-- POTTERY TECHNOLOGY AND THE QUESTION OF PRE-URBAN AND EARLY URBAN TRANSFORMATIONS IN SOUTHERN LAZIO BY MARIANNE MAASKANT-KLEIBRINK and PETER ATTEMA Abstract In this contribution, five, interlinked archaeological research projects,conducted by the Groningen archaeological department on centralisation and urbanisation processes in southen Lazio, wil! be discussed: (1) the excavation at Borgo Le Ferriere (Satricum) di rected by Prof. Maaskant-Kleibrink; (2) the Pontine Region Project directed by Prof. Attema (PRP); (3) the studies on technological and economic change by O. Nijboer; (4) the study of cults by O. Bouma; and (S) the Lazio Ceramic Research Project (LCRP), in which all the above researchers and the Groningen laboratory par ticipate. The last-mentioned, combined project has resulted in the identi fication of a number of fabric categories and pottery wares. These Maaskant-Kleibrink wil! discuss for each of the closed features (huts and houses) excavated at Borgo Le Ferriere (Satricum) and then extend the discussion to some of the conclusions that Attema has reached on the spread of these in the various landscapes of southen Lazio. In the LCRP, we hope to be able to roughly date and locate the main colonization pattens; first that of the early Latins, then that of the first Archaic towns, and lastly the movements of the first Ro man colonization in the Pontine region. It has been claimed that significant changes, observable in pottery production, coincide with the social, economic and religious changes in Lazio and, conse quently, that the transition from huts to houses is, to some extent, identifiable with the fabric and ware groups. In the period 1976-91, the Groningen Institute of Archae ology (GIA) excavated, under the direction of the first au thor, parts of an ancient Latin settIement along the River Asturanearpresent-dayBorgoLeFeTiere,kownasSatri cum, situated 60 km south of Rome (Satricum l and II). Since 1987, the GlA hasalso been involved in a regional survey undertaken by the Pontine Region Project (PRP) in thesamearea,aprojectthatisbeingcoordinatedbythesec ondauthor(Attema1993) (Figs. 1 and 2). Theceramicda tabase resulting from these two long-telm, field projects is currently the subject of a regional, pottery-research pro gramme caTied out by GIA members.1 The program me combines the stratigraphical information on the ceramics derivingfromthemainfeaturesknownatSatricumwiththe regionaldistributionpattensfunishedbythe PRPwithina fabric-and-ware based research programme (cf. Adams & Adams 1991). It aims at establishing a fabric-classification systemofcommonimpastoandcom'se-waresherd material, to which a chronologically arranged ware typology and functional classification will be related. The results will be publishedinafieldmanual,inordertofacilitatethequanti tative and qualitative processing of excavation and survey ceramicsfromsouthenLazio.Thetheoreticalaimofthere searchprogram me is to be able to address broad, cultural questions pertaining to centralisation, urbanisation and col onisation processes, such as that raised by this conference on the transition from huts to houses, from a regional per spective. A SHORT COMMENT ON THE SATRICUM STRATIGRAPHY Atthe end of the 19th century, the ancient Latin settIement hill with its sacred centre, Satricum, then called Poggio delle Ferriere, was excavated by an archaeological team fromtheVillaGiuliaMuseumatRome,while,betweenthe late nineteen-seventies and the present-day, the site, which is one of the oldest Latin settlements known in southen Lazio, has been thesubject of Dutch excavations. At Satri cum, the transition from huts to houses is aclear, stratigra phicalphenomenon,sincethehutpitsarebelowthehouses. More precisely, the features dating from the 9th to the 7th centuries B.C. are pits and trenc11es cut into the virgin soil, while the 6th-5th-centuries B.C. foundation walls of the housesstandontopofthissoil (Fig. 3). Presumably,theex tensivelevellingwhichthebuildingoflarge, Archaiccourt yard-huses with dimensions of 25 x 25 m demanded trun catedmuchoftheupperstructuresofthehuts. Still, even if we take into account aseveretruncationoftheearlier, Iron Age features, the Iron Age pits found on the Poggio delle Ferriereareanomalouswhencomparedwiththeremainsof huts found in Rome (Davico 1951, 125ff.), Lavinium (Fenelli & Guaitoli1990, 182ff.)and Ficana (Brandt 1996, 4 l ff.). At those sites, substantial wall trenches and post I The participants in this programme are Drs. A. Beijer, A. Nijboer and G. Van Oortmerssen. The coordination is in hands of Profs. M. Kleibrink and P.A J. Attema.