Over 2500 years ago, some of the earliest cities in Western Europe emerged in central Italy. As in all urban societies, increased rural productivity was essential for their growth. Yet, little is known about these early cities mobilised the resources needed to supported urban life. How were cities fed? How far were resources moved? Were territorial borders hard or soft? What types of natural environments were important for urban growth?

UrbanHerds integrates archaeological and scientific analyses to investigate territoriality and city–landscape interaction in archaic Etruscan cities (c. 6th–4th centuries BC). The project combines traditional archaeological approaches, zooarchaeological analysis of animal remains and isotopic chemistry to reconstruct the feeding and mobility patterns of domestic livestock. Because livestock typically lived off-site, outside of urban settlements, they provide direct evidence for the types of environments that cities exploited. Herds were also mobile, and by reconstructing animal mobility patterns we gain insight into landscape connectivity and the nature of movement within and beyond urban hinterlands.

Initially funded by the Humboldt Foundation and now hosted at the British School at Rome, UrbanHerds is led by Dr Angela Trentacoste, PJ Smith Senior Fellow in Archaeology, and made possible by collaboration with colleagues at the Universities of Kiel, Milan, Bologna, Cambridge and Manchester, as well as the Parco Archeologico Ambientale dell’Orvietano and the regional Soprintendenze Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio.