Books by Letizia Ceccarelli
Fin dalla sua prima edizione nel 1995, il ninfeo di Q. Mutius, databile fra la fine del II sec. a... more Fin dalla sua prima edizione nel 1995, il ninfeo di Q. Mutius, databile fra la fine del II sec. a.C. e gli inizi del successivo, è stato riconosciuto come una delle più importanti testimonianze dell'architettura romana dell'epoca. Identificato all'interno di una costruzione privata che lo aveva inglobato, il ninfeo è stato oggetto di un progetto di acquisizione, documentazione, restauro e valorizzazione, che ha portato nel 2018 alla sua apertura al pubblico in un'area archeologica attrezzata. Questo ambizioso progetto ha visto anche la ripresa dello studio del ninfeo di Q. Mutius. Il volume presenta, nella collaborazione e nel dialogo tra specialisti di diverse discipline , il più aggiornato dossier sul monumento, episodio di fondamentale importanza per lo studio del tipo architettonico e decorativo, della Signia del tardo ellenismo e dell'intero "laboratorio Lazio" di quello straordinario periodo.
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Papers by Letizia Ceccarelli
Bollettino di Archeologia Online XIV, 2023/Supplemento 1, pp.287-302, 2023
This paper discusses the late Antique ceramic production in Umbria presenting as key-study the wo... more This paper discusses the late Antique ceramic production in Umbria presenting as key-study the workshop at Montelabate (PG) located on the left bank of the Tiber, 7 kilometers north of Arna.
A series of excavation campaigns (2012-2018), as part of the Roman Kiln Project in the framework of the Montelabate Project of the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano, led to the discovery of seven Roman kilns producing form the early imperial to the Late Antique period. The workshop main production was flat-based wine amphorae but from the 4th century AD it shifted to cookware and tableware at semi-industrial scale, suggesting a local and regional market demand for these products. The Montelabate workshop, one of the very few excavated in Umbria, provides evidence of the economic role of ceramic production that, as argued in this contribution, can shed new light on the economy of the changing landscape in Umbria during the Late Antique period.
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FOLD&R Italy Series, 557, 2023
Some surveys made between the 60s and 90s in the area between Tarquinia and the coast, have allow... more Some surveys made between the 60s and 90s in the area between Tarquinia and the coast, have allowed to reconstruct the transformations of the landscape from the protohistoric to the late imperial age. A recent excavation between 2014 and 2015 along the SS1 Aurelia, not far from Tarquinia (so called 'Pidocchio' area), unearthed an important kiln for the manufacture of ceramics, active between the end of the third and the first half of the second century BC. In particular, the kiln produced amphoras that could be added to the family of late Republican 'ovoid amphorae' (called Tarquinia 1-3) and some jugs and basins of coarse ware. This discovery provides new data on the territory of Tarquinia during the romanization and on the production still active in the area, it is possible to determine a new production of 'ovoid amphorae' in central Tyrrhenian Italy. Also, in Santa Severa and Torre Astura, have been identified kilns that produced amphorae morphologically similar to those of the 'Pidocchio' kiln in Tarquinia.There is no evidence for a settlement or a villa overlooking the economic activities of the kiln, so it is not possible to formulate any hypothesis on the ownership. Interesting the discovery of the inscription ANE-imprinted ante cocturam-on a loom weight found in the area of the kiln. The Ane family owns two tombs in the necropolis of Monterozzi, in particular in the so-called tomb 'Querciola II', dated to the first half of the second century BC.
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A. D'Alessio, A. Zevi (a cura di), La sinagoga di Ostia antica, 60 anni dalla scoperta, 20 anni di Arte in Memoria, Roma, 2023
This contribution provides an overview of the lamps discovered
during the Synagogue excavations b... more This contribution provides an overview of the lamps discovered
during the Synagogue excavations between 1961
and 1964, directed by M. Floriani Squarciapino with a
special focus on a group of lamps with Jewish symbols, as
the interpretation of these objects have had implications
for the chronology of the Synagogue building.
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Produrre per gli dei. L’economia per il sacro nell’italia preromana (VII-II sec. a.C.). Atti del workshop internazionale. A cura di Maria Cristina Biella, Claudia Carlucci, Laura Maria Michetti., 2022
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Archeologia Medievale , 2021
The Late Antique development of the city of Perugia and its territory, especially on the left ban... more The Late Antique development of the city of Perugia and its territory, especially on the left bank of the Tiber, is relatively understudied in the framework of the changing economic system of production and landscape management shift. Therefore, imported goods and ceramic production in the 5th and 6th centuries are crucial indicators of continued exploitation of land with continuity of technical traditions and occupation even during the Greek-Gothic war. Since Perugia maintained its urban importance under the Byzantines, this paper argues that the territory was still exploited even with a territorial reorganization. Using as key-study the ceramic workshop at Montelabate, where three of the seven discovered kilns were in use until the end of the 6th century AD, it is proposed the existence of a rural economic system that likely provided wealth to the city of Perugia in the form of taxation. The scale and organizational complexity of the manufacture was connected with a new focus on the landscape in a period when a network of religious buildings replaced the large villa estate system.
