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Excavation

  • Castello di Cucagna
  • Faedis
  • Castello Di Cucagna
  • Italy
  • Friuli Venezia Giulia
  • Udine
  • Faedis

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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)

  • The ninth season of excavations undertaken by Albert-Ludwigs, the University of Freiburg at the castle of Cuccagna.

    Palazzo IV

    This imposing structure built on the south-western slope below Palazzo III, was identified during the 2008 excavations. This year’s season brought to light the entire structure which, like Palazzo III, was constituted by the main body (6.80 × 9.25 m) uphill and an extension circa 5.00 m wide in a downhill direction. On the south and north sides joins to the curtain walls and gate defences were documented, whilst downhill (west) the building was freestanding. The floor surface was sealed by a layer of clay overlying the bedrock.

    In the main part of the structure several floor surfaces and occupation levels were excavated following the removal of the upper layers of collapse and abandonment, in particular a thick sandy-line deposit, attesting later reuse for lime production, a hard beaten lime surface, replaced or repaired in several places, of late medieval date, and lastly the original 14th century floor paved with vertically-set ashlar blocks.

    The surface of half of the extension towards the west had been excavated during the 2008 season. In 2009 the remaining surface area was excavated in order to define the structure’s exact perimeter. As was seen in 2008, the archaeological deposit in Palazzo IV had not been disturbed by modern interventions. Important metal artefacts were recovered such as keys, buckles, crossbow bolts and two locks either from doors or chests.

    The end of the occupation period had already been documented by the find of two coins, a dinaro of Ludwig I of Hungary (1342-1383) and an extremely rare example of a piccolo, minted by his direct adversary in Friuli, the pro-Roman patriarch Philippe of Alencon (1381-1387, at one time Patriarch of Jerusalem, died 1397, investiture at Aquileia in 1382).

    The area between I and II ditches

    The widening of the section dug at the centre of the raised area between the first and second ditch in the previous year to a surface of 5.00 × 4.60 m revealed the presence of three post holes. A fourth post hole had been obliterated by the presence of a large root. The three holes indicated that the timber structure would have been circa 4.20 × 3.90 m in size.

    The initial hypothesis suggesting that the island could have been occupied by a wooden fortress prior to the construction of the castle could not be confirmed as none of the few archaeological finds from the silt layer covering the bedrock could be dated to before the 14th century.

    At the foot of the “island” towards the east a more or less flat terrace almost free of trees had been identified during the 2008 season. After the removal of the surface layer over an area of 8.00 × 4.00 m two sections 60 cm wide were excavated. The bedrock was covered by a layer of clay 30-40 cm thick, containing fragments of pottery, glass, animal bone, shells, brick, terracotta, mortar and a few metal finds.

  • M.A. Holger Grönwald - Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg 

Director

  • Sebastian Brather - Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Abteilung Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie und Archäologie des Mittelalters – Albert-Ludwig-Universität Freiburg

Team

  • Eike Gringmuth-Dallmer - Humboldt Univeristät Zu Berlin
  • Katharina Von Stietencron
  • Roberto Raccanello
  • Tobias Friedrich - Museum für Angewandte Kunst KÖLN
  • Isabel Ahumada Silva
  • Andreas Gleinig
  • Rene’ Bräunig

Research Body

  • Albert-Ludwig-Universität Freiburg (D)
  • Humboldt Universität Zu Berlin (D)
  • Istituto per la Ricostruzione del Castello di Chucco-Zucco

Funding Body

  • Fondazione CRUP
  • Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia-Giulia

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