This volume offers the first comprehensive overview of the urbanisation processes that took place south and north of the Alps during the early first millennium BC, highlighting the interactions between the different geographical areas. The 26 chapters included in this book provide a combination of theoretical and methodological insights into urbanisation processes, regional overviews, and up-to-date evidence from key archaeological sites. The latter comprise both well-established names such as the Heuneburg, Vix-Mont Lassois, Verucchio, Marzabotto, and Spina, as well as other sites that are less well-known but equally relevant for the understanding of centralisation processes during the Iron Age. In particular, this volume brings together, for the first time, the rich archaeological evidence for urban and proto-urban sites in northern Italy, a region that has traditionally been neglected or underestimated in accounts on Iron Age urbanisation. Thus, the book transcends previous barriers in scholarship and helps to readdress one of the most attractive topics of current archaeological research: the multiple and non linear pathways towards urbanisation. Contents: PART 1 – URBAN ORIGINS AND TRAJECTORIES ACROSS THE ALPS Early Urbanism South and North of the Alps: An Introduction Lorenzo Zamboni, Manuel Fernández-Götz and Carola Metzner-Nebelsick Aspects of Urbanism in Later Bronze Age Northern Italy Mark Pearce Urbanisation and Deurbanisation in the European Iron Age: Definitions, Debates, and Cycles Manuel Fernández-Götz From Genoa to Günzburg. New Trajectories of Urbanisation and Acculturation between the Mediterranean and South-Central Europe Louis Nebelsick and Carola Metzner-Nebelsick PART 2 – EARLY URBANISATION PROCESSES IN NORTHERN ITALY Verucchio: The Iron Age Settlement Paolo Rondini and Lorenzo Zamboni Archaeology of Early Felsina. The Birth of a Villanovan City Jacopo Ortalli Spheres of Consumption of Metalwork and Trans-regional Interactions at the Onset of the Urban Phenomenon in Northern Italy Cristiano Iaia Urbanism and Architecture in the Etruscan City of Kainua-Marzabotto: New Perspectives Elisabetta Govi, Chiara Pizzirani and Andrea Gaucci Relationships between City and Necropolis in Northeast Italy Giovanna Gambacurta The Proto-urban Phenomenon in Veneto: A Review of the Population Dynamics of the Settlement of Oppeano (Verona) Massimo Saracino and Alessandro Guidi Coazze near Gazzo Veronese, on the Fringes of Veneto and Etruria Padana, NE Italy Alessandro Vanzetti, Matteo Bertoldo, Francesca Di Maria, Dario Monti, Luciano Salzani and Fabio Saccoccio The Etruscan Settlement of Adria (Italy, Rovigo): New Data from the Excavations in Via Ex Riformati (2015-2016) Simonetta Bonomi, Maria Cristina Vallicelli and Claudio Balista Exploring Spina: Urbanism, Architecture, and Material Culture Aleksandra Mistireki and Lorenzo Zamboni The Hidden City: Reconstructing the Urban Structure of the Etruscan Harbour of Forcello di Bagnolo San Vito through Excavations and Non-invasive Methods Rainer Komp, Tommaso Quirino and Marta Rapi The Early Iron Age Protourbanisation along the Ticino River and around Como Raffaele Carlo de Marinis and Stefania Casini The First Results of Geophysical Prospections Using the ADS Method on the Proto-urban Settlement Site of Como, Spina Verde Fabian Welc, Louis Nebelsick, Carola Metzner-Nebelsick, Ines Balzer, Alessandro Vanzetti, and Barbara Grassi Bergamo and Parre during the Early Iron Age: Early Urbanism and the Alpine World Raffaella Poggiani Keller and Paolo Rondini PART 3 – EARLY URBANISATION PROCESSES IN CENTRAL EUROPE Earliest Town North of the Alps. New Excavations and Research in the Heuneburg Region Dirk Krausse, Leif Hansen and Roberto Tarpini Centralisation Processes at the Fürstensitz Princely Seat on Mount Ipf in the Nördlinger Ries, Southern Germany Rüdiger Krause Early Urbanism and the Relationship between Northern Italy and Bohemia in the Early Iron Age Miloslav Chytráček Vix: The Temptation of the City Bruno Chaume Bourges-Avaricum: A Western Example of a Princely Complex of c. 500 BC in Central France Ian Ralston The Early Iron Age Central Place at Most na Soči (NW Slovenia) Sneža Tecco Hvala The Dürrnberg Salt Metropolis: Catalyst of Communication and Complexity in La Tène Central Europe Holger Wendling PART 4 – CONCLUDING THOUGHTS AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES The Mediterranean at the Periphery of Urban Origins Corinna Riva Untold Riches of the Urban Form Central to the Pre-Roman European Experience Simon Stoddart