Latium - Bronze Age

  General Description   The Italian Bronze Age (Età del Bronzo) starts at the tail end of the Eneolithic, but enters its mature phase between 1800 and 1200 BCE (Middle Bronze Age, Età del Bronzo Media), and begins its transition towards the Iron Age between 1200 and 1000 (Late Bronze Age, Tarda Età del Bronzo). ^{[1] [2]} Because Middle Bronze Age material culture is remarkably uniform throughout the peninsula, ^[3] it is difficult to single out any developments that specifically distinguish Latium, the region of Central Italy that roughly corresponds to modern-day Lazio. However, it is worth noting that most sites of this period cluster along the Apennine mountain range; for this reason, Italian Bronze Age culture is sometimes referred to as ’Apennine culture’ (cultura appenninica). ^[3] In the Late Bronze Age, the main cultural traditions were the Subapennine (12th century BCE, subappenninica) and the Proto-Villanovan (11th and 10th centuries BCE, protovillanoviana) ^[4] These traditions brought greater sophistication in agricultural techniques, a greater number and variety of agricultural tools, and advances in metalworking. ^[1]
Population and political organization
It is difficult to infer much about the political organization of the average Italian settlement, either in the Middle or in the Late Bronze Age. There are very few signs of status differentiation, whether in burials, architecture, or material culture more generally. ^[5]
Population was probably sparse up to the Middle Bronze Age in Italy, with settlements of no more than a few dozen inhabitants each. In contrast, the Late Bronze Age witnessed a significant demographic increase, suggested by an increased number of sites and increased site size. Settlements were probably home to a few hundred inhabitants. ^[1]

[1]: (Cornell 1995, 32-33) Tim Cornell. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000‒264 BC). London: Routledge.

[2]: (Anzidei, Sestieri and De Santis 1985, 113-48) Anna Paola Anzidei, Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri and Anna De Santis. 1985. Roma e il Lazio dall’età della pietra alla formazione della città. Rome: Quasar.

[3]: (Cornell 1995, 32) Tim Cornell. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000‒264 BC). London: Routledge.

[4]: (Anzidei, Sestieri and De Santis 1985, 137-39) Anna Paola Anzidei, Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri and Anna De Santis. 1985. Roma e il Lazio dall’età della pietra alla formazione della città. Rome: Quasar.

[5]: (Barker 1995, 156) Graeme Barker. 1995. A Mediterranean Valley: Landscape Archaeology and Annales History in the Biferno Valley. London: Leicester University Press.