This thesis explores the biological and socio-cultural variability in the populations inhabiting the hinterland and the lower Pescara valley during the 6th-4th centuries BC. These populations, also called Vestini by Roman and Greek historians, were organised in groups of villages, and they were involved in exchange networks with the surrounding cultures. Aside from the archaeological evidence, very little attention has been focused on the human element, on daily practices in life and in death, and on the ways in which these people understood and expressed who they were. This dissertation, therefore, seeks to determine whether there were differences in diet, health, and identity among different populations’ groups in this region. If differences were found, another aim was to understand how they differed and what inferences could be made to explain the possible reasons for such variability. The research takes a biocultural approach, employing osteological analysis, dental microwear and isotope analysis, for a simultaneous examination of multiple markers of physiological stress and disease, diet indicators and mobility. This, then, paired with an evaluation of funerary customs and material assemblages in burials, provides a multifaceted image of the individuals’ life history. Five cemeteries are included in the study: Loreto Aprutino-Cappuccini, Moscufo-Via Petrarca, and Spoltore-Quagliera, Pescara-Ex Gesuiti, and Nocciano. Despite limitations due to the small sample size, differences in health and diet are clearly present within and across the cemeteries. Potentially non-local individuals are identified at Loreto Aprutino-Cappuccini. Subtle differences in funerary practices are noted among the cemeteries, but primarily and interestingly between the hinterland and the coastal area. In light of these biological and cultural observations, this investigation into the populations settled in the hinterland and the lower Pescara valley in Abruzzo, can be used as a first step towards a greater understanding of the life and death of small Italic communities in the 6th-4th centuries BC.
