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FOLD&R Italy Series

Editors: Maria Grazia Celuzza, Elena Chirico, Elizabeth Fentress
Scientific Committee: Gilda Bartoloni, Enrico Benelli, Alessandra Capodiferro, Alberto Cazella, Alfredo Coppa, Michael Crawford, Stefano De Caro, Alessandro Guidi, Paolo Liverani, Alessandra Molinari, Massimo Osanna, Emanuele Papi, Lucia Saguì, Catherine Virlouvet, Giuliano Volpe, Andrew Wallace-Hadrill

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Index for 2016

  • 372 - Giulia Lodi. 2016. Testimonianze materiali dal territorio di Ariano Ferrarese (proprietà “Il Gombito”, Mesola - Ferrara). Alcuni casi di studio: anfore, lucerne, vasi potori a pareti sottili . The ceramic materials found in Ariano Ferrarese (Mesola, Ferrara) are making significant data on the settlement and commercial dynamics in the Po delta area for a wide time horizon that extends from the late Republican to the high middle age. The ancient settlement was built in a strategic area: near the Via Popilia which linked the towns of Rimini and Aquileia, passing through Adria and an ancient river bed connected to the inner lagoon paths, walking the edge of the flat-bottomed boats. Among the amphora finds, it is to report the discovery of a double barred handle with stamp bearing Greek letters attributable to Cos productions. Conspicuous are the finds of oil lamps, especially belonging to the families of so-called oil-lamps " a volute" and Firmalampen. The autopsy analysis of the findings allowed us to isolate an artefact that is among the types derived from Hellenistic Herzblattlampen, widespread mainly in northern Italy and in Noricum. The clay lamp with zoomorphic relief, configured like a caprid, can be attributed to the production of ceramics workshops Modena (Magreta and Cittanova) and is the second certification by the Ferrara area. The thin walled pottery is present in substantial quantity and in several variants, belonging to both the baked type in an oxidizing atmosphere, a reducing both. Only two fragments are attributable to the group called "ollette antroproposope". Among the artefacts, mostly pertaining to the Italic productions, stand out some drinking vessels imported from Gaul and the Iberian Peninsula. For reviewed materials, it was possible to establish a dating between the Augustan age and the beginning of the second century A.D. Key words: Ariano Ferrarese (FE), Ist century BC - IIIrd century AD, settlement, trade, amphorae, lamps, thin walled pottery PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 371 - Roberto Perna, Gianfranco Paci. 2016. Una villa romana nel territorio di Pollentia-Urbs Salvia: Note preliminari sulle indagini archeologiche condotte presso Villa-magna (Urbisaglia – MC) Investigations at Monte Palazzi (Passo Croceferrata, Grotteria, Calabria) and in the Locrian chora in 2010-2012. The paper deals with the preliminary results of the investigations conducted by the University of Macerata with the collaboration of Archaeological Superintendence of Marche, in the site of Villamagna, in the territory of the colony of Pollentia-Urbs Salvia. The excavation brought to light a portion of a large roman villa. It was in use between the 1st cent. BC and the 6th cent. AD and probably it belonged to the gens Herennia, at least in its early phase. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 370 - Elisa Zentilini, Marcella Giulia Pavoni , Valeria Grazioli, Patrizia Basso – Università degli Studi di Verona - Dipartimento TeSIS. 2016. La via Claudia Augusta: recenti indagini archeologiche dell’Università di Verona a Gazzo Veronese (Verona) . The paper presents the results of archaeological research carried out during 2014 and 2015 by the University of Verona in Gazzo Veronese, a small town on the plains south of Verone. The excavation focused the stretch of the via Claudia Augusta going from Hostilia to Verona. It has allowed us to understand the technique of construction and the dating of the road. The road was built on an agger 10 meters wide, with a large side channel. Along it, a few tombs were built between the end of the I century BC. and the end of the II. The gravel surface was removed by agricultural works and dispersed on the surface of the fields, so that it was possible to follow the road with archaeological survey and understand its itinerary in relation to the geomorphology of the territory. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 369 - Francesco Belfiori . 