Authors:Francisco B. Gomes Pages: 1 - 19 Abstract: The Phoenician presence in the Iberian Peninsula significantly broadened the range of Mediterranean exotic and prestige goods available to local communities. The nature and role of these goods changed over time but also differed from area to area; a careful consideration of these imports therefore sheds significant light on the different historical trajectories of regional communities, as well as on the ideological underpinnings of their social and political structures. PubDate: 2023-03-28 DOI: 10.13125/2532-0289/4614
Authors:William Balco Pages: 21 - 41 Abstract: Iron Age and Archaic western Sicilians interacted with Greek and Phoenician colonists. The effects of this interaction accumulated over time, introducing new ideas and material culture. Here, western Sicilians transformed their feasting assemblages, reinventing their visual displays of wealth, power, and prestige. This local response created new material culture and expressions of identity. PubDate: 2023-03-28 DOI: 10.13125/2532-0289/4594
Authors:Antonella Rosa Saponara Pages: 43 - 65 Abstract: The paper aims at providing an overview of the production of vessel forms, originating from prototypes coming from outside of the Maltese Archipelago between the 8th and the 5th c. BC. Most recent studies on this topic highlight the presence, common to all Phoenician sites in the central and western Mediterranean, of originals, copies, and adaptations of ceramic forms external to local productions. The phenomenon within Maltese pottery production, although present, appears less direct, especially in reference to the introduction of morphological characters typical of Greek ceramics; in fact, at the current state of research, there are no real imitations of Greek pottery, present instead in other Phoenician-Punic sites in the Mediterranean Sea (e.g., the black glazed cups). The adaptation of foreign shape and decoration is analysed through the data regarding a considerable amount of pottery discovered in a dump context in the sanctuary of Astarte in Tas-Silġ (Malta), dated between the second half of the 8th c. BC and the end of the 2nd c. BC. This wide chronological range allows to examine the acquisition and elaboration of ideas and images in the local manufacturing process and lifestyle in a diachronic way. PubDate: 2023-03-28 DOI: 10.13125/2532-0289/4699
Authors:Maria Mureddu, Francesco Solinas Pages: 67 - 86 Abstract: Ancient harbours and anchorages are valuable contexts to investigate the different material culture that could reach a region, and to reconstruct ancient commerce and connections between different areas. Moreover, as they usually present waterlogged and anoxic sedimentation conditions, organic materials are preserved in addition to ceramics and other inorganic objects, giving more elements to the archaeological reconstruction. This is the case of the Mistras lagoon in Central-West Sardinia. The lagoon has been identified as the harbour of the city of Tharros, active during the Punic period, from the 7th to the 3rd century BC. It is characterised by an interior sandy barrier, recognised as a palaeobeach; here the University of Cagliari held two archaeological excavations during the years 2014 and 2015, revealing a natural stratigraphy rich in archaeological materials, typical of a waterlogged site. The analysis of the carpological remains, seeds, and fruits, recovered by sampling 29 different stratigraphic units, reveals the presence of a great number of cultivated species. Some of the species identified were possibly introduced during that period to the island, together with agricultural practices and technologies that improved local cultivations. Concerning the xylological remains found in the excavations, some fragments of manufactured wood provide important information about objects of common use, while other fragments are attributable to remains of ships. PubDate: 2023-03-28 DOI: 10.13125/2532-0289/5133
Authors:Elisabeth Marie Dodinet, Nicolas Garnier, Delphine Barbier-Pain Pages: 87 - 101 Abstract: The famous hypogaeum of the Greek city of Poseidonia (Paestum), excavated in 1954 and dated from the end of the VIth c. BCE, has been interpreted as a heroon based on the archaeological material retrieved. It encompassed 5 iron rods (obeloi) wrapped in a thick wool cloth, deposited on a wood table (trapeza) in the center, of 8 bronze vases (6 hydria; 2 amphoras) and of an Attic amphora with black figures, set along the north and south walls of the structure. The walls and the bottom of the bronze hydria and amphora revealed a thick and paste-like yellow-brown organic substance. Many researchers still interpret this substance as honey or the remains of honeycombs, which would have been offered as part of a heroic cult to the founder of the city. Yet, the different sets of analyses performed during the 1950s and 1980s, although they could not identify the nature of the fatty substance, had allowed to reject the honey hypothesis. New analyses took place recently within a research program led by the Jean Bérard Centre in Napoli. The pollen analysis and organic analysis by GC-MS have brought concordant data. The chemical analyses did not reveal any wax or animal fat, nor oleoresin or plant pitch, but rather the markers of a siccative oil. The extracted pollen was dominantly that of Cannabaceae (eg. Cannabis / Humulus type). The interpretation of these intriguing findings is discussed. PubDate: 2023-03-28 DOI: 10.13125/2532-0289/5002
