What happens when a society is not resilient? The collapse of Verucchio settlement in the 7° century a.C
Abstract
Crystalized like a frame in the middle of the 7th century BC, the society of Verucchio - one of the most important Villanovan settlement of the Early Iron Age - shows us the difficulty to understand the dynamics that intercurred within a community during an historical change or a delicate passage. Located in Emilia-Romagna, Verucchio is placed upon a hillfort (330 m.a.s.l) from where its community controlled the routes from the inner regions of Etruria and Latium - passing along the Marecchia riverbanks - to the Adriatic and return, being a fundamental hub in the Adriatic trades that also implied Central Europe.
Inhabited since the Bronze Age, this settlement appears to be the result of a synecistic process that involved the main four hills surrounding the plateau. As far as the tombs can testify, Verucchio was inhabited by a rich and hierarchical society, that seems to have reached its acme around the middle of 7th century (Zamboni, Rondini 2018).
As surprising as it can sound, this society collapse a very few generations after its glorious period. What were the causes? The archaeological records - both from the necropolis and the settlement - indicate that its society passed through significant economic and demographic growth between the 8th and the 7th centuries, during which specialised craft activities for luxury and metal goods can be reported.
This paper aims to focus both on the pottery production and the settlement structures, some of which refer to water management systems and craftsmanship, thanks to fresh data coming from recent excavations of the University of Pavia (Atti Verucchio 2018 in press). If, on one hand, a certain conservatism can still be seen in continuity of some vessels' shapes, suggesting the idea of a society more interested in maintaining traditional forms of self-representation rather than change, on the other hand, the nucleated different productive areas let us think of a well organised society, with a specific leading role in the Iron Age trades.
Previous authors have already tried to explain the causes of the settlement's falling by looking at its inability to rehearse itself into a proper urbanized reality (Von Eles, Trocchi 2015). Nonetheless, it can be reductive to see the complexity of this site just through the lens of the classic urbanism category.
Verucchio was indeed a nucleated and structured site at the beginning of the early Iron Age, according to many archaeological aspects. Since it did not develop in 'historical' centre, it can be seen as a proper example of delicate urbanism (Stoddart 2017).
Nevertheless, to understand the fall of Verucchio we need to look both at endemic and external factors, mostly the changes in commercial Adriatic routes within the 6th and 5th cent. BC, with the rising of new fundamental commercial centres like Adria and Spina.