Kainua (Marzabotto). Environment, Landscape, and Economy

Bioarchaeology has the specific aim of reconstructing economic and cultural aspects related to the ancient environment and landscape. This discipline comprises specific branches according to the different biological remains that are found in archaeological contexts, i.e. human, faunal, and botanical. Bioarchaeological studies have been part of Kainua’s research activities since the last twenty years, adding specific information to the traditional study of architectural structures and the material culture. This contribution presents the results of archaeozoological and archaeobotanical investigations, which concurred to reconstructing significant aspects of this important Etruscan center for both the daily life activities and the ritual sphere, where animals and plants were often the traditional protagonists of meaningful symbolic gestures.