The home of Emporion: a clear example of a eclectic society in the western Mediterranean in classical times

Este artículo analiza las características arquitectónicas de las casas urbanas de la «neapolis» de Ampurias, el asentamiento griego de la ciudad. La particularidad histórica de esta población al noreste de la península ibérica ofrece la oportunidad de estudiar un urbanismo con muchas influencias culturales. Esta riqueza es muy evidente en su arquitectura doméstica, donde se puede examinar cómo una población de origen griego adaptó en sus paredes privadas, nuevos esquemas romanos. En los restos arqueológicos de Emporion, también se observa el resultado del contacto y la convivencia de esta sociedad con el mundo autóctono a lo largo de los siglos, así como la relación con otras culturas mediterráneas. En resumen, el estudio de la arquitectura doméstica de la «Neapolis» de Ampurias nos muestra una casa específica de un momento y un lugar con unos condicionantes históricos muy concretos.This article analyses the architectural features of urban houses in the «neapolis» of Empúries, the Greek settlement of the city. The historical uniqueness of this city in the northeastern side of the Iberian Peninsula gives a unique opportunity to study an type of urbanism with many different cultural influences. This richness is obvious in its domestic architecture, where people of Greek origin adapted new Roman planning schemes for their private houses. In the archaeological remains of Emporion we can also see the result of the contact and coexistence of this Greek population with native societies and other Mediterranean cultures over the centuries. In short, the analysis of the domestic architecture in the «neapolis» of Empúries shows a type of house at a specific moment in time, and in a place with very particular historical factors

Clasificación tipológica de la arquitectura doméstica romana. Reflexiones a partir de las ciudades del NE peninsular

En este artículo se profundiza sobre la definición tipológica de las casas romanas. A partir del estudio de la arquitectura doméstica de las ciudades romanas de Cataluña se reflexiona sobre las diferencias entre las unidades domésticas descubiertas en este territorio y se establece una tipología. Cada uno de los tipos es descrito y comparado con el resto del mundo romano. El objetivo de este estudio es intentar presentar las diferentes tipologías de casas romanas conocidas con la máxima claridad y rigor posible, para poder obtener una buena base de clasificación de los restos de arquitectura doméstica romana.This article deepens on the typological definition of Roman houses. Based on the study of the domestic architecture of the Roman cities in Catalonia, we examine the differences between households discovered in this territory and establish a typology. Each of the types is described and compared with the rest of the Roman world. The objective of this study is to try to present the different types of known Roman houses with the maximum clarity and rigor possible, in order to get a good basis for classifying the remains of Roman domestic architecture

L'arquitectura domèstica de les ciutats romanes de Catalunya (època tardorepublicana i altimperial)

La investigació portada a terme ha determinat els principals models d'arquitectura domèstica localitzats a Catalunya durant la tardorepublica i l'altimperi. El seu anàlisi permet visualitzar el procés d'introducció dels models romans en l'àmbit domèstic, les seves adaptacions i particularitats, així com la seva evolució. Un dels elements principals d'aquesta investigació va ser l'elaboració d'un catàleg de totes les restes del territori català amb suficient entitat per ser considerades una unitat domèstica. De cadascun dels exemples es va estudiar la evolució històrica i cronològica de l'edifici, la seva arquitectura i funcionalitat tenint en compte les seves tècniques constructives, els seus materials i morfologia i la relació entre els seus espais, així com els sistemes d'abastiment i evacuació d'aigües, entre d'altres. També es va analitzar la decoració arquitectònica, recollint les dades sobre els paviments, mosaics, parets, elements escultòrics, etc.Per realitzar aquesta tasca es va extreure la informació de diferents fonts arqueològiques. En primer lloc es van recollir les dades publicades, en la majoria dels casos es van consultar les memòries d'intervenció arqueològica, i en tots els jaciments en que va ser possible, es van estudiar les restes in situ.Finalment es va realitzar l'anàlisi crític de tota la documentació amb l'objectiu d'uniformar i donar coherència a tot el conjunt, per poder evitar interpretacions errònies que podrien donar una imatge irreal de les morfologies de les cases urbanes d'aquest context i que dificultessin l'extracció d'unes conclusions més rigoroses. Així doncs, aquest catàleg no és només una recopilació d'informació arqueològica, sinó l'estudi crític de cadascuna de les unitats domèstiques, interpretades i discutides amb una definició actualitzada. Per complementar aquest estudi, s'ha elaborat una planimetria de casa una de les cases. Amb aquesta planimetria se ha intentat identificar i diferenciar les restes pertanyents a les diverses fases d'aquests espais, reflexant-ho en forma de plantes consecutives.Un cop realitzat l'estudi de cadascuna de les cases, es va treballar el conjunt de la documentació per ciutats. La parcialitat dels descobriments va provocar una amplia disseminació de les dades referent aquest tipus d'arquitectura, però es va poder donar coherència a tota la informació quan es va inserir dins del seu context urbà. És per aquest fet, que es va estudiar l'arquitectura domèstica per ciutats, sense oblidar que cada una d'elles presenta unes característiques i evolució pròpies. En l'estudi de l'arquitectura domèstica per ciutats es va analitzar la topografia, l'urbanisme, el desenvolupament i evolució històrica de cada ciutat, per poder analitzar les cases contextualitzades en el seu entorn urbà i poder aportar un pas més en el coneixement de l'urbanisme de cadascuna de les ciutats del nord-est de l'antiga Tarraconense.En l'estudi del conjunt de l'arquitectura domèstica s'observaven i analitzaven les tipologies que havia aportat la ciutat. Dins de l'anàlisi arquitectònic de les restes es treballava sobre l'estructura del col·lectiu de les unitats, treballant l'ingrés, l'àrea de circulació, la zona residencial, la zona de servei i producció i la zona de culte. En l'anàlisi arquitectònic també es van incloure els resultats de l'estudi de la tècnica constructiva, del sistema hidràulic documentat en les diverses cases de la ciutat i de la decoració interior, tant a nivell pictòric com musivari. Així doncs, les conclusions han tingut present la diversitat tant dels processos urbans com del resultat arqueològic de cada ciutat.Finalment va ser necessari crear una tipologia per classificar les evidències arqueològiques i així obtenir una millor comprensió de les restes.The investigation which has been carried out has determined the major domestic architectural models located in Catalonia during the late republican and early empire era. Its analysis enables to see the process of the introduction of Roman models in the domestic field, its adaptations and peculiarities as well as their evolution. One of the main elements of this investigation was drawing up a catalogue of all the remains in the Catalan territory with enough significance as to be considered a domestic unit. The historical evolution of each element was studied. Also, the chronology of the building, its architecture and functionality, taking into account its building techniques, materials , morphology and the connection among its areas as well as water supply and evacuation system among other things. The architectural decoration was also analysed collecting all the details of the pavements, mosaics, walls, sculptural elements etc.Information has been taken from different archaeological sources in order to carry out this task. Firstly, the published data, often presented as reports of archaeological intervention, was collected and in all the archaeological diggings which was possible, the remains were studied in situ. Finally, a critical analysis of all the information was carried out in order to standardize it and give it coherence as a whole, avoiding wrong interpretations, which could give an unreal image of the morphology of the urban houses in this context and would make it difficult to draw stricter conclusions. Therefore this catalogue is not only a compilation of archaeological documentation, but the critical study of each domestic unit, which have been discussed and interpreted with an updating definition. To complete this study, a planimetry of each dwelling was made. It has been the procedure to use this planimitry to identify and differentiate the remains, which belong to the different stages of these areas, reflecting them as consecutive plans.Once the study of each house was completed, the overview information of each city was examined. The partiality of the discoveries caused a wide dissemination of all the details regarding this type of architecture. Because of this, it was possible to give coherence to all these remains inserting them in their urban context and thus contributing one more step into the knowledge of the urbanism of each city in the north-east of the Tarraconensis. In order to do so, the domestic architecture was studied city by city, taking into account the fact that each one of them present their own characteristics and evolution. When studying the domestic architecture of each city, their topology, urbanism, development and historical evolution was analysed, so that later on the domestic architecture could be contextualized and analysed in its urban environment.In the overview study of domestic architecture , the typology that the cities had brought were observed and analysed. It was worked on the structure of the collective units within the architectural analysis of the remains, studying the entry, circulation area, residential space, service and production area and worship place. The results of the study of the constructive technique was also included in the architectural analysis, as well as the hydraulic system documented in the several houses of the city and the interior decoration, both at a pictorial level and the mosaics. This way, the conclusions have taken into consideration the diversity of both the urban processes as of the archaeological result of each city.Finally, it became necessary to create a typology in order to classify the archaeological evidences thus obtaining a better comprehension of the remains

The Republican Houses of the Roman Colonies in Ancient Magna Graecia. Cultural Exchange from a Western Perspective

This article presents an analysis that is being carried out within the framework of the ‘Tetrastylon project’ (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship). This project is designed to create the scientific basis for the identification and definition of a new type of Roman domus. This typological item is the result of the hybridisation of a house scheme drawn from the Greek and Roman conceptions of housing. In the recent decades, some studies have found a particular type of Roman house in different parts of the Empire. The structural scheme of this domus joins, in the first place, the developmental concept of the Greek dwelling with the use of the Roman atrium as the central distribution area of the house. As a result of this cultural symbiosis, it is possible to observe Roman distribution areas within housing built following Greek structural conceptions and the combination of very different architectural influences between both cultures. The house, tentatively termed ‘the tetrastyle courtyard house’, has been observed in different Roman cities with a Greek past, but in different geographical contexts and chronologies. This type of house, with its variants, has not been sufficiently analysed in the Roman domestic architecture studies. This article will present different examples of this type of house within the territorial context of ancient Magna Graecia under the influence of the Roman dominion. This approach will show the same exchanges between the Greeks and the Romans in the East, but from the western perspective and at an earlier chronological stage

Roman influence on the Greek house of Magna Graecia and Sicily: the introduction of the atrium as a central and distributor space - L’influenza romana sulla casa greca in Magna Graecia e Sicilia: l’introduzione dell’atrio come spazio centrale a carattere distributivo

Il volume vede la pubblicazione degli interventi presentati nel corso di un workshop internazionale tenutosi a Roma nel giugno del 2019 sul tema dello spazio centrale dell'atrio nelle case greche in Magna Graecia e Sicilia, dei percorsi interni privilegiati, delle trasformazioni, così come il rapporto tra casa e isolato e tra isolato e città attraverso il passaggio ricorrente tra la scala urbana e la scala di dettaglio

A dataset of acoustic measurements from soundscapes collected worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic

International audiencePolitical responses to the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in city soundscapes around the globe. From March to October 2020, a consortium of 261 contributors from 35 countries brought together by the Silent Cities project built a unique soundscape recordings collection to report on local acoustic changes in urban areas. We present this collection here, along with metadata including observational descriptions of the local areas from the contributors, open-source environmental data, open-source confinement levels and calculation of acoustic descriptors. We performed a technical validation of the dataset using statistical models run on a subset of manually annotated soundscapes. Results confirmed the large-scale usability of ecoacoustic indices and automatic sound event recognition in the Silent Cities soundscape collection. We expect this dataset to be useful for research in the multidisciplinary field of environmental sciences

A dataset of acoustic measurements from soundscapes collected worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic

International audiencePolitical responses to the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in city soundscapes around the globe. From March to October 2020, a consortium of 261 contributors from 35 countries brought together by the Silent Cities project built a unique soundscape recordings collection to report on local acoustic changes in urban areas. We present this collection here, along with metadata including observational descriptions of the local areas from the contributors, open-source environmental data, open-source confinement levels and calculation of acoustic descriptors. We performed a technical validation of the dataset using statistical models run on a subset of manually annotated soundscapes. Results confirmed the large-scale usability of ecoacoustic indices and automatic sound event recognition in the Silent Cities soundscape collection. We expect this dataset to be useful for research in the multidisciplinary field of environmental sciences