Italian Archaeology

The goal of this book is to discuss the theoretical challenges posed by the study of social and political inequality of local societies in Western Europe during the Early Middle Ages. Traditional approaches have defined rural communities as passive bodies, poor and unstable in the framework of a self-sufficient economy. In the last few decades the crisis on social approaches both in medieval history and archaeology have missed the opportunity to re-evaluate the role of peasantry and other subaltern groups, even if new written ad material evidences have eroded the traditional assumptions. Conversely, scholars focused on elites and aristocracies have promoted very powerful agendas and projects.
As a consequence of the 2007-2008 recession, Social Sciences have begun to be interested in social and economic inequality, opening new avenues for a reassessment of social history. The Early Medieval period has been identified by different scholars as a key term for the analysis of political complexity and social inequality in a long-term perspective.
The study of local societies has become one of the most fruitful arenas to innovate medieval archaeology and history, using approaches related to the microhistory. This book, dedicated to Chris Wickham, is formed by fourteen papers centred on the study, from both written and material records, of early medieval local communities, which tend to propose a complex framework of social inequality in the local scale.

In August 2003, during the survey of the site of Carsulae (Terni, Italy) remains of a fortification were identified along the western boundary of the archaeological park. These can be interpreted as the remains of a defensive 'agger' (bank) dating to the Early Iron Age - Early Republican Age.
The analysis of aerial photographs has led to the identification of many other traces of this structure.
All these elements allow the formulation of some hypothesis about the development of the fortification line during the different phases of life of the town.
By studying the aerial photographs, other archaeological traces were also identified both inside and outside the town limits. These traces are related to built structures and quarry areas.

Lo scopo di quest’articolo è realizzare una sintesi introduttiva sullo stato della ricerca per ciò che riguarda il genere. Comincerò rivedendo tutto ciò che riguarda l’origine degli studi di genere per poi soffermarmi su una delle aree in cui questo nuovo campo dell’archeologia ha avuto più successo, quello della critica all’impostazione androcentrica. Introdurrò poi alcune considerazioni su come si dovrebbe concepire il genere, vale a dire come una categoria multidimensionale e diversa. Gli studi di genere sulla sussistenza e sulla produzione, sulla cultura materiale, su genere e paesaggio, e come que¬sto tipo di identità può essere studiata in relazione al potere e alia gerarchia sociale, sono altri temi sui quali si soffermerà questo lavoro.

Il presente lavoro di tesi, dal titolo Fornaci romane per la produzione ceramica: tipologia e funzionamento, si articola in sette capitoli, di cui i primi sei relativi alla lavorazione dell’argilla e alla produzione della ceramica e il settimo riguardante una parte sperimentale atta a vagliare le antiche tecniche di lavorazione della materia.
Il primo capitolo presenta una descrizione accurata dell’argilla e delle sue caratteristiche, con particolare interesse per le procedure di trasformazione della materia stessa in ceramica. Ulteriore spazio è stato dedicato alle differenti tipologie di modellazione: a mano, a tornio e da matrice. Infine sono analizzate le tecniche di essiccamento e di rivestimento per poi giungere all’analisi della fase di cottura.
Nel secondo capitolo è proposta la descrizione delle differenti tipologie di fornaci che possono essere di tre tipi: a cielo aperto, verticali o orizzontali.
Il terzo capitolo riguarda la classificazione delle fornaci verticali con particolare attenzione a quelle ritrovate durante alcune campagne di scavo in Toscana, nelle province di Firenze, Grosseto, Livorno, Pisa, Pistoia e Siena. Sono state create delle riproduzioni al computer delle tipologie di fornaci oggetto di studio.
Per quanto riguarda il funzionamento di una fornace verticale vengono descritti, e dove possibile documentati, l’impilaggio e le varie tecniche di cottura tramite la pubblicazione di testimonianze scritte e reperti archeologici.
Nel quinto capitolo si analizza e si descrive dettagliatamente la Scheda di Fornace, strumento utile all’archeologo per catalogare ogni singola fornace e per agevolarne approfondimenti e studi futuri.
Il sesto capitolo descrive un’officina ceramica riferendosi a quella di Giancola (Brindisi); dopo una parte di introduzione, viene analizzato l’impianto produttivo. Il susseguirsi di costruzioni e di demolizioni ha reso possibile un’accurata analisi e una ricostruzione storica degli avvenimenti, consentendo di osservare diverse fasi di vita dell’officina. L’ultimo capitolo è dedicato a un’attività di archeologia sperimentale.
L’autore del presente lavoro ha diviso il primo esperimento in due fasi: nella prima è stata costruita una fornace a cielo aperto, cercando il più possibile di riprodurre le tecniche tipiche dell’epoca romana. Nella seconda tappa dell’esperimento è stata messa a punto una rudimentale camera di cottura, nella quale è stato collocato un manufatto per procedere all’accensione della fornace e alla fase di cottura dell’oggetto.
L’esperimento non ha avuto un esito positivo, probabilmente per motivi tecnici, alcuni dei quali possono essere ragionevolmente individuati nei seguenti fattori: inadeguata fase di
preriscaldamento; interramento della camera di cottura che non ha consentito un sufficiente irradiamento del calore; altezza anomala delle fiamme che ha prodotto uno shock termico sul manufatto, il quale, invece di cuocere come sarebbe stato auspicabile, si è frantumato in alcuni pezzi anneriti e troppo cotti.
Il secondo esperimento si è avvalso di una fornace di tipo verticale la cui costruzione si è rivelata difficoltosa, sia per i materiali e per le tecniche a disposizione, sia per la poca esperienza dello sperimentatore. Terminata la costruzione della fornace verticale, all’interno della camera di cottura sono stati posizionati tre manufatti. Si è proceduto all’accensione della fornace, rivelatasi soddisfacente in quanto ha consentito una cottura quasi ottimale dei manufatti: i prodotti estratti dalla camera avevano mantenuto la loro forma originale con un buon grado di cottura.
Da questi due esperimenti si evidenzia come solo la tipologia di fornace verticale permetta a uno sperimentatore non molto esperto di riprodurre tecniche e modelli operativi tipici dell’epoca romana.

The Later European Prehistory Group of Cambridge is excited to invite you to submit an abstract to our conference “A Blessing and a Curse: Mediterranean mountains between idyll and violence in later Prehistory”
Mountains are indeed double in their nature: on one hand, they are places of idyllic refuge, where to escape the stress of urban and civilised life, uncontaminated corners of beauty and loci amoeni; on the other, they are liminal places, places of anxiety, where phenomena of colonisation, globalisation and normalisation happened at a different pace, or never at all, frictional landscapes where the rules are dictated by a harsh and unforgiving environment.

Cos Prototyped Dressel 2-4 Amphorae from Elaiussa Sebaste
Abstract
Elaiussa Sebaste, laying in Cilicia Tracheia, in current borders of Mersin (Turkey), had played
a signifi cant role in commerces in the Mediterranean since Hellenistic Period to 7th century AD,
due to its geographic position and natural seaports. Commercial activities of the city spread
to various regions from Rhodian to Spain after its population raised, and wine and olive oil
production increased, in the Roman period. During the city’s excavations many amphorae were
found, especially on the island side, where the seaports were located, which provide evidence for
these commercial relations. In this paper, we aim to examine the Dressel 2-4 amphorae discovered
among the remains of a kiln in the area called “A3 Terrace” in the southern port of Elaiussa Sebaste
ancient city. The mentioned amphora group was found together with the amphorae produced in
Spain, Italy, the Aegean islands and Cyprus, dated between BC 2nd and AD 2nd centuries, as well as
with sigillata, lamp, comman ware, coarse ware and cooking pots. Dressel 2-4 amphorae, which
constitute a large group produced as an imitation in the Roman Period, are the only form used for
wine transport and accepted as a prototype across the Roman imperial territory. Its fi rst prototype
was from East Greece, especially the one produced in Kos. Its imitative production was made also
in different sites from East Mediterranean, to Gallia, Italy, Spain, and Africa. Variations of Dressel
2-4 amphoras were also produced as well as several standard forms of Pompeii 5, Zemer 41,
Agora M54 and Agora G 198 in Cilicia Region in Roman Period.
In this study, Dressel 2-4 amphorae were evaluated in terms of their typological, fabric features and
dated after completing their analogic examination. In addition to the types that were discovered in
various dimensions in the A3 terrace area and classifi ed according to their form and clay features,
we made some suggestions about the production centres of Dressel 2-4 amphorae which are
different in terms of both paste and typology and whose production place and similar examples
have not been found.
Keywords: Cilicia, Elaiussa Sebaste, Amphora, Production, Dressel 2-4.

The people known to us as the Veneti, who occupied an area of north-east Italy roughly corresponding to the modern Veneto, are perhaps one of the lesser-known peoples of ancient Italy, but they had a rich, diverse, and fascinating culture.  Between the 6th and 2nd century BC, a thriving urban society developed in the southern Veneto, dominated by a wealthy elite.  Between the 6th and 4th century, large and complex settlements developed, known to us mainly from their associated sanctuaries and tombs, and from their rich material culture.  Intensive contacts with the Etruscans, Greeks and Celts, particularly during the Hellenistic period, introduced new population and brought the region into contact with new economic networks and cultural influences, which are apparent in both settlement development and in the art and craftsmanship of the region.  Roman influence becomes apparent from the 2nd century onwards and during the course of the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, the Veneti gradually adopted Roman culture and the Latin language. In 49 BC they were admitted to Roman citizenship and municipalisation and a programme of colonisation followed. By the 1st century AD, Venetic language and culture had largely been assimilated to that of Rome, but even in the context of a largely Romanised Italy, a strong regional identity persisted.

I studied archeology in Italy (like in part IV), France, Hungary and met and discussed with DAI leader in Rome and senior leader archeologist in Hungary. I went to ex-Roman borders and strategic places and so. Studied military sciences and especially Roman and huns´ art of war. I tell here how the borders of Rome begin to break.

"Mycenaean Greece and Bronze Age Italy: cooperation, trade or war?
The interactions between Italy and Greece from the late 14th to the 11th century BC are the subject of this paper. During that particular period, new bronze types such as Naue II swords, spearheads with cast socket, different implements and dress accessories belonging to the metallurgical koine spread to the Mediterranean world. Available typological research explains little and thus leaves the processes leading to the distribution of koine goods only insufficiently understood. We therefore pursue an integrated approach combining archaeometallurgical analyses with the technological and typological classification of artefacts found in different Aegean and Italian regions in order to solve the problem. As a result, a number of bronzes from late Mycenaean contexts can be identified as imports from Italy. Furthermore, our research supports the theory that the local production of Italian-type impasto pottery and the introduction of bronze types of the metallurgical koine were two related phenomena in the Late Palatial and Post-palatial Aegean societies.

key words: Naue II sword, Bronze Age, Archaeometallurgy

Kontakte zwischen dem mykenischen Griechenland und dem bronzezeitlichen Italien: Kooperation, Handel oder Krieg?
Die Interaktionen zwischen Italien und Griechenland vom 14. bis zum 11. Jahrhundert v. Chr. sind der Gegenstand des vorliegenden Beitrags. Während dieses Zeitraumes können wir die Ausbreitung spezifischer archäologischer Typen, wie etwa der Naue II-Schwerter, der Lanzenspitzen mit gegossener Tülle, verschiedener Gerätschaften oder spezieller Kleidungsaccessoires, die zur metallurgischen Koine gehören, in den Mittelmeerraum beobachten. Die Prozesse, die zur Ausbreitung dieser Urnenfelderbronzen fuhrten, können zurzeit nur teilweise erklärt werden, da die zur Verfugung stehenden typologischen Studien nur von begrenzter Aussagekraft sind. Daher wird ein interdisziplinärer Lösungsansatz vorgestellt, bei dem archäometallurgische Analysen mit der technischen und typologischen Klassifikation von Objekten, die in verschiedenen Regionen der Ägäis sowie Italiens gefunden wurden, kombiniert werden. Als ein wichtiges Ergebnis dieser Studie kann eine Reihe von Bronzeartefakten aus spatmykenischen Kontexten als Importstucke aus Italien angesprochen werden. Darüber hinaus liefern diese Forschungserkenntnisse Argumente dafür, dass die Phänomene der lokalen Produktion von Impastokeramik italienischen Typs und der Übernahme von Bronzeformen der metallurgischen Koine in den spatpalastzeitlichen und nachpalastzeitlichen Gesellschaften der Ägäis miteinander in Beziehung standen.
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The post-Roman pottery excavated at the abbey between 1908 and 1979 amounts to about 10,247 sherds. The collection is of great interest, since it demonstrates occupation on the site in the fifth or sixth century, includes the largest assemblage of Anglo- Saxon ceramics from the county and allows some conclusions to be drawn about the pattern of pottery consumption at the West country’s greatest monastic house. The post-Reformation ceramics provide an additional field of interest. A significant group of imported vessels includes Italian tin-glazed wares, South Netherlands maiolica, Spanish lustrewares and Seville arista tiles. Petrological study has improved our understanding of the sources for the Saxo-Norman coarse pottery. However, the greater part of the material is an unstratified and selected sample, limiting its value considerably. The assemblage has been shaped by the selective practices of curation and discard that were employed in the antiquarian excavations at Glastonbury Abbey.

This paper discusses several aspects of Roman Metallurgy in the large area between Oriental Alps and Pannonian Plain, metal workshops, the identification of workshop production, specialization, mass production, and the evolution of copper alloys in Roman times.

This work studies the fortifications of the ancient Basta or Bausta, a pre-Roman Messapian site corresponding to the modern village of Vaste, close to the town of Poggiardo, in Lecce Province. Vaste is in the south-eastern part of the Salento peninsula, a few kilometers inland from the Adriatic coast. The structural analysis of the artefact, which takes account of the wider historical-topographical context, sets out to define and to date the various phases of the fortification walls, as well as to reconstruct their course and their articulation in each segment. The attainment of a better understanding of the Vaste walls contributes to outline the history of Messapian military architecture and to reflect on issues of topographical, sociological and historical nature about topics such as the development of the spatial organization of the settlement and its relationship with the surrounding territory between the IV and the III century b.C.

La tomba a camera tardoromana di San Salvo
The traditional research about the relationships among the two banks of the Adriatic sea, based
mainly on the documentary sources, in the recent years has become wealthy of important data furnished
by the Archaeology. The geographical area interested by this study is the southern coastline of
Abruzzo and that of Molise. In particular, we introduce the Grave 71, a late roman underground burial
chamber discovered in Parco Archeologico del Quadrilatero in San Salvo.
The Grave 71 find comparisons in the Balkans and it proves the important commercial role developed
by the ancient and medieval settlement of San Salvo: a place of market and storage of alimentary
commodities destined, above all, to the other bank of the Adriatic sea.
The Grave 71 have been violated in the IX century and, after having been object of a ritual that
consisted in the killing of piglets, ha been surrounded by numerous burials.

Witcher, R.E. (2006). Broken Pots and Meaningless Dots? Surveying the Rural Landscapes of Roman Italy. Papers of the British School at Rome 74: 39-72.

This article questions why the popularity of field survey as a method for the study of rural Roman Italy, and its rapid methodological development, have not been accompanied by parallel developments in theoretical and interpretative frameworks. Field survey remains wedded to a limited range of historical and ‘processual’ questions and isolated from wider archaeological developments in relation to the interpretation of material culture and, in particular, theories of landscape. It is argued that the current attention towards methodology has allowed theory and interpretation to be ignored for too long. The suggestion that survey is incapable of responding to such issues as social identity is dismissed through a deconstruction of how archaeological knowledge is constructed on a hypothetical survey. A variety of assumptions are exposed and critiqued in the light of the wider archaeological literature, and alternative avenues of research suggested. The overall aim is not to lay down a series of prescriptive steps for all future research, but to present a broad agenda for the reintegration of such work with the wider discipline and an appeal for greater diversity in theoretical and interpretative approaches to the archaeology of Roman rural Italy.

In questo articolo mi domando come mai il rapido sviluppo metodologico delle indagini di superficie come tecnica per lo studio dell'Italia romana rurale non e stato accompagnato da sviluppi paralleli nelle branche teoretiche e interpretative. L'indagine di superficie rimane legata ad un limitato range di domande guidate da testi e domande 'processuali', ed e isolata da un piu ampio pensiero archeologico circa la cultura materiale e il paesaggio. In forte contrasto con altre regioni e periodi, lo studio del paesaggio romano d'Italia continua a focalizzarsi sui siti, sulla ceramica e sui processi, piuttosto che sui luoghi, la gente e le idee. lo auspico un cambiamento epistemologico per portare gli studi verso un dialogo con la piu ampia disciplina. A questo scopo vengono sottoposte a critica pratiche teoretiche e metodologiche. La convinzione che la ricognizione e incapace di rispondere a questioni come l'identita sociale viene abbandonata attraverso una 'decostruzione' di come la conoscenza archeo-logica viene costruita. Una serie di potenziali soggetti di ricerca vengono discusse al fine di delineare una nuova agenda per le ricognizioni in Italia. II fine e quello di stimolare una diversificazione degli approcci che realizzino pienamente il potenziale informativo della ricognizione come contributo alia studio dei paesaggi romani.

Full .pdf available from Archaeopress:
http://www.archaeopress.com/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id=%7BC0448A18-3D3A-44FD-8D26-89C9A99565C3%7D

Etruscan architecture underwent various changes between the later Iron Age and the Archaic period (c. 800-500 BC), as seen in the evidence from several sites. These changes affected the design and style of domestic architecture as well as the use of raw materials and construction techniques. However, based on a supposed linear progression from inferior to superior building materials, explanations and interpretations often portray an architectural transition in Etruria from ‘prehistoric’ to ‘historic’ building types. This perspective has encouraged a rather deterministic, overly simplified and inequitable view of the causes of change in which the replacement of traditional materials with new ones is thought to have been the main factor.

This book aims to reconsider the nature of architectural changes in this period by focussing on the building materials and techniques used in the construction of domestic structures. Through a process of identification and interpretation using comparative analysis and an approach based on the chaîne opératoire perspective, changes in building materials and techniques are examined, with special reference to four key sites: San Giovenale, Acquarossa, Poggio Civitate (Murlo) and Lago dell’Accesa. It is argued that changes occurred in neither a synchronous nor a linear way, but separately and at irregular intervals. In this monograph, they are interpreted as resulting mainly from multigenerational habitual changes, reflecting the relationship between human behaviour and the built and natural environments, rather than choices between old and new materials. Moreover, despite some innovations, certain traditional building techniques and their associated materials continued into the Archaic period, indicating that Etruscan domestic architecture did not undergo a complete transformation, as sometimes asserted or implied in other works. This study of building techniques and materials, while not rejecting the widely held view of a significant Etruscan architectural transition, argues for a more nuanced reading of the evidence and greater recognition of the nature of behavioural change during the period in question.

Edited Volume of Papers. Editor, A.J. Nijboer.
I made this volume available on this Academia.edu page in February 2016 after receiving requests for copies. Peeters publishers in Leuven should have back copies of Caecvlvs but since I can not trace on their website how to order this Caecvlvs volume of 2001, I made it available on internet with the assistance of one of our excellent students at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology, Remco Bronkhorst.

