95 research outputs found
Colline Metallifere (Tuscany, Italy)
Since the 1980s, in Italy, and Tuscany in particular, considerable experience has been developed in research on the mining landscape in relation to the geography of population, with particular attention to the Medieval period. Numerous research projects carried out in the Colline Metallifere areas of Livourne and Grosseto by the Archaeology Department of the University of Sienna (Prof. Riccardo Francovich) have revealed the huge potential offered by this territory for the study of the population, extraction and production dynamics of the pre-industrial period as well as the necessity for rigorous surveillance of the remains of these activities which have been progressively eroded by recent and massive extraction activities and by the current development of housing and infrastructure. In the Livourne Colline Metallifere area, we have already advanced from the research phase to the creation of a fully operational Archaeo-mining Park which has made it possible to protect an extensive territory containing a wealth of pre-industrial and industrial archaeological evidence, including the mining village of Rocca San Silvestro. In the Grosseto province, the Colline Metallifere grossetane Technological and Archaeological Park was recently created. The aim of this institution is to preserve and enhance historical and archaeological heritage of prime importance which twenty years of research have contributed to uncover across a vast territory.Depuis les annĂ©es 80, en Italie, et en particulier en Toscane, une expĂ©rience considĂ©rable dâĂ©tude du paysage minier en relation avec la gĂ©ographie du peuplement sâest dĂ©veloppĂ©e, avec une attention particuliĂšre pour la pĂ©riode mĂ©diĂ©vale. Les nombreuses recherches menĂ©es dans la zone des Colline Metallifere de Livourne et de Grosseto par le DĂ©partement dâArchĂ©ologie de lâUniversitĂ© de Sienne (prof. Riccardo Francovich) ont mis en Ă©vidence le potentiel Ă©norme de ce territoire pour lâĂ©tude des dynamiques de peuplement, dâextraction et de production dâĂ©poque prĂ©industrielle, ainsi que la nĂ©cessitĂ© dâune surveillance rigoureuse des vestiges de ces activitĂ©s progressivement Ă©rodĂ©s par les activitĂ©s dâextraction rĂ©centes et massives et par le dĂ©veloppement de lâhabitat et des infrastructures actuellement en cours. Dans la zone des collines mĂ©tallifĂšres de Livourne, nous sommes dĂ©jĂ passĂ©s de la phase de recherche Ă lâinstitution dâun Parc ArchĂ©ominier pleinement opĂ©rationnel qui a permis de protĂ©ger un vaste territoire riche en tĂ©moignages archĂ©ologiques prĂ©industriels et industriels comprenant le village minier de Rocca San Silvestro. Dans la province de Grosseto a Ă©tĂ© rĂ©cemment crĂ©Ă© le Parc Technologique et ArchĂ©ologique des Colline Metallifere de Grosseto. Cette institution a pour objectif de prĂ©server et mettre en valeur un patrimoine historique et archĂ©ologique de grande importance que vingt ans de recherches ont contribuĂ© Ă mettre au jour sur un vaste territoire
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A 19 to 17 Ma amagmatic extension event at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Ultramafic mylonites from the Vema Lithospheric Section
A >300 km long lithospheric section (Vema Lithospheric Section or VLS) is exposed south of the Vema transform at 11°N in the Atlantic. It is oriented along a seafloor spreading flow line and represents âŒ26 Ma of accretion at a single 80 km long segment (EMAR) of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The basal part of the VLS exposes a mantle unit made mostly of relatively undeformed coarse-grained/porphyroclastic peridotites that were sampled at close intervals. Strongly deformed mylonitic peridotites were found at 14 contiguous sites within a âŒ80 km stretch (âŒ4.7 Ma interval); they are dominant in a time interval of 1.4 Ma, from crustal ages of 16.8 to 18.2 Ma (mylonitic stretch). Some of the mylonites are "dry," showing anhydrous high-T deformation, but most contain amphibole. The mylonitic peridotites tend to be less depleted than the porphyroclastic peridotites on the basis of mineral major and trace elements composition, suggesting that the mylonites parent was a subridge mantle that underwent a relatively low degree of melting. The Sr, Nd, and O isotopic composition of the amphiboles is MORB-like and suggests either that seawater did not contribute to their isotopic signature or that