Progetto Ager Lucerinus: da Luceria a Montecorvino. Indagini archeologiche tra i Monti Dauni e la Valle del Fortore

Abstract

This paper presents the Ager Lucerinus project that adopts the research method applied to the “Archaeological Map of
Italy - Forma Italiae” project. The results presented are of the research related to the territory of the Luceria colony, in
Apulia, starting from the area of the medieval site of Montecorvino in the Daunian district. The methodology of the
project is based on the extensive and systematic survey of all the selected districts. The countryside is systematically
searched by groups of students and researchers in different seasons, time of the day, weather and visibility conditions
and for the status of cultivation of the ground. The GPS geo-referenced data are uploaded to a GIS platform that was
specifically created. The part of the vast territory of Lucera studied so far concerns the area to the North-East of the
ancient Latin colony. The studies presented here were conducted on the western area, towards the Daunian Sub-Appennine
and focus particularly on the territory of the municipalities of Lucera, Pietramontecorvino, Motta Montecorvino
and Volturino. This area, in fact, is the object of a research study that includes the whole of the Fortore valley.
The aim of this research is to undertake the historic reconstruction of the anthropized landscape of the territory of the
Luceria colony, including an area between the Tavoliere and Daunian Sub-Appennine territory, that in the past was a
border area between the Daunian and Frentana territory. The data emerging from recent surveys show a large population
over the time-span from prehistory to the High Middle Ages. The settlements of the Neolithic and Bronze ages,
so far identified, are placed on vast plains. In the northern sector of the territory, it is possible to see traces of a village
characterized by the typical C shaped ditch with huts located inside. A very interesting part of our project regards
Dauni and Samnite settlements in the period preceding the arrival of the Romans and the Romanization of the area.
The most notable transformations to the ancient landscape were undoubtedly produced by the Roman intervention
that gave birth to the new colony and the planning of the village centre. This consequently led to the reorganization
of a vast territory and the division of the rural area into a dense network of small properties assigned to the settlers.