probably part of a more extensive settlement system, composed of several farms dispersed along the Afra valley. This specific context proved to be particularly suitable for interweaving relations and exchanges with the Adriatic regions, and thus promoting (and being promoted by) the development of an economy mainly based on mobile pastoralism.