LE TRASFORMAZIONI DEL PAESAGGIO STORICO E DELLE FORME DEL POPOLAMENTO NELLA PUGLIA SETTENTRIONALE

Abstract

This paper proposes a synthetic general overview of the current situation of the archaeological heritage of the Tavoliere, which
presents a great density and variety of very important settlements, distributed over more than eight millennia. The conditions are
particularly favorable to archaeological research, especially for aerial archaeology, but it depend of continuous losses despite the
commitment of many public structures. More than twenty years ago the Ministry of Cultural Heritage urged the National Research
Council and the University of Salento to concentrate their activities on some aspects of the heritage, which over the years have
been developed above all to increase knowledge, the organization of data and risk and loss assessment. The work deals in particular
with the theme of the concentration of Neolithic villages (more than a thousand identified and many still unknown), the study
of the large Daunian urban centers, examining the case of Arpi, which since the seventies of the last century has been plundered
by illegal diggers. Below, the territorial transformations after the Second Punic War, the distribution of medieval settlements and
“mottes” from the Norman age follow. Through the sample cases we highlight the situation of knowledge on individual aspects,
the different interpretations proposed, the risks, the pressing need for intervention on complexes that are progressively obliterated,
the problems that are still open.

Keywords: Ancient topography, archaeological cartography, aerial archaeology, Tavoliere delle Puglie