Living Beyond the Margins: Social Complexity and Settlement Patterns in Northern Inland Sabina Between the Iron Age and the Roman Conquest (290 BCE)

Although mountainous areas account for approximately 35% of Italy's national territory, they have long been overlooked as marginal in archaeological research. In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in these regions, yet significant gaps remain, particularly in the Apennines. Furthermore, the uniqueness of these environments is often underestimated, with analyses relying on parameters alien to their specific contexts, primarily derived from comparisons with societies that experienced (proto-)urbanization. Urbanization continues to be viewed as a crucial and necessary stage in the development of social complexity among the ancient societies of the Italian peninsula. This perspective, heavily influenced by the centrality of Rome (the quintessential Urbs) in Mediterranean and European history, has fostered a teleological and evolutionist interpretation of social complexity, wherein urbanization is seen as an obligatory step. Consequently, mountainous communities have long been characterized as marginal, isolated, and underdeveloped. Their settlement systems, rarely analysed in a comprehensive manner, appear to diverge significantly from the centralized and hierarchical urban model. Recent studies, however, are challenging these assumptions, highlighting the dynamism, adaptability to local geographic contexts, and cultural sophistication of mountain communities, thereby revealing alternative paths to social complexity.