Von Hyele zu Velia, Volume I

The urban development of a city is often closely linked to its fortifications. Comprehensive research, undertaken by a multidisciplinary team from the University of Vienna between 1974 and 2001 in the Lower town of Velia, studied the evolution of the city walls in relation to the urban development of the Phocaean polis on the Tyrrhenian coast and provided new information on the development of the city mainly between the 5th and the 2nd c. BC. The study focused on the architecture of the fortifications as well as on a detailed analysis of the complex stratigraphy and the geology. A major force for the dynamics of urban evolution was ecological factors, mainly due to the instability of the slopes on which the city was built, and due to recurring, destructive sea floods.The contextualization and processing of the finds from these excavations (pottery, small finds and coins) allows for a new, precise dating of the individual periods of the urban development, ultimately changing older approaches. The newly understood relations have implications for the interpretation of the fortifications in other historical and cultural settings, as previously assumed.