The Social Dynamics of Enclosure in the Neolithic of the Tavoliere, South-east Italy

Abstract

The Neolithic ditched enclosures of the Tavoliere have been subject to various interpretations since their initial identification during the Second World War. The first part of this paper provides a critical review of these interpretations. The second part then sets out to re-write the history of the ditched enclosures, drawing upon a new radiocarbon chronology, the results of recent archaeological excavations, and developments in interpretative archaeology. By paying due attention to the depositional sequences at these sites, it becomes evident that the ditched enclosures of the Tavoliere were never static finished entities, but rather were always in a dynamic accumulative process of construction and modification, excavation and deposition, occupation and abandonment. Also, by regarding the ditched enclosures as an integral part of a dynamic material cultural process, it is argued that the ditches played an active role in forming and transforming social relations in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of the Tavoliere.