L'Agro falisco settentrionale: una zona di frontiera tra Falisci, Etruschi, Umbri e Sabini

The Ager Faliscus, extending between the modern provinces of Rome and Viterbo, from Mazzano Romano to the Cimini Mountains and bordered to the west by the Via Cassia and east by the River Tiber, was certainly a frontier territory. In particular, the examination of the Northern zone of the Ager Faliscus in which, for example, the sites of Vignanello, Gallese and Corchiano are situated, offers the opportunity to investigate further the contacts between the Faliscan civilization and the bordering cultures (Etruscans, Sabins and Umbrians). It is an area, near the Tiber, which from the time of Protohistory shows distinctive characteristics. Starting from the analysis of the remains of settlements and cemeteries, from the data provided by surface surveys and, above all, from the analysis of material culture, the study highlights the profile of this border area. Despite the cultural distinctiveness progressively adopted by the Faliscans, the geographical location of the territory occupied by them, makes it naturally permeable to influences from the Etruscan and Sabine regions, with sporadic contacts with other civilizations, detectable through the archaeological record, and traceable in some information found in the ancient written sources.