XXVIIIe Réunion de l'Association pour l'Antiquité Tardive / 23rd International IRCLAMA Colloquium: Living and Dying in the Cloister (Zadar, 28 May - 4 June 2016) (original) (raw)
in Nizzo (V.) (dir.) : Archaeologia e antropologia della morte. III Incontro di studi di antropologia e archeologia a confronto (Roma, Ecole Française de Rome, Stadio di Domiziano, 20-22 maggio 2015). Ed. ESS, Roma, 2018., 2018
Loron (Tar-Vabriga, Croatia) is a large Roman estate implanted near the sea in the early first century AD on the territory of the colony of Parentium (Poreč). It’s currently the subject of a French-Croatian international program involving the territorial museum of Poreč (Zavičajni Poreštine muzej), the French School of Rome and the research center C. Jullian (Aix-Marseille University - CNRS) with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the French Foreign Ministry. Since 1994, the excavations led by an international team have unearthed a large workshop complex mainly dedicated to the production of oil amphoras Dressel 6B for export. This workshop was the property of senators and emperors. It was continuously occupied from the first century AD to the fourth century AD, before being gradually dismantled, and then completely abandoned in the late fifth century AD. New research conducted on the Loron promontory corresponding to imperial property, have located another Roman residential area - probably the aristocratic villa- without revealing significant evidences about the post-antique occupancy of this area. This is why the discovery in 2012 of a male individual burial associated with a small monetary treasure of the late thirteenth century is an atypical funerary context. The tomb itself, a no deep simple grave, was specifically installed at the corner of a building associated with the amphora workshop. It constitutes an isolated context to link with sporadic visits to the coast. Yet the value of currencies associated with deceased contrast to the simplicity of the burial: these are 9 silver coins issued by the Aquileia and Trieste money workshops between 1234-1254 and 1260-1282. These coins were probably gathered in a purse discovered near the basin. The poster presents all burial components (location, architecture, skeleton, material) in relation to the known data on the late Middle Ages Poreč territory occupation and the funerary practice, compared to others similar contexts of isolated medieval burials with coins in Italy.
Forthcoming in V. Nizzo (ed.), Archaeology and Anthropology of Death, Rome 2016
The site of Daba is a burial complex of great importance formed by numerous large collective graves containing hundreds of individuals each, accompanied by thousands of valuable goods. Daba is located on the east coast of Musandam Peninsula (Oman) and is surrounded by several Iron Age sites including both settlements and burial complex, as Tel Abrak, Masafi and Hili as settlements, Jebel Buhais, Shimal and Asimah as burial complex. The Daba site is, to date, represented by two Large Collective Graves (LCG1 and LCG2), by a later Parthian grave and by several pits used as ritual offering. Unlike other sites of the area, Daba collective graves are very well preserved and quite undisturbed. The archaeological evidence suggests that the whole area could have been a monumental tribute to tribal alliance dating to the end of II millennium BC. The first burial monument is of rectangular shape, with a length of about 14 m and a width of 3,5 m. LCG1 returned human remains referable at least to 188 individuals and nearly 2000 precious goods, including bronze and steatite vessels, daggers, bracelets, arrowheads, decorated shell medallions and numerous beads and necklaces made in various materials. LCG2, continuously used from the Late Bronze Age (1600-1350 BC) until the Iron Age II/III Period (around 600 BC), is bigger than the first one (23 meters in length and 6 in width, included the outer arrangements). Thousands of objects have been recovered during the exploration of the grave, frequently associated to human remains referable to 28 individuals from primary burials and a minimum number of 202 individuals from secondary depositions. Many phases of frequentation have been recognized, as well as different phases of restoration and reorganization of the building. During the last phase the structure was almost completely filled and the stone walls partially collapsed. Moreover, several secondary assemblages of human bones were located all around the structure, while scattered bones associated with archaeological materials and faunal remains have been found inside the monumental grave . The second phase testify a continuity of frequentation from the top of the structure: many secondary depositions have been found over the walls and the secondary bone clusters have often a clear structural organization. The first, and last excavated, phase is characterized by the collapse of the west wall and by the reuse of the slabs to construct circular funerary chambers. In the outer eastern area the original entrance hall lose its primary function, becoming a closed chamber with several primary burials. Although not entirely investigated, LCG2 provided some interesting evidence related to the funerary practices and the offering rituals in the Daba sacred area. Several typologies of deposition of skeletal materials have been identified, that differ in reference to their organization, to the quantity of bones, to the number of individuals represented in them and to their association with grave goods and animal bones. Peculiar typologies of secondary depositions emerged in Daba, like bone assemblages with a clear structured shape that suggests the use of perishable containers to settle the already skeletonized individuals inside or around the large collective grave. To underline the multifaceted habits that took place at Daba, several case have been documented in the secondary depositions that likely could be interpreted as naturally mummified skeletal districts, as well as a single case of an entire bone artificially modified in its shape for ritual purposes.Archaeozoological analysis shows that the majority of faunal remains belongs to goats, but also cattle, sheep, dogs, horses and fish are represented. Rare are camelids and pigs. The preferential choice of specific meat portions, often discovered in close relation with human bones, suggests the funerary ritual involved offerings of entire animals or certain parts of them. All these evidence point out that the Daba sacred area is of fundamental importance for the understanding of the tribal societies of the Iron Age in the whole Arabian Peninsula and the site assumes a role of great significance for the funerary rituals. In Daba burial complex the bones of ancestors acquired a role that seems to go beyond the simple interment, sometimes turning the focus of the ritual into an object for the ritual itself.
Il presente contributo riflette la comunicazione tenuta al Convegno nel 2011. Per aggiornamenti vedi conversi, DesteFanis c.s.; 1 I Longobardi 1993. Alcuni sepolcreti e manufatti sono stati oggetto di successivi studi specifici, tra cui: catarsi 2003; catarsi 2006a; catarsi 2010a; giostra 2007a. 2 carini 2007. Carini vede una relazione tra origini longobarde di Angilberga e necropoli longobarda preesistente. 3 Del presente contributo i paragrafi 1 e 2 sono di Roberta Conversi, del paragrafo 3 le parti 1,3,5,6,7 sono di Roberta Conversi, 2 e 4 sono di Cristina Mezzadri. Ringrazio Caterina Cornelio, funzionario della Soprintendenza per i beni archeologici dell'Emilia Romagna, che diresse gli scavi, per le informazioni sulla tomba di Via Genocchi, scavo condotto da Anna Stevani, e di via Alberoni, scavo condotto da Anna Stevani e Cristina Mezzadri. Le uniche informazioni pubblicate sulla tomba di Via Alberoni sono Libertà 1999a; Libertà 1999b; carini 2007. ROBERTA CONVERSI, CRISTINA MEZZADRI
2024
Il tema di questo volume è il fenomeno, diffuso nei cimiteri in varie zone d’Europa, delle sepolture intenzionalmente riaperte e disturbate durante l’alto medioevo. Questo articolo offre una panoramica sullo stato attuale delle conoscenze e su come queste siano state raggiunte, con un approfondimento su come un’attenta analisi delle evidenze materiali possa portare a una migliore comprensione delle pratiche in oggetto. Dapprima, la trattazione altomedievale è inserita in un dibattito archeologico più ampio, e poi viene presentata una serie di esempi dettagliati per illustrare aspetti delle testimonianze e le loro interpretazioni. Il dibattito sulla riapertura delle sepolture altomedievali si è concentrato sui frequenti ritrovamenti di tombe che sono state disturbate e con manufatti rimossi precocemente. Come si vedrà, queste sono state tendenzialmente etichettate come derubate o saccheggiate, nonostante siano state avanzate una serie di spiegazioni più specifiche. Gli esempi presentati nell’articolo mostrano come ricerche incentrate sui dati tafonomici, in particolare sull’applicazione dei metodi archeo-tanatologici, possano rivelare la specificità delle azioni nelle singole tombe e altrettanto bene rendano possibile una comparazione più ampia dei tempi e delle forme delle attività di riapertura. Si presenta così un nuovo quadro dell’ampia geografia dei luoghi in cui questo tipo di pratica della riapertura è diventata comune, pur sottolineando la cautela nell’attribuire i segni di disturbo a cause particolari. In futuro, ci si interrogherà su come le pratiche di rimozione di oggetti di corredo dalle tombe siano da mettere in relazione con le altre forme di ri-connessione con i resti fisici dei defunti e con altre pratiche intergenerazionali osservate nelle necropoli altomedievali.
Ho partecipato, con grande gioia, al Convegno Internazionale Beni culturali: dai depositi alla valorizzazione, insieme agli Archeologi Dott.ssa Marina Congiu e Dott. Gianluca Calà 1 , la cui collaborazione è stata preziosa per la passione e l'impegno profusi, portando all'attenzione degli Studiosi, la Mostra permanente dal titolo: Abitare, pregare e morire nell'antichità. Dai depositi del Museo Archeologico di Caltanissetta uno spaccato di vita quotidiana alla portata di tutti, inaugurata il 14 marzo 2017, presso il Museo Archeologico di Caltanissetta, dal sottoscritto arch. Giovanni Crisostomo Nucera, nella qualità di Direttore dello stesso, con il patrocinio dell'Assessorato Regionale dei Beni Culturali e dell'Identità Siciliana, del Libero Consorzio dei Comuni di Caltanissetta e dei Comuni di Caltanissetta e Vallelunga Pratameno. È un grande onore ed una grande emozione assistere, oggi, al riconoscimento ed alla pubblicazione del lavoro svolto presso il Museo Archeologico, una struttura museale che si qualifica come una delle più importanti dell'Isola, sotto il profilo scientifico, in virtù delle pregiate collezioni ospitate; si segnalano infatti i reperti bronzei, ma soprattutto quelli ceramici, provenienti dagli insediamenti di Sabucina e Dessueri. Ed ancora i reperti provenienti dal sito di Polizzello, fondamentali per la conoscenza delle culture indigene dell'età del ferro, la cui produzione artistica fu fortemente influenzata dalla tradizione egeo-micenea, mediata dai nuclei di genti transmarine, venute in contatto con l'isola, già nel XV-XIV sec. a.C. e poi stanziatisi sulla costa meridionale, fra il XIII e il XII sec. a.C.
The Fasti Online Project of the International Association of Classical Archaeology celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023. The project website is composed of three portals for accessing excavation, heritage conservation and archaeological survey datasets. The database of archaeological excavations and interventions currently contains more than 6,000 georeferenced and illustrated records, mainly from Italy, Greece and Eastern Europe, each in the national language and in English. The database of field survey projects currently contains more than 500 records mainly from Mediterranean countries, and has been developed since 2016 in collaboration with the Royal Dutch Institute in Rome (KNIR). In 2024, the website will be redesigned with a new platform based on Omeka, an open-source content management system for online digital collections. The information collected in the project is open to the public and its contents are currently being used by other important projects, funded both by international organisations, such as ARIADNE+. This presentation shows the research tools offered by Fasti Online, indicates future lines of development and collaboration with other projects, and proposes the integration of new tools for improved geospatial analysis of its digital contents. At the same time, some examples will be presented to illustrate the diachronic analysis of lived spaces in sites with a large amount of information, such as Pompeii or the city of Athens, observing the evolution of both public and private structures using different search criteria available in the advanced search section (Monument Types; Site Location and Site Date Range).