Identifying the ‘Lucanians’ has long been a complex issue. Myriad approaches have sought to correlate the archaeological record with ancient Greek and Roman narrative, while others have attempted to analyse aspects of warfare, burial rituals, grave goods and architectural typologies from a ‘Lucanian’ perspective. However, one fundamental aspect of cultural identity has hitherto been neglected: food-ways and the domestic food system in particular. Within the discussion of household knowledge, Aristotle notes ‘men must all have food, and the differences in their food have made differences in their way of life’. Despite the incompatibility of hierarchical organisation and the city-state model for ancient ‘Lucania’, the household remains the smallest unit upon which socio-political organisation of any type is rooted; the analysis of food preparation and cooking, beginning at the household level, is therefore essential for the study of ancient identity. Utilising the domestic food system methodology – spatial analysis on food preparation and cooking spaces, artefact analysis related to food-ways and both zooarchaeological and palaeobotanical evidence – this thesis reinvestigates 4th-2nd century BC habitation structures, drawing previously unseen patterns to the fore: 1) a female domestic area inclusive of food preparation, cooking and textile production; 2) an architectural distinction between domestic and ritual food preparation and cooking areas; and 3) communal dining that rejects elite banqueting rituals. That the artefact is an integral dimension of culture is axiomatic. Yet, scholarly approaches to ‘Lucanian’ cultural identity have failed to investigate the behaviour patterns and social interactions imbued within the objects that form the domestic food system. The intrinsic connection to identity encompassed in cookware ceramics, zooarchaeological evidence and domestic assemblages – and, in the relationships to both each other and to the interior space – creates a cultural boundary that provides invaluable information for the study of ‘Lucanian’ identity and, further, facilitates comparative research with similar groups of peoples. The domestic food system procures the baseline upon which shifts in socio-economic and political organisation can be overlaid, thus furthering the overall objective of this thesis: to recognise emerging patterns of cultural resilience and identity related to food practices.

Les preuves archéologiques, découvertes entre 1980 et 2004 lors des fouilles dans la ville de Sant'Arcangelo (Potenza, Basilicate- Italie), sont concentrées dans le quartier nouvellement construit de San Brancato, situé à environ 280 m au-dessus du niveau de la mer sur la terrasse inférieure de la colline qui domine la vaste vallée de la rivière Agri. Les fouilles ont découvert, dans la partie orientale de la terrasse, les traces de l’ établissement et, vers l'ouest, les zones de la nécropole qui compte plus de 500 de l'époque lucanienne, que sont l’ objet de cette recherche. Ce grand nombre de sépultures et leurs riches mobiliers montrent que cette nécropole devait être liée à un important établissement qui a été formé au moment de la «crise», lorsque les centres enotriens disparaissent. Ce projet de recherche proposait de réunir toutes les données issues de l’analyse de la documentation d’archive réalisée lors des campagnes de fouilles des contextes archéologiques de San Brancato entre 1980 et 2004, relatives à la période située entre la fin du Ve et le IIIe s. av. J.-C. En ce qui concerne la nécropole, nous avons proposé de confronter toutes les données du mobilier funéraire déjà étudié et intégral, dans ce travail, avec le mobilier restauré restant des tombes non publiées et autant que possible, avec certains non restaurés. À travers la documentation de fouilles et cartographique, nous avons en outre aussi proposé d’identifier précisément les points exacts où a été découvert le matériel inédit relatif à d’autres types de contextes (structures, fosses et un four), aujourd’hui conservé au Musée Archéologique National de la Siritide à Policoro, qui est actuellement le seul témoignage d’un établissement plusieurs fois cité dans les publications . À travers l'étude topographique et l'analyse de la culture matérielle, des rituels et des pratiques funéraires, nous avons cherché à comprendre la communauté qui a vécu dans ce établissement, encore peu exploré, et nous avons eu pour but de fournir un cadre détaillé de la situation historico-archéologique de San Brancato en rapport avec les autres centres de la Lucanie antique. / Archaeological evidence, brought to light between 1980 and 2004 during the excavations in the town of Sant’Arcangelo (Potenza, Basilicata- Italy) are concentrated in the newly built district of San Brancato, located about 280 m above sea level on the lower terrace of the hill that dominates the wide valley of the Agri river. The excavations discovered, in the eastern part of the terrace, traces of the settlement and, toward west, the necropolis areas that counts about 600 burials: 60 are related to the Iron Age and more than 500 dating from the Lucanian period, which is the object of this research. This large number of burials and their rich grave goods shows that this necropolis was to be linked to an important settlement that was formed at the time of "crisis", when the Enotrian centers disappear, such as the nearby site Alianello located on the opposite bank of the Agri river. The aim of this research was to gather all the data obtained from the analysis of the archive documentation carried out during the excavation campaigns of the archaeological contexts of San Brancato dated between the end of the 5th and the 3rd century. B.C. For the necropolis, all the data of the already published grave goods were confronted and integrated with the remaining unpublished tombs. Through the excavation and cartographic documentation, we have also proposed to precisely identify the exact points where all the unpubblished material, now hosted at the National Archaeological Museum of Siritide in Policoro and related to other types of contexts - currently the only testimonies of an settlement that has been quoted several times in the publications- were discovered. Through the topographic study and analysis of funerary rituals, burial practices and material culture, we aimed to understand the community that lived in this settlement, still little explored, and we aimed to provide a detailed framework of the historicalarchaeological situation of San Brancato in relation to the other centers of ancient Lucania.