Dinamiche insediative di carattere policentrico nella Puglia medievale

Abstract

For a long time, and at least in some of its sectors, the medieval Puglia has manifested trends towards polycentric settlements or at any rate has shown traits in this direction, in a sense of polycentrism as the presence of hierarchically little differentiated situations or as the absence of prevailing and emerging sites. Some dissymmetry between the different powers acting in the area (political, ecclesiastical, economic) and some environmental, territorial and demic conditions have favored this phenomenon in any case, leaving physical and geographical spaces, production and materials margins for different solutions with respect to the creation of rigid hierarchies, the implementation of centripetal processes, the emergence of dominant sites or realities. The contribution outlines some dynamics of this process in the light of a diverse range of archaeological data, with particular reference to northern Puglia; in a broader geographical perspective also to the Terra di Bari, a focus is dedicated to the characters of buildings, which also reflects phenomena of not marked hierarchy between the settlements of 9th - early 12th cent.