ACCORDIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Welcome to the webpage of the Accordia Research Institute
Accordia is a research institute in the University of London. It operates in association with the Institute of Archaeology, UCL and with the Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. It is dedicated to the promotion and co-ordination of research into all aspects of early Italy, from first settlement to the end of the pre-industrial period.
We organise lectures, research seminars, conferences and exhibitions on aspects of Italian archaeology and history, and publish a regular journal on the same theme; details of the 2024-2025 lecture series can be found here.
Accordia also has an extensive programme of research publications. We publish specialist volumes, seminars, conferences and excavation reports. Our policy is to encourage and support research into early Italy, especially by younger scholars, to get new work disseminated as rapidly as possible, and to improve access to recent and innovative research. We believe our books and our journal represent a valuable contribution to the development of the subject area. Accordia publishes its own Journal, the Accordia Research Papers.
We also run - or are associated with - a number of research and fieldwork projects based in Britain and in Italy.
Accordia operates on a voluntary, non-profit basis, supported by subscriptions and donations. Publications are self-financing. Everyone gives their services without payment.
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News and Recent Publications
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Ruth Whitehouse published Writing Matters: Italy in the First Millennium BCE with Bloomsbury in 2024.
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A new book edited by Fabio Saccoccio and Elisa Vecchi, entitled, Who do you think you are? Ethnicity in the Iron Age Mediterranean was released in 2022.
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Accordia Events 2025-2026
The full programme for this year's Accordia Lectures can be found here. As in previous years, lectures are held either at the Senate House or the Institute of Archaeology in Gordon Square. We are also very pleased that the third series of the Early Career talks will continue with two papers in each session, details can be found here.
Accordia Lecture
Tuesday, May 5, 17.30
Joint Lecture with the Institute of Classical Studies
Room 264, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1
Crafting Etruria: ceramic production and urbanisation (late 10th - mid 7th century BCE)
Silvia Amicone, University of Tübingen
During the Early Iron Age (late 10th to late 8th century BCE), the Mediterranean became a zone of intensified interaction among seafaring communities from diverse cultural backgrounds. Within this dynamic network, Etruria in central Italy emerged as a pivotal interface between the eastern and western Mediterranean. It is in this context that profound sociopolitical and economic transformations laid the foundations for early urbanism.
This presentation investigates the technological and social dimensions of ceramic production as a key proxy for these transformations, arguing for its central role in the emergence of the first Etruscan city-states. By foregrounding pottery production as both a technological practice and a socially embedded activity, the study highlights its value for reconstructing processes of craft organisation, resource management, and economic intensification.
Our research adopts an integrated and methodologically innovative approach, combining archaeometric analyses with systematic geological surveys across several early settlements. Through the identification and characterisation of local raw material sources, we reconstruct patterns of procurement and production, shedding light on how potters adapted their technological choices to changing social, economic, and environmental conditions.
Particular attention is given to the transition from the late Early Iron Age to the Orientalising period (late 8th to early 7th century BCE), a phase marked by significant technological innovation. These include the introduction of the fast wheel, advances in firing regimes associated with red slipped wares, and the emergence of bucchero. Rather than viewing these developments in isolation, we interpret them as material expressions of increasing craft specialisation, social stratification, and expanding intercultural connectivity.
By situating ceramic production within broader processes of urbanisation and Mediterranean interaction, this study offers new perspectives on the material foundations of early Etruscan urbanism. It demonstrates that technological choices were not merely functional, but deeply embedded in and constitutive of the social transformations that shaped early complex societies in central Italy.
Fiora Valley, Italy