Authors:Sandra Jaeggi-richoz, Nicolas Garnier Pages: 103 - 124 Abstract: The presence of these feeding bottles deposited in graves of Roman Gaul brings forth questions regarding such practice, as the analyses of the contents lead us to link them more to body care. The presence of shells in some of the feeding bottle graves also brings us to consider these assemblages from a gender perspective, due to the attribution of shells to mundus muliebris. PubDate: 2023-03-28 DOI: 10.13125/2532-0289/4906
Authors:José Luis Martínez Boix Pages: 125 - 142 Abstract: The reinterpretation of some sites in Alicante (Spain) as castella from the Roman civil wars of the 1st century BC shows the early presence of Italic population in Iberian Contestania. On the basis of this evidence, we reflect on Ilicitan style painted Iberian pottery produced at this time, considering that it imitates forms and decorations from the Italic world. PubDate: 2023-03-28 DOI: 10.13125/2532-0289/4698
Authors:Ciro Parodo Pages: 143 - 162 Abstract: The study of the relationships between funerary practices and historical changes in Sardinia between the late Republican age and the early imperial age poses complex problems, due to the interaction of the different cultural traditions of the island, especially the Norh African one of Punic influence and the Roman-Italic one. The purpose of this contribution is to analyze how this cultural syncretism is reflected in Sardinian funerary archeology PubDate: 2023-03-28 DOI: 10.13125/2532-0289/4882
Authors:Giulia Moretti Cursi Pages: 163 - 185 Abstract: The paper focuses on an area of the Ager Aricinus at the 16th mile of the Via Appia in the urban area of Ariccia between the Via Appia and the inhabited center, delimited to the west and north by the cell of the so-called temple of Diana. Inside the aforementioned area, now almost entirely urbanized, are still preserved some structures from the mid-2nd century AD for which extensive documentation can be found in the 18th century antiquarian sources and in the cartographic reproductions between the 19th and the 20th centuries. So far, their interpretation has gone through a plurality of hypotheses (amphitheatre, thermal building, statio) for which there is a need to undertake an analytical study in order to understand its function in antiquity and its impact in the landscape context of modern age. The study will take place in two phases: examination of the historical cartography to identify the ownership of the fund on which the structures insisted through the consultation of the Collections of drawings and maps at the State Archive of Rome and the realization of a graphic restitution of the plan, integrating what has been preserved and what has been handed down from past documentation and proposing a vector reconstruction (CAD) of the building. PubDate: 2023-03-28 DOI: 10.13125/2532-0289/4692
Authors:Alessia Morigi, Filippo Fontana, Alessandro Freschi, Simone Cau, Davide Persico, Francesco Garbasi Pages: 187 - 212 Abstract: The ‘Inter Amnes. Archeologia tra Enza, Parma e Baganza’ project in the framework of the Programma ‘S.F.E.R.A. Spazi e Forme dell’Emilia Romagna Antica’ of the University of Parma has promoted a series of survey campaigns on the Parma Apennines, previously never involved in surface reconnaissance. The research was conducted by a multidisciplinary team aimed at highlighting the various peculiarities of the territory from a geological, archaeological, historical, and paleontological point of view, with a view to reconstruct the evolutionary dynamics of the landscape. Among the most relevant discoveries is the discovery of ten fossil ichthyosaur caudal vertebrae from a ‘Chaotic Complex’ in the Apennines of western Emilia and found during the reconnaissance for the mapping of fossil deposits. Compared to the great majority of vertebrate remains from the units of the ‘Chaotic Complex’, usually represented by isolated or damaged skeletal elements, the specimen preserves the original relationships between the different vertebral elements. The biostratigraphic analysis of the fossil made it possible to recognize a micro-paleontological association attributable to the Aptian stage (Lower Cretaceous). Starting from the systematic palaeontological analysis, the discovery is also brought back here to its context for an integrated, diachronic, and multidisciplinary re-reading of the ancient landscape PubDate: 2023-05-17 DOI: 10.13125/2532-0289/5347
Authors:Ilaria Maria Francesca Pitzalis Pages: 213 - 224 Abstract: The Ar.A.R. project is the experimentation of a participatory process of valorization on the prehistoric site of Su Coddu. This process is centred on a structured educational path, toward the acquisition of new skills by the participants from the upper secondary school of Su Planu, Selargius. The students were able to interpret the cultural heritage site under study through the creation of a 3D render of the prehistoric settlement. Their work was shared with the citizens during the event “Monumenti Aperti Selargius 2019”, which is about the the popularization of cultural heritage. PubDate: 2023-05-24 DOI: 10.13125/2532-0289/5296
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