2016. “Archeologia urbana a Senigallia” IV. I riti del costruire di Sena Gallica . Sena Gallica is a roman colony founded at the mouth of Misa river (Marche region). Preventive archeology in Senigallia allows us to reconstruct its history, in particular its early stages, referred to the beginning of the 3rd century B.C. The application of an exact project and a precise urban plan is preceded by land reclamations and water drainages. These operations are necessary to prepare the site, before setting the new urban fabric and building new structures. The discovery of several closed deposits, linked to works of urban planning or when buildings are still in construction, allows us to recognize a clear evidence of ritual activity. Ritual deposits in Sena Gallica can be related to private or public contexts: these could be interpreted as foundation deposits, if the evidence denounces the desire to propitiate human action or to give strength and solidity to new buildings; these could also be piacula, if the sacrifice was officiated to repair men’s offences against natural order, or natura loci; in one case it can be assumed that the foundation of the city was accompanied by a public ritual of foundation, such as other Roman and Latin colonies of republican period. The paper presents some cases of ritual deposits which will be analyzed with particular attention to archaeological evidence, urban context and literary sources. Principal aim is to specify the way of application of roman religious heritage in Sena Gallica, which seems to take on specific traits depending on the context and the investigated period. At the same time, it is possible to define common traits of ritual activity, that in every case is closely linked to human action in planning, building and management of urban structures. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 368 - Marco Giglio. 2016. Le terme ed il santuario ellenistico di Agnano. Nuovi dati dal territorio di Neapolis e Puteoli, tra il III a.C. ed il V d.C. . The Roman baths of Agnano are one of the largest archaeological sites in the territory of Neapolis, between Neapolis and Puteoli. The area was occupied from the age of Augustus; however, there was already a settlement in the Hellenistic peri-od. The discovery of the baths - or rather the first excavation – was made by dr. Joseph Schnerr in 1898; just until 2015 wasn’t made regular archaeological excavations in the area of Roman baths and Hellenistic building. The new excavation could give us some informations on the function of the Hellenistic area (probably a sanctuary devoted to Asclepio and Igea) and the relationship between the natural resources and the baths. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 367 - Cristina Felici . 2016. Tra Siena e Arezzo (Toscana – Italia): una zona di confine tra tarda antichità e altomedioevo Considerazioni sul progetto ‘Disputa’ . The paper is centred on southern Tuscany in the period between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Here the strictly archaeological aspects revealed for this period an impression of ‘emptiness’ that is entirely at variance with archival sources demonstrating by contrast the existence of a functioning administrative system, churches, monasteries, chapels, a degree of social stratification. This archival sources are the first documents of a long dispute between the bishop of Siena and those of Arezzo and the first documents of the S. Salvatore Abbey, both dating to the eight century in the Lombard period. This awareness has underpinned the research work aimed at increasing the range and ‘visibility’ of the archaeological evidences guided from historical indications through the intensive use of remote sensing and geo-archaeological techniques. This multi-faceted approach has been particularly intensive in the Asso and Orcia Valleys, where the more or less ‘empty’ archaeological model derived from years of field-walking survey. An exponential increase, however, had been achieved through the archaeological excavation at Pieve di Pava that has opened new scenarios for the countryside between the end of the Roman period and the Middle Ages including an early spread of Christianity within this rural context, a strong ecclesiastical authority, an elevated social class in the fifth century directly connected with the church, the presence of a population which saw the church as a focal point, a rural underclass ready to respond to the inherent ‘message’ of this rare and imposing structure. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 366 - Jill A. Rhodes , Stefano Spiganti, Elena Lorenzetti, Sarah Harvey, John D. Muccigrosso. 