2025/01/01 by Camilla Zeviani · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
paper · doi:10.1080/00438243.2025.2488743
openalex publication_date 2025/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
This study investigates the surrounding landscape of Murlo, an aristocratic residence in Tuscany, central Italy, during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, pivotal for Etruscan state formation and urbanization. Using GIS analysis and survey data, it explores how Murlo, situated in a strategic area, developed as an alternative nucleation site amidst growing urban centres. Despite its peripheral location, Murlo challenges the unilinear narrative of Etruscan urbanization, already considerably understudied, highlighting diverse socio-economic processes contemporary to the formation of large urban metropoles. Analysis of settlement patterns reveals that while urban centres exerted centralizing pulls, ‘anti-urban’ processes were also developing alternative socio-economic structures. Murlo’s landscape occupation reflects conservative political and social power, emphasizing traditional aristocratic ideals with minimal social stratification and limited wealth accumulation among rural inhabitants. This study therefore highlights the opposing forces at play during the critical centuries of Etruscan state formation, highlighting its variability, conflicting trajectory and dynamic nature.