The site of Tassignano-Tax C is situated in the territory of Capannori (Lu), in an area whose rural nature, as in many other cases on the plain that extends to the east of Lucca, has helped preserve the remains of ancient settlements, which usually appear as remains brought to the surface by ploughing. The Gruppo Archeologico Capannorese identified the site when a survey was undertaken in spring 2002 and two small trenches were excavated. These investigations revealed the presence of structures and floors belonging to a Roman building, in a period dated by the material finds to between the 2nd century B.C. and late antiquity. Over ten years on, the GAC has created a project for an archaeological field school in collaboration with Tassignano primary/junior school, with the aim of resuming the research, and at the same time, beginning didactic activities aimed specifically at the year V children, including an introduction to archaeological theory and practical experience in the field. The project took place in spring-summer 2014 and was a great success. The pupils’ attentive and lively participation confirmed the importance of making the new generations aware of the themes of the preservation of the historical heritage existing within the territory where they live. The excavations revealed the perimeter of a room, probably a production structure, part of a vast building. Its walls were two Roman feet wide, and were built using mortar, which is unusual in rural Roman contexts on the Lucca plain, where mainly earth was used both as a bonding agent and construction material. The building was probably divided into a residential sector, to which a room with an _opus_ _tessellatum_ floor identified in 2002 belonged, and a production area of which the room with a beaten earth floor excavated this season was a part. As regards the settlement’s chronology, the following phases were identified: an occupation phase datable to the 1st century A.D. that ended with a collapse (perhaps only partial) in the early 2nd century A.D. The site was reused in the 3rd century A.D. Between the 3rd century and late antiquity, the walls were used to define a cemetery area with burials in earth graves. Finally, in the late antique period, the walls were systematically robbed and the site definitively abandoned.

This was the second excavation and archaeological field-school on the Roman site of Tassignano di Capannori (Lu). As in the previous season, there were two phases; the first was the field-school during which pupils from the San Giovanni Bosco Junior School participated in the excavation, and a second technical-scientific phase during which the actual archaeological research took place. The aim was to check the extension of the site to the north and west of the area investigated in 2014. The excavation clarified several aspects of the plan, excluding the extension to the west of the building to which structures 5-17 belonged. In fact, no traces of walls or robber trenches were present in that sector of the site. The question of the extension to the north is less certain. Here there was a ditch (US 33) that was perfectly aligned with wall 5, which could be interpreted as a robber trench. However, the fill, a largely sterile clayey deposit (US 30) without mortar residue (on the contrary abundant in the fill of robber trenches 21, 24, 29), the level of the context and morphology of the trench, contradicted this apparently obvious interpretation. It was seen that the original building did not continue in the western or eastern extensions of the excavation area. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the complex of structures found to date, both positive (US 5, 17) and negative (US 21, 24, 29), formed the north-eastern corner of the ancient building. To the north and west were external spaces used as service areas, as attested by the structures and stratigraphies represented by US 33-38. The rest of the settlement developed towards the south, within the same plot of land investigated to date, and to the east, in the area corresponding with the present access road to Tassignano airport.

This was the 3rd campaign on the Roman site of Tassignano di Capannori (LU), Tax C/82. The aim was to check the extension of the site to the south of the area investigated in 2014-2015. The results were immediate. In fact, parts of walls and floors made of tile tesserae lay immediately below the plough soil. The remains belonged a building partially excavated in 2014 and identifiable with the patches of paving found in trenches dug by the ‘Gruppo Archeologico Capannorese’ in 2002 (see 2014 entry). The very superficial position of the floors (about 30 cm below present ground level) explains the damage they have suffered from modern and contemporary agricultural activity. The structures were cleaned and episodes of robbing were identified. In fact, the cleaning and documentation occupied the entire season and no excavation took place. The exposed area was occupied by three patches of paving (US 41, 44, 47) made of tile cubes, on a solid make up of _opus_ _signinum_ (US 42, 45, 48), which in turn overlay a foundation of small cobblestones bonded with mortar (UD 43, 46, 49). The distribution of the flooring outlined the perimeter of a room (room C), in axis with the two others (room A and B) that were uncovered previously. All that remained of the walls was a small section (US 50) in the south-east corner of the room, in addition to a number of stone blocks which, as some were very large, can be presumed to be still _in_ _situ_. The robber trenches were identified and delimited but not excavated. Robber trenches US -54 and -58 were of interest. They were used to dismantle the walls on the south and east sides of room C. The fill in robber trench 54, US 51, formed a semi-circular area projecting from the straight line of the lost south wall, assuming a shape that may not be casual. The same can be said of the shape of US -58, which in dismantling the east wall of room C, extended to meet robber trench -52, also forming a semi-circular outline.

