Aeolian Islands

This article examines the impact of the Continental Blockade upon a local fishing and agricultural economy in the Mediterranean by focusing on the illicit trades that flourished on Stromboli. The island became a strategic location for smuggling between the warring kingdoms of British allied Naples and French ruled Sicily. This paper argues that the Blockade allowed Stromboli to join the network of maritime traffic that had been dominated by the two biggest islands in the archipelago. Although equally integrated into agriculture and fishing, women participated in the fraudulent sale of prize goods but were excluded from large-scale smuggling operations.

The Graeco-Italic amphorae — types IV and V — (Van der Mersch 1994 classification) of Italic origins are considered as wine-amphorae, but no concrete tests for the presence of wine within them have existed until now. The recent re-examination of the cargos of the Filicudi F (300-280/250 BC) and Secca di Capistello (300-280 BC) wrecks (Aeolian Islands), within the Immensa Aequora project (www.immensaaequora.org), in collaboration with Museo Eoliano L. Bernabò Brea di Lipari, has made it possible to study these most-interesting wrecks, enabling for the first time the collection of new information on the area of the amphorae’ origins (Olcese 2010). Different types of samples have been taken in order to identify the content of the amphorae with the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. The amphorae were waterproofed by pitch from coniferous species and contained red wine.

CLASSICAL  AUTHORS AND ITALIAN ORE RESOURCES
The classical authors references to Italian mines are very scarce and mostly referable to times before the end of the Roman Republic. This is because, as Pliny recalls, the Senate had prohibited mining activities in the territory that was part of Italy: previously, as Virgil, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Strabo and Pliny himself affirm, the country was rich in all kinds of metals.

Particularly important was the exploitation of the Gallia Cisalpina fluvial and fluvioglacial gold terraces, during the period in which this territory was occupied by the Romans but was not yet part of Italy: we have impressive tailings of this activity throughout the Po valley, highlighted by the author, but scarce classical evidence only for some generic gold mines of the Salassi people, and for those existing in the Vercelli area (= Bessa, in today's Biellese). Many authors confuse these two areas together and, despite the imposing remains, belittle the product, which instead was remarkable.  Furthermore, the studies and the countryside explorations carried out by the author have allowed to highlight the presence, not only of some important Roman "aurifodinae" tailings, but also of those of many Salassi gold mines, as well as notable remains of a limes that arose after the Roman conquest of these Salassi gold mines and a part of their territory, followed by the conflicts mentioned by Strabo. The "ruina montium" exploitation process, applied in maritime Asturias and Galicia, originates in Cisalpine Gaul, but its essence has been completely misunderstood by recent French and Spanish authors, and it is completely false that it was applied to the tertiary sediments of Las Medulas, erroneously considered economically gold-bearing.

As for the other metals, the iron mines of Elba are known and celebrated in ancient times: the minerals used were limonite and hematite, not magnetite as many authors claim, because this was not usable in the ancient siderurgy.  The silver mines of Sardinia were also known, and destined to the "damnati ad metalla" in the first imperial centuries. And for Sardinia it is also reported a brief gold rush, denied by modern authors but confirmed by the recent gold mining activity propitiated by the author's observations on the presence of epithermal gold deposits. The gold and iron deposits that Strabo indicates to exist near Aquileia, in the Noricum, are located in present-day Austrian Carinthia. For other Italian areas we have only sporadic hints, concerning probable exploitation dating back to times prior to the ban, or referred to as curiosity: the most widespread information generally concerns some processed products, without any reference to the mineral used and its provenance: however, in some cases it is possible to glimpse the local origin, as in the case of Arezzo, Ischia (Pithecusa) and Sicily. The extraction of sulfur in Sicily was very intense, starting from the second century AD, but no classical author speaks of it.

The island of Salina comprises one of the most distinct calc-alkaline series of the Aeolian arc (Italy), in which calc-alkaline, high-K calc-alkaline, shoshonitic and leucite-shoshonitic magma series are developed. Detailed petrological, geochemical and isotopic (Sr, Nd, Pb, O) data are reported for a stratigraphically well-established sequence of lavas and pyroclastic rocks from the Middle Pleistocene volcanic cycle (430–127 ka) of Salina, which is characterized by an early period of basaltic volcanism (Corvo; Capo; Rivi; Fossa delle Felci, group 1) and a sequence of basaltic andesites, and andesites and dacites in the final stages of activity (Fossa delle Felci, groups 2–8). Major and trace element compositional trends, rare earth element (REE) abundances and mineralogy reveal the importance of crystal fractionation of plagioclase + clinopyroxene + olivine/ orthopyroxene ± titanomagnetite ± amphibole ± apatite in generating the more evolved magma types from parental basaltic magmas, and plagioclase accumulation in producing the high Al2O3 contents of some of the more evolved basalts. Sr isotope ratios range from 0.70410 to 0.70463 throughout the suite and show a well-defined negative correlation with 143Nd/144Nd (0.51275–0.51279). Pb isotope compositions are distinctly radiogenic with relatively large variations in 206Pb/204Pb (19.30–19.66), fairly constant 207Pb/204Pb (15.68–15.76) and minor variations in 208Pb/204Pb ratios (39.15–39.51). Whole-rock δ18O values range from +6.4 to +8.5‰ and correlate positively with Sr isotope ratios. Overall, the isotopic variations are correlated with the degree of differentiation of the rocks, indicating that only small degrees of crustal assimilation are overprinting the dominant evolution by crystal–liquid fractionation (AFC-type processes). The radiogenic and oxygen isotope composition of the Salina basalts suggests derivation from primary magmas from a depleted mantle source contaminated by slab-derived fluids and subducted sediments with an isotopic signature of typical upper continental crust. These magmas then evolved further to andesitic and dacitic compositions through the prevailing process of low-pressure fractional crystallization in a shallow magma reservoir, accompanied by minor assimilation of crustal lithologies similar to those of the Calabrian lower crust.

RIASSUNTO Vengono fornite informazioni sulla distribuzione e l'ecologia di cinque piante vascolari nuove per le Eolie, ovvero Amaranthus viridis, Brachypodium stacei, Briza minor, Mercurialis annua subsp. ambigua e Ophioglossum lusitanicum, ponendo in particolare risalto quest'ultimo ritrovamento. Si conferma inoltre la presenza di Nerium oleander e Onopordum horridum e si segnala quella di tre spe-cie inedite per una o diverse isole dell'arcipelago. Viene infine descritta una nuova associazione vege-tale, denominata Rumici bucephalophori-Ophioglossetum lusitanici ass. nova, per l'isola di Vulcano. Parole chiave: Ecogeografia, Fitosociologia, Isole minori del Mediterraneo, Piante rare. SUMMARY About the occurrence of Ophioglossum lusitanicum L. on the island of Vulcano and additions to the vascular flora of the Aeolian Islands (NE Sicily). This paper provides information on the distribution and the ecology of five vascular plant taxa new to the Aeolian islands. Amaranthus viridis, Brachypodium stacei, Briza minor, Mercurialis annua subsp. ambigua and Ophioglossum lusitanicum, with particular emphasis on this latter finding. Moreover, Nerium oleander and Onopordum hor-ridum are confirmed for the archipelago and three other taxa are here reported for the first time for one/more island/s. Finally, a new plant association, named Rumici bucephalophori-Ophioglossetum lusitanici ass. nova, is described for the island of Vulcano.

