The Evolution of Landscape and Settlement Transformations in the 18th Municipium of Rome's Suburbium: A Weighted Average Analysis

The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the evolution of the landscape in the 18th Municipium of the Suburbium of Rome between the 8th century B.C. and the 7th century A.D. This will be based on the analysis of a detailed and extensive documentary dossier of the surveys carried out between 1993 and 2003 as part of the project 'Archaeology of the Suburbium of Rome' by the Department of Classical Archaeology of the University of Rome 'La Sapienza', under the scientific direction of Andrea Carandini. The method of weighted averaging was chosen for analysing the pottery in order to estimate in a statistically reliable way the amount of pottery in each of the topographic units over a given period, taking into account the approximate or exact date of each of the fragments collected. The method used produces graphs that make it possible to understand the evolution of the settlement in the XVIII Municipium, based on the distribution of wares in the area by chronological phases, through the processing of data on a GIS platform. The comparison between the graphs produced with weighted averages and those related to the evolution of the landscape allows for the examination, for example, of settlement changes linked to main historical events, visible in the evolution of the topographical units, as reflected in the changes in the attestation curves of the main ceramic classes. It is possible to determine whether periods of peak development in the number of TUs are associated with periods of particular dynamism in production and trade, or whether periods of decline in the number of TUs are associated with a decline in the quantity of products.