This was the fourth excavation campaign on the Roman site at Tassignano di Capannori (Lu), Tax C/82; work continued in room C, which was uncovered during the 2016 season. Characterised by the presence of three patches of flooring made of brick cubes, the room’s perimeter structures were damaged by robber trenches. The excavation concentrated on the robbing along the south (US 54) and east (US 58-64) sides. The emptying of trench 54 revealed the only surviving structure, a vat lined with _opus_ _signinum_ (US 63) of which the floor and a part of the north cordon were preserved, while the south side presented a rectangular cut at the centre. Traces of fire represented by reddened surfaces with sooty residues were identified on the south side, at the base of the vat, and to the east, in the section formed by the interior wall of trench 54. In rural contexts in the Lucca area such as that of Tassignano, small vats lined with _opus_ _signinum_ are found within wine making installations. However, the case of Tassignano differs from this model. The shape of the vat together with the type of paving in adjacent room C rather suggest it was a small _balneum_ of the so-called Hellenistic type, without a hypocaust, often characterised by the presence of a pool at the centre of the _calidarium_. The complex can be dated to the period between the late 2nd and the 1st centuries B.C. As part of this picture, the above-mentioned traces of ‘baked clay’ and soot suggest the presence, to the east of the vat/pool, of the structures for heating the water (US 65, 66). Where the continuation of wall 50 was expected on the east side of room C a cordon of gravel and crushed stone (US 69) came to light, while at the end of excavation the trench had a particular ‘S’ shape, which although is not casual, is difficult to interpret. The only certainty is that wall 50 was interrupted; along its line is found the make-up US 69, compatible with a threshold or, in any case, a light structure, relating to a large opening in the east side of room C.

This was the fifth campaign of excavations on the Roman site of Tassignano di Capannori (LU), Tax C/82. The aim was to complete the investigation of room C and extend the excavation to the south and east. The excavation data added to the picture formed at the end of the 2017 campaign, although there were no new elements regarding the interpretation of room C as a _balneum_. Indeed, the excavations along the east side did not provide any useful evidence due to the presence of a modern ditch that has completely removed the pre-existing stratigraphy. The excavation was extended to the south in a strip about one metre wide with the aim of checking for the presence in this area of the structures necessary for heating the _balneum_. This was productive but not decisive. The excavation confirmed the presence of ‘traces of burning’, which could attest the presence of structures using fire, sealed by dumps of materials of late antique date. However, the complexity of the context suggested the research should be interrupted, given the limited size of the excavated area, until it could be extended further. In room C, excavation of the robber trenches of the perimeter walls identified two successive interventions. One, late antique, during which the original walls and part of the paving were dismantled in order to build new perimeter walls on top of the demolished structures. The second, in the modern period, definitively robbed the walls. Thus, it appears there was late antique occupation on the site, as attested by the stratigraphy documented in the south extension, and by the burials documented in room A during the 2014 campaign. Lastly, the demolition described above revealed the burial of a dog, whose skeleton was in the bottom of the western robber trench. The burial was probably originally at the base of the rebuilt perimeter walls, as confirmed by the fact that part of the skeleton lay beneath the floor of room C. The particular position of the deposition suggests it was part of the foundation ritual for the house, thus dating it to the late Republican period (2nd-1st century B.C.). For the purposes of archeo-zoological study, it was decided to lift the skeleton.

