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Excavation

  • Campo Santa Maria
  • Amiternum
  • Santa Maria di Amiternum

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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)

    • Based on the excavation results, a reconstruction has been made of the settlement dynamics from the full imperial period until the late 13th century, when following its abandonment the site was systematically robbed. Previous campaigns brought to light the walls of a domus of imperial date and the apse of a cult building datable to the 7th century A.D.

      The domus comprised at least two buildings, the earlier situated north-east of the south-west perimeter wall of the building (USM 11), while the second, slightly later, lay between the wall USM 11 and its parallel situated at 3.80 m to the south-west (USM 12), linked by an exedra 3.5 m wide (USM 351), that joined wall USM 12=250 to the south-east.

      The cult building had an apse (USM 400-293) 5 m in diameter, aligned north-west. It was connected to the building’s back wall, to two small pillars forming the imposts of the side arches dividing the nave from the side aisles, and to the structures of a presbyterial enclosure or a “_schola_ _cantorum_” situated on the same axis as the apse.

      This season’s excavations uncovered the apse of another cult building that pre-dates the first by at least a century. It has the same dimensions and alignment but is situated c. 8 m further north-west.

      A large circular tank/vat with a diameter of 2.20 m (US 306) was found in correspondence with the cord of the apse. It was lined with opus signinum (USR 307) and had at least two steps. A drainage channel (USM 638) was connected to the tank which, sloping slightly, led down towards the structures of the imperial domus situated to the north-east (USM 12).
      A coin of Atalaric, minted between 526 and 534 A.D., was recovered from the fill of the channel (US 641). A second tank (USM 314) was probably connected to the same drainage channel. This tank was situated in the small apse that partially blocked the long room belonging to the domus (Area 2, USM 11, 2, 250, 251).

      The structures in question were damaged in the 12th century when the entire settlement underwent a substantial reorganisation with the addition of another storey that was identified and excavated during the previous campaigns.
      The chronology for the abandonment and robbing phases for the whole complex falls between the late 13th century and the mid 14th century.

    • Fabio Redi - Università degli Studi dell'Aquila - Dipartimento di Scienze Umane 
    • Alfonso Forgione, Università degli Studi dell'Aquila  
    • Francesca Savini - Università dell'Aquila  

    Director

    Team

    • Enrico Siena - Università degli Studi dell’Aquila
    • Luisana Ferretti – Università dell’Aquila

    Research Body

    • Università degli Studi dell'Aquila, Dipartimento di Scienze Umane

    Funding Body

    • Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio della Provincia dell'Aquila

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