Panel 11.3 – City-hinterland relations on the move? The impact of socio-political change on local economies from the perspective of survey archaeology


Organiser/Chair:

  • Tymon De Haas / Dean Peeters / Luigi Pinchetti (Research Training Group 1878, Universities of Cologne and Bonn)

External Discussant:

  • Michael Galaty (University of Michigan)

Panel abstract

The impact of societal transformations (e.g., the development of Greek poleis, Roman territorial expansion or the rise of the Church in late Antiquity) on regional settlement patterns and economies has been a central concern in field survey archaeology from the 1970s. However, with the intensification of field methods and the maturing of both typological and technological ceramic studies, the past decades have witnessed an exponential increase in the quantity and quality of settlement and ceramic data acquired through field surveys. For example, ceramic studies increasingly facilitate a better understanding of how local systems of production and exchange were affected, and a stronger attention on the economic role of non-urban, minor centres has lead recent scholarship away from static town-country models. This data now allows a much greater spatial and chronological detail in the study of the impact that large-scale transformations had on local economies. This panel aims to explore how survey archaeology can refine our understanding of the links between socio-political change and local economic landscapes. We invite case studies that re-examine the coherence, interplay and (dis-)continuity between town and country in times of rapid and seemingly far-reaching socio-economic transformation: in which way did the foundation of colonies subvert traditional systems of production and exchange? How did settlement hierarchies change during late antiquity and how did this affect economic interrelations? We welcome contributions dealing with different periods and different areas within the Mediterranean, and are particularly interested in papers that present methodological innovations that enhance more traditional studies on settlement patterning and ceramic distributions.

Paper abstracts

1. Alexandre Baralis (Musée du Louvre) / Vasilica Lungu (Institute of South-Eastern European Studies, Romanian academy of science)

The impact of the Greek colonization process on the local socio-economical pattern in the southern Danubian delta
The museum of Louvre and the Institute of South-Eastern European Studies (Academia Romana) pursue a program of multidisciplinary research devoted to the Greek colonization in the southern sectors of the Danubian delta. Surveys had revealed a very complex process structured around a long chain of secondary settlements founded in shifting landscapes, directly impacted by the nearby river. Beyond the structuring role of the both major cities of Istros and Orgame, settlers were established on the margin of local communities, each with their own social and economic pattern. The studies, carried out, on different spatial scales, from the site until a more regional approach, cross-check data obtained by several methods well adapted to each of them - macrobiological and palaeozoological analyses, archaeometry, photo-interpretation, geomagnetic surveys…-. Beyond the mutual influences, results outline the selective adoption of other consumption behaviors, according to differentiated economic strategies which explain in turn some particularities in the integration of Greek and Getic settlements into local and supraregional exchange networks.

"The impact of the Greek colonization process on the local socio-economical pattern in the southern Danubian delta" (Fulltext)

 

2. Anton Bonnier (Uppsala University)

GIS-based kernel density analysis and the re-evaluation of previously published survey datasets from the Peloponnese, Southern Greece
Since the 1970’s intensive survey has had a profound effect on the understanding of Mediterranean landscapes. The careful recording of both sites in the landscape and scatters of off-site archaeology provides important data relating to the development of settlement systems and land use patterns over time. Traditional approaches have generally utilised dots-on-a-map visualisations of settlement distributions in different periods, providing an overview of site clusters but little information on the potential use of the surrounding landscape. The introduction of new survey practices and GIS in recent decades, with a more careful presentation of artefact scatters, has improved our understanding of spaces in between “sites” or other points of specific landscape focus. In the current paper, we apply new GIS methods to the older, already published, survey data and argue that the traditional point distributions can be used to model land use patterns through kernel density analysis. By employing kernel density analysis of digitised datasets from the Peloponnese, S Greece, we explore how kernel density heat maps can be used to quantitatively evaluate patterns of expansion and contraction, land use intensity and use of varied topographic zones over time. Such evaluations will allow for a more complex picture of land use dynamics to be correlated with broader socio-economic developments in the 1st millennium BC Peloponnese.

