Latium - Iron Age

  General Description   In Latium, the region of Central Italy roughly corresponding to modern-day Lazio, the earliest evidence for the emergence of a distinctive regional culture dates to the 10th century BCE. ^[1] Iron Age Latial culture has been divided into the following phases and sub-phases: LC I (1000-900), LC IIA (900-830), LC IIB (830-770), LC IIIA (770-740), LC IIIB (740-720), LC IVA (720-620) and LC IVB (620-580). ^[2] This period is known by several names, including Old Latium (Latium Vetus in Latin and Lazio Antico in Italian) and the Southern Villanovan. ^[3]
The first and second phases of the Latial culture correspond respectively to the Proto-Villanovan and Villanovan archaeological cultures of Italy as a whole. The fourth phase is contemporary with the Orientalizing period of Etruscan civilization, and the third phase is transitional between the second and fourth phases. LC I is characterized by simple undecorated pottery and cremation as the dominant funerary rite, while in LC II cremation is replaced by inhumation, and pottery is decorated with simple patterns. Foreign influences can be detected in the pottery of LC III, and in the fourth and final phase both foreign pottery and its local imitations are represented. ^[2] Major sites include Osteria dell’Osa and Castel di Decima.
Population and political organization
It is difficult to reconstruct the exact political organization of Iron Age settlements in Latium. At Osteria dell’Osa, one of the most well studied LC II sites likely inhabited by between one and three hundred people, the distribution and quality of grave goods suggest that status was largely determined by age and gender. Men were usually buried with weapons, women with weaving equipment and jewellery, and the elderly with drinking cups. LC III and IV burials provide evidence for increasing social differentiation, a decrease in the importance of gender and age for determining status, and greater receptivity to external (i.e. Greek and Etruscan) influences. Most of the burials at Castel di Decima (LC III and IV) are quite simple inhumations, with no or modest grave goods, but a minority of graves are accompanied by high-quality goods such as amber beads, gold fibulae, and even chariots. The wealth of this minority appears to increase throughout the 8th and 7th centuries. ^[2]
There appear to be no reliable estimates for the overall population of Latium at this time. However, a few estimates exist for the population size of settlements. At one extreme, some sources suggest that thousands of people lived at some Iron Age settlements. ^[4] However, Osteria dell’Osa likely only had between one and three hundred inhabitants. ^[2]

[1]: (Anzidei, Sestieri and De Santis 1985, 140) 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.

[2]: (Forsythe 2006, 53-58) Gary Forsythe. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

[3]: (Cornell 1995, 33-55) 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]: (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.