Searching for Identity in Italian Landscapes

The study of identity has, arguably, seen little direct attention in Roman landscape archaeology even though it has become an issue of rising importance in other branches of Roman archaeology (e.g. Mattingly 2004.). Here it is considered that people have multiple and fluid social identities that are expressed or performed in different arenas (Meskell 2001). Certainly, Witcher (2006a) has highlighted the lack of theoretical and interpretative development in Roman landscape archaeology, particularly in the survey projects that drive this field. He specifically targets the debate on identity (ibid. 41, 58–59) and draws attention to the lack of engagement with this debate on the part of landscape archaeologists. Whilst some landscape archaeologists have considered the issue of identity (e.g. Petts 1998; Alcock 1993; 2002; Roymans and Gerritsen 2002), predominantly they are concerned with the development of a pre-defined community identity. rather than with the multiplicity of competing identities that can exist within a community. Such an understanding of identity and landscape is contradicted by recent work in archaeology and anthropology that has shown how identity is intimately linked to the landscape (Bender and Winer 2001; Low 2002; Blake 2005)...In this paper I will first outline my views on culture histories and maps in reference to central Italy in the later first millennium B.C.; I will then develop my ideas via a case study based on the Iuvanum Survey Project from central Italy that shows that identities can indeed be accessed, considered, and debated through a landscape approach which integrates field survey data in conjunction with excavations and standing remains. [Taken from introduction]