New light on old data: Toward understanding settlement and social organization in Middle Bronze Age Aeolian Islands (Sicily) through quantitative and multivariate analysis Gianmarco Alberti Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, Tal-Qroqq, Msida MSD 2080, Malta abstract article info Article history: Received 24 July 2016 Received in revised form 21 November 2016 Accepted 3 December 2016 Available online xxxx Settlement and social organization in Middle Bronze Age Sicily (ca 1490–1250 BCE) have received scant attention compared to that devoted to broader cultural processes during the same period. In spite of some limitations, this work aims at filling the gap building on published evidence from Capo Milazzese settlement (Aeolian Archipel- ago, north-eastern Sicily), which is taken as case study. On the basis of a preliminary yet necessary study of de- posits' formation process, and by means of quantitative and multivariate analyses, this work seeks to pinpoint the activities performed within the settlement, and to understand their material and spatial correlates. For the first time, this work identifies habitations and utilitarian huts highlighting differences in terms of artefacts inven- tories and floor area. Evidence hinting at huts' functional changes, and at special activities such as pottery produc- tion, is located. The material culture patterning brought to the fore by the analysis provides grounds to infer traits of households' socio-economic, architectural, and spatial organization, and to open a window into local processes that may account for the social meaning of food consumption practices, and for the incorporation of foreign pot- tery into local ceramic inventories. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Sicily Middle Bronze Age Aeolian Islands Settlement Social organization Material culture Activity areas 1. Introduction Scholars have devoted attention to Middle Bronze Age (MBA, ca 1490–1250 BCE) Sicily because of the evidence of different cultural pro- cesses taking place during this period (overview in: Leighton, 1999; Tusa, 1992). Although limited evidence is known about key sites such as Cannatello and Thapsos (De Miro, 1999; Voza, 1999), ceramic evi- dence shows that the island was part of a network of maritime connec- tions tying Sicily to the Italian mainland (Bernabò Brea and Cavalier, 1968, 1980; Di Gennaro, 1997; Macchiarola, 1987, 1995), Late Bronze Age Greece (Cavalier and Vagnetti, 1984; Smith, 1987b; Taylour, 1958, 1980; Vagnetti, 1991; Van Wijngaarden, 2002; Vianello, 2005), Cyprus (Alberti, 2008, 2015a; Karageorghis, 1995; Vagnetti, 2001), and Malta (Tanasi, 2008; Tanasi and Vella, 2011). Aspects of burial practices and the adoption of foreign cultural traits, both in the domestic and funerary architecture, at Thapsos indicate that overseas relations went hand in hand with the development of social asymmetries at some sites (Alberti, 2006; D'Agata, 1997; Doonan, 2001; Tomasello, 1997, 2004). Compared to the attention paid to overseas contacts and to their broader chronological and cultural implications, the interest in settle- ments layout and material culture patterning at the site level has been comparatively smaller. Questions regarding aspects of settlement orga- nization have remained unaddressed, even though the very presence of foreign materials should have strongly called for a better understanding of the contexts in which they were used. While this could be accounted for by the lack of fully published evidence from key MBA sites, the avail- ability of sufficiently detailed data from the Aeolian Archipelago (north- eastern Sicily) should have been made this endeavour feasible. Still, this type of research has been long overlooked (Section 3). This work aims at filling the gap. It focuses on the Aeolian Archipel- ago and takes the site of Capo Milazzese on the island of Panarea as a case study (Fig. 1). This is done since the archaeological evidence for this site has been published in sufficient detail, and because the site has no later disturbances. The MBA evidence from Filicudi and Lipari is examined to assess whether patterns inferred analysing the case study site hold true beyond it. The evidence from Portella on the island of Sa- lina (Bernabò Brea and Cavalier, 1968; Martinelli, 2005, 2011) is not considered since it was possibly used for specific non-residential tasks (Alberti, 2012; Cazzella and Recchia, 2009). In a bottom-up perspective that seeks to understand the spatial distribution of the material remains of past activities, Correspondence Analysis (CA) is used to explore the relation between functional classes of objects and huts. Once possible functional differences among huts and groups thereof are isolated, the relation between huts' function and size, and the extent to which func- tionally different huts may relate spatially, is considered. The material Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 11 (2017) 310–329 E-mail addresses: gianmarco.alberti@um.edu.mt, gianmarcoalberti@gmail.com. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.12.002 2352-409X/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jasrep