This volume is a detailed and methodologically sustained examination of the rural hinterland surrounding Tuscania, a small town in Lazio approximately 90 kilometres north-west of Rome. Drawing upon the findings of the Tuscania Archaeological Survey, conducted almost 40 years ago between 1986 and 1990, the volume synthesises the results of that project and reassesses its significance in the light of recent developments in landscape archaeology. Specifically, the volume aims to shed light upon the unrecorded lives of the generations of farmers and shepherds who inhabited the landscape around Tuscania, contextualising their experiences within the broader processes of cultural, economic and political change that took place over a prolonged chronological period. Framed around a series of interrelated questions, the volume traces the character of prehistoric settlement prior to Etruscan urbanisation, paying careful attention to patterns of land use and continuity. It examines how processes of urban expansion impacted the lives of the so-called ‘ordinary Etruscans’, exploring the reciprocal relationship between centre and periphery, and how rural communities both contributed to, and were reshaped by, the growth of urban centres. The study further considers the significant implications of incorporation into the Roman imperial system, with its increasingly far-reaching economic structures, administrative mechanisms and networks of exchange. Extending the chronological scope, the volume addresses the effects of Roman imperial contraction and collapse as well as the emergence of nucleated medieval settlement on Tuscania’s rural communities. In doing so, the volume highlights both moments of disruption and patterns of continuity, while emphasising the longue durée of rural occupation and adaptation. Comprising nine chapters alongside extensive figures, tables and appendices, the volume presents a rich and methodically structured body of research. The study demonstrates its continued relevance to Mediterranean landscape archaeology, offering a valuable dataset and a reflexive methodological framework, even as the authors acknowledge the shifting intellectual contexts within which the original research was conducted. It therefore stands as a substantial contribution to the field and a thoughtful reassessment of earlier approaches to archaeological survey and interpretation.

The volume opens with an introductory chapter that sets out the aims and objectives of the Tuscania Archaeological Survey, while providing readers with an accessible and straightforward narrative summary of the individual chapters. This narrative summary helps to clarify how the analysis unfolds across the subsequent chapters, making it easier for readers of varying levels of subject-specific knowledge to follow the progression of arguments and evidence across a substantial chronological period. Within this introduction the authors not only justify the selection of Tuscania as an appropriate and productive case study with particular reference to Tuscania’s settlement archaeology and history, but also situate the project within broader interdisciplinary developments. In particular, attention is given to the theoretical shifts in landscape archaeology associated with post-processual approaches, drawing on influential thinkers such as I. Hodder, alongside key contributions from geographers including D. Cosgrove, E. Hirsch and M. O’Hanlon, especially in relation to concepts such as landscapes and taskscapes (pp. 4–5). Following this theoretical grounding, the volume moves on to a substantial chapter in which the methodological framework is laid out in detail. In Chapter 2, ‘Methodologies’, the authors explain the approaches adopted in the survey, outlining the practical and analytical methods underpinning the study. The methodological framework is presented with clarity and intellectual rigour; moreover, the authors situate it within broader debates surrounding the merits and limitations of field survey in Mediterranean archaeology. While the authors persuasively articulate the advantages of extensive field survey methods over excavation, especially in their capacity to reconstruct regional settlement patterns, they do not shy away from acknowledging ongoing scholarly debates concerning the overall reliability and interpretative limits of survey data in such contexts. The methodological approach established for defining the project’s study area is compelling, and it is grounded in historically informed considerations relating to the evolving relationships between Tuscania and its surrounding countryside (p. 28). The historically nuanced decisions taken in defining the geographical scope of the project are complemented by a carefully formulated sampling strategy with Tuscania serving as the focal point of a 10 km radius territory. The sampling strategy employs a combination of transects, randomly selected 1 km² blocks and judgmentally chosen 1 km² blocks. These sampling methods provided coverage of 97 km², which equates to approximately 27% of the total territory subject to systematic survey (p. 38). A noteworthy aspect of the project’s methodology is its commitment to total artefact collection and the comprehensive quantification of finds, representing a methodological approach that enhances the overall analytical potential of the dataset.

Chapter 3, ‘The Natural Landscape and its Evolution’, is distinct in its subject matter and approach and could arguably be read as a stand-alone contribution. It is a scientifically complex and detailed chapter that addresses the environmental data and geomorphic changes that contributed to the development of the survey area over time. Despite its distinctness, it is an essential contribution; indeed, as the authors succinctly point out, ‘no attempt to evaluate the longue durée of human settlement and culture can ignore the environment as both a formative influence and a cultural artefact’ (p. 61). Although the chapter may prove challenging for readers who are not specialists in this field, it is well integrated into the volume, and the data are presented in an accessible manner, complemented by detailed explanatory figures and tables. Chapter 4, ‘Prehistoric Landscapes’, establishes that Tuscania and its hinterlands evolved gradually over time, with analysis spanning the Palaeolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and early Iron Age. It highlights the area’s increasing importance during the late Bronze Age, though this did not translate into sustained centralisation in the early Iron Age, where evidence of activity becomes less visible and more dispersed. Chapter 5, ‘Etruscan Urbanization, c. 700–300 bc’, concludes that the landscape around Tuscania was far more densely populated than previously thought. Initial sampling suggested that settlement was concentrated within a 12 km² zone (p. 173), but further analysis revealed a more complex picture. The project also strengthens the area’s chronology, indicating peak population in the sixth century (p. 174). Chapter 6, ‘“Romanization”: The Roman Republican Period, c. 300–30 bc’, emphasises four key findings: continuity in settlement patterns from Etruscan times, suggesting that the ‘subjugation of the area by the Roman army’ (p. 212) had minimal impact on existing ownership systems; significant rural expansion, described as a ‘filling up of the countryside’ (p. 212); evidence for a distinct settlement hierarchy; and the implications of these findings for models of demographic and socioeconomic change during Roman expansion (p. 213). Chapter 7, ‘The Roman Imperial and Late Antique Periods, c. 30 bc–c. ad 700’, concludes that settlement became less stable in the early imperial period, with fewer sites and more disruption, likely linked to first-century bc upheavals. Unlike areas nearer Rome, which saw expansion, Tuscania remained densely populated and agriculturally productive, though too distant to develop comparable elite villa landscapes. Chapter 8, ‘Incastellamento and its Aftermath: Medieval and Modern Landscapes, c. ad 700 to the Present’, remains as significant in analytical scope and methodological rigour as the preceding chapters, examining evidence from the medieval to modern periods. Chapter 9, ‘A Mediterranean Landscape from Prehistory to Modernity’, closes the volume with a thorough review of Tuscania’s landscape history, offering reflections on the survey’s methodology and a succinct combined conclusion to the volume.

Overall, this is an engaging and well-presented book that will appeal to readers of varying levels of expertise. The volume achieves an effective balance between accessibility and academic depth; it is methodologically rigorous, and it presents conclusions that are robust and firmly evidence based. The authors are to be commended for successfully bringing this long-term project to fruition.