Introduction

Acconia i s the name of a v i l l a g e l o c a t e d on the west coast of C a l a b r i a , region comprising the toe of southern I t a l y . More s p e c i f i c a l l y , the v i l l a g e i l o c a t e d 15 k i l o m e t r e s south of the town of Nicastro'and 4 k i l o m e t r e s i n l a n d f r the present c o a s t l i n e . The Tyrrhenian Sea i n t h i s p a r t of C a l a b r i a i s c a l l e d the Gulf of S. Euphemia: i t i s perhaps b e t t e r known t o those w i t h an i n t e r e s t i n h i s - t o r y under the name of Maida Vale. A major task of the monograph w i l l be t o desc r i b e the n e o l i t h i c remains and the d i s t r i b u t i o n s of n e o l i t h i c s i t e s found by the survey near Acconia. I t i s of some i n t e r e s t t h a t the settlement p a t t e r n s t h a t have been i d e n t i f i e d at Acconia are among the densest t h a t are known f o r the n e o l i t h i c p e r i o d i n the Western Mediterranean. Moreover, the n e o l i t h i c s i t e s seem t o occur commonly i n a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h dune areas. Conventional ideas about n e o l i t h i c economies would see the dune s o i l s as nonarable and the dune area near Acconia as the opposite of the p r e f e r r e d l o c a t i o n f o r n e o l i t h i c s e t t l e m e n t . This apparent anomaly may, however, only r e f l e c t how l i t t l e i s a c t u a l l y known about n e o l i t h i c settlement p a t t e r n s i n southern I t a l y and the West Mediterranean i n general. While a l l s o r t s of c o njectures can and have been made about n e o l i t h i c s i t e s and economies i n t h i s p a r t of Europe, what has been l a c k i n g , w i t h a few notable exceptions such as the work by Bernabò Brea and Cava l i e r on the i s l a n d of L i p a r i , are w e l l documented f i e l d s t u d i e s . The purpose of t h i s monograph i s t o help i n c l o s i n g t h i s gap.