Simona Perna
I am a Research Associate within the ArPA&LiRA research unit at the ICAC in Tarragona (Spain) and Associate Lecturer of Roman Art within the department of Art and Musicology at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB). I am disseminating the results of my 2-year research project 'TECHNet: Technological innovation and knowledge networks: a multidisciplinary approach to Greco-Roman stone vases' funded by H2020-MSCA (2020-2022) on innovation and knowledge transfer in Graeco-Roman crafts, particularly stone working, through the analysis of marble and decorative stone vases. My current research also includes the production and manipulation of material culture in Greek and Roman antiquity from a gender perspective, the application of digital technology for the study of marble artefacts, and the archaeology of marble quarrying and landscape. I am the PI of the 'Grevena Archaeological Project: the marble finds' and director and coordinator of the excavation of a villa rustica at Arsalia (Agios Georgios, Grevena, Northern Macedonia Greece) within the Archaeological Program promoted by the Eforia of Antiquities Grevena. I am also a research assistant in the I+D project "Mobiliario, menaje y vajilla marmórea en la Hispania romana (siglos I a.C. a V d.C.) (MarFur) (PID2023-150060NB-I00) at UNED and in the «Cosas de mármol». Creación, usos y reciclaje de las producciones marmóreas en Hispania (RED2022-134955-T). I am also a member of the Engendering Ancient Economies Network (EAEN)
Address: Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica
Plaça d’en Rovellat, s/n
43003 Tarragona
Address: Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica
Plaça d’en Rovellat, s/n
43003 Tarragona
less
InterestsView All (50)
Uploads
Projects by Simona Perna
The region around Agios Georgios is of particular archaeological interest with finds pointing to human habitation from the Neolithic to the Ottoman period and beyond, documented by several identified necropolises, unspecified building structures and sporadic pottery finds, metal and stone. The landscape is dominated by the adjacent hill of Agios Nikolaos, a site that has already yielded interesting evidence of human activity. The area of Agios Georgios has been the focus of recent archaeological surveys and excavation promoted by the Ephoria of Grevena (dir. Sonia Dimaki), especially in the fields of Arsalia, at about 2 km from the main village.
The survey and excavation campaigns undertaken in 2022 and in 2023 in the field known as Agros Batara, in the locality of Arsalia have led to the discovery of numerous marble finds and wall structures. Most of the finds date to the Roman phase (1st century AD to 5th century AD).The presence of building material, such as tiles and bricks, seems to point in the direction of a rich villa rustica. That this may be the case can be further confirmed by the discovery of a room with black and white mosaic floor and painted plaster and a field of dolia. The survey and excavation in the Batara field and adjacent area are accompanied by the analysis of the marble artefacts, which include a series of votive reliefs representing ears, fragments of statuary and architectural elements, preserved in the Ephoria storehouses for future publication."
Technology is one of the most transformative innovations of humankind: it has profoundly impacted economic, social and cultural history. Understanding humans’ capacity to innovate provides fundamental tools for the study of technological advance and human progress. Technology applied to crafts has radically changed the relationship between maker and matter, that is mankind’s ability to manipulate its material environment and transform it into useable objects for living.
Stone is the most challenging matter for craftsmen to process since it requires a complex series of technological choices and an articulate operational sequence. Consequently, stone vases, as objects made of stone, represent crucial analytical “tools” to investigate technological innovation in ancient crafts. Disclosing the processes and circumstances of transformative innovations in the ancient world helps us comprehend the mechanisms of modern technology and its role in shaping contemporary and future societies. Much ground-breaking research has shown that Protohistoric stone vessel production involved significant technological input and knowledge transfer, thus playing a key role in the development of Prehistoric Mediterranean craft traditions. Similar research for the Classical period is still lacking. The TECHNET action puts forward an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to the development of technology in ancient crafts using Greco-Roman stone vases as case study.
TECHNET'S starting hypothesis is that Greco-Roman stone vases have the potential to inform us on technological development, knowledge transfer through artisans’ mobility and material practices in the Classical period. I intend to test this hypothesis through the combination of ethno-anthropological and sociological qualitative analysis with the latest digital tools and computer informed methods. The results produced by TECHNET will integrate current research on ancient material culture production and advance our understanding of technological innovation in antiquity.
