| Summary: | This research analyses the modes and outcomes of economic and social interaction, adopting a theoretical framework that merges elements of Marxism and social network thinking. The focus is on the Bronze Age societies constituting the interface between the Eastern Mediterranean and Europe, the area around the Southern Adriatic Sea in the period from the establishment of the first regular contacts with the Aegean world, up to the end of the 2nd millennium BC. The primary medium through which the examination is carried out is pottery from a number of key sites in the region, which is analysed through a variety of methodologies, including contextual and stylistic comparison as well as formal network analyses. The study is organized as a diachronic enquiry in which evidence from a large number of contexts (examined in relation to both consumption and production) is deployed to discuss the development of three nested scales through which interaction took place. The first of these scales is the individual community, with the main case study provided by the long lived site of Roca in Apulia, which has yielded the largest amount of Aegean type material retrieved to date west of Greece. This material is largely unpublished and is comprehensively analysed for the first time. The second scale considers the region of Apulia on the western side of the Adriatic, which was the focus of intense interaction with the Aegean world during the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. The final scale encompasses much of the Mediterranean and assesses the long term and large scale implications of the phenomena observed at the site and region levels. The results of this study highlight the critical role played by southern Adriatic societies in establishing and maintaining interaction with other areas of the Mediterranean, and stresses at the same time the important social implications of such linkages.
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