Krajolik i naselja na području Valconce u razdoblju između rimskog doba i ranog srednjeg vijeka

During the last five years the Archaeological Department of the University of Bologna has started a new project of excavations and survey in the Valconca valley, the territory of Rimini. That region was really important for the expansion and affirmation of the roman economy in northern Italy. All the valley has been involved in intense exploitation, with many villas and farms. One of the bigger sites has been identified in the Piana di San Pietro in Cotto, close to Gemmano. We conducted there two seasons of excavations to understand the extension and the plan of the site, and to study the evolution of this settlement during the early Middle Age. At the end of the excavation we did also survey the whole site with a magnetometer that revealed the consistence of the depth and the conservation of the structures. With the help of the aerial photographs we did also observe the extension of the site. Inside the various samples of the excavation we identified the thermal area of a huge villa settled between the river Conca and crossed by a street connected with the Via Flaminia. This villa has been built during the 1st century BC and restructured at the end of the 1st century AD. The thermal area has been used until the 3rd century AD and after it abandoned. Other zones of the site have been used also during the Late Antiquity and at the Early Middle Age, with an iron production area (8th century).The project is now trying to study the transformations of this territory during the 9th and 10th century AD when the landscape is characterized by the foundation of new castles on the top of the neighboring hills and the settlement patterns changed again moving towards the Middle Age.Tijekom posljednje tri godine Odsjek za arheologiju Sveučilišta u Bologni pokrenuo je novi projekt iskapanja i istraživanja doline Valconca, na području Riminija. Ovo je područje bilo vrlo važno za širenje i učvršćivanje rimskoga gospodarstva u sjevernoj Italiji. Cijela je dolina bila uključena u intenzivno crpljenje sirovina i obrađivana, s brojnim vilama i zemljoradničkim posjedima. Jedno od većih nalazišta identificirano je u Piani di San Pietro in Cotto, u blizini Gemmana. Ondje smo proveli dvije sezone iskapanja kako bismo shvatili veličinu i raspored nalazišta te kako bismo proučavali evoluciju ovoga naselja tijekom ranog srednjeg vijeka. Na koncu iskapanja također smo cijelo nalazište pregledali magnetometrom, koji nam je ukazao na gustoću tla i očuvanost struktura. Uz pomoć fotografija iz zraka također smo spoznali veličinu nalazišta. Unutar različitih uzoraka iskopa, identificirali smo termalno područje jedne ogromne vile smještene između rijeke Conce i presječene ulicom koja se spajala s Vijom Flaminijom. Ova je vila izgrađena tijekom 1. st. pr. Kr. i obnovljena krajem 1. st. po. Kr. Termalno područje korišteno je do 3. st. po. Kr, a potom je napušteno. I druge zone ovoga nalazišta također su korištene tijekom kasne antike i u ranom srednjem vijeku, zajedno s područjem proizvodnje željeza (8. stoljeće). Ovim projektom sada pokušavamo proučavati preobrazbe ovog ozemlja tijekom IX. i X. stoljeća, kada je ovaj krajolik obilježen podizanjem novih zamkova na vrhovima susjednih brežuljaka i ponovnom promjenom uzoraka naselja s približavanjem srednjeg vijeka

Contacts, exchange and marble supply in late antique Ravenna and the port of Classe

The paper focuses on the commercial mechanism in Late Antiquity with special regard to the Late Antique sedes imperii, Ravenna, and its maritime port of Classe from the point of view of qualitative and quantitative analyses of marble and pottery importation within a long-distance trade in the Mediterranean. In the 5th and 6th centuries, Ravenna represented an important political, commercial, and cultural centre, involved in interregional sea trade through its port of Classe, and represented a significant production and redistributive centre. The research is based on archaeological material evidence: provenance and quantity of imported stone artefacts from the late antique complex of S. Severo in Classe, and provenance of pottery find from a harbour area of Podere Chiavichetta in Classe. The mechanism of commercial exchange of late antique Ravenna and Classe with various regions of the Mediterranean is based on the quantitative and qualitative comparison of imported marble and pottery. The question of the statio marmorum in the port area of Classe is also discussed on the basis of both the archaeological evidence and the comparison with the stone supply of Rome

Precaution and protection policies of urban ecosystem in the Iblea north eastern coast of Sicily

According to the hypothetical urban scenarios in the future, the urban ecosystem will be the piace where the most part of people live, with a deep negative impact on the world ecosystem. So it is necessary for all the people to get better ways of life in the towns and less and less unbalanced urban space, that to say a clean, efficiency and productive place that satisfies the needs of its inhabitants. A fundamental aim to the restoration of conditions of equity in the city seems to come from the models of development of sustainable city, related to the improvement of the environment and, above all, to a plan of sustainable society. Leaving from the indications of the European urban policies and those coming from issues about European, Mediterranean and Sicilian experiences, the team of present research may suggest he better political and technological choices adapted to the governance of urban ecosystem (with particular care for the waste, he transports, the management of the water and energetic resources) of the greater Sicilian cities an above all, of those if the Eastern Sicily. They will not come finally neglected the problematic related to the monitoring activities, both in function of the control of the environmental state and that of the continue verify of environmental impact of the pursued choices. Particular attention will be turned to the preventing of the seismic risk.

Prima Lezione di Fondamenti di Archeologia: Archeologia e contesti

Lezione introduttiva del corso di 'Fondamenti di Archeologia

Archaeological and archaeometric study of the glass finds from the ancient harbour of Classe (Ravenna- Italy): new evidence

Introduction: The present study focuses on Late-Roman/Early Medieval glass found in the productive area within the ancient harbour of Classe near Ravenna, one of the most important trade centres between the 5th and 8th centuries AD of the Northern Adriatic area. Aims of the study were the identification of the main glass compositions and their contextualisation in Late-Antique groups; the identification of provenance of raw glass, and, consequently, of commercial routes; the extent, if any, of recycling glass cullet, as an alternative to the import of fresh raw glass; the identification of possible connections between archaeological typology and glass chemical composition. Results: 32 glassworking wastes and 25 drinking vessel fragments for a total amount of 57 fragments were devoted to chemical analysis in XRF and EPMA. All the analysed fragments are silica-soda lime glasses, produced with natron as a flux, and are compositionally similar to Late-Antique groups HIMT, S\ue9rie 3.2 and Levantine1. Raw glass chunks, glassworking wastes and objects of comparable compositions are identified into HIMT and S\ue9rie 3.2 groups, while the Levantine 1 group includes only objects and glassworking wastes. Systematic comparisons between Classe and Aquileia, the two most important Late-Antique archaeological sites of North-Eastern Italy, were also carried out, and the same compositional groups were identified, although S\ue9rie 3.2 in the Classe assemblage is more represented. Sr and Nd isotopic analysis confirmed that the composition of the three glasses derive from coastal sands of the Syro-Palestinian and Egyptian shore, with a slight shift in comparison to the published data. Little evidence of recycling was identified in the assemblage. Conclusions: In the 5th century, a secondary glass workshop devoted to the shaping of glass vessels starting from raw glass chunks and, possibly, glass cullet, was active in the area of the harbour. Raw glass of HIMT and S\ue9rie 3.2 was imported from the Levant and Egypt. Comparisons between Classe and Aquileia show that during the Late Antiquity these sites seem to be supplied of raw glass by the same trade routes. In addition, some connections between types and chemical compositions were highlighted