The Social Dynamics of Enclosure in the Neolithic of the Tavoliere, South-east Italy

Authors

  • Robin Skeates University of Durham

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v13i2.155

Keywords:

radiocarbon dating, the Tavoliere, cultural process

Abstract

The Neolithic ditched enclosures of the Tavoliere have been subject to various interpretations since their initial identification during the Second World War. The first part of this paper provides a critical review of these interpretations. The second part then sets out to re-write the history of the ditched enclosures, drawing upon a new radiocarbon chronology, the results of recent archaeological excavations, and developments in interpretative archaeology. By paying due attention to the depositional sequences at these sites, it becomes evident that the ditched enclosures of the Tavoliere were never static finished entities, but rather were always in a dynamic accumulative process of construction and modification, excavation and deposition, occupation and abandonment. Also, by regarding the ditched enclosures as an integral part of a dynamic material cultural process, it is argued that the ditches played an active role in forming and transforming social relations in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of the Tavoliere.

Author Biography

  • Robin Skeates, University of Durham
    Robin Skeates in a Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Durham. His research interests include the prehistory of the central Mediterranean and public archaeology. His major publications include 'Radiocarbon Dating and Italian Prehistory', which he edited with Ruth Whitehouse, 'Debating the Archaeological Heritage', and 'The Collecting of Origins: Collectors and Collections of Italian Prehistory and the Cultural Transformation of Value (1550-1999)'.

Published

2001-03-01

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Skeates, R. (2001). The Social Dynamics of Enclosure in the Neolithic of the Tavoliere, South-east Italy. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 13(2), 155-188. https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v13i2.155