"Roman Colonial Landscapes: Ager Venusinus"

Progetto in collaborazione tra Università Foggia (Italia) Univerisità di Leida (Olanda), Reale Istituto Neerlandese a Roma (KNIR) e Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Basilicata. This project investigates the role of non-urban settlements in Roman colonial expansion in the formative phase of the Roman empire (4th-1st centuries BC). It challenges the traditional, urbanized city-state model of Roman colonies by proposing instead a distinctive, non-urban settlement organization, within which clustered sites such as villages played key-roles. Preliminary research suggests a pioneering role of small rural communities in Roman colonial enterprises, but as yet little is known about the physical reality of such settlements and their functioning in the colonial settlement network. The project proposes to examine Roman village communities and their role in Roman colonial enterprises through a combination of ancient historical analysis with archaeological science-based methods.