"GIS-based kernel density analysis and the re-evaluation of previously published survey datasets from the Peloponnese, Southern Greece" (Fulltext)

 

3. Vladimir Stissi (University of Amsterdam)

A tale of five cities: comparing survey finds from Boeotian poleis from the Early Iron Age till the Roman takeover
Over the last 17 years, I have had the honor of being part of a team of scholars who by now have finished cataloguing several hundreds of thousands of sherds from five cities in Boeotia (Central Greece) and their surroundings, including smaller and larger rural sites. While these finds have mainly been studied to produce publications of individual areas, together they offer a unique regional collection, allowing both diachronic and intraregional comparisons of results from individual sites or groups of sites, and to confront interpretations of the data at local level. First explorations by several members of the specialists’ team, including myself, of some of this information have already offered interesting new insights in spatial and social aspects of formation of larger polis centers, and differences in what one may label as ‘ceramic culture’, related to both production and consumption, in between urban centers, but also between centers and their rural surroundings. In my paper I want to expand on these results, attempting to see whether we can see coherent (sets of) trajectories in first the formation and then the decline of polis type city states, in terms of economic and demographic development, spatial organization and articulation of local identities. While these may seem rather grand concepts when studying very humble ceramic finds, and it is certainly unrealistic to pretend to grasp them in detail through field survey, I do think we can see very relevant glimpses.

"A Tale of five Cities: Comparing Survey Finds from Boeotian Poleis from the Early Iron Age to the Roman Takeover" (Fulltext)

 

4. Dean Peeters (Universität zu Köln)

Micro-regions and socio-economic change in and around Late Antique Askra and Tanagra (Boeotia, Central Greece): Ceramic production and circulation in dialogue
Late Antiquity is a period of dramatic socio-economic change in Greece, and the Mediterranean by extension, in which regional differences in economic development become increasingly apparent. Though also within areas that are traditionally seen as ‘regions’, like Boeotia, socio-economic trajectories of localities are proven to diverge considerably on a micro-regional level. Exploring the evidence that was gathered through the intensive field-surveys of the Boeotia Project since 1978, this paper aims to get a better understanding of the specific development and the spatial embeddedness of economies. Special attention will be given to Askra and Tanagra, and their respective hinterlands, which both housed flourishing ceramic industries and experienced an increase in agricultural activity, yet which developed in their own way. Although providing only a couple of pieces of a complex puzzle, the creation of a dialogue between the production and circulation of pottery offers invaluable insights for reconstructing economic micro-regions, as traditional chora-areas appear to become more fluid in Late Antiquity. Besides, amphorae, appear to move strikingly different from tablewares through economic systems. While this observation likely signifies the different nature of these commodities and their exchanges, the penetration of imported tablewares and amphorae in agricultural areas further away from supposed market-places seems rather unexpected at first sight.

"Some Observations and Thoughts on the Approach of Local Economies and (Micro-)Regions based on Ceramic Production, Circulation, and Consumption in Late Antique Boeotia" (Fulltext)

 

5. Gijs Tol (The University of Melbourne) / Tymon de Haas (University of Cologne) / Barbara Borgers

The impact of Early Roman expansion in the Pontine Region: Combining landscape archaeological and ceramic approaches
The Pontine Region (Lazio, Central Italy), situated ca. 50 kilometres south of Rome, played a pivotal role in Rome´s earliest expansion over the Italian peninsula. It provided a corridor towards Campania (and subsequently southern Italy), and the ancient sources inform us on the major investments made in the foundation of colonies and road stations, as well as the construction of infrastructural works (roads and canals) in the 4th century BC. Data from field walking surveys from different parts of the region, obtained by the Pontine Region Project, not only showcase long-term developments in settlements and economy; as we illustrate in this paper, our most recent work also has the chronological resolution to highlight the impact of these major transformations in more detail. Using an integrated program of non-invasive archaeological fieldwork (geophysical prospections, field surveys adopting highly intensive pick-up strategies, coring) combined with typological and petrographic pottery analysis, it has been possible to shed light on the wide-ranging effects that Roman colonization brought about in the Pontine Region. The region was subjected to a well-planned operation, comprising major infrastructural and reclamation works. They transformed this formerly marshy area into a densely settled agricultural landscape in which road stations functioned as local service centres both for local populations and passing travellers.

