This book investigates how the cultural landscapes of south-east Italy were created, inhabited, and transformed between the 4th and 2nd millennia BCE ‒ a time of profound social and environmental change across the central Mediterranean. Combining archaeological, palaeoeconomic and environmental evidence with cutting-edge spatial modelling, it traces how communities adapted to and reshaped diverse ecosystems. Fortified coastal centres, dispersed inland villages, and seasonal upland sites reveal contrasting but interconnected strategies, reflecting both ecological opportunities and cultural choices. The study highlights prehistoric societies not simply as subsistence communities, but as active agents who endowed places with meanings and reshaped their environments over the long term. It uncovers processes of continuity and transformation that defined the lived-in landscapes of the Copper and Bronze Ages, situating them within broader debates in landscape archaeology. By bridging theory, environmental analysis, and inductive modelling, this volume offers fresh insights into human-environment relations, resilience, and the making of cultural landscapes in the prehistoric Mediterranean.