Author: Marta Luciani. Marta Luciani 2007: 'Archaeological Field Training for a Variety of Different Types of Sites: From the Near Eastern Tell to the Prehistoric Settlement Camp,' in From Concepts of the Past to Practical Strategies: The Teaching of Archaeological Field Techniques. Peter Ucko, Editor-in-Chief Qin Ling and Jane Hubert Editors. Commissioning Editor and General Editor: Sajid Rizvi. ISBN 9781872843704. London: Saffron, 2007. [Introduction] Reflection on archaeological field training in the Near East is usually scarce, even in the context of the larger and long-lasting field projects1. This is due to an array of circumstances, some of which are discussed below. By contrast, in prehistoric excavations, archaeological investigation methods − if not their teaching − are traditionally a matter of discussion. As the focus of this book is on archaeological field training in a variety of sites, and my own experience is mainly, though not exclusively, on activities within the framework of university research, my paper is written from this perspective. Furthermore, my examples will be drawn mainly from archaeological activities in the Near East, or Western Asia, more specifically Iraq, Syria and Turkey, with some comparisons with Italy, as my own research in the last 15 years has focused on this region of the world. In preparing this contribution I have kept a perspective based on personal experience, in order to attain a picture of field training which reflects reality in the Near East − however subjective − rather than norms. Rescue Archaeology University research in the Near East may be carried out in the framework of research-orientated projects, but it often happens to involve rescue archaeology. Salvage or rescue activities in the Near East have been known to take place both in urban and rural contexts. The best urban example is the investigation of the Martyrs’ Square and the Suq in downtown Beirut, Lebanon (Badre 1997; Ortali-Tarazi 1998-1999)2, carried out after the war in the second half of the 1990s, in order to investigate the destroyed city centre prior to the planned urban development. In the countryside, salvage and rescue research is mainly a consequence of the numerous hydraulic projects undertaken by Turkey, Syria and Iraq (for example, Mellink 1992; Bounni 1997; Abu al-Soof 1979). The latter have involved building artificial dams either on the major rivers, ie Tigris and Euphrates, or on their tributary courses, such as the Diyala, the Zab or the Habur which, once the dams were finished, f looded entire portions of the river valleys and their archaeological remains.3 The local governments have, therefore, launched intensive surface surveys and site excavations prior to the f looding, in order to acquire knowledge on the areas about to be submerged by water. These projects started at the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, involving dozens of local and international teams. They have led to an enormous increase in our understanding of otherwise unknown regions in the Near East. Furthermore, being rescue activities (whether surveys or excavations), the projects were not focused on a single time period, thus providing an invaluable reference for all subsequent studies of a given region. At the same time, however, such extensive excavations, and the ensuing f looding of the sites by the waters of artificial lakes, have also caused the destruction of the archaeological record and its inaccessibility in entire districts of Western Asia. Two examples, both of dams developed on the Euphrates River on Syrian territory (Figure 1), may be used to make the point. On the so-called Euphrates bend, in the 1960s, the Al-Thawra Dam was built at the site of Tabqa, creating upstream Lake Assad. In more recent times, a new dam, Tishreen, was built further north on the Euphrates, forming a lake which reaches to the border with Turkey. Archaeological rescue operations along both segments of the river valley attest to the high amount of sites, mostly previously unknown, that have been surveyed, identified and subsequently excavated. It is important to stress, however, that since surface surveying has never had a systematic character in archaeological salvage projects, it is certain that mono-phase and/or f lat sites, off-site and less visible features must have remained underrepresented in all obtained maps, even those shown here. Although not by any means the only type of settlement to be encountered in the very diverse Near Eastern landscapes (see Wilkinson 2003), most often the marker of the settlement landscape is the multi-period stratified site, the artificial mound called tell in modern Arabic, the corresponding Farsi being tappah, Kurdish tepe, and Turkish hüyük. The peculiar shape of the landscape is mainly the result of two factors: … Follow links for further info on this book.

Il sito archeologico di Sepino sorge sulla piana di Bojano, un’area di importanza economica strategica essendo al centro di uno snodo stradale che collegava, tra il IV e il III sec. a. C., il Sannio Pentro con la Valle Peligna (Abruzzo) e l’Irpinia (zona di Avellino), e avendo sbocchi commerciali non solo sulla Campania ma anche sulla Daunia e, da qui, sull’Egeo.

This is my review of the interesting and important work by Caroline Goodson, Cultivating the City in Early Medieval Italy. Not only will readers discover that this is a rich and multi-faceted work but also one that brings into the field of discussion fascinating insights and ideas academic discussions both old and new. A real chef d'oeuvre.