LA DOGANELLA

   An important buffer entrepot settlement in the Albegna Valley dating to between circa 600 and 400 BC, unrecorded in textual accounts. One major interest is the high estimate of the surface area (240 hectares), which makes it larger than the historical reports of neighboring cities. Early phases do not extend to the whole surface area of the later city. Surface surveys have recovered a good understanding of the layout of this city and point to the strong agricultural underpinning of its economy. It has been suggested that in the sixth century BC this city encompassed as much as 70 percent of the population in the local area, suggesting a highly centralized organization.