REVIEW article

Front. Hum. Dyn.

Sec. Institutions and Collective Action

Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fhumd.2025.1569997

This article is part of the Research TopicThe Socioeconomic Dynamics of Settling DownView all 9 articles

The process of nucleation amongst the early cities of central Italy in the first millennium BC

Provisionally accepted
Simon Kenneth StoddartSimon Kenneth Stoddart1*Emily BreslinEmily Breslin2Carmen EspositoCarmen Esposito3Gian Battista MarrasGian Battista Marras1Ann Frijda SchmidtAnn Frijda Schmidt1Angela TrentacosteAngela Trentacoste4Camilla ZevianiCamilla Zeviani1
  • 1University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • 2Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
  • 3University of Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
  • 4British School at Rome, Rome, Lazio, Italy

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This article assesses the process of nucleation amongst the early cities of Tyrrhenian central Italy in the first millennium BC. The article examines the advantages, disadvantages and causes of nucleation. A multi-proxy and multi scalar perspective is implemented drawing on the available evidence for aDNA, stable isotopes, pedology/geoarchaeology, animal and plant remains, contextualized within the settlement archaeology. The article contains original data for settlement distribution, plant remains and stable isotopic analysis of plants.

Keywords: nucleation, Central Italy, ANCIENT DNA, Isotopes, First millennium BC, Etruria, plant agriculture, Animal Husbandry

Received: 02 Feb 2025; Accepted: 19 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Stoddart, Breslin, Esposito, Marras, Schmidt, Trentacoste and Zeviani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Simon Kenneth Stoddart, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

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