Articles by Simona Perna
This paper discusses the presence of Greco scritto marble types in early Imperial contexts in Campania drawing on from new data from Cumae, Baiae and Murecine (Pompeii). Evidence from these sites shows that Greco scritto featured especially in bath-complexes where most of the presumed Algerian or Turkish varieties are indistinctively found. Moreover, epigraphic evidence seems to confirm the use by wealthy privates as early as the Flavian period.
Although no tureens have been found in “physical” form in Roman domestic contexts, there is evidence from visual representations that the iconography of the shape itself could have played an important role in domestic religion and in everyday life. I shall thus set the discussion further against the images of vases, of which the tureen seems to be the materialisation, featuring in Roman domestic frescoes to speculate upon its potential connection with Roman domestic cults. By discussing the ritual meaning of these painted objects within their scenes, I aim to demonstrate that they are not simple parerga or accessories but meaningful visual symbols that acting upon the senses made the sacred a tangible reality in everyday life. Furthermore, the evidence emerging from the creation and use of the stone tureens compels us to frame this phenomenon further in the early Imperial cultural and ideological climate. The tureens do not in fact come into use as urns until the Augustan period. I argue that this is more than a chronological coincidence, but possibly the material actualization of the Augustan visual and religious syntax. Within the framework of lived religion and sensory studies, the aim is to extrapolate the ritual role of the tureen and other vase shapes in Roman religious and domestic contexts to shed further light on the relationship between the sacred and materiality in antiquity.
The region around Agios Georgios is of particular archaeological interest with finds pointing to human habitation from the Neolithic to the Ottoman period and beyond, documented by several identified necropolises, unspecified building structures and sporadic pottery finds, metal and stone. The landscape is dominated by the adjacent hill of Agios Nikolaos, a site that has already yielded interesting evidence of human activity. The area of Agios Georgios has been the focus of recent archaeological surveys and excavation promoted by the Ephoria of Grevena (dir. Sonia Dimaki), especially in the fields of Arsalia, at about 2 km from the main village.
The survey and excavation campaigns undertaken in 2022 and in 2023 in the field known as Agros Batara, in the locality of Arsalia have led to the discovery of numerous marble finds and wall structures. Most of the finds date to the Roman phase (1st century AD to 5th century AD).The presence of building material, such as tiles and bricks, seems to point in the direction of a rich villa rustica. That this may be the case can be further confirmed by the discovery of a room with black and white mosaic floor and painted plaster and a field of dolia. The survey and excavation in the Batara field and adjacent area are accompanied by the analysis of the marble artefacts, which include a series of votive reliefs representing ears, fragments of statuary and architectural elements, preserved in the Ephoria storehouses for future publication."
Technology is one of the most transformative innovations of humankind: it has profoundly impacted economic, social and cultural history. Understanding humans’ capacity to innovate provides fundamental tools for the study of technological advance and human progress. Technology applied to crafts has radically changed the relationship between maker and matter, that is mankind’s ability to manipulate its material environment and transform it into useable objects for living.
Stone is the most challenging matter for craftsmen to process since it requires a complex series of technological choices and an articulate operational sequence. Consequently, stone vases, as objects made of stone, represent crucial analytical “tools” to investigate technological innovation in ancient crafts. Disclosing the processes and circumstances of transformative innovations in the ancient world helps us comprehend the mechanisms of modern technology and its role in shaping contemporary and future societies. Much ground-breaking research has shown that Protohistoric stone vessel production involved significant technological input and knowledge transfer, thus playing a key role in the development of Prehistoric Mediterranean craft traditions. Similar research for the Classical period is still lacking. The TECHNET action puts forward an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to the development of technology in ancient crafts using Greco-Roman stone vases as case study.
TECHNET'S starting hypothesis is that Greco-Roman stone vases have the potential to inform us on technological development, knowledge transfer through artisans’ mobility and material practices in the Classical period. I intend to test this hypothesis through the combination of ethno-anthropological and sociological qualitative analysis with the latest digital tools and computer informed methods. The results produced by TECHNET will integrate current research on ancient material culture production and advance our understanding of technological innovation in antiquity.
This paper discusses the presence of Greco scritto marble types in early Imperial contexts in Campania drawing on from new data from Cumae, Baiae and Murecine (Pompeii). Evidence from these sites shows that Greco scritto featured especially in bath-complexes where most of the presumed Algerian or Turkish varieties are indistinctively found. Moreover, epigraphic evidence seems to confirm the use by wealthy privates as early as the Flavian period.
Although no tureens have been found in “physical” form in Roman domestic contexts, there is evidence from visual representations that the iconography of the shape itself could have played an important role in domestic religion and in everyday life. I shall thus set the discussion further against the images of vases, of which the tureen seems to be the materialisation, featuring in Roman domestic frescoes to speculate upon its potential connection with Roman domestic cults. By discussing the ritual meaning of these painted objects within their scenes, I aim to demonstrate that they are not simple parerga or accessories but meaningful visual symbols that acting upon the senses made the sacred a tangible reality in everyday life. Furthermore, the evidence emerging from the creation and use of the stone tureens compels us to frame this phenomenon further in the early Imperial cultural and ideological climate. The tureens do not in fact come into use as urns until the Augustan period. I argue that this is more than a chronological coincidence, but possibly the material actualization of the Augustan visual and religious syntax. Within the framework of lived religion and sensory studies, the aim is to extrapolate the ritual role of the tureen and other vase shapes in Roman religious and domestic contexts to shed further light on the relationship between the sacred and materiality in antiquity.
The first season of the 'Alabaster:' Quarrying and Trade in the Roman World Project has examined the in situ 'alabaster' at Pompeii and Herculaneum in order to determine the types employed at each city and changes in use from the second century BC to the first century AD. This has included a survey of various styles of pavement that employ inserts or tiles of 'alabaster', such as cement (cioccopesto), mosaic and opus sectile. In 2014 we were able to examine 14 out of 22 houses at Pompeii and 10 out of 12 houses at Herculaneum that employ 'alabaster', real or painted. The results of our survey show a varied use of 'alabaster' such as onyx and banded calcareous alabaster from Egypt, fiorito from Asia Minor, Palombara and tartaruga (possibly) from Italy and/or Asia Minor, and alabastro a pecorella from Algeria. An increasing use of the latter varieties, particularly of pecorella 'alabaster', is recorded at Herculaneum (House of the Alcove, House of the Telephus Relief) in Fourth Style floors (Guidobaldi et al.2014), but no painted representations have been retrieved. Conversely, the Egyptian onyx/cotognino and banded varieties of alabaster are overrepresented at Pompeii (e.g. House of the Menander) as inserts predominantly in Second and Third Style floors. These two varieties are also widely reproduced in the Second Style frescoes at Pompeii (House of the Labyrinth). However, certain painted types can be arguably identified as non-Egyptian fiorito or tartaruga 'alabasters' (e.g. Villa of Mysteries) which are also in use, albeit sporadically, in Third to Fourth Style floors (House of Fronto). Preliminary research shows that both at Pompeii and Herculaneum the “prestigious” varieties are used in prominent rooms/positions, while only in one case real and painted 'alabaster' are both employed in the same house at Pompeii.
The paper discusses the results of the survey at Pompeii and Herculaneum undertaken by our project whose future agenda also includes laboratory testing of selected 'alabaster' samples. By building a database of known datable examples and sources we can begin to greatly strengthen our knowledge of the quarrying, distribution, use and importance of 'alabaster' in the Roman world.
The poster presents the results of a minero-petrographic and isotopic study – minero-petrographical (by XRD and OM on thin section) and geochemical (Sr isotopes by mass spectrometry, and chemical quantitative analysis by XRF) conducted by LAMA (Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi) and the Institut für Geologie at the Universität Bern – carried out on the ‘alabaster’ thresholds of Villa A, Oplontis. Sr isotope analyses are under way; their comparison with the Castelnuovo quarry (87Sr/86Sr = 0.70798 ± 0.00003) and the Thyatira quarry (87Sr/86Sr = 0.7081-0.7091) will be presented. The results should provide further data regarding the potential sources and uses of this ornamental stone during Antiquity.
that not only shape sculpture but also weave intricate connections with
geography. While specific materials, such as Egyptian purple porphyry,
have been celebrated for their unique properties, calcite alabaster, often
overshadowed, played an equally significant role in early Imperial Roman
art.
