The Early Neolithic Lake-shore Settlement of La Marmotta at Lake Bracciano (Anguillara Sabazia, Rome, Italy): A Critical Overview of the Current State of Research, and a Discussion of Selected Aspects

Occupied from around 5600 BC, the lakeshore settlement of La Marmotta at Lake Bracciano (Anguillara Sabazia, Rome, Italy) counts as one of the earliest permanently occupied wetland settlements in southern Europe. The first settlers were a Neolithic group, pursuing crop cultivation and stock breeding. The archaeological site with its fascinating spectrum of finds is not only of great interest per se but also plays a key role in the understanding of the supra-regional spread of the Neolithic along the northern Mediterranean coast. Thus, the settlement seems to have been a kind of gateway from which the western Mediterranean region, and possibly also the western Alpine region, would have received essential inputs, especially in terms of agricultural resources and practices. The pending evaluation of the extensive underwater excavations between 1992 and 2006 currently only allows for a provisional and relatively diffuse knowledge of the site. In the present chapter, the site chronology, selected aspects of the settlers’ way of life, in particular concerning agriculture but also navigation, as well as the site’s potential role in the Neolithisation of the western Mediterranean are dealt with in detail.