The Landscape of Daunia: Ager Venusinus

In this paper I present the final phase of a long-term investigation conducted by the Experimental Archaeological Cartography Laboratory in connection with the Carta Archeologica d’Italia – Forma Italiae: Venusia, Ager Venusinus I and Ager venusinus II. This project is a joint undertaking of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and the University of Foggia. The Ager Venusinus project, carried out over nearly two decades under the direction of Paolo Sommella and myself, benefited from a rich synergy of institutional and human resources. Many generations of students and scholars participated in the project and many advanced technologies were tested. Our project, for example, represents one of the first applications of both GIS and GPS in archaeology. During the project we carried out an extensive and intensive survey over the whole territory of the ancient colony of Venusia in the Melfi district between the Ofanto valley and the slopes of Monte Vulture. We were able to draw up a map representing an area of 700 square kilometres, with more than 2,000 identified archaeological sites. This map has allowed us reconstruct the historical archaeology of the ancient landscape from Prehistory to the High Middle Ages and to promote the protection and cultural appreciation of the territory, A very interesting part of our project regards the populating of the Daunian settlement area before the Roman penetration for which unexpected new evidence emerged during our work. The data collected during the project have allowed us to recognize the important modifications to the landscape produced by the arrival of the Romans, who reached Daunia in the course of the 4th–3rd century B.C.