This study delves into the world of calcite alabaster, examining its physical
and expressive properties and their profound influence on the choices made
by Roman patrons and artists. Calcite alabaster, with its translucent allure,
offered a canvas for artistic expression in both domestic and funerary
contexts during the Roman period. Its use, however, was not isolated from
the geographical backdrop.
Geography emerges as a pivotal factor in the journey of calcite alabaster
from its natural ecosystem to the hands of Roman sculptors. Most notably,
the primary source of calcite alabaster for the Romans were the quarries of
the Egyptian Eastern Desert. The distinct quality of Egyptian calcite
alabaster, known for its purity and luminosity, rendered it highly prized in
Roman artistic production. Sourcing this material involved navigating the
Egyptian landscape and culture. This seems to become particularly
apparent when we consider that the major and more consistent uses of such
a decorative stone peaked in the Julio-Claudian period.
This paper explores how the geographical origin of calcite alabaster from
Egypt played a fundamental role in the historical, artistic, and social aspects
of Roman sculpture. Through archaeological evidence and iconographic
analysis, it aims to decipher the impact of this material on the aesthetics
and symbolism not only of early Imperial art but also of early Christian and
Medieval architecture. The paper also considers the methodological
challenges that arise when integrating traditional art historical research,
which rely on written sources and stylistic analysis, with archaeometric
analyses that provide insights into the material's provenance.
By exploring the world of calcite alabaster within the broader context of
materials and geography, the aim is to shed light on the dynamic interplay
between art and the physical world, offering a fresh perspective on the
geography of Roman domestic decoration and funerary sculpture and its
socio-economic and cultural implications.
The analysis delves into potential motivations driving the creation and use of these vases, considering three main themes: ostentation, devotion, and gender expression. Firstly, the presence of these vases in sanctuaries and tombs raises questions about their role in displays of wealth or social status (ostentation). Secondly, their placement as votive offerings implies a religious or devotional significance, perhaps linked to the feminine sphere of domestic worship and ritual practice. Lastly, the specific forms and decorative elements of these vases invite speculation about how they might have conveyed notions of femininity and gender roles in ancient Greek society.
Through an interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological evidence with ethno-anthropological and gender studies using marble vases as a case study, the paper aims to shed light on the complex interplay between ‘luxury’ material culture display, ritual practices, and social identities in Classical Greece.
Similar vases appear in painted scenes of funerary contexts, as tomb offerings, or of womanly beauty practices, showing that they had a ‘ritual’ function of some sort. This is confirmed by the identified findspots, which in most cases are temples and of female deities in ancient Greece, among which the famous sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron, and elite funerary contexts pertaining mostly to female individuals. Moreover, some of the attributes of these vases, such as the painted decoration and style, suggests that women may have been closely involved in making and/or decorating them. These factors compel us to ask questions not only about the aesthetic, historical or socio-economic contexts behind the consumption of these objects, but also on the involvement of women in their production.
Women’s work in ancient crafts has largely been overlooked by Classical Archaeology scholarship, while, arguably, stone working is generally considered the dominion of male artisans. However, the evidence emerging from the analysis of this stone production suggests that women’s practices played a key role in influencing and driving the production environment and consumption of ancient material culture. In particular, I argue that their decoration was personalised by the people, quite likely women, using or giving these objects as gifts or donations as it often happens with similar, gendered artefacts, like votive shields or loom weights. Ethnographic examples from both the ancient and more modern production and consumption of certain objects with obvious female associations, including stone artefacts, provide useful terms of comparisons in support of this hypothesis. The aim of this paper is therefore to discuss the use, manipulation, and personalisation of these objects by women and their role in their carving and decoration and, more in general, the role of women in ancient craft productions and their economics.
