Archaeology of pre-Roman Italy

NW Italy (500 - 1 BCE) provides an interesting case scenario to explore methodological problems regarding issues of identity and ethnicity.  In an area with many long-distance contacts across the Apennines, Alps, and along the Po Valley, the question arises how the various forms of cultural interaction were shaping people’s sense of identity. One major concern is, of course, the nature of our evidence. To what extent do pottery types, imported luxury products, funerary rituals, coinage, writing, language, and religion really inform us about issues of ethnicity? Artefact assemblages, for example, seem to change constantly and significant changes that indicate new developments regarding self-identity need to be identified. The second problem concerns the role of external factors in this process. What impact did the Celtic ‘invasion’ – allegedly in 396 or 388 BC – and subsequent Roman domination really have on people’s identity?  Another issue concerns the development and nature of these identities: was there ever anything like a ‘Ligurian’ or ‘Celtic’ identity in Cisalpine Gaul? In this context, the term ‘Celtic’ is a convenient shorthand to describe people who wrote and spoke a Celtic language and used artefacts and practices of Transalpine origin. We also have to explore the heterogeneous and geographically diverse character of local ethnicities and the way how these identities evolved when
"ethne" became Roman-style municipalities
Otherness, state formation and ethnogenesis - How did these constantly re-negotiated local identities develop in an increasingly pan-Italian world? With increasing interaction across Italy we would perhaps expect to find a more ‘global’ Italo-Hellenic identity in the post-conquest period. Instead our evidence suggests a much stronger local identity, especially aspects that reflect a certain ‘Celticity’ in writing, coinage, and material culture, as well as the continuous use of rituals and artefacts that go back to the early Iron Age period. Roman presence  per se did not result in  people ‘imitating’ or ‘emulating’ the conqueror’s culture, but their integration in Roman  political and military structures and their involvement beyond their local sphere of influence seems to create the wish to demarcate themselves by a stronger identity.

In August 2003, during the survey of the site of Carsulae (Terni, Italy) remains of a fortification were identified along the western boundary of the archaeological park. These can be interpreted as the remains of a defensive 'agger' (bank) dating to the Early Iron Age - Early Republican Age.
The analysis of aerial photographs has led to the identification of many other traces of this structure.
All these elements allow the formulation of some hypothesis about the development of the fortification line during the different phases of life of the town.
By studying the aerial photographs, other archaeological traces were also identified both inside and outside the town limits. These traces are related to built structures and quarry areas.

L’iconografia della donna assisa con bambino costituisce senza dubbio il soggetto più significativo nel repertorio dei votivi fittili del santuario di Fondo Patturelli dell’anti-ca Capua. Oltre che nei piccoli votivi è rappresentato sulla serie delle celebri statue in tufo, nonché replicato su vari esemplari nella coroplastica maggiore. Questo contribu-to intende fornire degli spunti preliminari di analisi a partire dai primi alla luce delle altre due serie testimoniali, ponendo l’attenzione su alcune caratteristiche stilistiche e formali, evidenziandone i tratti comuni e le differenze. Tale analisi infatti potrebbe sondare ulteriori ipotesi sulla natura e motivazione del tipo di offerta.
The iconography of the seated woman with a baby is surely the most significant in the terracotta votive offerings from the Fondo Patturelli sanctuary at Capua. This subject is also testified by the well-known tufa statues and by some samples in the major terracot-ta votives. This contribution aims to provide some preliminary remarks, starting from the small votives in comparison to the other two object categories, focusing on stylis-tic and formal features and considering the similarities and the differences, in order to trace further possible hypothesis on the nature and reason of each votive offering.

Au fur et à mesure de l’expansion romaine en Italie, des colonies constellent les territoires de la péninsule et inscrivent dans le paysage la présence de Rome. Instruments majeurs de la conquête, ces communautés civiques demeurent aujourd’hui mal connues et la spécificité de leur statut politique et juridique se dissout parfois dans les lacunes de la documentation. Furent-elles ces petites Rome que les sources littéraires évoquent trop succinctement ? Ont-elles constitué dès l’époque médio-républicaine un ensemble de cités cohérent, unies par règles de fonctionnement similaires ? Cet ouvrage analyse le fait colonial à travers les sources produites par les nombreuses manifestations de la religion publique dans seize colonies de la façade adriatique de l’Italie centrale ; il exploite ainsi une documentation riche, archéologique et épigraphique principalement, qui offre une porte d’entrée privilégiée dans l’histoire de ces cités. Développée sur le temps long et fondée sur la confrontation d’études de cas, cette enquête revalorise la consistance historique des colonies en plaçant au cœur de la démarche leurs évolutions. De la République au Haut-Empire se révèle la plasticité du modèle romain et sa pertinence pour comprendre le fait colonial : ensemble de règles juridiques contraignantes, il est aussi apte à accueillir la spécificité des contextes locaux de chaque fondation et façonné par la variété des liens entre Rome et ses colonies. À ce titre, l’histoire de la religion publique des colonies s’ancre dans la mosaïque des territoires italiens conquis par Rome et contribue à la restituer.

Agrégée d’histoire, docteur et ancienne membre de l’École française de Rome, Audrey Bertrand est maître de conférences en histoire romaine à l’Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée.

The Seven Hills of Rome are on the east of the Tiber in the heart of the Ancient City and are said to be the origins of the empire. Back in the day (there is proof of civilization on the hills from as early as 1,000BC) the seven hills were inhabited separately, each with its own independent tribe mixed with Giants. Eventually, the tribes came together to compete in sports, strengthening their bonds and uniting their villages. And thus, began the great Roman Empire.

This publication demonstrates the important link between the history of Rome and its geologic setting in a lively, fact-filled narrative sure to interest geology and history buff. The author point out that Rome possessed many geographic advantages over surrounding areas: proximity to a major river with access to the sea, plateaus for protection, nearby sources of building materials, and most significantly, clean drinking water from springs in the Apennines. Even the resiliency of Rome's architecture and the stability of life on its hills are underscored by the city's geologic framework. If carried along with a good city map, this book will expand the understanding of travelers who explore the eternal city's streets. Chapters are arranged geographically, based on each of the seven hills, the Tiber floodplain, ancient creeks that dissected the plateau, and ridges that rise above the right bank. As an added bonus, the last chapter consists of three field trips around the center of Rome, which can be enjoyed on foot or by using public transportation.

Università degli Studi di Ferrara, 6-8 giugno 2019
Palazzo Bevilacqua Costabili, via Voltapaletto 11

For those interested in streaming the conference live, be sure to tune into the conference here:

FIRST DAYì: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRIRk3euzyY

SECOND DAY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARAL3jfMydM

La collegiata di S. Maria Assunta di Otricoli e le sue collezioni d’arte sono state oggetto, a partire dalle indagini archeologiche e dai restauri svolti all’interno della chiesa ormai più di mezzo secolo fa, di una costante attenzione da parte degli studiosi. Le numerose ricerche hanno apportato un notevole contributo alla conoscenza di uno dei monumenti architettonici più rappresentativi dell’Italia centrale per quanto attiene l’Alto Medioevo, anche se, in relazione all’analisi e all’interpretazione delle numerose fasi costruttive che hanno interessato le strutture dell’edificio nel corso della sua storia secolare, sono emersi fra gli storici pareri tutt’altro che univoci.
I recenti interventi di scavo nel sotterraneo della collegiata, inoltre, dove sono venuti alla luce i resti di una possente muratura in opera quadrata, pertinente probabilmente al podio di un tempio pagano, risalente alla fase preromana del sito, hanno ulteriormente accresciuto la serie di dati materiali disponibili da analizzare, rendendo di conseguenza ancora più articolato il contesto storico di riferimento, che si è dovuto estendere a considerare l’intera evoluzione dell’insediamento urbano del municipio romano di Ocriculum, la cui fondazione da parte delle popolazioni umbre risale all’VIII secolo a.C.
In ragione proprio di tale esteso e problematico quadro critico, questo lavoro si pone l’obiettivo di affrontare, attraverso aggiornati percorsi di indagine, che hanno preso avvio con lo spoglio sistematico della documentazione d’archivio relativa ai restauri e agli scavi, conservata presso la Soprintendenza Archeologica, Belle Arti e Paesaggio dell’Umbria e l’Archivio di Stato di Perugia, e proseguiti, poi, con un accurato rilievo laser-scanner dell’intero complesso monumentale, tutte le principali questioni ancora oggetto di discussione sulla storia architettonica dell’edificio religioso, e proporre per queste nuove possibili chiavi di lettura.

