Tell Barri / Kahat. La campagna del 2003

In the undulating plains of north-eastern Syria is the site of Tell Barri, identified with the city of Kahat. The archaeological sequence which has been brought to light stretches without interruption from the start of the third millennium up to the fourteenth century AD. This report illustrates the results of the twentieth excavation campaign, carried out by the group from the University of Florence and from the "Federico II" University of Naples. In Area G, the excavation of the chapel dating to the third millennium proceeded along with that of the palace of the Mid Assyrian King Adadnirari I; three coeval tombs were discovered, two with lavish furnishings. In Area J, the exploration of the Assyrian palace of Tukulti-Ninurta II was continued. As regards the Parthian phase, investigation has proceeded on the Great Defensive Wall in Area E and of the residential section in Area H. The text, prepared for printing in July 2005, was published following the tragic death of Paolo Emilio Pecorella, which took place on 29 August in Tell Barri in the course of the excavation campaign

Tell Barri / Kahat. La campagna del 2004

In the undulating plains of north-eastern Syria is the site of Tell Barri, identified with the city of Kahat. The archaeological sequence which has been brought to light stretches without interruption from the start of the third millennium up to the fourteenth century AD. This report illustrates the results of the twentieth excavation campaign, carried out by the group from the University of Florence and from the "Federico II" University of Naples. In Area G the levels of the first half of the III millennium BC and a sequence of strata of the Mitanni epoch were investigated, while on the western border of the site another section of the palace of Adad-nirari I was brought to light. In Area J the operations exposed the eastward extension of the palace structure resulting from transformations in the Neo-Babylonian period; in the northern section another courtyard of the palace of Tukulti Ninurta II was brought to light. The text, prepared for printing in July 2005, was published following the tragic death of Paolo Emilio Pecorella, which took place on 29 August in Tell Barri in the course of the excavation campaign

Concettualizzazione e contestualizzazione dei beni culturali archeologici

This report describes the observations made while developing a new methodology for historic surveys used for the re-contextualisation of archaeological finds. This particular methodology avails itself of both traditional historic surveys as well as the representation of knowledge through ontology. The methodology described here was developed in reference to specific cases of re-contextualisation of archaeological artefacts from Pompeii which are now in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples

Il progetto “ceraNEApolis”: un sistema informativo cartografico delle produzioni ceramiche a Neapolis (IV a.C.-VII d.C.)

In the last few decades, urban archaeology in Naples has contributed to outline the history of the city. The discovery of a great amount of pottery gave information about the daily life of ancient Naples. It was therefore decided to draw up a thematic archaeological map of the ceramics finds to reconstruct their production and distribution from the 4th century B.C. to the 7th century A.D. The project ceraNEApolis consists of a pottery map linked to a bibliographic database, which will be made available online: a working tool for experts, useful to outline the cultural city stratification and to understand the Neapolitan archaeological sites through the material. It is useful in defining the topography of production (workshop, raw materials, and resources), distribution (communication routes, harbour, market), uses and consumption patterns (house, habitat, sacred areas, burials) in the city, even if lacking monumental evidence. It contributes to the reconstruction and analysis of the cultural and urban landscape, taking into account the geomorphological elements and the data contexts even in diachronic and transversal multi-disciplinary perspective. The analysis of some significant cases shows its validity also for potential alternative fruition. The integration of virtual reality systems is a possible extension also for the knowledge, enhancement, communication and use of cultural heritage

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P < 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men

L'Asia Minore e l'approvvigionamento in grano di Roma

Asia Minor has never played a significant role in the grain supply of Rome, neither in the Republican nor in the Imperial age. On the contrary, epigraphic evidence indicates difficult times for the province, attributed, in the modern literature, in part to the scarcity of local production, in part to the failure of excternal supplies, especially Egyptian, as a result of the policy of Rome. The archaeological data available today — few as they are - together with a re-reading of the texts, suggest vice versa the picture of a relatively self-sufficient country, in which the crises noted would depend not on the diminution of the production, but on the increase of consumption.L'Asia Minore non ha mai avuto un ruolo significativo nei rifornimenti granari di Roma, né in età repubblicana, né in età imperiale. Al contrario, testimonianze epigrafiche segnalano momenti di difficoltà per la provincia, attribuiti, nella bibliografia moderna, in parte alla scarsità della produzione locale, in parte al venir meno di rifornimenti esterni, soprattutto egiziani, per effetto della politica di Roma. I dati archeologici oggi disponibili - per quanto scarsi - insieme ad una rilettura dei testi, suggeriscono viceversa l'immagine di un paese relativamente autosufficiente, in cui le crisi segnalate dipenderebbero non dalla diminuzione della produzione, ma dall'aumento del consumo.Pierobon-Benoit R. L'Asia Minore e l'approvvigionamento in grano di Roma. In: Le Ravitaillement en blé de Rome et des centres urbains des débuts de la République jusqu'au Haut-Empire. Actes du colloque international de Naples, 14-16 Février 1991. Rome : École Française de Rome, 1994. pp. 305-321. (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 196

