Landscape Archaeology in the Ager Telesinus: Scientific Results and Land-Use Planning

This paper is focused on the territories of San Lorenzello, Guardia Sanframondi and Cerreto Sannita (district of Benevento, Campania), in the eastern area of the Ager Telesinus, along the route to the Apennines mountains through the Volturno, Titerno and Calore valleys. The research is related to the Project of the Archaeological Map of the Northern Campania, coordinated by S. Quilici Gigli. This territory has important archaeological risk, as archaeological records testify, including hill-forts with polygonal walls, the town of Telesia, the necropoleis and the ruins of the villae in the suburbium. The current expansion of the survey to both the eastern and western sectors offers a larger point of view to analyse wide-ranging topics such as the pre-Roman settlement and the interregional roads. New data are emerging on the prehistoric and protohistoric ages in the territory of Guardia Sanframondi, in the wide alluvial area closest to the Calore River. In the territory of San Lorenzello and Cerreto Sannita, new data was been collected by the author on a settlement of the pre-Roman times in the zones overlooking the Titerno valley. Studies and surveys in this area have had operating implications. Maps of archaeological risk, based on the archaeological map of the Ager Telesinus, were produced, thanks to collaboration between the University, Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici and the local Government, with the goal of creating a common strategy for land-use planning