The social construction of public spaces

In this chapter, we reflect on the mechanisms through which political activity becomes incorporated into communal social and cultural life by the creation of spaces for permanent collective action. Our impression is that routine aspects of communitarian life are usually framed by cyclical events capable of attracting a sizable number of individuals leading to a collective experience with political connotations. Hence, our goal is to highlight the potential of the study of public spaces for the understanding of the political phenomena from an archaeological point of view.