Settlement and viewshed dynamics between the ancient sites of the Erei as a key of historical landscape interpretation

Emanuele Brienza, Massimo Cultraro, Eleonora Draià

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2020, 31.2, 199-210; doi: 10.19282/ac.31.2.2020.19

Abstract

The inner Sicilian area of the Erei hills, crossed by rivers and important streams directed to the Catania’s lowland, witnessed very ancient human occupation and activities, starting from the Upper Palaeolithic. Here the dynamics of human activities and the organization of the supply basin during early times were distinctive in certain historical periods: some featured a substantial continuity with the earlier phases, while others showed a complete discontinuity with the older human settlement framework and a new organization of the area and activities connected with the environment. These agricultural, proto-urban and urban communities organized their existence on the exploitation of natural resources, distributing themselves according to the local morphology. They built, mostly on top of the hills, constructions used as control viewpoints of the area, and created a complete communication network to connect settlements of the same or different level. Those features in several cases had a long-term continuity that survived to dramatic historical changes and represent today the optimal way for a right perception of current landscape and its millenary history.

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