Beyond the city walls: rural landscape and fortified settlements in central- eastern Sicily in the Archaic period (late eighth-early fifth centuries BC)

In Archaic Sicily (mid seventh – mid fifth centuries BC), the development of fortifications has to be set in the context of the processes of cultural interaction. The main actors were Greeks and indigenous peoples, living in the same territory, encompassing the land between the Erean Mountains, the Hyblean Plateau and the Plain of Catania. The complex of cultural, political and economic phenomena engendered a fertile ground for the spread of a precocious poliorcetics focused on the defence and control of the produc- tive territory. Fortifications in the Siceliote world are a complex phenomenon with roots in military culture, strategic thinking and in social dynamics: they are, in fact, forceful works of representation that have the power to act directly in transforming the landscape. On the basis of the survey data available for the area, it is now possible to try to inspect the characteristics of fortified and rural landscapes in Eastern Sicily during the Archaic period. The connection between productive hinterland and fortified landscape emerges from the analysis of numerous sites in Archaic Sicily: therefore, going beyond a narrowly military interpretation allows us to be more reflective on the close relationship between urban history and landscape.