From the Etruscan palazzo to the Roman villa? Developments in the archaeology of the rural landscape around Rome

This paper presents a discussion of two related developments in the archaeology of the Roman rural landscape. The first is the recent excavation of the Villa of the Auditorium near Rome that can be seen as the missing link between Etruscan and Latin courtyard houses and the late Republican rural villa. The second is related to progress made in two recent field survey projects north and south of Rome that study rural site distribution; the Tiber Valley and Pontine Region projects respectively. In combination the two developments offer insight in the late Iron Age and Archaic roots of the Roman rural landscape and the early growth of socio-economic differentiation in a rural context. As such these developments offer an alternative view on the historical sources and their role in the traditional views on the development of the rural villa in Roman Italy.