Rivers in Prehistory

Rivers in Prehistory edited by Andrea Vianello Archaeopress Archaeology Archaeopress Publishing Gordon House 276 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7ED www.archaeopress.com ISBN 978 1 78491 178 2 ISBN 978 1 78491 179 9 (e-Pdf) © Archaeopress and the authors 2015 Cover photo: Giant king fish (Caranx ignobilis) gather in preparation for a unique migration up the Mtentu river. The Mtentu river is one of few remaining pristine wildernesses in South Africa, so the Africa crew avoided using disruptive motor boats, instead paddling to the location each day in a canoe. Image elaborated by Cornelia Stancu. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners. Printed in England by Oxuniprint, Oxford This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com Table of Contents Preface ��iii Introduction �� 1 Rivers, Where Humankind Meets Nature �� 7 Rivers of civilisation ��23 Case Studies ��35 Dugouts from North Patagonia (center-south of Chile): Sailing on Trees ��37 Nicolás Lira S� Exploitation of the Aquatic Resources of Lake Lubāns and Its Hydrological Regime during the Stone Age ��51 Ilze B� Loze A River Runs Through It: the Semiotics of Göbekli Tepe’s Map (an Exercise of Archaeological Imagination) ��65 Dragoş Gheorghiu Rivers, Human Occupation and Exchanges Around the Late Bronze Age Settlement of Frattesina (ne Italy) ��77 Paolo Bellintani and Massimo Saracino People of the Waters in Northern Italy ��89 Andrea Vianello The Perennial Rivers and the Changing Settlement Patterns on the Two Sides of the Tiber in Central Italy – the Case Studies of Nepi and Gabii ��103 Ulla Rajala Bronze Age Barrow Complexes on the Lincolnshire Fen Margin ��125 Peter Chowne Roads, Routes and Ceremonies: the Fenland Superhighway ��137 Tim Malim Continuity of Seasonal Access and Occupation on the Turloughs of Ireland ��151 Amy Bunce An Approach to the Fluvial Networks of the Papaloapan Basin: the Use of the Lower Papaloapan, México, from the Pre-hispanic Period to Early Xx Century ��159 Edith Ortiz Díaz List of Authors and Contacts ��166 i Copyright material: no unauthorized reproduction in any medium The Perennial Rivers and the Changing Settlement Patterns on the Two Sides of the Tiber in Central Italy – the Case Studies of Nepi and Gabii Ulla Rajala University of Cambridge Introduction (1980) covered the area of the I.G.M. map sheet of Sutri immediately west from Nepi and several less extensive This paper compares two geographically contrasting areas studies covered selected smaller areas (e.g. Selmi 1978; in central Italy with similarities in fluvial hydrology. di Gennaro and Stoddart 1982; Camilli et al. 1995; Cifani It is based on my PhD thesis (Rajala 2002) that showed and Munzi 1995), there had not been a unified survey of certain correlations between fluvial characteristics and the territory. human settlement in my two case study areas (Fig. 1) on the two sides of the Tiber in central Italy. The original In 1999, the areas in the close proximity to Nepi were material comes from the Nepi Survey Project, whilst the walked, comprising 92 units, mainly fields, parts of fields comparative material originates from a desktop case study or pastures. In September 2000, the main focus was on on the Gabii and Collatia area. selected areas near the boundaries of the study area, and 141 units were sampled. These units were located mainly The town of Nepi (Roman Nepet) is located c. 45 to the west, northwest, northeast and south of the town. The kilometres north-west of Rome (Fig. 1). In Antiquity it was units, 233 in total (Fig. 2), covered 8% of the rectangular on the boundary of the Faliscan area in south-east Etruria territory around Nepi. Available land areas were studied (Francocci 2006). The town overlooks a gorge on the by field walking at intervals of 10–20 metres with all western boundary of a highly dissected landscape that is archaeological material collected and recorded. The main part of the Treia watershed (see Rajala 2012: 112). The site aim was to analyze continuous distributions across the of Gabii (Guaitoli 1981) lies c. 20 kilometres east of Rome field units (for the field methods of the Nepi Survey, see on a volcanic crater rim overlooking the drained lake of Mills and Rajala 2011, 149–151). Castigliano and the drained lowlands of Pantano Borghese in the south (De Santis 1992, 11). It was in the past one of I complemented the data in the Nepi area with the published the cities belonging to the Latin League (see e.g. Smith or edited information (c.f. Potter n.d.; di Gennaro 1995b; 1996, 185–223) but the site is now an archaeological Rajala 2002). I also compiled a comparative data set from heritage area. The Nepi area belongs to the internal hilly the hinterland of Gabii/Collatia from the literature. The zone, whereas Gabii and its surroundings lie on the plains British School at Rome carried out fieldwork in the area (Statistiche ambientali 1998, Fig. 1.1). briefly (Kahane and Ward-Perkins 1972; Kahane 1973), but the main body of rural evidence came from the survey The Nepi Survey Project (di Gennaro et al. 2002; Rajala volume of Collatia (Quilici 1974). Further information was 2006), which provided the original material for my thesis, collected from different sources (e.g. Quilici N.D.; Mari was conducted under the directorship of Simon Stoddart, 1991; Carboni and Ragni 1984; Belardelli et al. 1986). within the umbrella of the Tiber Valley Project (Patterson The town area of Gabii was surveyed by the Department and Millett 1998; Patterson et al. 2000; Patterson 2004). of Ancient Topography of the University of Rome “La The aims of the Nepi Survey Project included collecting Sapienza” (Guaitoli 1981). I also included information a coherent body of data for a study of the long-term from the excavations of the Apennine site at Castiglione development of the Faliscan centre of Nepi and its territory (Bietti Sestieri 1984; De Santis 2001; c.f. Bietti Sestieri (Edwards et al. 1995; Lim et al. 1996; Harrison et al. 2004; and De Santis 2000), the Iron Age cemeteries at Castiglione di Gennaro et al. 2008) with an emphasis on exploring and Osteria dell’Osa (Bietti Sestieri 1992a; Bietti Sestieri pre-Roman distributions (Rajala 2007; 2012) in order to and De Santis 2000; De Santis 2001) and the Archaic and address the bias towards the Roman period during earlier Roman town itself (e.g. Majerini and Musco 2001). blanket surveys (c.f. Rajala et al. 1999). The time period discussed here ranges from the Paleolithic The Nepi Survey recovered samples from all sectors of the to the Roman period. The main discussion concentrates on territory by drawing transects along the cardinal directions the late prehistory and the protohistoric period consisting radiating from the town along the grid of the Istituto of the Orientalising and Archaic periods (see Table 1). The Geografico Militare (I.G.M.) map whereas the earlier absolute chronology of later central Italian prehistory still surveys in the Nepi area had concentrated on certain remains problematic, even if dendrochronology and new parts of the landscape, such as the road network (see dating evidence have brought generally new precision Fig. 2; Fredriksen and Ward-Perkins 1957) or the Treia (c.f. Bietti Sestieri 1996: 185–93; Pacciarelli 1996; 2000). watershed east of Nepi (Potter n.d.). Although Morselli There is still no consensus on the end of the Bronze Age 103 Copyright material: no unauthorized reproduction in any medium Rivers in Prehistory Fig. 1. The map of central Italy (with the main sites in the text). (c.f. Pacciarelli 2000, 68, Fig. 38; Nijboer et al. 2002, Table Romans tried to conquer Falerii Veteres (Civita Castellana) 1), although the different arguments have approached each in 394 BC, but

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