Raising livestock, feeding cities: Isotopic insights into rural exploitation and resource mobilisation in Archaic Italy
Increased rural productivity was essential to the development of urbanism in central Italy. While there is ample evidence for the impact of surplus agricultural production – visible in settlement dynamics, craft specialisation, architectural development, and the evolution of animal economies – how and where staple resources were produced remains obscure. This talk presents new results from UrbanHerds, a research project investigating animal management and environmental exploitation in Archaic Italian cities (c. 600–400 BC). Zooarchaeological and isotopic data provide insight in pastoral strategies and mobility patterns (e.g. transhumance), shedding new light on city-hinterland interaction and the nature of land-based resource extraction.
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