Religion and Classics

La funzione di molti dei siti su terrazzamenti o piattaforme in opera poligonale nell’Italia antica, in assenza spesso di circostanziati dati di scavo, è ancora oggetto di dibattito. In alcune zone dell’Italia centrale queste strutture sono considerate come attestazioni di attività costruttive di età pre-romana. In altre aree, al contrario, la loro presenza viene interpretata come un segno dell’espansione romana. Nelle aree in cui questa tecnica costruttiva sembra riferibile soprattutto al periodo romano, è stato ipotizzato che i siti su basamenti in opera poligonale vadano posti in relazione con la diffusione delle ville rustiche. Alcuni studiosi hanno però sollecitato cautela o suggerito altre funzioni per questo tipo di strutture. Va comunque ricordato che relativamente pochi di questi siti sono stati effettivamente scavati. In questo poster vengono forniti dati su uno di questi: il sito di San Martino a Torano di Borgorose, oggetto di un progetto di scavo scientifico a lungo termine. Ubicato nell’Italia centrale, nell’ager aequiculanus, il sito è un insediamento di età romana costruito su una piattaforma creata da muri di terrazzamento in opera poligonale. L’inizio della sua frequentazione è probabilmente databile al periodo medio repubblicano. Nel poster vengono passati in rassegna i risultati di otto stagioni di indagini, condotte dal 2009 dall’Università di Rochester (New York), e si forniscono informazioni dettagliate sui reperti e sui contesti stratigrafici più antichi finora scavati. Il poster offre quindi importanti dati, provenienti da un contesto di scavo, che riguardono sia l’uso delle piattaforme in muratura poligonale nell’Italia centrale che la loro cronologia.

Excavations at the San Martino site have revealed new data about trade in the Cicolano region in the late antique to early medieval period.  In the Roman period, until the end of the fifth century AD, people at the site had access to imported goods, which reached this internal area of Italy chiefly via Rome and the west coast.  Later, in the aftermath of the Gothic wars and the arrival of the Longobards, the site seems to have been essentially cut off from overseas trade.  In particular, residents apparently lost access to goods coming from Rome and could obtain imported items only via the more remote Adriatic coast.  Thus, the late antique/early medieval pottery from San Martino includes: virtually no overseas imports; some vessels typical of Adriatic Italy; and a large quantity of locally-made ceramics, which are important for understanding the pottery sequences in Cicolano at this time.

In the years following the death of Commodus, a long period of transformation began that undermined the structure of the Roman Empire. These changes initially affected only aspects of succession to the Princedom, especially involving the military sphere, but they also modified the social and structural organization of the Roman State.
After this period of military anarchy, interrupted by a brief phase of prosperity with the accession to the imperial throne of Septimius Severus and his successors, there followed a period of economic stability that determined a new political and institutional empire. The time of Diocletian’s reforms, however, culminated in a serious crisis after the death of Constantine the Great (337 AD). The lands bordering the Adriatic were disputed by the heirs of the Emperor, starting a period of economic and cultural changes that manifested themselves initially as a diffuse form of recession in the dynamics of occupation of the territory. Urban and rural settlements show signs of abandonment and crisis. In the following decades, waves of peoples from northern and eastern Europe disrupted the political unity of the Empire even more. The Empire was only partially rebalanced after the Gothic War, due to the devastation of many urban centers and a drop in the number of sites in the area caused by continuing military clashes.
As was demonstrated at the last conference in Ravenna (Economia e Territorio, 28 February-1 March 2014), now being published, in recent years field research has revealed new evidence that allows us to draw a more complete picture of this important historical period which has been the focus of debate in recent decades. The research area discussed in Ravenna was mainly restricted to the central Adriatic, although there was communication with some eastern Adriatic areas.
This time the focus will extend to the basin defined as Adriatic Europe, according to geographical and cultural rather than political patterns, thus considering all territories facing the Adriatic Sea. These areas are affected by similar phenomena of transformations (barbarian conquest (crossings of the territory), the formation of barbaric countries, Justinian's Reconquest), at least until the Lombard invasion of Italy and Istria in the second half of the 6th century. After this point, they follow different trajectories that are still poorly understood. Such close relations between the two sides have always suggested direct cultural influences. The handicraft productions and forms of settlement in many ways tend to follow 2 common lines, but the progress of field investigations have not been sufficiently compared, especially with regard to the Early Middle Ages.
This new meeting will analyze these transformative phenomena in the areas research has neglected, including the time span between the 2nd and 8th centuries, especially on the Eastern Adriatic coast, from the short period before the establishment of the Severan dynasty up to the end of the Carolingian period.

We thank all participants for the interest shown for Trade conference and the numerous and very compelling themes proposed. Also, we wish everyone a fruitful conference and a pleasant stay in Zadar,

the Organizing commitee

Excavations at the San Martino site (Torano di Borgorose, Rieti, Italy) have uncovered the remains of a Copper Age settlement, with evidence of a daub structure and possible hearth. The present contribution reports the results of investigations here and situates these results within the broader context of the mountainous interior areas of central Italy, including parts of the Lazio region and especially neighboring Abruzzo. The quantity of data available from Copper Age sites in this geographical area has increased considerably in recent decades, and it seems clear that people were occupying the landscape fully by the third millennium BC. Evidence from excavation and survey includes abundant pottery, lithic assemblages, and bones, sometimes associated with structures. Sites were used for activities connected with pastoralism and are found along lakeshores, on raised terraces and hillslopes, and even at high altitudes. Still lacking are extensive explorations of individual sites, and absolute dating is needed to refine the traditional chronology, based almost exclusively on ceramic evidence. Nonetheless, the amount of information available from places like the San Martino site makes this geographical area ripe for the kind of regional syntheses already long since undertaken for the Copper Age in other parts of Italy.

Recent excavations sponsored by the University of Rochester (New York, USA) at the San Martino site in Torano di Borgorose (RI) have revealed archaeological levels pertaining to use as a settlement area in the Late Copper Age.  The domestic nature of the occupation, on the slopes of a hill overlooking the Salto River valley, is strongly suggested by the presence of pebble floors and terracing works.  Although the site is located in the Lazio region in modern administrative terms, it lies near the border with Abruzzo and can be analyzed within the general framework of the Abruzzese Copper Age and more specifically that of the Fucine basin.  In Abruzzo the Copper Age is a period for which the cultural and chronological details have been delineated only in relatively recent years, and with respect to other areas of the Italian peninsula the documented archaeological evidence remains limited, although the quantity and quality of the data available continue to grow.  In this context, radiocarbon dates from the San Martino site are a particularly useful contribution to the research on this time period in Abruzzo and in central Italy in general.