2016. The Apsidal Building of the Vicus Martis Tudertium (PG). Over the course of the past three seasons (2012-2014) at the putative site of the Vicus Martis Tudertium near the church of S. Maria in Pantano (Massa Martana, PG), excavation has focused on a large structure first observed in crop marks in fall 2008. We have uncovered a large building oriented along the putative Via Flaminia and possessing an apse at its eastern end, the precise function of which remains unclear. Excavation has also uncovered a series of early-medieval burials located just east of the structure. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 365 - Cristina Felici . 2016. La lunga diacronia di un sito archeologico toscano: il complesso di Pava (Siena) dal II al XIII sec. d.C. . The paper is centred on southern Tuscany on the archaeological complex of Pieve di Pava where archaeological research have been conducted since the 2000 by the University of Siena. The parish church is first mentioned as the baptisterium Sancti Petri in Pava in a document of AD 715 part of a long dispute between the bishop of Siena and the bishop of Arezzo. But the archaeological excavation revealed a longer history of the site that start from the Roman period with a villa dated between the second to the fourth century BC. The villa continued to grow in Late Antiquity since it was transformed by a church. The paper is centred on these fluctuations of the site and on the implications of the transformations on the landscape. One of the stronger element of the Pava site, in addition to the very particular plan of the early church (built with two opposing apses) was the huge cemetery around the church that was used from the seventh century BC until the Middle Ages. The 900 excavated graves make this one of the largest and most long-lasting late-Roman to medieval cemeteries excavated in Europe. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 364 - Jared Benton, Randall Souza, Alex Walthall. 2016. Preliminary Report on the 2014 Field Season of the American Excavations at Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (CAP). This article provides a preliminary report on the 2014 excavations carried out by the American Excavations at Morgantina (Sicily): Contrada Agnese Project (CAP). The 2014 season was the second year of this multiyear research and excavation project aimed at investigating both the urban planning of the city and the lives of its residents, with a specific focus on the periods of occupation and cultural transformation from the third to first century BCE. During the second season, three trenches were excavated in the area corresponding to Lot One of the urban insula W13/14S. This preliminary report presents the significant stratigraphic units and material finds encountered in each trench, along with a provisional outline of the phases of activity, setting the developments observed in each trench within the broader historical and archaeological context of the urban center at Morgantina. The discovery of several rooms with similar architectural features suggests that they belong to a single building, the so-called Southeast Building, the function and dimensions of which will be investigated in future CAP excavations. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 363 - Henri Duday, Thomas Creissen, William van Andringa. 2016. Scavo 2015 della necropoli romana di Porta Nocera a Pompei: nascita e sviluppo di un paesaggio funerario romano (I sec. a.C. - I sec. d.C.) . The Porta Nocera 2 program aims to study the process of establishing and developing a Roman urban necropolis from a road network, which is an essential setting in the expression of death in the Roman time. As such, the necropolis of Porta Nocera essentially excavated between 1952 and 1958 and then in 1983 offers a privileged field study. Indeed, monuments and funerary enclosures with burial structures (graves, cremation areas) built along the road to Nocera are well preserved and allow to observe funerary practices on a relatively short time, about 160 years, since we can assume that the necropolis has been founded with the colony in 80 BC. It is then the necessity to organize a burial area according to Roman customs, which is at the origin a new landscape development until then essentially marked by the presence of the urban wall. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 362 - Ivo Van der Graaff - University of New Hampshire, Nayla Muntasser, John R. Clarke University of Texas at Austin, Paul Wilkinson- Swale and Thames, UK, Michael L. Thomas, University of Texas at Austin, Jennifer L. Muslin - University of Texas. 2016. Preliminary Notes on Two Seasons of Research at Oplontis B (2014-2015). The complex known as Oplontis B lies in the shadow of Vesuvius, about 3 kilometers west of Pompeii and 300 meters from the well-known Villa A. Since its first excavation and reconstruction in the 1970s and 1980s, Oplontis B has languished in abandonment ―virtually unstudied. The Oplontis Project, led by John Clarke and Michael Thomas, began investigating the site in 2012 after completing its work on Villa A. The documentation of the complex is a primary task. In the past few years members of the Project team have cataloged the previously excavated materials, recording over 1200 wine amphorae as well as a variety of other artifacts. At the same time, Marcus Abbott has laser-scanned the building to produce a detailed plan of the site. The excavations have similar aims: to record the 79 CE level of the complex and to investigate its development. This paper discusses the preliminary results of the last two seasons of excavations and cataloging efforts which build on our previous work conducted in 2012 and 2013. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 361 - Kyle Helms - University of Cincinnati, Fanny Opdenhoff - University of Heidelberg, Karin Lundqvist - Lund University, Matthew Loar - University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Erika Zimmermann Damer - University of Richmond, Holly Sypniewski - Millsaps College, Jacqueline DiBiasie - Sewanee: The University of the South , Rebecca Benefiel - Washington and Lee University . 2016. The Herculaneum Graffiti Project: Initial Field Season, 2014 . This article describes the goals and activities for the first field season of The Herculaneum Graffiti Project. Our project fo-cuses on documenting and digitizing to make more broadly accessible the first-century handwritten wall-inscriptions, also called graffiti, in Herculaneum. Following an overview of the presence of ancient graffiti in Herculaneum, this report details the methodology we used to locate and document the inscriptions and the preservation status of ancient graffiti in each insula, or city-block, of the excavations. We further describe the preliminary results of the project’s documentation efforts. We are currently studying, processing, and digitizing these inscriptions and contributing them for inclusion in the Epigraphic Database Roma and EAGLE, the Europeana network of Ancient Greek and Latin Epigraphy. We conclude with a brief mention of development of The Ancient Graffiti Project, the digital resource and search engine devoted to ancient handwritten inscriptions. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 360 - Alberto Scuderi, Maria Amalia De Luca, Gabriele D’Amico, Mario Bonaviri, Antonio Alfano, Ferdinando Maurici. 2016. Il «Castellazzo» di Monte Iato in Sicilia occidentale (PA) Quinta e sesta campagna di scavo. Aggiornamenti dal territorio . From May 15th to 30th and 15th to 30th September 2015 took place the fifth and sixth excavation campaign at the Castellazzo of Monte Iato. The presence of 15 participants made it possible to deepen the research significantly and ex-pand the surface area of investigation. It is completely emptied a room already identified in previous campaigns and provided new information about the relationship with the existing cemetery. Part of a burial in a supine position was destroyed by the installation of wall 20. Traces of another turret projecting from the walls have been discovered in the east and another section of the inner walls (15) was fully exposed. A gate, between two towers, is the first entry traced so far, on the north-eastern side of the plateau. The archaeological materials found confirm the characteristics and type of construction. Being a military camp of ephemeral nature, although active at least 30 years, objects such as arrowheads and crossbow quarrels, knives, buckles and harnesses for horses have been found. One of the environments has been interpreted as an area where gaming took place because of the presence of four dice in ivory, glasses and different coins, in addition to the greater extent than the other environments found. Among the findings are reported a glass weight with a cufic inscription dated to the mid-twelfth century and two bronze coins dated in 15th centu-ry. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 359 - Luigi Pedroni – Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences. 