Voices Of Venice
Anthro-Ecological Perspectives on the Making of Medieval Europe

VoicesOfVenice aims to stimulate a critical reappraisal of the one of the most well studied European historical and social phenomenon, the Origins of Venice.

A  unique archaeological dataset, derived from the privileged viewpoint offered by ongoing excavations in Torcello (Venice Lagoon), is forming the basis of the project.

The project aims to shift from a European standard where material culture has been used to develop historical models, suitable for the explanation of the major past events, to a different ecological and anthropological approach. Giving special attention to the physical processes in which the things of the past (artifacts, landscapes, technologies) have been exposed, archaeological and environmental data will be interrogate for knowing how ancient and present societies have been entrapped into the maintenance and sustaining of a very specific material world.

The research develops a new archaeological viewpoint, including a comprehensive anthropological and environmental approach. It fosters new methods for re-interpret the formation of the new settlements in the Venetian lagoons between Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages.