The Cave of Archaeology in Villa Doria (Genoa - Italy)
Saturday, the 16th June 2007, the Cave of Archaeology, an area of experimental archaeology has been introduced and opened to the public, realized inside the anti-aerial shelter of Villa Doria in Genoa (Italy) and it’s targeting people interested in re-living the prehistory of Liguria.
Among the trees at “Parco di Villa Doria”, behind Piazza Bonavino di Pegli, the entrance of an anti-aerial shelter is situated, dug on a side of the hill. Its appearance is similar to that of a cave, also thanks to the setting in which it’s placed, safe and distant from the city noise.
The refuge, dug during the Second World War to protect the citizens of Pegli from the bombardments, now welcomes this underground space inspired by the caves of Liguria, in which the public may enter, discover and test tools, instruments, daily objects, monuments, difficulties and experiences of the daily life during the prehistoric era.
This is a new way of discovering and understanding the prehistoric era and the historic roots of the European continent, thanks to which the visitors can test the daily problems and situations, from the ignition of fire to the preparation of food, from the manufacturing of instruments made of rock to the creation of ornaments, to the paintings made with ochre and natural pigments.
The Cave of Archaeology has been designed starting from the attestations and findings present in the collections of the Museum and from the results of the archaeological researches. It will be possible inside it to find some of the life conditions of a cave during the prehistoric age. In this space, materials reconstructed by the international scientific team coordinated by the Museum will be introduced. The research done by the team included archaeological tests intended to confirm the hypothesis developed by the scientists on specific subjects.
Third International Congress on common Ceramics
Parma and Pisa will host from the 26th to the 30th march 2008 the 3rd International Congress on common ceramics, cooking ceramics and amphorae of the late antiquity in the Mediterranean: archaeology and archaeometry.
The organizers of the event will be Sara Santoro (History Department, University of Parma), Marinella Pasquinucci and Simonetta Menchelli (Department of Historical Sciences of the Ancient World, University of Pisa).
The specific topic will be “The western and eastern Mediterranean in comparison”.
The Congress will be divided into sessions of essays, posters and visits to archaeological areas and museums.
Like in previous editions, the Members of this Congress will be able to evaluate the ceramics of various Italian archaeological contexts. Also, some microscopes will be offered to allow a fruitful exchange between the archaeologists and the archaeometrists.
To receive more informations please email to lrcw3(AT)humnet.unipi.it.
Book Published on Sorgenti della Nova
A short but complete guide to the excavations of the area of Sorgenti della Nova (in the province of Viterbo - Italy), dating back to XI-X century B.C., has been published, illustrating the results of the 30 year long excavation campaigns lead by the University of Studies of Milan.
The book, whose authors are Nuccia Negroni Catacchio and Massimo Cardosa, is part of the publications undertaken by the Center for Prehistoric and Archaeological Studies in Milan.
Built during the XI century B.C., placed on a cliff of tuff and pumice, near the place where two rivers merge, at the heart of the tuscan-latium part of Maremma, the bronze age settlement of Sorgenti della Nova represents a privileged area of knowledge of the proto-Etruscan world thanks to the richness and abundance of its archaeological remains, only partly influenced by modern human interventions.
Regardless of the partial damages caused by works at a quarry that was active until 1975, in was actually possible to discover and to bring to light numerous artificial caves and hut foundations, apart from various secondary structures as unloading pits, basins for gathering water, small drainage channels, cooking ovens, that highlight the monumental characteristics and the “proto-urban” form of the settlement.
The attention regarding Sorgenti della Nova is completed in the end by the partial overlapping on the proto-historic settlement by the medieval center called Castiglione, dominated by the remains of a high tower and those of a small church, surrounded by numerous rocky habitations. The excavations are under way since the 1970s and are still led by the University of Studies in Milan in collaboration with the Superintendence of Archaeological Heritage of Southern Etruria.
Ancient Roman Street re-emerges close to Colleferro
In the working field for the completion of a purification installation on Via Ariana (between Colleferro and Artena, near Rome, in Italy), an intervention of preventive research meant to verify the presence of archaeological remains along the outline of the drainage conduct has been foreseen by the Environmental department of the Municipality of Colleferro, by the Municipal Archaeological Museum and by the Superintendence of Archaeological Heritage of Lazio.
It’s thanks to this focused planning that, at the height of the bridge “Ponte delle Pagnote”, located at the 6.500th kilometer from Artena, a segment of the roman “glareata” street has been detected.
The street has a length of twenty-three meters with a pavement made of lime cobblestone; on the north side, the street has been partly damaged by the seasonal plowing, whilst the south one has been perfectly conserved and on several segments you can still see larger masses of retaining wall and the basis, made of sandy limestone, conserved for over 50 centimeters.
The visual report makes us imagine a continuation of the street heading to Fosso Gavozza in the direction of the remains of “Ponte delle Pagnotte”, an ancient roman bridge unraveled during the 1980s by the local “Toleriense” Archaeological Group and unfortunately collapsed following the snowfall of January 1985. Of the bridge, however, one of the original shafts, more or less complete still stands.
The discovery of the Ara Funeraria along Via Emilia
A roman ara funeraria (burial ground) from the I century B.C. has been found in perfect conservation status near the ancient Via Emilia, in Modena (Italy), during the ongoing excavations for carrying out some underground passages, at a height equal to that of the passage of the Modena-Sassuolo railroad.
The rooftop of the Ara Romana has been discovered at a depth of just over one and a half meters from the plain’s ground level, as the step basement upon which the structure stands is yet to be brought to surface.
From the inscription it appears that the monument was build, still during her life, by a greek liberta, Vetilia Caia Egloge, who wanted it all for herself, for her master Lucius Valerius Costante, decurion of Mutina, and for her son, a liberto who held the Apollinare and Augustale function, a religious role linked to the celebration of imperial power documented also in other landmarks of Modena.
The epigraph is bordered by an elegant vegetal pattern and it’s surrounded by two decorated pulvinos; along the smaller sides of the ara the ritual decorations of a patera (plate) and that of an urceus (jug) stand out, symbols of old religious ceremonies in honor of the dead.
As much as it is remarkable, however, this discovery is all but a surprise. The roman necropolis used to spread along the consular streets and the archaeologists know that any kind of excavation near Via Emilia can interfere with burial places, especially in this particular area of Modena that has already offered in the past other important funeral monuments.
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