Amiternum 1. A regional study on the settlement and economic structure of the central Abruzzo in Roman times

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Michael Heinzelmann
• Subject Area: Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology
• Term: from 2020 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 459153369

The monograph applied for funding here is the final publication of an eight-year field research project (2006-2013) investigating the Roman town of Amiternum and its micro-region in the central Abruzzo region. The project focuses on the long-term development of the settlement and economic structure of this landscape, which from an archaeological point of view is one of the less well studied areas of the Italian peninsula. As part of a multidisciplinary project strategy, comprehensive investigations were carried out, including remote sensing, large-scale geophysical prospections, a topographic survey and intensive stratigraphic excavations. The data and results of this work are presented and discussed in this publication and are embedded in the larger context of settlement development in Central Italy. One of the most important observations is that the settlement and economic structures of the central Abruzzo region were evidently influenced by older, pre-Roman traditions well into the Roman Empire, with the intensive practice of transhumant livestock farming playing a central role. The publication of these results is the first regional archaeological study of the central Abruzzo region to be presented in this methodological breadth and systematics.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants