The last battle of Muro Leccese, the town that faced Rome represents one of the most innovative and significant contributions of recent years in the fields of conflict archaeology and pre-Roman Messapian studies. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of archaeological research conducted at the Messapian site of Muro Leccese, the volume reconstructs the events that led to the destruction of the town during the Second Punic War with scientific rigour and an extraordinary wealth of data. The work integrates, in an original manner, archaeological data, military history, physical anthropology, taphonomic analysis, experimental archaeology, and digital technologies, offering a multidisciplinary reading of the military events that affected the Salento region in the third century BCE. The evidence recovered from the excavations – lead sling bullets, stone catapult balls, scorpio bolt-heads, defensive structures, and material traces of the siege – allows for the reconstruction, with rare precision, of the dynamics of an armed confrontation between Rome and one of the principal Messapian cities of southern Italy. Particular prominence is given to the anthropological analyses of the anomalous burials uncovered at the site, which restore the human dimension of warfare through the observation of emergency funerary practices, the study of trauma, and the living conditions of the individuals involved in the conflict. The volume is further distinguished by its attention to public archaeology, with contributions by Ruben Cataldo and Francesco Cellamare devoted to the reconstruction of Roman siege engines. Of considerable relevance for the purpose of wider dissemination is also the facial reconstruction of one of the individuals involved in the fighting, carried out by Chantal Milani using advanced three- dimensional modelling technologies. The result is a work that successfully combines scientific rigour, methodological innovation, and communicative impact. Owing to the quality of the evidence gathered and the interdisciplinary approach adopted, the book constitutes a substantial contribution to the field of battlefield archaeology. In a scholarly landscape in which the Hannibalic War has long been studied predominantly through literary sources, this volume demonstrates how much archaeology can restore what texts leave unspoken: the bodies, the weapons, and the desperate choices of a town that attempted to resist Roman conquest.
THE LAST BATTLE OF MURO LECCESE, THE TOWN THAT FACED ROME. Archaeology of a Battlefield of the Second Punic War
Meo F.
;Viva S.
2026-01-01
Abstract
The last battle of Muro Leccese, the town that faced Rome represents one of the most innovative and significant contributions of recent years in the fields of conflict archaeology and pre-Roman Messapian studies. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of archaeological research conducted at the Messapian site of Muro Leccese, the volume reconstructs the events that led to the destruction of the town during the Second Punic War with scientific rigour and an extraordinary wealth of data. The work integrates, in an original manner, archaeological data, military history, physical anthropology, taphonomic analysis, experimental archaeology, and digital technologies, offering a multidisciplinary reading of the military events that affected the Salento region in the third century BCE. The evidence recovered from the excavations – lead sling bullets, stone catapult balls, scorpio bolt-heads, defensive structures, and material traces of the siege – allows for the reconstruction, with rare precision, of the dynamics of an armed confrontation between Rome and one of the principal Messapian cities of southern Italy. Particular prominence is given to the anthropological analyses of the anomalous burials uncovered at the site, which restore the human dimension of warfare through the observation of emergency funerary practices, the study of trauma, and the living conditions of the individuals involved in the conflict. The volume is further distinguished by its attention to public archaeology, with contributions by Ruben Cataldo and Francesco Cellamare devoted to the reconstruction of Roman siege engines. Of considerable relevance for the purpose of wider dissemination is also the facial reconstruction of one of the individuals involved in the fighting, carried out by Chantal Milani using advanced three- dimensional modelling technologies. The result is a work that successfully combines scientific rigour, methodological innovation, and communicative impact. Owing to the quality of the evidence gathered and the interdisciplinary approach adopted, the book constitutes a substantial contribution to the field of battlefield archaeology. In a scholarly landscape in which the Hannibalic War has long been studied predominantly through literary sources, this volume demonstrates how much archaeology can restore what texts leave unspoken: the bodies, the weapons, and the desperate choices of a town that attempted to resist Roman conquest.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