Lettere come immagini. Le lucerne di Gerasa/Jerash

À partir de son « invention » et de sa diffusion dans le monde méditerranéen, l’écriture décore de nombreux objets du « quotidien », différents quant à leur matière, leur aspect, leur fonction, et dont l’interprétation est souvent ambigüe et/où a l’origine de débats variés. On a ainsi proposé une première et fondamentale distinction à partir au moins du moment où l’on écrit sur l’objet : on peut évidemment reconnaître une volonté d’origine, si le texte est écrit dès le début – c’est le cas des « légendes » sur les vases grecs –, tandis que les graffitis et toute inscription réalisée après cuisson sur un objet prêt à être vendu ou déjà sur le marché, révèlent une utilisation secondaire. Un cas particulier est représenté par les vases et tout objet réalisé par moulage ; ils sont souvent produits à une grande distance du lieu et même de l’époque d’origine, grâce à la circulation des moules et à la pratique du surmoulage, qui changent le rapport entre producteur et client : l’interprétation des signes, dans plusieurs cas transformés en pseudo-inscriptions, devient alors difficile. Tel est le cas pour les lampes produites en quantité a Gerasa entre le vie et le viiie siècle apr. J.-C. et dont le réservoir est orné de lettres grecques, possible survivance d’une véritable inscription. S’agit-il de textes/lettres seulement décoratifs ou suffisant à évoquer, auprès d’acheteurs qui parfois ne parlent ni ne comprennent plus le grec, le message originel ?Since its invention and diffusion in the Mediterranean world, writing appears on daily use objects no matter their material, form or function, creating multiple interpretative issues. However, a fundamental distinction between intentionality and causality (or secondary purpose) should be made when dealing with writing on such objects. Words or symbols incised and/or painted on a vase prior to its firing tell us about their primary intentionality, whereas the same writing realized after the vase has been produced should be rather connected to a secondary phase of life of the object itself (indication about the content, trade purposes, etc.). Specifically, inscriptions on mould-made objects represent an even more interesting case. Because of moulds high mobility in the ancient world, the objects realized with them might be found far away from their place of origin. Furthermore, modification to the moulds might occur in the meantime, generating a whole spectrum of variabilities between the finished product and the producer. As far as moulds with inscriptions concern, such change make the interpretation and meaning rather problematic, suggesting perhaps the existence of pseudo-inscriptions. This is particularly true in the case of a group of mould-made lamps from Gerasa (Jordan), mostly dated to the period between the 6th and the 8th c. CE. These lamps have all inscribed Greek letters on top, possibly to be connected to a no-longer present inscription. The debate about the interpretation of such artefacts is still open: were they merely decorative letters/short texts or the Greek words were able to evoke, in the non-Greek speaking buyers, the original message

L'Asia Minore e l'approvvigionamento in grano di Roma

Asia Minor has never played a significant role in the grain supply of Rome, neither in the Republican nor in the Imperial age. On the contrary, epigraphic evidence indicates difficult times for the province, attributed, in the modern literature, in part to the scarcity of local production, in part to the failure of excternal supplies, especially Egyptian, as a result of the policy of Rome. The archaeological data available today — few as they are - together with a re-reading of the texts, suggest vice versa the picture of a relatively self-sufficient country, in which the crises noted would depend not on the diminution of the production, but on the increase of consumption.L'Asia Minore non ha mai avuto un ruolo significativo nei rifornimenti granari di Roma, né in età repubblicana, né in età imperiale. Al contrario, testimonianze epigrafiche segnalano momenti di difficoltà per la provincia, attribuiti, nella bibliografia moderna, in parte alla scarsità della produzione locale, in parte al venir meno di rifornimenti esterni, soprattutto egiziani, per effetto della politica di Roma. I dati archeologici oggi disponibili - per quanto scarsi - insieme ad una rilettura dei testi, suggeriscono viceversa l'immagine di un paese relativamente autosufficiente, in cui le crisi segnalate dipenderebbero non dalla diminuzione della produzione, ma dall'aumento del consumo.Pierobon-Benoit R. L'Asia Minore e l'approvvigionamento in grano di Roma. In: Le Ravitaillement en blé de Rome et des centres urbains des débuts de la République jusqu'au Haut-Empire. Actes du colloque international de Naples, 14-16 Février 1991. Rome : École Française de Rome, 1994. pp. 305-321. (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 196

Avventure della scrittura : Documenti dal Mediterraneo orientale antico

ll volume raccoglie 11 contributi che da diverse ottiche disciplinari e metodologiche affrontano il tema dell’uso che della scrittura è stato fatto in diverse società e diversi momenti del mondo antico – in particolare nel Mediterraneo orientale – dalla comparsa dei primi documenti cuneiformi, e del complesso problema del rapporto tra lingua, scrittura e immagini, alla diffusione degli alfabeti classici. Che la scrittura, nelle sue diverse manifestazioni, dalle monumentali iscrizioni ‘ufficiali’ alle sue più modeste espressioni quali i graffiti sia uno strumento privilegiato di informazione e conoscenza, è dato più che acquisito. Come si evince dal titolo il focus del volume è posto piuttosto sulla molteplicità dei piani di lettura riconoscibili in ogni tipo di testo considerato in relazione al supporto, e più in generale al contesto di produzione e di uso nelle sue numerose articolazioni, di strumento amministrativo, contabile, politico, propagandistico, la cui efficacia spesso va al di là della stessa comprensione immediata dei testi. Si propongono quindi riflessioni sul rapporto tra segni, lingue e immagini, tra scrittura lingua e identità, tra scrittura, lingua e controllo politico, come spunti per ulteriori riflessioni e approfondimenti