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Excavation

  • Siris-Herakleia
  • Policoro
  • Siris, Herakleia
  • Italy
  • Basilicate
  • Province of Matera
  • Policoro

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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 insula I of the central quarter (Trench A), the 2017 campaign was able to date several phases of reorganisation, construction and destruction during the Hellenistic period. A preliminary analysis suggests the first construction phase of the porticoed building in Insula I dates to the late 3rd century B.C. The foundations of the walls and pillars rest on a horizontal surface that was created by a substantial intervention to level the area. In the central part of the plateau, the levelling reached bedrock, reason for which earlier layers were not found. On the contrary, around the edges of the hill an earlier layer dating to at least the 4th century B.C. survived the levelling; this season it was reached on the north side. The foundations of the first phase walls and the associated layers contained numerous fragments of the architectural decorations, in soft limestone, from one or more buildings in Tarantine style of the 3rd century B.C. The fill of two large pits situated in the south-eastern part of the building dated to the late 3rd century B.C.

    The first, probably a well, has so far produced a rich and uniform pottery assemblage associated with the remains of architectural decorations in the Tarantine style in addition to Hellenistic antefixes from earlier buildings. The second pit, whose fill pre-dates the walls of the porticoed building, contained ceramics identical to those in the first. Stone catapult balls were found in both pits, in one case associated with a trilobate bronze arrowhead, probably a Punic type. A Republican pilum and a scorpio point were also found. Given the chronology of the contexts and the traces of destruction of the earlier buildings, these elements may be interpreted as evidence of the passing of Hannibal’s army in 213 B.C. rather than that of the slave army led by Spartacus as originally thought. The porticoed building in Insula I, whose first phase seems to date to the late 3rd century B.C., underwent many alterations until the first half of the 1st century B.C. In sector B, situated on the summit of the plateau’s southern edge, the excavations were extended to the north and west. The western extension uncovered an archaic stratigraphy that was better-defined than that excavated in 2015-2016, dating to between the second half of the 7th century B.C. and the early 5th century B.C. This sequence reinforces the idea that there was a hiatus in the occupation of the plateau between c. 570/560 B.C. and 501/500 B.C. A small late archaic pit contained fragments of stuccoed column drums and a Doric trabeation belonging to a cult building. The northern extension revealed the continuation of the Hellenistic insula, with the same stratigraphic and chronological sequence between the north-south perimeter wall, dating to the first half of the 3rd century B.C., and the later internal walls.

  • Stéphane Verger- École pratique des hautes études, Paris 
  • Rossella Pace- UMR 8546-AOROC, Paris 

Director

Team

  • Daniele Capuzzo- società Archeosfera, Milano
  • Elena Belgiovine- società Archeosfera
  • Marinunzia Maiorani - Università della Basilicata
  • S. Vullo – Università degli Studi della Basilicata
  • Maria Domenica Pasquino - Università degli Studi del Salento
  • Francesca Silvestrelli- Università del Salento

Research Body

  • Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, UMR 8546-AOROC (Paris)
  • Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Archeologici di Matera

Funding Body

  • Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Archeologici di Matera

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