Reciproche influenze tra geomorfologia e popolamento antico presso le piane di foce dei fiumi tirrenici. Il caso del Fiume Garigliano

The Garigliano plain (between Lazio and Campania) is characterized still recent times by an alternation of swamps or wet zones and well drained areas due to the presence of old beach ridges. The settlement system and the economy of the region were influenced by these natural conditions. Toponyms, cartography and aerial photos show all the signs of these typical coastal facies. This research wants to reconstruct the evolution of the coastal landscape and to study the relationship between the human presence, the organization of the territory, the historical events and the climatic changes thanks to the geoarchaeological methodologies. Before the Iron Age there is only one settlement on the top of Monte D'Argento, that is a little rocky promontory near the coastline. At the foot of this little hill there was a big swamp attested by a level of peats that was changing into a little lagoon communicating with the sea. This change terminated with the beginning of the Iron Age and contemporary a new settlements system started. The Roman control of the region started at the end of IVth century b.C. with the deduction of 3 colonies (Sessa Aurunca, Sinuessa, Minturno), and the centuriation of the territory. In this period there is a great number of archaeological areas that shows a widely spread population. Minturnae was located on the top of the most ancient beach ridge, from where it was possible to control an important crossing point on the river. After the IInd-IIIrd century A.D. there are few zones with pottery or archaeological sites and we can infer that a crisis of the settlement system was in act. The town was inhabitated till the end of the VIth or the beginning of the VIIth century A.D., then the population moved to the nearest hills.