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Excavation

  • San Martino
  • Torano
  •  
  • Italy
  • Lazio
  • Province of Rieti
  • Borgorose

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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 site is located outside the town of Torano di Borgorose, at an elevation of 750 masl, on a hill slope with a commanding view of the valley below. The site is dominated by the medieval church of San Martino, the southwest corner of which was built on an ancient wall in polygonal masonry.

    Further archaeological remains were discovered in the early 2000s when a large area of soil to the north of the church was removed during renovation of the church. A stratigraphic section approximately 34 meters long and 3.5 meters deep was revealed, and in 2007 the section was cleaned to facilitate archaeological study. Structural remains and artifacts visible in the section belong to a span of time that runs, without significant interruption, from the republican period to the present. Uncovered at the base of the area of soil removal was a large ceramic jar set in opus signinum.

    Excavation of the section itself in the years 2007-2011 revealed part of a room with, inside, a small circular structure of uncertain function. The internal structure featured three levels of paving and evidence of a tiled roof. A fracture in one of the walls is perhaps earthquake damage. To the west, at a lower stratigraphic level, three large stones may be the degraded remnants of an earlier wall. Further west, beyond a cistern of relatively recent date, excavation revealed a wall composed of large blocks set without mortar. This wall, which is parallel to the polygonal wall on which the church is built, served to delineate the northern extreme of the ancient terrace on which the structures stood.

    Immediately south of the newly discovered wall was a second, parallel wall, of uncertain function, composed of reused roof tiles and stones set with mortar. Perpendicular to this is a tank lined with opus signinum. Preliminary analysis of the objects found in stratigraphic contexts from this part of the site indicates that the final period of use was in late antiquity. Residual material no longer in primary context included items from the republican and imperial periods.

    In general, the structural remains and objects found are consistent with a villa of the Roman to late antique period, at which time the site apparently suffered a violent destruction.

    Work was also carried out in 2008-2010 in an open field west of the church. Magnetometric studies revealed several north-south linear anomalies and one north-east to south-west anomaly. In one trench excavation uncovered three lines of stones at a shallow depth; these may pertain to tombs—which are certainly present in connection with the church—but further work is needed to verify this hypothesis.

    The excavation of a second trench revealed, at a depth of 1.89 meters, a stratum with many fragments of pottery from the Chalcolithic period. An area characterized by the presence of reddish-yellow to orange clay may pertain to a hut of the same period, although further excavation is needed.

  • Elizabeth Colantoni 
  • Gabriele Colantoni 
  • Jeffrey A. Stevens 

Director

  • Giovanna Alvino - Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Lazio

Team

  • Kathryn J. McDonnell
  • Astrid D’Eredità
  • Daniel Moore
  • Maria Rosa Lucidi
  • Cynthia Ebinger
  • Marita Johnson

Research Body

  • Cornell University
  • Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Lazio
  • University of California-Los Angeles
  • University of Rochester

Funding Body

  • Vassar College, Department of Greek and Roman Studies

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