2016. Telesia Archaeological Project: Indagini nella basilica e nel foro (2014-2015) . The Telesia Archaeological Project is an initiative that will make a significant contribution to thi historical and archaeological knowledge of the urban area of the Roman city of Telesia, located near Benevento (S. Salvatore Telesino). The first and second season of the Telesia Archaeological Project (2014-2015), conducted under the supervision of the Archaeological Superintendence, and thanks to the indispensable collaboration of a private landowner, provided results of great scientific interest. There was the possibility to investigate part of a significant building of imperial age, richly decorated, identified with the basilica of the city. It was possible to establish, in addition, that this large building (36 by 21 m ca) was opened, through a great brick colonnade, to the forum, localized in summer 2015 with certainty for the first time. The extraordinary large double colonnade (porticus duplex), 9 meters wide, covering the entire façade of that public building, was erased in the fifth century AD, probably after two earthquakes that seriously damaged the city in 346 and 375 AD. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 358 - Luca Desibio. 2016. Copio (Baschi-Montecchio, Terni). Un avamposto etrusco sulla sinistra del Tevere Presentazione dei risultati delle indagini di superficie (maggio - giugno 2015) . This paper attempts to demonstrate the importance of the archaeological area of Copio, in province of Terni (Italy). Discovered for the first time in the 1980 by the local historian then mentioned in 2001 and in 2003 in two different archaeological publications, the site of Copio started to arouse interest for its position, lying on a hilltop above one of the most interesting pre-Roman necropolis of Umbria (Vallone di San Lorenzo). The link between the well-known necropolis and Copio is today well-accepted. The aim of this paper, based on a field-walking survey and the analisys of the archaeological finds, is to demonstrate the importance of this area during the pre-Roman period as a commercial bridgehead linked to Volsinii. Strategically lying only one km to east from the Tiber, it should have enjoyed this important and commercial path for the local trade moving goods in incoming and outcoming. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 357 - Nicoletta Cignini . 2016. Civita Castellana (VT). Indagini archeologiche di emergenza nel suburbio di Falerii Veteres . In 2013 the works for the construction of the new sewerage network in Civita Castellana have allowed to find a stretch of ancient road paved in via Roma in the suburb of Falerii Veteres. The street was not yet known by archaeologists. It is characterized by a pavement with small lava stones. We know that the Roman conquest of 241 B.C. entailed the abandonment of the Faliscan city and the foundation elsewhere of a new town, called Falerii Novi. However this new discovery joins to other known archaeological evidence documenting the continuity of attendance after this date both the sanctuaries - frequented until the end of II - beginning of I century B.C.- and Falerii Veteres plateau, on which there arose a small Roman burial ground. These testimonies are certainly evidence of the frequenting of the site (although limited) even after the conquest by Rome. A subsequent earthy street with edges in tuff blocks has overlapped on the ancient street: it probably was made when the eastern access to Civita Castellana was built, under the pontificate of Pope Pius VI. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 356 - Daniele Selmi. 2016. Gli scavi archeologici presso la Canonica di San Salvatore a Barzanò (Lecco) . Nel periodo compreso tra la primavera del 2007 e l'estate del 2010, presso la Canonica di San Salvatore a Barzanò, unitamente ai lavori di ristrutturazione e restauro, sono stati effettuati diversi interventi di assistenza e di scavo archeologico, inizialmente nelle aree esterne limitrofe e in un secondo tempo all'interno dell'edificio, nell’ambito di un piano di riqualificazione e di restauro del monumento commissionato dal Comune di Barzanò . La cripta e la sagrestia sono state indagate completamente, mentre all'interno dell'aula e della torre campanaria è stato effettuato uno scavo parziale fino a una quota mediamente di m -0.50 dal piano pavimentale: ciononostante, è stato possibile delineare complessivamente nove fasi archeologiche, sette delle quali definiscono le principali sequenze dell'evoluzione strutturale dell'edificio della Canonica. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 355 - Paolo Bruschetti, Stefano Spiganti - Intrageo. 