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Archaeological Survey

  • Italy
  • Apulia
  • Province of Brindisi
  • San Pancrazio Salentino

Summary

  • This field survey is carried out in the locality of Lì Castelli and is part of the Brindisino project (Burgers 1998) and the Salento Isthmus project (Burgers 2009; Attema et al. 2010) conducted by the Amsterdam Institute of the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam (AIVU). The primary goal of these projects is to elucidate the development of settlement patterns and urbanization in the context of the integration of the native society into the Graeco-Roman world. The study of the relationship between settlement patterns in the countryside and spatial evolution of the Lì Castelli native village is pivotal in this survey.

Project Dates

  • 1990 - 1991

Periods

  • No period data has been added yet
  • 1800 BC
  • 1000 BC
  • 600 AD

Survey Method

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  • The intensive survey first covered an area outside the site core of Lì Castelli (which is located in an elevated position) at ca. 1.5 km distance from it. The artefact density here was such that the team decided not to use the square method. The survey documented a continuous and gradual increase in artefact density as the site core was approached. The site’s central area covers 14 ha and its central ridge was surveyed using the square method (162 squares, average artefact density 20 items per sq. m with picks of 60 items per sq. m). The survey identified traces of walls which could possibly be interpreted as fortifications. Immediately around this central area, several clusters of three to four small scatters with a relatively high artefact density were identified. Walking side by side, surveyors make constant estimates of the quantity of artefacts. In the field 3-4 surveyors walked side by side, counting the artefacts and assessing changes in density. Artefact estimates are recorded by the team leader every time density changes (at interval of 5 to 10 artefacts per square meter) on a 1:500 map. The present day agricultural lots are taken as the basic research units (these units are generally small and bordered by stone fences). The influence of post-depositional processes on the transformation of the archaeological record has been carefully taken into account; it is especially evaluated the effect of modern agricultural practices and ploughing on the displacement of the artefact debris.

Other Comments

  • Director: Prof. dr. G-.J. Burgers (Vrij Universiteit Amsterdam) ................................................................................................................................ This record has been produced by the Fasti Online Survey team within the framework of the KNIR student internship 2020 'Digital Field Survey Archaeology'.
  • Assess and trace changes in settlement patterns, land use and town-countryside relations in the territory around the site of Lì Castelli from the Bronze age to the later Roman phases, and put this into the larger regional context of the Salento Isthmus.

Funding Body

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  • Dutch Foundation for History, Archaeology and Art History Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research; Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali

Research Institution

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  • AIVU – Archaeological Institute Vrij Universiteit of Amsterdam

Director

  • Director
    • G.-j. L.m. Burgers