Insights into the secondary glass production in Roman Aquileia: A preliminary study

A set of 29 glass shards, selected from numerous ones recovered in 2017 in Aquileia (NE Italy), was studied to provide evidence of local glass production for that specific area in antiquity. These shards can be dated between the 1st and the 4th century AD. The chemical composition of glass samples was obtained using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) that enables to quantify the concentration of major, minor, and trace elements needed to investigate provenance and compositional groups and sometimes to suggest a chronological frame of the samples. To ensure that the samples are homogeneous enough to perform accurate quantification, some of them were also analysed by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Most of the chunks, working wastes, and artefact shards considered in this work exhibited similarities among them in terms of composition, which likely indicates that glass working activities were practised at the site of recovery. The analyses demonstrated the presence of both recycled glass and primary glass. Interestingly, the compositional data of raw primary glass point to both Syro-Palestinian and Egyptian regions as sourcing areas, confirming the role of the Roman city of Aquileia as a network node for the trade of goods. In addition, some particularly coloured glass fragments showed a composition typical of glass produced starting from the 1st or 2nd century AD, requiring specific types of furnaces and procedures for its manufacture, and suggesting the possibility of local highly-specialised production. The preliminary results of this work strengthen the hypothesis that Aquileia was a thriving centre, either for working primary glass or for glass recycling and production of objects with particular colours

Archeologia ad Elleri: le più recenti scoperte

Izkopavanja, ki so na območju gradišča potekala od jeseni 2012 do spomladi 2016, so se osredotočala predvsem na severni del obrambnega zidu. Izkopavanja so potrdila pretekle hipoteze glede izgleda tega mogočnega zidu in jih natančneje opredelila. Konstrukcija, katere izkopavanja še niso zaključena, je bila izdelana iz sistema prekrivajočih se stopnic, zidanih na suho, ki je v višino segal več kot pet, v širino pa več kot enajst metrov. Lesene konstrukcije, ki so zelo verjetno dopolnjevale strukturo in ji zagotavljale dodatno trdnost, se niso ohranile. Na zahodni strani območja izkopavanj se je odpiral vhod z dromosom, ki je bil tekom stoletij prav tako večkrat predelan in razširjen, glede na to, da je bil v uporabi od železne do rimske dobe. V delu naselbine, ki je bila v železni dobi razširjena preko obrambnega zidu iz bronaste dobe, je bila opravljena raziskava, ki pa je bila omejena le na stratigrafsko višje ležeče plasti. Nazadnje je bilo ugotovljeno, da manjši del nekropole iz železne dobe, kjer so izkopavanja potekala že v začetku 80. let, ne sega dlje od prvotno odkritega, zato je treba poiskati druga območja, ki so bila v različnih fazah poselitve gradišča namenjena pokopu.The excavation campaigns carried out in the fortified village area between autumn 2012 and spring 2016 mainly focused on a stretch of the wall that enclosed the village from the northern side. The excavation managed to confirm and better define what had been hypothesised in the past regarding the aspect of this powerful masonry work. The structure, the excavation of which has not yet been completed, was created using a system of dry walling steps positioned one on top of another reaching a total height of over five metres and a total width of more than eleven metres. There are no remaining traces of wooden structures that most probably completed the main structure to give it greater resistance. An access shaped like a dromos was situated on the western side of the investigated area and had been subject to several renovations and extensions over the centuries, since it was continuously in use from the Iron age to the Roman period. A small excavation was carried out in the residential area where the village had been enlarged during the Iron Age thus extending over an original town wall dating to the Bronze Age, yet the investigation in this area was limited to the higher levels of the stratigraphic layers. Finally, it was confirmed that the small area of the necropolis that dates to the Iron Age and that had already been excavated at the beginning of the 1980s did not extend any further. It is therefore necessary to identify other areas that were destined to the use of necropolis during the different chronological phases of the fortified village.Die Ausgrabungen in der Umgebung der Hügelfestung zwischen Herbst 2012 und Frühjahr 2016 waren vor allem auf einen nördlichen Abschnitt der Festungsmauer ausgerichtet. Die Ausgrabungen konnten Vermutungen die in der Vergangenheit zum Aussehen dieses mächtigen Mauerwerks gemacht worden sind bestätigen und verfeinern. Die Struktur, deren Ausgrabungen noch nicht abgeschlossen sind, wurde mit einem System von einander überlagernden Stufen aus Trockenmauerwerk bis zu einer Höhe von mehr als 5 Metern und einer Dicke von mehr als elf Metern errichtet. Es gibt keine Spuren der Holzkonstruktionen, welche sehr wahrscheinlich für größere Widerstandsfähigkeit sorgten. Ein Tordurchgang öffnete sich am westlichen Ende des untersuchten Gebiets, der im Verlauf der Jahrhunderte ebenfalls mehrmals renoviert und erweitert worden und von der Eisenzeit bis in die Römerzeit in Gebrauch war. Eine kleine Untersuchung, nur auf die obersten Schichten beschränkt, wurde in einem Teil der Siedlung aus der Eisenzeit, ober- und außerhalb einer ursprünglichen Stadtmauer aus der Bronzezeit durchgeführt. Schließlich konnte man sich vergewissern, dass die in den Achtzigerjahren ausgegrabene kleine Nekropole aus der Eisenzeit keine weitere Ausdehnung aufweist und daher noch weitere Nekropolen aus anderen Siedlungsphasen der Anlage vorhanden sein müssten

Campagna di scavo nell’area urbana di Cittavecchia, Trieste - Progetto "Crosada".

Codirezione scientifica della campagna di scavo dell’area urbana di Cittavecchia, Trieste – Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità dell’Università di Trieste, nell’ambito del Progetto “Crosada” (1999-2001)

PICKING UP THE HINT: RAW GLASS CHUNKS AND GLASS WASTES FROM PLOUGHSOIL COLLECTION IN AQUILEIA (ITALY)

Despite many well-known indications suggesting the presence of a flourishing glass production in Aquileia during the Roman age, to date no furnace has ever been identified. In November 2017, during field-walking survey activities part of the EC funded landscape archaeology project Visualising Engineered Landscape (VEiL), an extraordinary concentration of hundreds of raw glass chunks and shards of glass was identified on the surface of a ploughed field in the Northern fringes of the Roman city, just outside the ancient city walls. Fragments collected included several chunks encrusted on refractory material (the majority being natural bluegreen, with smaller quantities in blue and olive green), droplets and trails together with other glass working wastes and fragments of vessels. This remarkable in situ plough soil assemblage, clustered in a relatively small spatial dispersion, may reflect the existence of a secondary glass workshop. This paper expands on the satellite imagery analysis and the field prospections that led to the identification of the archaeological context and the preliminary outcomes provided by morphological and archaeometric analysis including Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and UVVis Reflectance Spectroscopy carried out on some of the most relevant samples of glass recovered. This new discovery could represent a unique opportunity to expand our current understanding of use and consumption of glass in Roman period in the area and the broader northern Adriatic context