2016. La Rocca di Castiglione del Lago (PG) Campagna di scavo 2014 . The archaeological study took into account a very important part of Castiglione del Lago urban unit, where the presence of stratification, probably from the Classical period, had been pointed out, on which military and religious units were overlapped. More specifically, the area with a small church inside the arms courtyard of the castle, could have sug-gested the presence of archaeological realities,especially from the sporadic finding of Etruscan pottery. The archaeological investigation was first launched in the area of the small chapel, where at least two construction phases were highlighted, although with no appreciable result regarding Classical period phases. The excavation led to the discovery of underground structures, a number of Renaissance tombs placed around the church, and the identification of other structures related to military use over a cistern-well. At the end of the excavation, the structures were consolidated and protected before the backfilling; the materials recovered during the investigation have been registered at the Municipality of Castiglione del Lago, after bein examined by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologi dell’Umbria and the Soprintendenza per i Beni Storico, Artistici ed Etnoantropologici dell’Umbria. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 354 - Marco Serra, Carla Cannas , Martina Montisci , Giacomo Paglietti , Riccardo Cicilloni - Dipartimento di Storia, Beni Culturali e Territorio - Università di Cagliari. 2016. Metallurgia del piombo e siderurgia nel sito protostorico di Brunku ’e s’Omu (Sardegna centro-occidentale): inquadramento funzionale dei manufatti e ricostruzione dei processi produttivi. The archaeological excavations carried out in 2013 in the hut n. 16 of the protohistoric settlement of Brunku ’e s’Omu (central-western Sardinia) returned some metal products. The morpho-metric and functional study of these artifacts al-lowed the identification of two mending strips and other remains related to Bronze Age (late II millennium BC) ceramic vessels reparing. Some uncertainly dated slags and metal fragments were also identified. Visual examination and archaeometric investigation carried out by means of portable energy dispersive X-ray fluores-cence spectrometry (pXRF) were performed on these metals. The analyses were able to relate some remains to iron manufacturing and highlighted the lead composition of the other ones. The chosen approach further clarified some as-pects of nuragic metallurgists’ behaviour in selecting and processing metalliferous geo-materials. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 353 - Simonetta Menchelli Eleonora Iacopini . 2016. Novana, its territory and the Pisa South Picenum Survey Project II . Si presenta in questa sede una sintesi dei risultati emersi dalle campagne 2014-2015 del Pisa South Picenum Survey Project II, relativo alle alte valli dei fiumi Aso e Tenna, nelle Marche meridionali. Dalle ricognizioni intensive effettuate nel territorio comunale di Amandola (Provincia di FM) è emerso un fitto popolamento rurale costituito da piccole fattorie, databili a partire dalla fine del III sec.a.C., e posizionate all’interno di una griglia centuriale. Questo territorio, con tutta probabilità viritim adsignatus a seguito della lex de agro Gallico et Piceno viritim dividundo del 232 a.C., doveva avvalersi di un polo di aggregazione sociale e amministrativa ubicato nelle vicinanze e ben collegato alla viabilità principale. La posizione strategica, un’accurata analisi dell’assetto centuriale e numerosi rinvenimenti archeologici permettono di identificare questa praefectura nell’area dell’attuale Comunanza dove possiamo localizzare l’antica Novana citata da Plinio (N.H., III, 11)., un centro piceno che divenne, forse, un foro, e poi una praefectura ed infine un municipium. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 352 - Martin O.H. Carver, Department of Archaeology, University of York, Alessandra Molinari. 