Peter Attema, Јаn Delvigne, and Bernit-Jan Haagsma 1NTRODUCT10N This сопtгibutiопintends toillustratetheimportanceof lосаlenvironmentalreconstructionforthe interpretation of aIchaeological data. The data deIive from field work that was carried out since 1987 as part of the Pontine Region Project (PRP). This ргоесt includes landscape andarchaeologicalsuгvеуsofsampleагеаsinthePontine Region, about 60 kmsouth of Rome in the province of Lazio (Figs. 1 1 . 1  and 1 1.2). Fieldwork before 1991 has Ьееп publishedinAttema (1993). Fromthebeginning,thestrategyoftheprojectwasto сотпе environmental and агсhаеоlоgiсаI field data - the topic of this contribution- with cartographicaI, his toricaI, and ethnographical information. 1t was felt that these sources togethel" would furnish а sound basis for diachronicreconstructionsofthewaysјпwhichthevагiеd Iandscapes of the Pontine Region were used in the past. Thearchaeologicalinterest ofthe projectisthedevelop ment of Latial society from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman 1mperiaI period (. 1000 BC-AD 400). PhysiographicaIIy,threemајогIandscapetypesсапЬе deIineated. Thefirstisthedissectedlandscapebelonging tothevo1canicsystemoftheСоlliAlbani, whichborders the Pontine plain to the northwest. 1tis the landscape in whichthe Latinsocietyofthe1ron Age developed. The secondisthePontineplain,аgraben filledwithlagoonal deposits (notoriously maIshy before the wholesale Iand reclamationsof thelate 1920s), separated fromtheТуг IhenianseaЬуаsystemofbeachridges.1nthehistoryof sеdепtагуsettlementofthePontineRegion,thislandscape wasопlуputtomarginaIuse. Thirdly,thereisthezoneof theLepiniandAusonimountais.Economic andpoIitical сопtгоI of its foothills and slopes Ьесате increasingly importantfromеагlуRomantimesonwrds. TheаЬоуеcharacterizationis,however,аhighlysimpli fied image of а far тоге dynamic and divегsе [ea1ity. NaturaIIy, the human activities were not limited to апу опеof theabove-mentionedI andscapesduringthevarious episodesofthe settlement historyofthePontineRegion human landscapes аге not necessarily defined Ьу the natural environment, nor аге they equivalent to 'our' physiographic landscapes ог 'оиг' regions. Оп the со п trary, theагсhаеоlоgуandhistoryofsettlement andland useinthePontineregionгеуеаlеуегnewcombinationsof landscape elementstoЬеinuse, оуег time resultinginа palimpsestof 'supeIimposed' landscapes.Thesewerenot опlу defined Ьу functionalist categories (subsistence, technology, resources), but also Ьу ideological ones (tгаditiоп, re1igion, powel" relationships), with environ mentalchangeaffectingboth. Since the theme of the уоlите is landscape archae ologyandenvironmentalIeconstruction,wepresentthree casestudiesthatillustгаtеtheiпtегрlауbetweenenviron mental and archaeological data in reconstructing and iпtегргеtiпgsettlementand landusepatternsinthefirst millenniumвс. Casestudies1and2агеconcernedwith erosionandsedimentationepisodesIoughlypin-pointed intimeusingarchaeologicaldating(ceramics)andradio сагЬопdating. Case study3 considersа poIIendiagram in relation to а specific Roman Republican settlement pattern. CASE1: MUDFLOWSED1MENTS NEAR ТНЕ S1TE OFCARACUPAALV1SC10,O Outline о[ the case-study Some aspects of sedimentation inthe suгvеу агеа were investigatedопаlocationintheplainbeneaththeRoman соlопуof Norba, пеагtheLatinsettlementofСагасира Valvisciolo. п eposure in а foundation pit revealed mudflowdepositsопtopofcoIIuvialdeposits. Thiscase of environmental change bears directly ироп the land scae potentiaI of this particular part of the plain. As such,ithelpstoreconstructthelосаlenvironmentofthe protohistoric settlement of Сагасира Valvisciolo. The exposurealsocontainedfeaturesofdirect archaeological interest. Case studies from the Pontine Region in Central Italy on Settlement and Enviromental Change in the First Millenium BC 11.