Environment, crops and harvesting strategies during the II millennium BC: Resilience and adaptation in socio-economic systems of Bronze Age communities in Apulia (SE Italy)

The different lines of evidence explored provide the basis for a discussion of the possible reasons for changes in subsistence strategies during the course of the Bronze Age in the area. What emerges from our analysis are major transformations of annual crop husbandry, seasonal harvesting strategies and storage technologies, one in the Middle and one in the Late Bronze Age. Although the first transformation appears to be linked to climate forces, the latter seems to be the result of social and political “pressure”.