2016. Sicily in Transition Research Project. Investigations at Castronovo di Sicilia. Results and Prospects, 2015 . Il progetto Sicily in Transition è nato dalla collaborazione delle Università di York e di Roma Tor Vergata, con il pieno ap-poggio della Soprintendenza ai BB. CC. AA di Palermo. La finalità della nostra ricerca è quella di analizzare, attraverso il registro archeologico, in quale modo i mutamenti di regime politico hanno influenzato organizzazione, composizione e stili di vita delle popolazioni soggette. L’arco di tempo considerato va dal VI al XIII secolo, periodo nel quale la Sicilia ha visto diverse dominazioni: quella bizantina, islamica, normanna e sveva. Sicily in Transition prevede di analizzare con metodi in parte nuovi, in parte più tradizionali, sia insiemi di reperti (ecofatti e manufatti) prodotti da precedenti scavi, sia di acquisire dati attraverso nuove indagini. In particolare gli scriventi hanno scelto di indagare un’area molto promettente della Sicilia centrale: il territorio di Castronovo di Sicilia. Qui, in due campagne di ricerca durate ciascuna quattro settimane, sono state realizzate indagini magnetometriche, ricognizioni di superficie, di archeologia dell’architettura e sondaggi stratigrafici. La finalità era quella di valutare il potenziale archeologico dei principali siti storici del territorio. I primi risultati sono promettenti in relazione alla varietà tipologica e cronologica dei diversi insediamenti identificati: una fortezza dei secoli VII-IX sul Monte Kassar; un fortilizio con fasi del pieno medioevo e dell’età moderna sul Colle San Vitale; un ampio villaggio non difeso con fasi dall’età tardoantica al medioevo, incluse importanti testimonianze di età islamica, nell’area del Casale San Pietro. Le indagini preliminari hanno quindi confermato le ampie potenzialità informative dell’intero territorio di Castronovo rispetto ai temi della nostra ricerca e stanno quindi consentendo di programmare gli interventi futuri. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 351 - Paolo Visonà. 2016. Controlling the Chora. Topographical Investigations in the Territory of Locri Epizephyrii (southeastern Calabria, Italy) in 2013-2015 . Three previously undocumented Greek sites have been identified at contrada Palazzo (Cittanova), at località “Coculédi” and at contrada Bregatorto (Antonimina), as a result of topographical surveys conducted in 2013-2015 by the Foundation for Calabrian Archaeology and the University of Kentucky on the Dossone della Melìa, a high plateau on the western borders of the chora of Locri Epizephyrii. All three sites are located near the most direct overland route from ancient Locri to the Tyrrhenian coast, which traversed the plateau c. 4 km to the south of the Passo del Mercante (the main pass on the Strada Provinciale 1 di Gioia Tauro e Locri). The presence of a military installation at contrada Palazzo, on the western edge of the plateau, has been inferred from finds of re-used Greek materials. A lookout tower at this site would have allowed the Locrians to guard a trail leading to the plateau from the Tyrrhenian coast and to keep watch over the chora of Medma, Locri’s closest Tyrrhenian sub-colony. The functions of a Greek masonry structure at località “Coculédi”, a site on the eastern edge of the plateau, cannot yet be determined. A nearby site, at contrada Bregatorto, was occupied by a fortification similar to the Locrian fort on Monte Palazzi (Grotteria) and may have been the main control point on this overland route between c. 500-300 B.C. These findings point to the existence of a defensive network guarding the borders of Locri’s territory and strategic routes linking the eastern and western coasts of Calabria. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 350 - Paolo Tomassini. 2016. “Scavare” negli Archivi La domus tardo-repubblicana e giulio-claudia sotto al Caseggiato delle Taberne Finestrate di Ostia (IV, V, 18): nuove e vecchie scoperte . This paper attempts to demonstrate the usefulness of “digging” into the archaeological archives, through the example of the Caseggiato delle Taberne Finestrate. This latter is a commercial complex built in Ostia during the II century AD on the remains of an older domus. Partial and unpublished surveys of the Soprintendenza, made in the years 1939 and 1973, re-vealed a very rich traditional Roman house, with a long atrium and what could be interpreted as a peristyle. The surveys of the 1970s unearthed also several pavements from the Julio-Claudian phase (including the only complete emblema in opus vermiculatum of Ostia) and a great quantity of beautiful painting fragments of Second and Fourth Style. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 349 - Mauro Cremaschi, Mutti Angela - Museo Archeologico di Poviglio, Baratti Giorgio , Borgi Federico - Université Paris-Sorbonne, Brandolini Filippo - Università degli Studi di Milano , Donati Nicolò - Università degli Studi di Milano, Ferrari Paolo - Università degli Studi di Milano, Fronza Giulia - Università degli Studi di Milano, Lachenal Thibault - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) , Zerboni Andrea - Università degli Studi di Milano . 