Nucleated Settlements as Assemblages: A regional Network Approach to Built Environments

A long tradition of studies has greatly advanced our knowledge of urbanization processes in southern Etruria and Latium vetus from the Final Bronze Age to the Archaic Period. WHAT happened and WHEN is well-established. HOW and WHY still await an answer. By studying nucleated settlements and their communities as assemblages, and by adopting a network perspective to analyze cultural interactions and transportation infrastructures in central Italy between the end of the Final Bronze Age and the end of the Archaic period, is possible to answer long-standing historical questions such as HOW the Latin and Etruscan polities actually worked and possibly WHY a smaller but more hierarchical and efficient region such as Latium vetus prevailed over a larger but less efficient and more heterarchical Etruria.