Fasti Online Home | Switch To Fasti Archaeological Conservation | Survey
logo

Excavation

  • Poggio dei Cavallari
  • Satricum
  • Satricum
  • Italy
  • Lazio
  • Provincia di Latina
  • Latina

Tools

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 University of Amsterdam continued its excavations in the urban area of ancient Satricum, concentrating on research within the Casale del Giglio estate, in the area of the Poggio dei Cavallari. The main objective was to examine the ancient structures of the so-called “via sacra” and associated buildings, and to check for the presence of other ancient remains in the excavation area.

    The investigations concentrated on area 3 – the westernmost part of Poggio dei Cavallari (Fig. 1). Here, several partially excavated trenches were reopened. Excavation continued in building B, trenches 344-347 in the south-western zone, and in trenches 314-314A in the north-eastern zone. The south-western excavation was extended along the west side to a width of 5 m (trenches 341-354); the north-eastern area was extended along the east side to a width of 2.50 m (trenches 307-307A). The intermediate trenches that were excavated in previous years were not reopened (316-321A, 323-328A, 330-335A, 337-342, 348-349).

    The excavations showed the walls of structure B continued to the west forming a rectangular room 4.20 × 5.60 m within building B. In depth excavation showed the walls were constructed to adapt to the substantial change in height of the sterile terrain to the north. For example, the room’s south wall was formed by a single course of large tufa blocks, while the north wall of the room, which also formed the north side of building B, presented three courses to a total height of 1.9 m. This difference in the level of the sterile terrain occurred at the beginning of a large natural depression in which Satricum’s main road was built. The road crosses excavation area 3 on a diagonal line. The lowest part of the depression was exposed at various points during previous seasons.

    A thick layer of sterile clay (c. 0.35 m) emerged in the trenches south of the new room, overlying natural. The clay was partially covered by a thick layer of large cobblestones mixed with large fragments of coarse ware pottery and tiles, interpreted as a floor surface, although badly disturbed by modern ploughing. The surface is dated to the mid Republican period, when the first colony was established at Satricum. The dating is based on the presence of pottery and tile with parallels in other contexts on the site datable to the 4th – 3rd centuries B.C. Moreover, it is clear that this was a later in date as it covered the remains of the archaic walls of building B. The surface continued outside the room to the north, sloping gradually towards the main road. A small sondage opened in the surface on the north side of the room, in trench 253, showed that the cobblestones rested on an artificial layer of sterile sand, which in turn covered a layer of red tiles. This phenomenon was documented in many other points along the exterior walls of the building and may perhaps be interpreted as a tile collapse from the original roof when building B was destroyed.

    The 5th-4th century B.C. tombs identified in preceding years in the north-eastern part of the excavation area, known as Volsci, date to the most recent phase. So far 51 tombs have been excavated and a new one was partially investigated this season.
    Like the tombs examined thus far, this was an inhumation burial in an earth grave, the deceased inside a wooden coffin aligned east-west. The tomb group comprised five small vases: a jar with “bugna” decoration, two small jars and two high-footed cups. They were grouped beside the cranium, along the short side of the grave. A bronze object shaped like a stud pierced at the centre was also present; perhaps the head of a decorative nail or part of a “bulla”. Analysis of the skeletal remains suggests this was the grave of a young girl between 12 and 18 years of age.

    Excavations between the tombs in trench 314 revealed the first remains of the southern retaining wall for the main road. An important find, constituted by the lid of a funerary urn in white tufa, a so-called “pilozzo” dating to the 4th-3rd century B.C., was unfortunately out of context.

  • Marijke Gnade - AAC-Università di Amsterdam 

Director

Team

  • Martina Revello Lami - Università di Amsterdam, AAC
  • Desiré Steures - Università di Amsterdam
  • Loes Opgenhaffen - Università di Amsterdam, AAC
  • Ivan Kisjes – Università di Amsterdam

Research Body

  • Università di Amsterdam, ACASA

Funding Body

  • Azienda agricola ‘Casale del Giglio’

Images

  • file_image[PDF]