2016. La terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio: strutture tra Villaggio Piccolo e Villaggio Grande Nuovi dati dallo scavo 2015 . The Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (Reggio Emilia, Po Plain of Northern Italy) whose excavation started in 1984, consists of two dwelling areas indicated as “Villaggio Piccolo” (VP) and “Villaggio Grande” (VG), dating back to the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) and to the Recent Bronze Age (RBA), respectively. The two areas are separated by a moat which, according to recent geophysical prospections, is crossed by a passage connecting the VP to the VG. This structure was investigated in the 2015 field operation by opening a long excavation trench. The bottom of the moat was found to have been in use for a long period, from the late MBA to the RBA. Evidence of huge wooden structures, consisting of regular alignments of post holes, were found at the fringe of the VP. The margin of the moat close to the VP was covered by thick dumps, dating mostly to the RBA, discarded from the dwelling areas of the village into the moat. However inside these deposits, an exceptional quantity of small bronze items was recovered which probably have to be related to an area of metallurgic activities. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 348 - Giampiero Bevagna - Umbra Institute, Pedar Foss - DePauw University, Rebecca Schindler - DePauw University, Stefano Spiganti - Intrageo. 2016. Castiglione del Lago, Gioiella site survey, 2015: preliminary report. A season of intensive site survey just north of Lago di Chiusi at località Gioiella on the border between modern Umbria and Tuscany has revealed evidence for a rural site occupied from ca. the end of the 2nd c. BC through the late 3rd c. AD, based on finewares, wine amphorae, and coin finds. Concentrations of tile and building material suggest two to three buildings placed along a terraced hillslope overlooking the lake. Finds of boxtiles, fragments of monochrome mosaic, lead piping and tiles for pilae are evidence for heated rooms and probably a bath suite. Several pieces of marble (one sculpted) attest to imported decorative elements. There are clear indications of on-site food and cloth production, as well as storage vessels. Nearly a kilometer away, a likely section of ancient road is cut into the side of Poggio S. Maria, running down towards the lake and passing a well-preserved cistern of Roman date. Our investigations are focused on understanding this hydrologically sensitive landscape over time: the development of settlement, agriculture, and political control in the late Republic, the nature of trade and communication with other rural and urban sites in the region, and the relationship between humans and their environment—particularly the manipulation of water—during the site’s imperial lifetime. Finally, we seek to understand the site’s transition (given scattered evidence for medieval use), to its current buried, cultivated state. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
  • 347 - Stefano Genovesi – Università degli Studi di Pisa, Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere, Carolina Megale. 2016. The Roman Settlement of Poggio del Molino: the Late Republican Fort and the Early Imperial Farm . The Roman Settlement of Poggio del Molino, located in the territory controlled by the city of Populonia (Piombino, Livorno), has long drawn the interest of archaeologists. Excavations conducted by the University of Florence were interrupted for twenty years and eventually resumed in 2008. The new research project has provided evidence for the site’s architectural evolution, revealing different construction stages and uses of spaces during a time of intense environmental and political change. Such data confirm the strategic importance of Poggio del Molino throughout a very long period of Roman history, from the Late Republic to the end of the Empire– mid 2nd century BCE-beginning of 5th century CE. The new research project is endorsed and supported by public institutions (Municipality of Piombino and University of Florence) as well as private national and international institutions (Cultural Association Past in Progress, Earthwatch Institute, University of Arizona, Hofstra University, Union College, Foundation RavennAntica) which are involved in field surveys, post-excavation studies and initiatives concerning the site’s enhancement. This paper focuses on the oldest stage of the site’s history, the Late Republican Fort, and on the second stage, the farm with fish sauce production. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet