Central Italy and the Emergence of Rome with Dr Fulminante

We are thrilled to sit down with Dr Francesca Fulminante to chat all about the development of settlements in central Italy from the Bronze Age to the Archaic Period of Rome. Dr Fulminante shares insights from her recent monograph: The Rise of Early Rome - Transportation Networks and Domination in Central Italy, 1050-500 BCE  (2023) (Cambridge University Press).

This is a period where archaeological investigation reigns supreme requiring researchers to get into the nitty gritty layers of settlement patterns and trading networks. We’re thrilled to learn from Dr Fulminante as her research involves the investigation of complex societies in central Italy during the Bronze Age, looking at things like social stratification, settlement organisation, and craft community practices. Dr Fulminate is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Bristol, and is an Associate Professor at University Roma Tre. Her work also involves offering continuing education training at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

What is time and how do things get complicated quickly?

Coming to grips with the early evidence for Rome and central Italy involves understanding some of the overlapping terminology used by archaeologists and historians, who are coming to the evidence from different perspectives. Terms like the Bronze Age and Iron Age come to us from archaeology and anthropology while specific periods like the Archaic period and Early Roman Republic are much more society specific and tend to come from historians. This overlap can create a little bit of confusion, so here’s a rough breakdown (including some of the overlapping terms):

• The Early Bronze Age: 2300-1700 BCE
• The Middle Bronze Age: 1700-1350 BCE
• The Recent Bronze Age: 1350-1150 BCE
• The Final Bronze Age: 1150-950 BCE
• Iron Age: c. 1200- c. 500 BCE
• Villanovan Culture: c. 900-700 BCE (Etruscan)
• The Orientalising Period: c. 700-500 BCE (Etruscan)
• The Archaic Period: 800-500 BCE (Rome)
• The Early Republic: 509-400 BCE (Rome)

The Rise of Rome?

Dr Fulminante takes us through the early settlements of the Bronze Age and the transition to permanent structures in stone rather than perishable materials that occurs in from the 8th century BCE onwards. What does the evidence suggest for the development of ancient cities and the interconnections between them? Tune in to find out!

Things to listen out for:

• V. Gordon Childe’s ten defining features for an ancient city
• Connectivity in central Italy as an essential feature of the growth of cities
• Burial under the houses
• The movement of cities from east to west versus the network development theory
• How transportation networks develop from a physical perspective
• How transportation networks are are influenced by political organisation and relationships
• The way roads and rivers work together to create a network
• The connections between Latium vetus (old Latium) and Etruria (north of the Tiber)
• Cooperative networks versus centralised hierarchical networks

For our full show notes and edited transcripts, head on over to https://partialhistorians.com/

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