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    Monuments

    Periods

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    Chronology

    • 650 AD - 800 AD

    Season

      • Excavations undertaken in 1999 and 2004 in an area destined for industrial buildings in the municipality of Supersano (LE), revealed evidence of an early medieval settlement. During the first two campaigns three oval ditches with rather vertical walls came to light, interpretable as hut bottoms. Close by were several channels perhaps for drainage or the foundations for timber palisades. A dry-stone wall, found in the northern part of the excavation, may represent a sort of enclosure for the village or part of it. A well was uncovered close to the wall, whose fill appeared contemporary with the abandonment of the settlement, which probably occurred before the end of the 8th century or, at the latest, the beginning of the 9th century. The campaign undertaken in July 2007 aimed to excavate the well fill, a further ditch, uncovered in the western part of the area, and to open new trenches to examine the drainage channels and a surface altered by contact with heat, perhaps a small fire-pit. In the area where previous campaigns had investigated the hut bottoms, a similar structure, but of sub-circular form, was excavated. The cut was distinguished by its cone-shaped profile and the deposits filling it. The stratigraphic sequence was characterised by considerable succession of soils with a high organic content, rich in ash, charcoal and animal bones. They also contained a rather high density of artefacts, including a fragment of stone hand-mill, a glass paste bead, fragments of a small pitcher and band-painted amphora-like vessels. The cleaning of the ditch-bottom revealed the nature of its particular profile, which made it look like a sinkhole. In fact, below a thin diaphragm of yellow sand, a circular cut, about 1.30 m in diameter, was identified occupying the central part of the ditch floor. This was perhaps a cut made for the construction of a well. The excavation of the well discovered in 2004 close to a wall showed that the opening was partially covered by a limestone slab, perhaps reused, showing signs of wear from the ropes used to draw up water. The well was about 4.50 m deep and was two thirds dry-stone built with carefully positioned ashlar blocks of various sizes, leaving visible the cut made in the limestone sediment. The archaeo-botanical material found inside the well was of extraordinary interest; there were wooden artefacts and wood showing signs of working, branches of varying diameter, small elements of carbonised wood, leaves, fruits, seeds, a possible shred of leather and coprilites. Thousands of finds related to vine cultivation on the site ( _Vitis vinifera L._ ), which during the last three years have been the subject of numerous studies both archaeo-botanical and for the reconstruction of the genetic profile of this variety cultivated in the territory of Supersano.

    Bibliography

      • P. Arthur, G. Fiorentino, M. Leo Imperiale, 2008, L’insediamento in Loc. Scorpo (Supersano, LE) nel VII-VIII secolo. La scoperta di un paeaggio di età medievale, in Archeologia Medievale XXXV: 365-380.
      • P. Arthur, V. Melissano (eds.), 2008, Supersano Un paesaggio antico del Basso Salento, Galatina.
      • P. Arthur, 1999, Grubenhauser nella Puglia bizantina. A proposito di recenti scavi a Supersano (LE), in Archeologia Medievale XXVI: 171-178.
      • P. Arthur, M. Leo Imperiale, 2004, (LE) Supersano, loc. Scorpo. 2004, in Archeologia Medievale XXXI, 2004, Firenze: 345.
      • Anna Maria Grasso, 2011, Analisi archeobotaniche a Supersano (Le): una comunità autosufficiente?, in Post - Classical Archaeologies 1 (2011): 297-308.
      • E. Cappellini, M.T.P. Gilbert, F. Geuna, G. Fiorentino, A. Hall, J. Thomas Oates, P.D. Ashton, D.A. Ashford, P. Arthur, P. Campos, E. Willerslev, M. Collins 2010, A multidisciplinary study of archaeological grape seeds, in Naturwissenschafen, 97 (2): 205-217.
      • P. Arthur, G. Fiorentino, A. M. Grasso, M. Leo Imperiale, 2008, La Storia nel Pozzo. Ambiente ed economia di un villaggio bizantino in Terra d'Otranto - Supersano 2007, catalogo della mostra (Museo Storico-Archeologico dell'Università del Salento, 8 ottobre-25 novembre 2011).Unisalento Press, Lecce, 2011.