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Excavation

  • S. Gaetano di Vada
  • Rosignano Marittimo
  • Vada Volaterrana
  • Italy
  • Tuscany
  • Province of Livorno
  • Rosignano Marittimo

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Credits

  • The Italian Database is the result of a collaboration between:

    MIBAC (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali - Direzione Generale per i Beni Archeologici),

    ICCD (Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione) and

    AIAC (Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica).

  • AIAC_logo logo

Summary (English)

  • In 2009 the investigations made a structural check on the buildings present in the northern ( Horrea, building B) and southern (building G) sectors. The need to investigate the route of a drainage channel from the frigidarium of the Small Baths (A) led to the discovery of another drainage structure. Two trenches were opened (trenches CIII and CIV) in order to investigate the natural stratigraphy and thus the relationship between the latest occupation layers and the earliest layers relating to the levels of marine sedimentation.

    In the horrea (trench C) the stratigraphic excavation revealed the foundation trench for the well, situated inside room VI. This structure, which collected the water filtering through the stones forming the well-shaft, cannot be dated as the fill of the foundation cut did not contain any diagnostic material. However, as this was a fresh water well in a structure which must have made ample use of it, it is logical to suppose that its presence is to be dated to a period in which the provision and draining of water was not guaranteed and, therefore, to the early medieval period, when the area behind the port of San Gaetano was gradually falling into disuse.

    The excavation of trench CV revealed a radically different structural situation between the two sectors of the exedra of the Small Baths. In fact, the southern sector presented deep substantial ‘a sacco’ foundations and walls with a stone facing and cement core, the northern sector had shallow foundations and was less accurately constructed. These results suggest a spatial “specialisation” of the external areas of the bath complex, reflected by the structural differences.

    Trench CVIII was opened with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the construction phases of building G, given its particular tri-apsidal plan (apses ‘e’, ‘f’ and ‘g’). The investigation, concentrated on the points where the apses met the perimeter walls, revealed elements of notable interest from a structural point of view (the apses clearly appeared in phase with the rest of the building).

    Trench CVII and the extension of trench LXXXIX provided new data regarding the spatial organisation to the north of building G. Although badly preserved, the continuity of the traces of previously identified structures linked to the restructuring of building G and complex H in the full Imperial period, suggests that such interventions widely involved the vast external area to the north.

    Trench CIII confirmed the hypotheses formulated at the end of the preceding campaign relating to the natural stratification of the coastal dunes, in the shelter of which the archaeological site of San Gaetano di Vada was set up. In the eastern sector of the trench the presence (unfortunately seen only in section) of a stratigraphy of Roman date, which at the moment cannot be more accurately dated, was of great interest.

    Trench CIV excluded the presence of other ancient structures in the investigated area. The presence of archaeological material can be ascribed to the dispersion/infiltration of finds from adjacent structures. These interventions did not uncover traces of the prehistoric village for which there was evidence in a number of other sectors, always at a substantial depth below the Roman structures.

  • Marinella Pasquinucci - Università degli Studi di Pisa, Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche del Mondo Antico 
  • Simonetta Menchelli - Università degli Studi di Pisa, Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche del Mondo Antico 
  • Paolo Sangriso 

Director

Team

Research Body

  • Università degli Studi di Pisa, Dipartimento di Scienze Archeologiche

Funding Body

  • Comune di Rosignano Marittimo
  • Fondazione Cassa di Risparmi Livorno
  • Società Chimica Solvay
  • Università degli Studi di Pisa

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