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  • S. Gada
  • Laino
  •  
  • Italy
  • Calabria
  • Province of Cosenza
  • Laino Borgo

Credits

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Monuments

Periods

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Chronology

  • 599 BC - 201 BC

Season

    • In 2019, Messina University carried out excavations on a residential building at S. Giada di Laino Borgo. The structure was arranged around a rectangular (5.40 x 2.70 m) courtyard, on an east.-west alignment. The eastern half was paved with a layer of white lime, while the western sector presented several horizontal tiles and the deposition on top of this surface of a _lekanis_ with a lid and a burnt lamp in the south-eastern corner, perhaps a votive offering. This open-air courtyard seemed to be entered from the exterior on the south-eastern side, via two steps built of lime mortar and tiles. The steps (G) had been cut in antiquity by an oval pit, filled by a sterile layer; a short distance away there was a post-hole. A large rectangular room (A) on an east-west alignment was situated south of the courtyard. The substantial north and east walls of the room were made of Pollino travertine blocks. Visible on the west side were a partition wall and a channel, on a north-south alignment, which drained water from the courtyard above. Next to room A, to the west, a part of room B was uncovered, delimited by the north wall, a small wall to the east and to the south the impression of a mud-brick wall was just visible, but its actual size and function are unknown. Room C was situated west of the courtyard and its plan was only partially defined. Inside there was a large _pithos_ sunken into the ground. From room C it was possible to enter room D, the most significant although only a very small strip was excavated. This room was damaged by the robbing of the central sector, but where there were no overlying structures the removal of the roof tile collapse revealed a complex stratigraphy. The beaten floor surface was covered by a layer of blackish soil, below the floor there was a layer made up of gravel and lenses of charcoally soil and burnt materials, a loose foundation containing Hellenistic pottery and residual Enotrian banded ware. To the east of the courtyard, there was a small portion of another room, E. This residential complex was occupied during the 4th century B.C. and suddenly abandoned, perhaps following an earthquake, in the mid 3rd century B.C. In room D, there was a cult space of the Lucanian period. The typology of the offerings (fibulae and objects of personal ornament) and of the votives (heads and Tanagrine figurines, small statuettes), suggest it can be attributed to a female cult associated with water, given the vicinity of the river Lao, and therefore to the tradition of Oscan divinities (_Mefitis?_). The sudden abandonment was also confirmed by the data from trench 1000, where the north and east walls of a room and related levels of collapse were excavated.

FOLD&R

    • F. Mollo - V. Casella - A. Laino - M. Puglisi - M. Sfacteria. 2021. Le indagini 2018 e 2019 del DICAM dell’Università degli Studi di Messi-na a S. Gada di Laino Borgo (CS). FOLD&R Italy: 504.

Bibliography

    • L. Cappelli, 1855, “Cenno storico sulle città di Tebe e di Lao”, in Annali Civili del Regno di Napoli, LIII, 52ss.
    • G. Gioia, 1883, Memorie storiche e documenti sopra Lao, Laino, Sibari, Tebe Lucana, Napoli.
    • E. Galli, 1929, "Prime voci dell’antica Laos", in AttiMGrecia, 46-108, 151-203.
    • A. Russo, 1990, “s.v. Laino”, in BTCGI VIII, Roma-Pisa, 410-413.
    • F. Mollo, 2018a, Nuovi dati di età arcaica dai contesti abitativi indigeni di Tortora e Scalea: gli Enotri del Golfo di Policastro, in Thiasos. Rivista di Archeologia e Architettura Antica, 7.1, 19-60.
    • F. Mollo, 2018b, Guida Archeologica della Calabria Antica, Soveria Mannelli, 675-678.
    • F. Mollo, S. Marino, M. Sfacteria, 2019, Nuove ricerche topografiche nell’area di Laino Borgo, in M. Cipriani, E. Greco, A. Pontrandolfo, M. Scafuro (a cura di), Dialoghi sull’Archeologia della Magna Grecia e del Mediterraneo, III Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Paestum 16-18 novembre 2018, Paestum: 247-256.
    • G.F. La Torre, F. Mollo (a cura di), Il Golfo di Policastro tra Enotri e Lucani: insediamenti, assetto istituzionale, cultura materiale, Atti del Convegno internazionale di Studi. Tortora 25-26 giugno 2016, Soveria Mannelli, 2018.
    • F. Mollo, La valle del Lao-Mercure: un quadro archeologico alla luce delle nuove ricerche a S. Gada di Laino Borgo, in Thiasos. Rivista di Archeologia e Architettura Antica, 9.1: 77-113.
    • F. Mollo, 2020, Recenti ricerche sul versante calabrese del Golfo di Policastro: gli scavi della Missione archeologica dell’Università di Messina (2016-2019), in Pelargòs 1: 179-197.
    • M. Sfacteria,c.s. Archeologia nella Valle del Mercure: nuovi dati sulla viabilità romana tra Basilicata meridionale e Calabria settentrionale, in C. Colelli, A. Larocca, G. Mittica, F. Larocca (a cura di), Dal Pollino all’Orsomarso. Ricerche archeologiche tra Ionio e Tirreno, Giornate Internazionali di Archeologia. 2, S. Lorenzo Bellizzi, 4-6 ottobre 2019, Analecta Danici, c.s.
    • F. Mollo, Nuove ricerche archeologiche a Laino Borgo e nella Valle del Lao-Mercure, in C. Colelli, A. Larocca, G. Mittica, F. Larocca (a cura di), Dal Pollino all’Orsomarso. Ricerche archeologiche tra Ionio e Tirreno, Giornate Internazionali di Archeologia. 2, S. Lorenzo Bellizzi, 4-6 ottobre 2019, Analecta Danici, c.s.
    • F. Mollo, 2019, La Sibaritide tirrenica e il mondo indigeno nell'area del Golfo di Policastro: nuove ricerche nei siti arcaici di Petrosa di Scalea e Palecastro di Tortora, in M. Cipriani, E. Greco, A. Pontrandolfo, M. Scafuro (a cura di), Dialoghi sull’Archeologia della Magna Grecia e del Mediterraneo, III Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Paestum 16-18 novembre 2018, Paestum: 235-246.