Faragola and the legacy of Roman villae in Southern Italy between Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages

Abstract

The archaeological researches carried out in Southern Italy enabled to gather a great and remarkable amount of data over the ‘end of villas’ and the features of the rural settlement during the early middle age. Often, the abandonment of rural dwellings caused the spoliation of spaces through systematic and organized operations of stripping and re-use of flooring, walls’ coverings, ceilings, furniture and pipes. Ceramic kilns, sedimentation basins for clay, blast furnaces for metals and limestone were installed These operations had been traditionally interpreted as connected to marginal forms of re-occupation. In many cases, these forms of settlement grew in the same areas, yet developed a good level of material culture and crafting activities, beside agriculture and farming. Representatives of the new religious and laic élites and public authorities were recognized, as the sponsors of these activities.