"The Impact of Roman Expansion on the Pontine Marshes" (Fulltext)

 

6. Simonetta Menchelli (University of Pisa)

Ceramic Sherds and Roman Economies in Picenian Landscapes
Surveys carried out in Southern Picenum provide useful data both to define the general trends in settlement patterns and economic activities in the different regional districts, and to identify the peculiarities of the landscapes which stratified from the Picenian Age up to Late Antiquity.
Careful field-work and morphological and technological ceramic studies enable us to understand complex economic and social phenomena such as the acquisition by Piceni of Roman lifestyles much earlier than the military conquest. The impact of“Romanization” appears to have been very strong in Southern Picenum, both with the foundation of the colony of Firmum along the coast and the reorganization of the Picenian centre afterwards called Novana in the inland district, and the centuriation of large sectors of the countryside which became dotted with colonial farmsteads. Concerning the following centuries, surveys document transformations due to the large-scale Roman economic plans: in the coastal strip the market-oriented strategies led to investment in the specialized agricultural production by means of the villa system, while in the inland mountainous districts business focused on the “industrial” livestock farming.
These activities, however, were realized with due respect for, and the enhancement of, local resources and potentialities, and that is why even today, in the Picenian landscapes, some of the economic choices made in the Roman Age are still to be found stratified.

"Ceramics sherds and Roman Economic Strategies in Picenian Landscapes" (Fulltext)

 

7. Luigi Pinchetti (Universität Bonn)

Studying late antique settlement hierarchies in the framework of catchment productivity: a review of legacy survey data from Southern Central Italy (Molise)
A common issue of survey data is its reliance on the size of the scatters. Traditionally, survey archaeology classifies rural settlements (farmstead, villa, village) depending on the size and the quality of the recovered material, but is this representing the ancient settlement hierarchy? How does this static nomenclature deal with transformations? What justifies cities topmost position in such hierarchy?
During Late Antiquity, socio-economic innovations had a strong impact on rural settlement hierarchies in the Italian peninsula. In survey archaeology, this transformation was visible in the disappearance of smaller farmsteads and the survival of few bigger sites until the 5th-6th century. While various projects confirmed this trend, questions arise on its effects on the economic relations between rural settlements, towns and new central places.
In this paper, I apply a methodology to review settlement hierarchies by placing in direct relation site-size and catchment-productivity. Originally developed in Mesoamerican archaeology, the method offers a way to identify settlement hierarchies and the possibility of comparing the whole sites spectrum (from farm to town) in the same perspective. The application of such method on legacy survey data from Molise will offer a novel perspective on the economic meaning of secondary aggregation in Late Antiquity, on their relation with towns and how late antique transformations anticipated some traits of the early medieval rural economy.

"The Economic Meaning of Settlement Hierarchies: a Case Study from the Roman Upper Volturno Basin" (Fulltext)

 

8. Amaury Gilles (Université Paul Valéry UMR 5140)

Economie et société dans le territoire de la colonie romaine de Valence (Gallia narbonensis)
Cette communication s’appuie sur les résultats de prospections pédestres et l’étude de la culture matérielle à l’échelle du territoire de la colonie de Valentia entre le IIe s. av. J.-C. et le VIe s. ap. J.-C.
On présentera les mutations touchant les structures économiques (agricoles, artisanales) au cours de cette période en détaillant les phases d’abandons et de créations des établissements ruraux, des agglomérations et l’évolution de la culture matérielle (modes de constructions, objets de la vie quotidienne). On examinera dans quelle mesure ces mutations peuvent être liées aux transformations socio-culturelles suscitées par la conquête de ce territoire par Rome à la fin du IIe s. av. J.-C., la fondation ex nihilo de Valentia vers 46 et 36 av. J.-C. puis son développement, enfin par les mutations socio-culturelles de l’Antiquité tardive.
Il s’agira de notamment de montrer la complémentarité entre les prospections pédestres qui livrent des données quantitatives nécessaires pour formuler des hypothèses économiques et les apports des fouilles stratigraphiques qui permettent de tester et/ou préciser les hypothèses formulées à partir des données de prospections. Le mobilier archéologique sera particulièrement sollicité puisqu’il joue un rôle clef dans la périodisation des mutations économiques, mais aussi dans l’identification de flux commerciaux par la diffusion d’objets à plus ou moins grande distance et permet de cerner l’évolution des modes de vie.

"Economie et société dans le territoire de la colonie romaine de Valence (Gallia narbonensis)" (Fulltext)