This paper discusses six tombs from Sveta Lucija (Slovenia) that were bought in 1923 from Prof. Rudolf Much
(Vienna) by Prof. Albert Egges van Giffen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) for the collection of what is now the Groningen Institute
of Archaeology. These tombs, excavated in 1890, form part of one of the largest Hallstatt cemeteries known archaeologically,
consisting of thousands of tombs. Walking 40 km north from Sveta Lucija, one can reach the Triglav, at 2864 m the highest
mountain of the Julian Alps. The site itself is located in a valley, in a strategic location at the confluence of two rivers emerging
in these Alps. During the Iron Age, Sveta Lucija functioned as a transitional site between Italy, the Balkans and Austria. This
frontier character is reflected in its entire history, starting in the 8th century BC, when it emerged as a settlement centre. The
article provides a biography of old study collections since c. 1850 and discusses the role of some influential archaeologists in
the history of the excavations at Sveta Lucija since the 1880s. The article then contextualizes the artefacts held at Groningen,
concentrating on the 7th to early 5th century BC. The numerous excavations in the burial grounds and settlement for more
than a century, make Sveta Lucija one of the more thoroughly investigated European Iron Age settlement centres with a couple
of hundred inhabitants. Finally, the article introduces the still-enigmatic development of the site from an Iron Age centre
to a Roman village, addressing the decline of its archaeological visibility during the intervening centuries and its correlation
with Celtic groups.

In the Porto Cesareo (Lecce, Italy) coastal area, submerged and semi-submerged archaeological evidence has been uncovered by recent preliminary surveys carried out in close collaboration with the local marine protected area (MPA): (a) a navis lapidaria wreck of the Roman imperial age; (b) various scattered and decontextualised finds; (c) a beached wreck, probably medieval; (d) some submerged built-structures that are part of the Bronze Age Scalo di Furno settlement; and (e) remains of structures (walls, buildings, burial areas). The last three pieces of evidence allow for the hypothesis of a significantly different ancient coastal landscape than that of the present and a ‘dynamic’ scenario
over the centuries.

This article gives a first overview of the distribution of giallo antico in the Western Mediterranean during the earliest phases of its extraction. It discusses recently excavated, well-dated contexts from Italy, Spain, Gaul, Africa, and from Simitthus itself. The objective is not, as is usually the case, to focus on the marble’s use in spectacular buildings in Rome. The article will rather highlight the variability of the marble’s use in houses, sanctuaries, tombs, inscriptions and municipal buildings. In doing so, some options of naming the actors involved in the trade in the marble and possible trade routes will be discussed. As a result of this approach, it becomes clear that a wide range of private, municipal and provincial actors must have been involved in the marble trade, apart from the hitherto overestimated role of the Numidian kings and Roman emperors. The distribution-maps show the current state of a broader work in progress of the Tuniso-German project (INP/DAI) at Simitthus.

In a study concerned with understanding the types of population and modes of contanct in the multiple ecosystems of Iron Age southern Italy, ranging from the Greek poleis of the coastal flood plains to the Appenine mountain regions of Calabria and Lucania, it is necessary to examine the contexts carefully, as each culture or cultural or social group and every region may react differently to contacts with other cultures. Particularly instructive in this respect is the picture that emerges from the Ionnian coast between Taras and Sybaris and its immediate hinterland, where it is possible to compare and differentiate realities that are not necessarily homogeneous or fully standardised.
This paper discusses three different contexts along the Ionian coast, namely L'Amastuola, Incoronata and Francavilla Marittima, where the traditional reconstruction of the settlement dynamics, as proposed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, saw the presence of the Greek as a disruptive element which shattered a static indigenous situation and that led first to the conquest and subjugation of the indigenous inhabitants who lived around the immediate hinterland of the colonial settlements, and then resulted in full-blown inter-ethnic conflict. This perspective interpreted the clear traces of transformations between the eight and the seventh centuries in the indigenous settlements around the area later occupied by the Greek chorai as evidence of local communities succumbing to the impact of the Greeek arriva. In this paper, I will first discuss this traditional reconstruction, with particular attention to the inland regions of the Appennine mountains, before considering mobility and cultural contact in the Italic world and exploring the settlements and developments of indigenous communities between Iron Age I and II.

Gli insediamenti di altura sono da tempo al centro del dibattito scientifico, ma a causa dell'eterogeneità nelle modalità di indagine,  sfuggono ancora i termini per una definizione dei tratti distintivi della tipologia. Il Chianti, è conteso tra le paternità che la comunità scientifica ha attribuito di volta in volta ai diversi centri urbani che lo cingono, ed è relegato al ruolo di ricettore periferico in una sorta di corsa alla spartizione di coloniale memoria. Le indagini di superficie realizzate da chi scrive si sono concentrate nella verifica della presenza e nella documentazione puntuale di contesti  riconducibili a insediamenti di altura preromani. L’analisi  il confronto con altri casi dll’Etruria settentrionale aiuta a comprendere la formazione e gli sviluppi di questa categoria insediativa nel corso del I millennio a.C., e soprattutto in Età Ellenistica (fine IV-metà del I sec. a.C.), integrando le conoscenze in merito alle dinamiche di popolamento del Chianti, e generalmente dell'Etruria settentrionale interna.