La sesta campagna di scavo archeologico - didattico presso il sito romano di Tassignano di Capannori (Lu), Tax C/82, ha seguito il consueto percorso binario, costituito da un momento didattico, nel quale i ragazzi della classe V della Scuola Primaria di Lunata-Tassignano sono intervenuti sul sito, e un momento di ricerca, che ha avuto come obiettivo l’ampliamento delle indagini a sud dell’ambiente C. La sequenza stratigrafica documentata consiste in una serie di strati di livellamento caratterizzati dall’abbondante presenza di materiali da demolizione e di ceramiche riferibili all’orizzonte cronologico compreso tra IV e VI secolo d.C.. Tali livellamenti segnano la conclusione della frequentazione tardo antica, mentre gli abbondanti materiali recuperati confermano la consistenza della frequentazione nel periodo collegabile al riutilizzo e al riadattamento dell’antico balneum dell’ambiente C. Rispetto ai dati raccolti nel 2018, inoltre, il recupero di abbondanti resti ossei animali consentirà di estendere il nostro sguardo anche all’aspetto archeozoologico. Tali strati di riporto livellano uno scarico di materiali connesso a un’ampia concavità posta al suo centro, probabili resti di una struttura tardo antica non meglio definibile, smantellata in funzione della stesura del piano di vita altomedievale. Il secondo elemento di interesse emerso durante le ricerche è rappresentato dall’affioramento, lungo il limite est dell’area indagata, di un apprestamento di ciottoli di fiume disposti così da definire una superficie obliqua, declinante da ovest verso est con pendenza pari a 45° circa, interpretabile come sponda strutturata di un canale già individuato nelle precedenti campagne di scavo, che taglia l’intero sito in senso nord-sud. La sua posizione nella sequenza stratigrafica esclude la sua pertinenza alle fasi di età romana, collocandola in una forbice cronologica compresa tra alto medioevo e XX secolo. La prossimità all’ambiente C, interessato da una fase di spoliazione in epoca moderna (XVI/XVII secolo; vedi relazioni 2017 e 2018), induce a ipotizzare che il canale sia da riferire a quella frequentazione. L’area a sud di Tassignano, infatti, rientra nella fascia di territorio semi-palustre posta a margine dell’antico lago di Sesto che proprio alla fine del Cinquecento fu oggetto di interventi di bonifica. Si potrebbe in conclusione ipotizzare che la struttura costituisse un punto di attracco per i barchini che percorrevano i canali dell’area semi-palustre circostante il lago. Approdo che sarebbe giustificato proprio dall’utilizzo del vecchio edificio di età romana come cava di materiali.

The seventh campaign on the Roman site of Tassignano di Capannori (Lu), TAX C/82 had two objectives: deepen the excavations south of room C (area D), and reopen the trench in room A, in order to check for the presence of more burials (T.1 was found in here in 2014). The most interesting discovery in area D was an occupation layer (us 114-135) that presented a dense network of postholes and was bordered to the east by a structure (us 153-154), aligned NE-SW. The layers obliterating this surface contained abundant pottery providing a significant sample of the material culture, which covers the period between the 1st and 4th centuries A.D., with a clear prevalence of 2nd-3rd century materials. The interpretation of the system of postholes in surface 114-135, their NW-SE alignment, and their density suggest that they formed the support for a raised timber structure. The proximity of the posts to room C suggests a timber extension south of the room, in relation to the reuse of the ancient _balneum_ (the original function of room C) as a ‘house’, datable to mid-late antiquity. At present, the function of structure 153-154 remains unknown, although surface 135, and the edge of a depression sloping towards the south-east were identified. Further open-area excavation will be needed in order to follow its development and to see whether the depression is artificial or natural. It is unclear whether this structure is contemporary with the use of the palafitte structure or dates to an earlier phase. What seems certain is that it was contemporary with floor 135. In room A, a small sub-circular pit was emptied (us 202). The fill contained pottery fragments, some of which reconstructable, including a kitchen-ware jar and a coarse-ware table amphoretta datable to the 1st century A.D., thus providing a precise chronological reference for the formation of the deposit. The fill also contained a number of iron studs of unknown function. Lastly, the excavation of us 7 – the fill of a small rectangular pit (us 205) aligned east-west, bordered by stones and tile fragments (us 204) – has confirmed the hypothesis that it was a child burial (T. 2), associated with the adult grave (T. 1) found in 2014. Unfortunately, the skeleton’s extremely poor state of preservation confirmed the systematic robbing that took place after the area was used as a burial place. Despite the absence of dating material, some fragments of _opus_ _signinum_, which clearly came from the robbing of the late Republican _balneum_, inserted among the cobbles and tile fragments of us 204 surrounding the grave, confirm the burial’s dating to the late antique/early Medieval period.