Social Organization and Community Practices. Analysis for a reconstruction of the social framework of the Aeolian communities during the Middle Bronze Age PhD dissertation-2012 University of Udine Department of History and Preservation of the Cultural Heritage NOTE: The PDFs of Vol II (Plates) and Catalogue are provided via email upon request. ABSTRACT This study deals with the archaeological evidence from the Middle Bronze Age (ca 1460-1250 BC) settlements on the Acropolis of Lipari, on the Montagnola di Capo Graziano (Filicudi), at Punta Milazzese (Panarea), and Portella (Salina). The work is aimed at the reconstruction of forms of social organization, and is based on the data provided by previous researches carried on those sites. Thanks to those researches, a large amount of data has been made available to scholars interested in a number of different archaeological issues connected to the documentation of the Archipelago. In different points in time studies have been published dealing with the Aegean and Apennine ceramic imports, or with facets of local architecture, or with the problem of the connections between the Aeolian Islands and different parts of Mediterranean shores. The reasons that pushed me to approach the subject of this study can be outlined as follows. While, on the one hand, previous literature has provided important insights into important archaeological issues, on the other hand, a study aimed to investigate the social organization of MBA Aeolian communities was still lacking. It seemed important to this author to understand: a) how the Aeolian MBA communities were organized in the past; b) how material culture was used during daily activities; c) how these are recognizable in the archaeological record; d) where they were performed; e) what relationship existed between those activities and the places where they were performed; f) by what means and for what purposes those activities took place; g) to what extent material culture was used in social relations; h) in more general terms, how and why the material culture could have been expression of the ways in which communities organized themselves, their own life, and their social relations. In this perspective, special interest lies in the possibility to understand how the acquisition and use of exotic goods relates to local practices and indigenous social dynamics. To address these questions, I used a bottom-up approach, which rests on a broad body of evidences of various kind, in a perspective in which the archaeological evidence is analyzed in detail, with attention paid to both the findings and their spatial correlates, to both local and foreign artifacts. The starting point of the research is a small-scale bottom-up analysis, aimed to understand the on-site distribution and associations of objects, and to pinpoint activity areas at the on-site level. In a broader perspective, the analysis is aimed to understand how factors like objects distribution, proportion, occurrence in specific structures, association with other kind of materials, and their occurrence in special areas, can provide insight on the kind and aim of activities performed by past communities. Ultimately, moving to a higher level of interpretation, this may help us understand how life, and the human and social relations, were organized in ancient times. Chapter 1 presents the state of the archaeological researches in the Middle Bronze Age Aeolian horizons. It provides an history of the researches and a description of the various aspects of material culture. Chapter 2 aims to set the archaeological evidence in the broader context of the Sicilian MBA. Chapter 3 reviews the previous literature dealing with the archaeological evidence of the Aeolian Middle Bronze Age. Chapter 4 provides the theoretical framework of this study. It outlines a series of "archeologically significant" questions that are relevant for this study’s sake and that the subsequent sections of the analysis seeks to address. Chapter 5 examines the stratigraphies of the contexts being studied, with the aim to isolate, among the bulk of the published findings, only those that can be linked to the huts’ (final) use. Another topic addressed in this chapter is the quantification of artifacts and their functional classification, the latter to be used for the detection and recognition of activities carried out within the villages. Chapters 6-9 present an in-deep analysis of findings and stratigraphies from each village structure (huts and open areas). Chapter 10 analyzes the distribution of findings and functional classes of objects within and between the structures of each settlement. On the basis of analytical results derived from previous Chapters 6-9, the analysis is able to take into consideration cluster of objects from layers which may be considered relative to the last phase of use of each structure. The on-site distribution of findings and functional classes of objects is put in relation to other kind of data and evidences, such as the size of the structures, dimensional features of the objects, the distribution of certain decorative schemes on specific ceramic forms. For Lipari, the analysis seeks to integrate the faunal evidence with data relative to other classes of materials (ceramic, lithic). For each settlement, a final paragraph provides a sinthesis of the main achivements stemming from the analysis. Chapter 11 discusses the achievements of the preceding sections, and try to read them in the light of the theorethical background provided in Chapter 4. On these basis, a reconstruction and interpretation of forms of community organization is proposed. Chapter 12 provides a summary of the main achievements of the work. Building on the analysis object of Chapters 10-11, a number of aspects relevant to the social organisation of the Aeolian MBA communities are higlighted. To quote just a few: -localisation of specific activity areas; distinction bewteen domestic and utilitarian huts; -identification of the spatial and material correlates of both types of structures; -identification of practices for the promotion of social solidarity by means of feasting activities and the use of a shared decorative symbolism; -individuation of forms and loci of social integration between autonomous nuclear families with the aim to mitigate the forms of social tension; -reconstruction of a social framework allowing to give a sounder explanation of why and in which way exotica [both of Aegean and Apennine type] were integrated and recontextualizated by local communities in local social-oriented practices. Finally, Appendix 1 aims to clarify the basis of the dimensional classification of the Milazzese huts used in the analytical sections of the work. Appendix 2 provides a primer on the Correspondence Analysis, an explorative statistical technique used in Chapter 10 to identify similarities and differences between the structures of the various settlements, on the basis of the proportion of artifacts that make up the huts’ inventories.

This paper proposes a Bayesian model for the 14C chronology of Sicilian Early and Middle Bronze Age, with a specific focus on the northeastern sector of the island. Building on the available 14C determinations, the model allows addressing a number of chronological questions left open in literature, making a first step toward an independent absolute chronology. The analysis put the start of the earlier part of Early Bronze Age (Capo Graziano 1-Casa Lopez phase) between 2400-2175 cal BC, and the end at about 1960 cal BC. The advanced stage of the same period (Capo Graziano 1-Filo Braccio phase) is likely to have started and ended around 1960 and 1730 cal BC respectively. The model indicates that the time slot with the highest posterior probability for the start of the Middle Bronze Age-Milazzese (Portella phase) is between 1490 and 1460. This turns up to be earlier than held to date. Notably, the model enables for the first time to bracket the development of the later stage of Early Bronze (Capo Graziano 2-M. di Capo Graziano phase) between 1730 (end of Filo Braccio phase) and 1490/60 cal BC (start of Middle Bronze Age-Portella phase). The latter date is earlier than usually held for the end of Capo Graziano 2. The existence of a narrow gap between the end of the latter and the start of Portella phase is tentatively proposed only on stratigraphic grounds. Further, the analysis enables for the first time to pinpoint and quantify the lag that is likely to have existed between the start of those Sicilian prehistoric phases and the appearance of Late Helladic imports. The comparison with the Aegean 14C Bayesian chronology indicates that a time lag (about 45 yr) is likely to have occurred between the start of Capo Graziano 2 and of the Late Helladic period. A time lag between 20 and 70 yr is likely to have existed between the start of the Sicilian Middle Bronze Age and of the Late Helladic III. Arguments tentatively supporting the narrower interval are also discussed.

