This extensive study documents the long-term human settlement history of the Biferno Valley in central-southern Italy, from its earliest occupation in the Stone Age right up to the present day. Integrating the techniques of archaeology, history and geography, Barker shows how settlement in the Valley is inextricably linked to the parallel story of landscape development, his themes and subjects including: Approaches to Mediterranean landscape history; The modern landscape; Methodologies of the Biferno Valley Survey; The natural landscape and its evolution; Early prehsitoric settlement; The first agricultural communities; Iron Age chiefdoms (c.1000-500 BC); Pentri, Frentani and the beginnings of urbanization (c.500--80 BC); Roman towns and territories (c.80 BC-600 AD); The evolution of hilltop villages (AD 600-1500); Feudalism and the Southern Question' (AD 1500 to the present).
