The aim of this study is to reconsider the notion of a cohesive ethnic or cultural identity in the area of Italy known as 'Samnium', by analysing the diversity of social practices and cultural dispositions of communities. This is iritended to contribute to the changing picture of culture and society in this region of Italy between the sixth and third centuries Be. It is my argument that, instead of broad cultural commonalities supporting a cohesive cultural identity in Samnium, archaeological evidence in the region suggests the prominence and continuity of geographically bounded social practices and. their underlying cultural dispositions. As the archaeological evidence is predominantly mortuary, focus will be placed on social practices which pertain primarily but not exclusively to the mortuary context. These practices refer to types and styles of consumption, gender relations, and the construction of funerary space, in terms of familial segregation within funerary sites and the signalling of the dead in the landscape. Overall, the diversity of such practices will be seen to constitute a long term contrast between two broad areas of Samnium, Adriatic Molise and the Apennine hinterland. This will shed some light on ongoing debates regarding socio-cultural differentiation in Samnium, specifically concerning the case of the 'Frentani' and their ambiguous position within the 'Samnite' group. Overall, this study will analyse the geographic variation of patterns in social practice in Samnium, their changes through time, and, on a more tentative level, the identities that these practices would have embodied.