Local Experiences of Connectivity and Mobility in the Ancient West-Central Mediterranean - (Volume 18) - Linda R. Gosner
10. At the Margins of 'Orientalization': Funerary Ritual and Local Practice in Apennine Central Italy
Local Experiences of Connectivity and Mobility in the Ancient West-Central Mediterranean - (Volume 18) - Linda R. Gosner
Jessica Nowlin [+]
University of Texas at San Antonio
Description
Study of trade has often focused on urban nodes of connectivity, omitting rural communities. This is particularly the case for the ‘Orientalizing’ period of the 8th and 7th centuries BC, whose study has focused on the objects, ideas, and practices from the eastern Mediterranean that were believed to exert tremendous influence on local Italian communities, particularly those along the Tyrrhenian coast. This chapter utilizes the framework of rural globalization to articulate the distinctions between the presence of imported objects, changes in material culture, and alterations in cultural practice by focusing on two inland sites, Fossa and Campovalano, within the Apennine mountains. This examination of local responses within the Italian interior, an area at the geographic edges of effects from the Orientalizing period, demonstrates the importance of exploring the limits of Mediterranean connectivity and contextualizing the impact of greater foreign contact within an understanding of local practice and regional networks.