AT THE ORIGINS OF ROME: URBANIZATION, AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE IN IRON AGE

The beginning of Iron Age in Central Italy witnessed increasing social complexity, urbanization processes and climatic instability. However, understanding the mutual relations of these events as well as their effects on past agriculture is still a complex matter. This research aims at investigating changes in agricultural systems and environmental variability through the analysis of macrobotanical samples retrieved from multiple archaeological contexts dating between the 10th and the 6th century BCE. Recent excavations at the site of Gabii, situated at the outskirt of Rome, provided charred carpological material (seeds, fruits and woods) coming from different Iron Age and Archaic levels. As Gabii was an important Latin city which experienced this phase of urbanisation such data are crucial for the understanding of its socio-economic development. Preliminary results show the presence of several cultivated cereals, mainly represented by caryopsis of Hordeum vulgare and Triticum dicoccum but also few T. monococcum. Pulses include Vicia faba and V. ervillia. Some weeds are also attested, such as Lolium sp. In addition, the analysis of the stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen of both charred seeds/fruits and woods will allow the study of the past water availability as well as the crops growing conditions and farming practices, informing us, to a certain extent, about the possible effects of climate fluctuation on the development of these ancient societies and their agriculture.