Survey · FastiOnline

Item: AIAC_5585
Permalink: https://www.fastionline.org/excavation/AIAC_5585

Name: Lampopoli, S. Sofia
Date Range: 350 – 500
Monuments: Catacomb

Seasons

AIAC_5585 - Lampopoli, S. Sofia - 2023
The excavations undertaken on the site of Lamapopoli at Canosa di Puglia (BT) concentrated on a number of sectors in catacomb C, so-called ‘s. Sofia’. The plan, size and intensive use of the funerary structures in this Christian catacomb suggests it was destined for collective use. It is formed by four communicating galleries (CI – CIV), on orthogonal axes, along which several cubicula opened. The catacomb, partially investigated in 2004-2006, has been the subject of systematic excavations by the PCAS from 2018 onwards. The chronology, as regards its construction and use, falls between the mid 4th and the early 6th century A.D. After the first decades of the 6th century A.D., there was a gradual decline in its funerary use, which finally ended in the structure’s definitive abandonment. The 2023 excavations concentrated in particular on the western part of gallery CII, where several elements suggested the presence of the original entrance to the ambulacrum, hidden by collapsed terrain, and where a group of ‘a cassa’ tombs (tt. 175, 205, 206) emerged, in relation to which a painted and inscribed shelf was built in the first half of the 5th century A.D., probably to mark and monumentalize one or more burials with the aim of preserving their memory. Investigations also took place in gallery CIV where important new elements were documented. In fact, in the preliminary reports and preceding bibliography, contrary to what has emerged from the excavations, it was held that the gallery belonged to a different hypogeum (structure D). As far as it is possible to see at the moment, it appears to be almost exclusively occupied by carefully-made arcosolia – some for multiple burials.

FOLD&R

579 - Natasha Luigia Antonino - 2024
Le lucerne di produzione locale del complesso catacombale tardoantico di Lamapopoli a Canosa di Puglia (BT): una proposta tipologica

Media

Name: Lampopoli, S. Sofia

Year: 2023
Summary: en The excavations undertaken on the site of Lamapopoli at Canosa di Puglia (BT) concentrated on a number of sectors in catacomb C, so-called ‘s. Sofia’. The plan, size and intensive use of the funerary structures in this Christian catacomb suggests it was destined for collective use. It is formed by four communicating galleries (CI – CIV), on orthogonal axes, along which several cubicula opened. The catacomb, partially investigated in 2004-2006, has been the subject of systematic excavations by the PCAS from 2018 onwards. The chronology, as regards its construction and use, falls between the mid 4th and the early 6th century A.D. After the first decades of the 6th century A.D., there was a gradual decline in its funerary use, which finally ended in the structure’s definitive abandonment. The 2023 excavations concentrated in particular on the western part of gallery CII, where several elements suggested the presence of the original entrance to the ambulacrum, hidden by collapsed terrain, and where a group of ‘a cassa’ tombs (tt. 175, 205, 206) emerged, in relation to which a painted and inscribed shelf was built in the first half of the 5th century A.D., probably to mark and monumentalize one or more burials with the aim of preserving their memory.
Investigations also took place in gallery CIV where important new elements were documented. In fact, in the preliminary reports and preceding bibliography, contrary to what has emerged from the excavations, it was held that the gallery belonged to a different hypogeum (structure D). As far as it is possible to see at the moment, it appears to be almost exclusively occupied by carefully-made arcosolia – some for multiple burials.; it Le indagini archeologiche svoltesi nel 2023 presso il sito di Lamapopoli a Canosa di Puglia (BT) si sono focalizzate in alcuni settori della catacomba C, cosiddetta di ‘s. Sofia’, di committenza cristiana e destinata a un utilizzo collettivo, a giudicare dalle caratteristiche planimetriche, l’estensione e lo sfruttamento intensivo delle strutture funerarie. Essa è connotata da un’articolazione in quattro gallerie comunicanti (CI-CIV), disposte su assi ortogonali, sulle quali si aprono diversi cubicoli. La catacomba, già parzialmente indagata negli anni 2004-2006 e oggetto di indagini sistematiche da parte della PCAS dal 2018 in poi, è interessata da una periodizzazione compresa tra la metà del IV e gli inizi del VI secolo per quel che riguarda l’impianto e l’utilizzo funerario; dopo i primi decenni del VI secolo si avvia il processo di interruzione della frequentazione cimiteriale che conduce al definitivo abbandono. Le indagini del 2023 hanno interessato, in particolare, la porzione occidentale della galleria CII, dove alcuni elementi hanno consentito di ipotizzare la presenza dell’ingresso originario all’ambulacro, obliterato al momento da una frana, e dove è emersa la presenza di un gruppo di tombe a cassa (tt. 175, 205, 206), in relazione alle quali viene realizzata nella prima metà del V secolo una mensa dipinta e iscritta, probabilmente costruita per segnalare e monumentalizzare una o più tombe di cui si voleva preservare la memoria.
Le indagini hanno riguardato anche la galleria CIV e hanno permesso di acquisire importanti elementi di novità rispetto a quelli precedentemente rilevati. Infatti, nelle relazioni preliminari, e nella bibliografia precedente, si riteneva, diversamente da quanto è emerso durante lo scavo, che la galleria fosse pertinente a un altro insediamento ipogeo (D). Essa, per quanto è possibile osservare al momento, sembra occupata quasi esclusivamente da arcosoli – anche polisomi –, di esecuzione molto accurata.
Summary Author: Natasha Antonino – Università degli studi di Bari A. Moro
Director: Paola De Santis
Research Body: Pontificia Commissione di Archeologia Sacra (Città del Vaticano)
Funding Body: Pontificia Commissione di Archeologia Sacra (Città del Vaticano)

Team

Archaeologist - Natasha Antonino – Università degli studi di Bari A. Moro

Archaeologist - Marco Campese- Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro

Archaeologist - Maria Nunzia Labarbuta - Università degli studi di Bari A. Moro

Archaeologist - Alessandro Lamanuzzi -Università degli studi di Bari A. Moro

Archaeologist - Ginevra Panzarino - Universitat de València

Archaeologist - Velia Polito - Università degli studi di Bari A. Moro

FOLD&R

579 - Natasha Luigia Antonino - 2024
Le lucerne di produzione locale del complesso catacombale tardoantico di Lamapopoli a Canosa di Puglia (BT): una proposta tipologica

Media

Location

Ancient Site Name: Canusium
Location: Canosa di Puglia
Easting: 16.082461
Northing: 41.837131