Mediterranean basin and Asia Minor. Shiny and variegated stones like giallo antico, alabaster, greco scritto, portasanta, cipollino and pavonazzetto, from Egypt, North Africa and Turkey, were employed
in a myriad of ways, following the trends and fashions of the capital city, Rome. Marmora were used in public architecture (in the shape of columns, wall and floor revetment and statuary) and domestic buildings (for decorative items and furniture) as well as epigraphic supports (plaques, basements and altars). Together with the obvious structural and decorative functions, such marmora became the means to express the prestige and power of not just private individuals and public benefactors,
but also the importance of entire provincial communities such as Carthago Nova and Tarraco in Hispania Tarraconensis. This paper offers an overview of the uses, varieties and meanings of the most popular local and imported marmora in Hispania Romana also in light of recent research and archaeometric analyses.
The making of stone vases oscillated between tradition and innovation, ad hoc solutions as well as continuous negotiation between maker, material, tools, and forms. What is more, stone vases crossed the boundaries of crafts as the maker was not only required to be a skilled stone artisan, but also a toreuta and celator, for example. These artefacts pose important questions on craft specialisation, workshop organisation, artisan interaction, material transformation, technological innovation and exchange, and recycling industries in the early imperial period.
In light of these observations, this paper offers some reflections on the above theoretical topics, which have recently come to the fore of Roman material culture studies, using stone vases as a case study. By discussing their chaine operatoire though the combination of theoretical and experimental approaches, the idea is to bring out the ‘textility’ (Ingold 2010) of Roman stone vases, while providing new insights into the making of stone artefacts in the Roman period.
This contribution discusses the real and painted alabaster decorating Villa of the Mysteries’ most emblematic rooms. The objective is to understand the materials function, aesthetics as well as possible semantic attributions. Huge quantities of real Egyptian and non-Egyptian alabaster inserts decorate many of the villa’s floors (cf. F1-F3, P1-P4, 1, 2, 4, 62). Moreover, a total of six rooms featured several panels of painted alabaster of which four (rooms 3, 6, 15, 16) can be identified as Egyptian onyx. The “Mysteries room” (room 5) contained one of the most realistic painted representations of Turkish alabastro fiorito known from Pompeii, used to frame the upper part of the famous Dionysiac scenes. When considered within the overall context of the villa, the relevance and significance of such an abundant display of alabaster become particularly meaningful. The Villa represents one of the most grandiose examples of late Republican private architecture, which also shows close affinities with that of contemporary religious and public buildings in Lazio and Campania (Esposito 2007). It has been suggested that the owner, who remains anonymous, might be one of Silla’s high officials who constructed the villa not long after the deditio of the colony in 80 BC. The sumptuous interior decoration, which included outstanding 2nd-Style wall paintings and pavements, was clearly meant to underline the status and prestige of its owner. The choice of calcite alabaster, one of the earliest polychromes to be imported and used at Pompeii, further enhanced the social value of the villa’s decoration while its painted counterparts added new values to its aesthetics and semantics.
The stone, which is coarse grained with black to blue speckles and streaks of irregular shape, was summarily classified as white marble by its excavators (De Simone / Nappo 2000). Following the recent reanalysis of the panels, now stored in the House of the Criptoporticus at Pompeii, the stone was macroscopically identified as Greco Scritto. A possible Ephesian origin was put forward (Perna and Scognamiglio forthcoming), based on comparisons with recently published research (Antonelli et al. 2009; Attanasio et al. 2012) and the varieties that can be seen at the Hasançavuşlar and Zimpara quarries near Ephesos. Moreover, several slabs bore the abbreviation SVL of the cognomen Sulpicii, bankers and businessmen of Campanian origins that have been identified as the possible owners of the Murecine building. Such epigraphic evidence combined with the potential Turkish identity of the marble and the terminus ante quem of the eruption could provide more secure data on the distribution of Ephesian Greco Scritto in Roman contexts in Italy as well as on marble trade and procurement by private individuals. It was thus necessary to assess the stone’s identity and provenance.
The poster presents the results of the analyses carried out by Professor Fabrizio Antonelli at the LAMA laboratory. Given the macroscopic variety of the stone of the slabs, a total of 14 samples were collected and subjected to isotopic analyses and thin sections as well as XRD to detect the possible presence of dolomite in addition to that of calcite. Such results represent the first step towards a systematic contextual and geo-chemical study of the Greco Scritto of Ephesian origins used in Roman contexts and its respective contribution to the Roman stone trade.
