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Excavation

  • Timpone della Motta
  • Francavilla Marittima
  •  
  • Italy
  • Calabria
  • Province of Cosenza
  • Francavilla Marittima

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)

  • This was the third campaign of excavations on the settlement of Timpone della Motta di Francavilla (CS). For the first time exploration took place on plateau I and at the same time, for the third year, continued on plateau II.

    Firstly, on plateau I, aerial-photogrammetric surveys using a drone were made and a geophysical survey was carried out in one area, which revealed a series of anomalies relating to buried structures. A surface survey was then undertaken over the entire area. The collection of the material involved the positioning and geo-referencing of each individual find, an experimental procedure that made it possible to make a detailed reconstruction of the concentrations of different classes of materials. A 5 × 5 m trench was opened (trench 2) with the aim of checking the potential of the stratigraphic deposit. Positioned in the central-southern sector of the plateau, it was excavated to a depth of c. 1 m. The layers of fill identified thus far are the result of natural deposition. This attests the difference between this deposit and that found on plateau II, where the structures began to emerge at about 40 cm in depth. The excavation will be deepened during the next campaign.

    Trenches 10, 11 and 12 were opened on plateau II, and work continued in trench 7.
    Trenches 10 (max. 5.7 × 3.8 cm) and 12, later unified, were adjacent to trench 2, positioned respectively to the north and east. A wall appeared in both trenches, made up of dolia fragments and cobblestones. This wall had been partially intercepted in 2018 and overall extended for about 6.2 m and its width varied between 60 and 80 cm. Towards the east, the structure terminated with an apse, which continued to the north for about 1.8 m, also continuing beyond the trench edge. Towards the west, less of the wall was preserved due to erosion. However, some impressions in the bedrock suggest the structure also continued in this direction. The wall was probably built after the late 8th-early 7th century B.C., as it was built on top of a series of fills dated to this period by the presence of matt-painted and proto-Corinthian pottery. The fills in turn covered a surface of compact beaten earth, parts of conglomerate and dolium walls, probably relating to the previous occupation, which will be investigated in the future.

    Trench 11 (max. 6 × 6 m), adjacent to trench 8, was opened in order to investigate the size and shape of a hut, partially identified in 2018. The excavations revealed a series of postholes, probably relating to two huts of different date. The bedrock had been levelled for the earliest structure and presented pits and six postholes, which at present do not define a precise plan. The second, later hut, presented nine postholes forming a sub-oval perimeter. Work will continue in this sector next season.

    In trench 7 (max. 14 × 12 m), the excavation continued of the “Casa della Cucina”. The excavations defined the structure’s plan and excavated three rooms. A patchily-preserved floor surface of compact beaten earth was exposed. In room III, below the floor, there was a wall of medium-large cobblestones, arranged on an east-west alignment and c. 5.5 m long. The stratigraphy shows this wall belongs to an earlier structure. The excavation of the three rooms also revealed a large number of postholes cut onto the bedrock.

  • Paolo Brocato, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università della Calabria 
  • Luciano Altomare, Università della Calabria 

Director

  • Paolo Brocato, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università della Calabria

Team

  • Luciano Altomare, Università della Calabria
  • Margherita Perri, Università della Calabria

Research Body

  • Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università della Calabria

Funding Body

  • Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università della Calabria

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