their isotopic ratios re-equilibrated during fluid circulation in the upper mantle. Four 40Ar/39Ar ages, on three amphiboles separated from the peridotites, are close to crustal ages predicted from magnetic anomalies, confirming that the amphiboles formed close to ridge axis. We propose that crustal accretion at the EMAR segment has been mostly symmetrical for the 26 Ma of its recorded history, except for the âŒ1.4 Ma interval of prevalent ultramafic mylonites (mylonitic stretch) that may record a period of quasi-amagmatic asymmetric accretion of oceanic lithosphere close to the ridgeâVema transform intersection, possibly with development of detachment faults. This interval may correspond to a thermal minimum of the subridge upwelling mantle, marking the transition from a period of decreasing to one of increasing mantle melting below the EMAR segment
Shaping Mediterranean landscapes:The cultural impact of anthropogenic fires in Tyrrhenian southern Tuscany during the Iron and Middle Ages (800â450 BC / AD 650â1300)
Charcoal analysis, applied in sediment facies analysis of the Pecora river palaeochannel (Tyrrhenian southern Tuscany, Italy), detected the occurrence of past fire events in two different fluvial landforms at 800â450 BC and again at AD 650â1300. Taking place in a central Mediterranean district adequately studied through palaeoenvironmental and archaeological research, the investigation determined land changes, time phases and socio-economic driving forces involved in dynamic processes of fire. The fire sequences had purely anthropogenic origins and were linked to forest opening and reduction by local communities. Introduced by the Etruscans, fires dated to 800â450 BC involved mainly the forest cover on the hilly slopes, ensuring agricultural exploitation. From AD 650, fires contributed to Medieval upstream reclamation and vegetation clearing of flat swamplands. From AD 850 to 1050, the use of fire spread over a wider area in the river valley, increasing arable lands. Between AD 1150 and 1300, fires belonged to a regional forest clearance phase. Medieval fire episodes had a paramount importance in shaping and determining the character of the Tuscan Mediterranean landscape. From AD 850, Medieval fire clearing influenced regional vegetation history contributing to the decline of the dominant deciduous Quercus woodland. Open habitats became the new form of a clearly detectable agricultural landscape from AD 950. The use of fire clearing and the resulting landscape changes in the Pecora river valley depended on the political strategies adopted by Medieval authorities and marked, in fact, the progression of a cultural landscape still characterizing central Tyrrhenian Italy
Archeologia delle attivitĂ produttive e metallurgiche. Il caso Toscano: le Colline Metallifere grossetane
'Le indagini sul promontorio di Piombino: topografia e diacronia di un territorio e di una cittĂ
Lo scavo dellâAllumiera di Monteleo. Nuovi dati per la produzione dellâallume alunitico nel tardo Medioevo
The presence of alunite and "natural alums" is documented in different areas of the Colline Metallifere district, where the main ore deposits are located. It is here that the research conducted by the University of Siena has identified various alum mines (open casts and galleries) and the remains of some important alum productive sites (allumiere) dating back to the 15th-16th centuries. The investigation of the Monterotondo Marittimo district in particular, started in 2004 with an accurate topographic campaign, has produced valuable indications regarding the settlement dynamics and the exploitation of natural resources. From 2008 to 2016, the excavation of an early Modern Age production site located in the heart of an alunite deposit, the "Allumiere di Monteleo", provided an exceptional opportunity to explore the various steps involved in the processing of raw materials, and highlighting the versatility of such production centers. The research has offered us the possibility to cross different sources (archival; archaeological; geological; cartographic) to investigate a wide diachrony of the use of raw materials. Starting from the evaluation of these systems of sources we will propose here a diachronic rereading of the valorisation of natural resources in the light of the data coming from the most recent campaigns on the production complex of the Allumiere di Monteleo
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