The present contribution discusses the physical and technical features of vases carved from porphyry and other hard stones, such as granite, basalt and greywacke by gathering a body of material up till now dispersed and fragmented. In particular, it emerges that working tools included the lapidary lathe, while proportions, finishing of the surface and the overall elegance of the profiles testify to virtuoso carving by killed artisans, who were able to translate the most popular motifs and shapes into the hardest stones. These objects were fine products destined to a high-ranking clientele that included, but was not limited to, the Imperial family. When compared to contemporary containers in other stones and media (Perna 2015; Perna 2021), it becomes apparent how such porphyry vases can be more confidently recognized as artistic productions from the Julio-Claudian and Flavian periods.
The poster presents new data emerging from the survey of the lithic decoration of Roman buildings in the Hispanic province. Such data is further contextualized within the wider uses of greco scritto marble types in contemporary contexts in Roman Italy. Moreover, the results of the analyses carried out by the Unitat d'Estudis Arqueomètrics laboratory at ICAC on the samples from the Els Munts and the Augusteum and Baths of Cartagena bath complex will be presented. Such results integrate currenty studies on the greco scritto of non-Algerian origins used in Roman contexts in and outside Italy.
During Roman times various rock types have been selected for the manufacturing of religious and funerary sculptures, others have been carefully chosen for particular architectural and ornamental pieces. The latter stones were restricted to public buildings or major private houses. This taste for ornamental stones, part of which were derived from the Mediterranean realm, has generated an important supply activity of products derived from provincial quarries. Where are these materials coming from? What is their geographical distribution? What kind of social and economic mechanisms are playing here? What kind of decorative elements have they been used for? What happened after abandonment of the buildings? Were the quarries still active during post-Roman times? What is the importance of their recycling?
In recent years, research into the origin and provenance of Roman ornamental stones in North-Western Europe, experienced a new impetus, generating the need for an International Conference. This conference was hosted in Belgium by the Gallo-Roman Museum of Tongeren, on April 20-22, 2016. This volume presents the full papers of the talks and posters given and shown at the meeting. The conference offered a true interdisciplinary and international exchange platform for archaeologists, geologists, (art) historians, heritage and restauration specialists and for all those interested in the provenance and distribution of ornamental stones, their extraction, processig and recycling in the Roman provinces of North-Western Europe.
Roman Ornamental Stones in North-Western Europe. Natural Resources, Manufacturing, Supply, Life & After-Life, Coquelet C., Creemers G., Dreesen R. & Goemaere E. (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference 'Roman Ornamental Stones in North-Western Europe, Tongeren', 20-22 April 2016. Availabe in the museum's shop!
Este workshop tiene como objetivo investigar aspectos que vinculan el consumo de la cultura material de lujo en la sociedad romana con la explotación, manipulación y transformación de materiales de lujo en el mundo romano desde una perspectiva comparada. Dentro del tema más amplio de la luxuria romana y su definición en términos socioeconómicos, el objetivo es analizar el lujo en la forma de diversas producciones artísticas a partir de las materias primas que las componen, en primer lugar, los marmora. Los artículos explorarán las diversas facetas del lujo aplicado al uso y exhibición de la cultura material que contribuyeron a la creación de espacios de magnificencia pública y privada desde el período republicano tardío hasta el siglo II d.C. Se compararán mármoles y artefactos líticos con otros productos ornamentales de lujo: desde los metales preciosos hasta el vidrio, pasando por imitaciones y representaciones pintadas, así como su reflejo en los autores antiguos o en las fuentes epigráficas, para constatar cómo estos fueron utilizados por las diferentes clases sociales.
Proyectos I+D / R+D Projects:
El Mensaje del mármol: Prestigio, simbolismo y materiales locales en las provincias occidentales del imperio romano en Hispania y Aquitania (PGC2018-099851-A-I00).
Arqueología y paisaje del marmor de Espejón (PGC2018-096854-B-I00)
Sulcato marmore ferro. Canteras, talleres, artesanos y comitentes de las producciones artísticas en piedra en la Hispania Tarraconensis. (PID2019-106967GB-I00)
Technological Innovation and Knowledge Networks: a Multidisciplinary Approach to Greco-Roman Stone Vases (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019:895286).