This paper deals with the first preliminary study of kitchen and cooking wares acquired during four seasons of excavations at the Akrai site (modern Palazzolo Acreide).
Earlier research in Akrai involved excavating architectural remains, mainly buildings of a public nature, such as a theatre, a bouleuterion, an agora and a necropolis. However, the retrieved objects of material culture, including ceramics, have so far not been the focus of any studies or publications. Following the completion of four seasons of research conducted by the Polish mission within the area of the “Roman insula”, it is possible to present the first results of the studies done concerning this category of objects.
Archaeological excavations (on-site research) in Akrai began in 2011. The first two excavation seasons (2011-2012), as well as part of the 2013 season, were focused on removing modern accumulations and ancient destruction levels. As a result, the general presentation of the ceramics, including kitchen and cooking wares, is primarily based on material collected during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Despite the fact that the majority of the ceramic material was found in mixed contexts, mainly levelling areas and levels, the collection allows us to present a general profile of the studied assemblage and propose an initial classification of the kitchen and cooking wares.

Convegno di Studi in ricordo di Giorgio Buchner, a 100 anni dalla nascita (1914 – 2014) – Organizzato da A. Cazzella, A. Guidi, F. Nomi. Anacapri, 27 ottobre
Capri, 28 ottobre
Ischia/Lacco Ameno, 29 ottobre
POSSIBILITA' DI ALLOGGIO GRATUITO A CAPRI
ubiminor2014@gmail.com

The use of contingency tables is widespread in archaeology. Cross-tabulations are used in many different studies as a useful tool to synthetically report data, and are also useful when analyst wishes to seek for latent data structures. The latter case is when Correspondence Analysis (CA) comes into play. By graphically displaying the dependence between rows and columns, CA enables the analyst to explore the data in search of a meaningful inner structure. The article aims to show the utility of CA in archaeology in general and, in particular, for the identification of areas devoted to different activities within settlements. The application of CA to the data from a prehistoric village in north-eastern Sicily (P. Milazzese at Panarea, Aeolian Islands-Italy), taken as a case study, allows to show how CA succeeds in pinpointing different activity areas and in providing grounds to open new avenues of inquiry into other aspects of the archaeological documentation.

Settlement and social organization in Middle Bronze Age Sicily (ca 1490–1250 BCE) have received scant attention compared to that devoted to broader cultural processes during the same period. In spite of some limitations, this work aims at filling the gap building on published evidence from Capo Milazzese settlement (Aeolian Archipelago, north-eastern Sicily), which is taken as case study. On the basis of a preliminary yet necessary study of deposits' formation process, and by means of quantitative and multivariate analyses, this work seeks to pinpoint the activities performed within the settlement, and to understand their material and spatial correlates. For the first time, this work identifies habitations and utilitarian huts highlighting differences in terms of artefacts inventories and floor area. Evidence hinting at huts' functional changes, and at special activities such as pottery production, is located. The material culture patterning brought to the fore by the analysis provides grounds to infer traits of households' socio-economic, architectural, and spatial organization, and to open a window into local processes that may account for the social meaning of food consumption practices, and for the incorporation of foreign pottery into local ceramic inventories.

Catomus aeolicus sp. nov. is described from the Aeolian archipelago (Sicily, Italy). The new species differs from the other European Catomus by having distinctly bent tibiae, longer antennae (especially in males), and strongly highlighted sexual dimorphism. The shape of the aedeagus also seems diagnostic for this new species.

"RESEARCH ON THE DEFINEMENT AND SOURCE OF THE OBSIDIAN FROM SERRA DEL PALCO (SICILY). - The Serra del Palco village is an emblematic obsidian exchange networks study case. Sicily midland located, and dated from Neolithic to the Bronze age, from this village come two types obsidians: green and gray, both colour defined by going through light. The analysis let us link the first to the Island of Pantelleria geological flow, the second to the Island of Lipari flow. The obsidian import quantitative variations from different sources define an outline of the interregional exchange devise. The X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) have been used to aim toward an obsidian samples exhaustive definement."

The book is the result of a three-year investigation for a PhD project at the University of Salento (Lecce, Italy). By comparing archaeological and archaeobotanical data, new paleodemographic estimations are made, reconstructing the use of vegetal resources of Bronze Age communities on the Aeolian Islands.