Living in the Fields:The agricultural dimension of the Monti della Tolfa during the Late Bronze Age

Within the archeology of living in Etruria, an important role has been played by the research on territorial organization of the inhabitants, that has generated increasingly detailed models: micro-districts, cantonal states or confederate systems (by Gennaro 1986, Pacciarelli 1991, Barbaro 2010, Cardarelli 2011).The present paper follows in the wake of these works in Southern Etruria during the Final Bronze Age. In fact, through the use of techniques of landscape archeology and land evaluation, we intend to reconstruct the agricultural dimension (and consequently the demographic one) of important settlements such as Luni sul Mignone, San Giovenale and Monte Rovello, as well as the whole territory of the Tolfa Mountains.On the other hand, as argued, among others, by Earle (2015), the study of the subsistence economy at the base of the pre-modern economy of ancient communities is the necessary starting point to understand them. Marxist theories, however, have shown that it is not simply a matter of identifying (and studying) a "particular economic configuration but also a composite set of life forms, a social, anthropological and ethical constellation" (Virno 2014).Through information from the excavations, from paleobotanical and archaeozoological analyses it is therefore intended to present an economic and social model of occupation of the territory of Tolfa Mountains during the Final Bronze Age. In other words, to test the economic and demographic sustainability of the organization, development and development systems in which, at the end of time, the so-called "protourban turn" will take place.