Medieval Landscapes of Southern Etruria

The fortified hilltop town of Capalbiaccio is a lost Etruscan settlement, a site that developed out of prehistory to become an important colony and grain provider for the Roman Empire, before being sacrificed to medieval intrigue and conquest by the Republic of Siena. The site, together with the castle of Tricosto, was first excavated forty-five years ago, but the results were never published. Then, in recent years, archaeologist Michelle Hobart was invited to explore the area with a new team and employ the latest techniques of remote sensing to explore the landscape and fortifications. The results of both explorations are presented here for the first time in this volume, which combines the invasive and non-invasive approaches of two generations of archaeologists to reveal what attracted settlers to this site, from the inhabitants of the late Bronze Age through to the most important families of medieval Tuscany. This book employs the best of the latest geophysical techniques and time-tested approaches to ground the history of Capalbiaccio, and to narrate how the fate of this small village was inextricably linked to regional and national networks, as control of the territory and the settlement’s reason for being evolved over time.

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Part I. Genesis of the Project

Chapter 1. The Archaeology of Coastal, Southern Tuscany
Michelle Hobart

Chapter 2. Capalbiaccio: The Initial Archaeological Campaigns (1976–1980)
Stephen L. Dyson

Part II. Recent Research and Non-Invasive Archaeology

Chapter 3. Geo-Archaeology of Coastal Southern Tuscany
Nicoletta Barocca

Chapter 4. Geophysical Prospecting, Topography, Thermal Camera and DEM
Laura Cerri and  Emanuele Mariotti

Chapter 5. Medieval Wall Reading: The Archaeology of Architecture
Irene Corti

Part III. Material Culture and Survey of Post Medieval Southern Tuscany

Chapter 6. Analysis of the Material Culture
Michelle Hobart

Chapter 7. Pre-Etruscan, Etruscan, and Roman Pottery
Valeria Acconcia

Chapter 8. Capalbiaccio and the Early Medieval Pottery in Southern Tuscany (c. 900–1000 AD)
Emanuele Vaccaro

Chapter 9. A Comparative Study of Pottery from Southern Tuscany and Latium (1000–1200 AD)
Chiara Valdambrini

Chapter 10. Medieval Pottery (1200–1400)
Michelle Hobart

Chapter 11. Small Finds
Elisa Rubegni

Chapter 12. Coins
Alessia Rovelli

Chapter 13. Archaeozoological Remains
Diana C. Crader

Chapter 14. Field Survey of the Post-Medieval Settlement Patterns in Southern Tuscany
Herman Salvadori

Part IV. Historical Reconstructions and Conclusions

Chapter 15. Reassessing the Etruscan Valle d’Oro
Michelle Hobart

Chapter 16. Builders of Landscapes: The Aldobrandeschi and the Castle of Tricosto
Michelle Hobart

Chapter 17. Concluding Remarks and Open Questions
Michelle Hobart

APPENDICES

Appendix 1. Catalogue of the Relevant Ceramic Fabrics Mentioned in Chapter 7
Emanuele Vaccaro

Appendix 2. Ratio Among Ceramic Classes from Early Medieval Sites Mentioned in Chapter 8
Emanuele Vaccaro

Appendix 3. Faunal Remains Tables
Diana C. Crader

Appendix 4. Castle and countryside: Capalbiaccio and the changing settlement history of the Ager Cosanus
Stephen L. Dyson

Works Cited

Author Biographies