“…The focus has been on settlement patterns and the spatial-hierarchical relationships between smaller and larger sites (for example, in Italy: Potter, 1979; Barker, 1995; Carandini et al , 2002; Patterson, 2004). In northern Europe, many of the smaller sites found in survey have been excavated: in Italy the number remains relatively small, and those subject to modern open-area excavation smaller still (for example: Jones, 1963; Delano-Smith and Gadd, 1986; Perkins and Attolini, 1987; Motta, 1997; Ciampoltrini and Zecchini, 2005). Archaeological data on Italian Roman peasants thus remain confined to topographic questions, while issues of domestic architecture, diet, agricultural techniques and social relationships remain largely un-interrogated (Witcher, 2006a; 2006b).…”