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In the light of the results of new excavations at Montelabate (PG), this paper discusses economic... more In the light of the results of new excavations at Montelabate (PG), this paper discusses economic development in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD of the upper Tiber valley in territory of the municipia of Arna and Asisium on the left bank of the river Tiber and its tributary Chiascio. Following the centuriation and land distribution to the Octavian veterans, a system of villas and farms developed as well as kilns to support agricultural production, which was centred around wine. In this economic framework amphorae production was crucial, so this paper introduces new data on these containers manufactured in the industrial complex of Montelabate, where seven kilns have been excavated, with comparisons with other kiln production sites.
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Archaeometry, 62.6, pp. 1130-1144., 2020
This study presents the results of new research into Etruscan technology for earthen architecture... more This study presents the results of new research into Etruscan technology for earthen architecture as well as ceramic production in the upper Tiber Valley in central Italy, using as a case study the Etruscan settlement of Col di Marzo (Perugia). It determines the compositional differences of the raw material employed as building material and for ceramic production by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTG), Fourier-transform infrared analysis (FTIR) and geotechnical analyses. The research also advances the knowledge of ceramic manufacturing technology, with a focus on impasto production, at Col di Marzo between the fifth and mid-third centuries BCE and the surrounding territory on the left bank of the River Tiber. The compositional analysis of building material compared with the ceramics provides answers to questions related to their sourcing and deepens the understanding of the exploitation of natural resources.
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Archeologia e Calcolatori, 2019
The aim of this paper is to provide an update to the debate concerning the production
technology ... more The aim of this paper is to provide an update to the debate concerning the production
technology of bucchero pottery, as well as presenting new data on the use of raw material
for its manufacture and the temperatures of firing. This interdisciplinary research focused on
a period of technological changes in bucchero production during the sixth century BC, by
applying a quantitative analytical approach using X-Ray powder Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray
Fluorescence (XRF), Thermogravimetric Analysis and Differential Thermal Analysis (TG-DTG),
and multivariate statistical analyses. A series of samples from northern Etruria (mainly the area
of Volsinii) were compared with products from Veii, Ardea, Segni and Pompeii. XRF and XRD
analyses provided quantitative results, statistically analysed, concerning the use of raw material,
both calcareous and non-calcareous, and the technology of firing where temperatures reached
950°C or above. TG analysis proved that the black surface of bucchero was due to reduced
iron oxides and the presence of carbonaceous material on the surface. However, XRD results
demonstrated that firing occurred at a high temperature and the ratio between aluminium and
iron in the samples led to the formation of hercynite, an iron-aluminate spinel. The results of
the study show that during the sixth century BC the changes in technology to obtain a quality
bucchero production were related to a sufficiently long soaking period at a high temperature
in a reduced atmosphere, regardless of the presence of calcite in the source material.
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Cifarelli, F. M. e., Gatti, S. e., & Palombi, D. e. (2019). Oltre "Roma medio repubblicana": Il Lazio fra i Galli e la battaglia di Zama : atti del Convegno internazionale, Roma, 7-8-9 giugno 2017. Roma, 2019
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Terra Book, a cura di S. Sabbadini, 2019
L' impiego della terra cruda come materiale da costruzione ha origini molto antiche e il presente... more L' impiego della terra cruda come materiale da costruzione ha origini molto antiche e il presente contributo intende soffermarsi principalmente sulle attestazioni di tecniche costruttive in terra cruda di ambito etrusco e romano in Italia centrale.
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The recent discovery of a Roman ceramics manufacturing workshop at Montelabate (Perugia, Italy), ... more The recent discovery of a Roman ceramics manufacturing workshop at Montelabate (Perugia, Italy), in use from the first century BC until the late-fourth to fifth centuries AD, offers a unique opportunity to study the chaîne opératoire and the technical processes for producing Roman amphorae. Ancient and modern clays were s ampled and analysed; they do not differ significantly, supporting the hypothesis of the exploitation of the rich local clay source that allowed a continuity of production.
Characterization of the clays was performed using geotechnical methods (Atterberg limits and size distribution) and by thermogravimetric and differential thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence analyses. The material was suitable for pottery making with the addition of calcite and quartz sand temper. Production waste and discarded materials as well as good-quality products were also analysed with the same methodology. It is therefore possible to reconstruct the ancient technology by defining the recipe for the production of the amphorae and their firing temperature on the basis of the decomposition of clay materials and the presence of newly formed minerals.
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Papers of the British School at Rome, 2017
The object of study in this paper is four unpublished kilns excavated in 2012 at Montelabate (Per... more The object of study in this paper is four unpublished kilns excavated in 2012 at Montelabate (Perugia, Italy), in the framework of the Montelabate Project. The workshop, in use from the mid-first to the fifth century AD, which produced amphorae, coarseware and tile, offers an interesting model for the study of the economy of production in Regio VI (Umbria). The location of the workshop allows the exploration of wider issues such as connectivity, changes in local and regional markets, and continuity in the exploitation of natural resources: the site had a rich clay deposit and was surrounded by densely forested hills, whilst the flat fertile fields were suitable for agriculture and wine production; connectivity was ensured by the river Ventia, a tributary of the Tiber, and by an internal road that joined the Via Flaminia. The paper discusses the substantial number of failed flat-bottomed wine amphorae of the Spello type, discovered at Montelabate, that revealed a large-scale production with little standardization, as eight different local types were identified. The manufacturing complex provides new evidence for a production system that played an important role on a larger regional scale as well as in the local economic network, which continued until the fifth century AD.
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2017 Patricia S. Lulof and Christopher J. Smith (editors)
The Age of Tarquinius Superbus: Central... more 2017 Patricia S. Lulof and Christopher J. Smith (editors)
The Age of Tarquinius Superbus: Central Italy in the Late 6th Century
Proceedings of the Conference 'The Age of Tarquinius Superbus, A Paradigm Shift?' Rome, 7-9 November 2013, BABESCH Supplement 29, 241-248.
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Lazio e Sabina 12 (2015), 2019
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Books by Letizia Ceccarelli
Papers by Letizia Ceccarelli
A series of excavation campaigns (2012-2018), as part of the Roman Kiln Project in the framework of the Montelabate Project of the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano, led to the discovery of seven Roman kilns producing form the early imperial to the Late Antique period. The workshop main production was flat-based wine amphorae but from the 4th century AD it shifted to cookware and tableware at semi-industrial scale, suggesting a local and regional market demand for these products. The Montelabate workshop, one of the very few excavated in Umbria, provides evidence of the economic role of ceramic production that, as argued in this contribution, can shed new light on the economy of the changing landscape in Umbria during the Late Antique period.
during the Synagogue excavations between 1961
and 1964, directed by M. Floriani Squarciapino with a
special focus on a group of lamps with Jewish symbols, as
the interpretation of these objects have had implications
for the chronology of the Synagogue building.
technology of bucchero pottery, as well as presenting new data on the use of raw material
for its manufacture and the temperatures of firing. This interdisciplinary research focused on
a period of technological changes in bucchero production during the sixth century BC, by
applying a quantitative analytical approach using X-Ray powder Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray
Fluorescence (XRF), Thermogravimetric Analysis and Differential Thermal Analysis (TG-DTG),
and multivariate statistical analyses. A series of samples from northern Etruria (mainly the area
of Volsinii) were compared with products from Veii, Ardea, Segni and Pompeii. XRF and XRD
analyses provided quantitative results, statistically analysed, concerning the use of raw material,
both calcareous and non-calcareous, and the technology of firing where temperatures reached
950°C or above. TG analysis proved that the black surface of bucchero was due to reduced
iron oxides and the presence of carbonaceous material on the surface. However, XRD results
demonstrated that firing occurred at a high temperature and the ratio between aluminium and
iron in the samples led to the formation of hercynite, an iron-aluminate spinel. The results of
the study show that during the sixth century BC the changes in technology to obtain a quality
bucchero production were related to a sufficiently long soaking period at a high temperature
in a reduced atmosphere, regardless of the presence of calcite in the source material.
Characterization of the clays was performed using geotechnical methods (Atterberg limits and size distribution) and by thermogravimetric and differential thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence analyses. The material was suitable for pottery making with the addition of calcite and quartz sand temper. Production waste and discarded materials as well as good-quality products were also analysed with the same methodology. It is therefore possible to reconstruct the ancient technology by defining the recipe for the production of the amphorae and their firing temperature on the basis of the decomposition of clay materials and the presence of newly formed minerals.
The Age of Tarquinius Superbus: Central Italy in the Late 6th Century
Proceedings of the Conference 'The Age of Tarquinius Superbus, A Paradigm Shift?' Rome, 7-9 November 2013, BABESCH Supplement 29, 241-248.
A series of excavation campaigns (2012-2018), as part of the Roman Kiln Project in the framework of the Montelabate Project of the University of Cambridge in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano, led to the discovery of seven Roman kilns producing form the early imperial to the Late Antique period. The workshop main production was flat-based wine amphorae but from the 4th century AD it shifted to cookware and tableware at semi-industrial scale, suggesting a local and regional market demand for these products. The Montelabate workshop, one of the very few excavated in Umbria, provides evidence of the economic role of ceramic production that, as argued in this contribution, can shed new light on the economy of the changing landscape in Umbria during the Late Antique period.
during the Synagogue excavations between 1961
and 1964, directed by M. Floriani Squarciapino with a
special focus on a group of lamps with Jewish symbols, as
the interpretation of these objects have had implications
for the chronology of the Synagogue building.
technology of bucchero pottery, as well as presenting new data on the use of raw material
for its manufacture and the temperatures of firing. This interdisciplinary research focused on
a period of technological changes in bucchero production during the sixth century BC, by
applying a quantitative analytical approach using X-Ray powder Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray
Fluorescence (XRF), Thermogravimetric Analysis and Differential Thermal Analysis (TG-DTG),
and multivariate statistical analyses. A series of samples from northern Etruria (mainly the area
of Volsinii) were compared with products from Veii, Ardea, Segni and Pompeii. XRF and XRD
analyses provided quantitative results, statistically analysed, concerning the use of raw material,
both calcareous and non-calcareous, and the technology of firing where temperatures reached
950°C or above. TG analysis proved that the black surface of bucchero was due to reduced
iron oxides and the presence of carbonaceous material on the surface. However, XRD results
demonstrated that firing occurred at a high temperature and the ratio between aluminium and
iron in the samples led to the formation of hercynite, an iron-aluminate spinel. The results of
the study show that during the sixth century BC the changes in technology to obtain a quality
bucchero production were related to a sufficiently long soaking period at a high temperature
in a reduced atmosphere, regardless of the presence of calcite in the source material.
Characterization of the clays was performed using geotechnical methods (Atterberg limits and size distribution) and by thermogravimetric and differential thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence analyses. The material was suitable for pottery making with the addition of calcite and quartz sand temper. Production waste and discarded materials as well as good-quality products were also analysed with the same methodology. It is therefore possible to reconstruct the ancient technology by defining the recipe for the production of the amphorae and their firing temperature on the basis of the decomposition of clay materials and the presence of newly formed minerals.
The Age of Tarquinius Superbus: Central Italy in the Late 6th Century
Proceedings of the Conference 'The Age of Tarquinius Superbus, A Paradigm Shift?' Rome, 7-9 November 2013, BABESCH Supplement 29, 241-248.
In 2016 a second season of archaeological excavation took place at the Roman site of Montelabate (Perugia, Italy) where three kilns had been excavated following their discovery in 2012. The new excavation focused on two further kilns revealed by geophysical prospection: a rectangular kiln, oriented North-South, that was initially used for the production of wine amphorae, before later being used to make tiles; a round kiln, oriented east-west, which was used to produce courseware. The pottery production site was located within walking distance of a rich Plio-Pleistocene clay deposit and in close proximity to several streams including the River Ventia, a tributary of the River Tiber. During the excavation several ancient clays were sampled in particular below the foundations of the structures. Furthermore, visible clays beds in the proximity of the site were also sampled.
The pottery workshop, in use from the 1st century AD, is an important discovery in the Upper Tiber valley and is the only amphorae production site in the area to be fully excavated and subject to scientific analysis. The site therefore offers a unique opportunity to study the chaîne opératoire and the Roman technology of production in Central Italy. The kilns were also used to produce courseware, providing evidence for a local production system that continued until the late 4th to the 5th century AD [1].
Ancient and modern clays were sampled and analysed: they do not significantly differ supporting the hypothesis of a rich local clay source that allowed a continuity of production. In some areas of the excavation, around the kilns, clays have been identified that had already been prepared for pottery production.
Characterization of the clays was performed using geotechnical methods (Atterberg limits and size distribution), by XRF [2] and XRD analysis, SEM, TG and FTIR. The material proved to be nearly suitable for pottery making, requiring only the addition of calcite and quartz sand. Production waste and discarded materials were also analysed: both amphorae and courseware pottery show differences in the preparation of the recipe and firing temperature, determined by the decomposition of clay materials and the presence of neoformed minerals.
[1] Ceccarelli L., (2017). Production and trade in Central Italy in the Roman period. The amphorae workshop of Montelabate in Umbria, Papers of the British School at Rome 85, 2017, 109-141.
[2] Ceccarelli L., Rossetti I., Primavesi L., Stoddart S. (2016). Non-destructive method for the identification of ceramic production by portable X-rays Fluorescence (pXRF). A case study of amphorae manufacture in central Italy’, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 10, 253-262.
7-9 November 2013
Royal Netherlands Institute and British School at Rome