Antropologia e Archeologia dell'Amore. IV Incontro di Studi di Archeologia e Antropologia a confronto, Roma, 26 - 28 maggio 2017. Paper read on "Mulier etiam necans? Considerazioni sulla presenza dell’ascia nelle sepolture femminili orientalizzanti: il caso della Valle del Sarno" (original) (raw)
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Archeologia e antropologia dell’amore, 2021
The municipium of Albintimilium is located at the eastern boundary of the present city of Ventimiglia (IM) where, during the Roman age, there was the only plain space between the creek of Nervia to the east, the slopes of the Collasgarba to the north and the sea to the south. The founding of the Roman city dates back to the second century BC and occupies the land that Liguri Intemelii inhabited at that time. The heyday lied in the imperial era, when it attended to the construction of the main public buildings, which would follow a progressive and slow decline, although archaeological investigations, still under way, confirm a continuity of life until the VI - VII century AD. Later the built-up area would be moved from the Nervia plain to the present uptown, to the west of the Roja River, in a higher and better defendable place. To the west of the urban district, below the modern railroad track, there was an extended necropolis, already formed during the early imperial age, which began at the exit of the city main door, still partially preserved, called “Provençal” and proceeded to the sides of Via Iulia Augusta. At the beginning of the III century AD, this area of the city was occupied by the theater building, built on the western side of the late republican city walls now abandoned. At a later stage, coinciding with a gradual abandonment of the public facilities, the theater outdoor and indoor area would be occupied by late burials. Particularly, in the area between the “Gate of Provence” and the external hemicycle of the theater − near a 1st-century funerary monument (M fence) −, from 1948 under the direction of Nino Lamboglia, a nucleus of burials (Tombs 157-172), mainly amphora or “cappuccina” tombs dating from the third to the fourth century A.D., was dig up. Here is proposed the analysis of a peculiar superimposed burial (t 157) of two distinct individuals. The lower tomb (t 157B) was a canonical “cappuccina tomb”, with three large tiles arranged flat, closed to the head by one in a vertical position and other six placed sloped. When the grave was discovered, it was almost free of earthy damages and had kept the skeleton intact as well as all the grave goods. It consists of a disc lamp with leaf vine decoration placed on the side of the right knee, a jet (gagate) armilla still around the left humerus and two bronze rings at the fingers of the left hand. The dating of the burial, based on the grave goods and the terracotta scraps rediscovered in the foundation pit, can be ascribed to the late III century A.D. At a later stage, above the top of the roof of the first deposition, there were placed three more large tiles used as bed for the second deposition as a terracotta protection (T 157A), protected by an African amphora longitudinally cut into two halves. At the time of the finding, the amphora was very damaged and maimed of the hem and of the tip, but still recognizable as per typology, dating back to the III century A.D. The small chronological distance, as evidenced by archaeological documentation, suggests that the choice of placing the second person in direct contact with the roof of the former is intentional. Into the necropolis, at present, this is the only “two-story” burial site, but it can be compared with the tomb 1 of the Isasco necropolis (Varigotti - SV), which also includes a tomb consisting of a wooden coffin burial protected by a stone wall and large tiles arranged flat that made up the bed of the second “cappuccina tomb”. The dating proposed by Lamboglia for the tomb of Isasco, which at the time of its discovery was found broadly tempered with, is the Augustan age because of the discovery of a coin and few surviving materials, but the other burials of the necropolis are dating back to III-IV century A.D. The anthropological analysis, happened nearly 60 years after the discovery and the recovery byLamboglia, as part of a global reassessment of the stratigraphy of the area, showed that the first individual set down was a woman aged between 45 and 55 years, while the second one was a man aged 50 to 55 years. The man showed traces of an important pathology, probably DISH (Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis). There are no signs that reveal a genetic link, which could only be established by the DNA study of both the individuals, but it is clear how intentionally a contact between the two tombs was deliberately sought, highlighting an intentional eternal bond of affection.
V. Nizzo (a cura di), Antropologia e Archeologia dell’Amore. Atti del IV Incontro Internazionale di Studi di Antropologia e Archeologia a Confronto (Roma, Parco Regionale dell’Appia Antica - Ex Cartiera Latina, 26-28 maggio 2017), II voll., Roma 2021, 2021
This paper examines a Neo-Attic scene on a puteal, which has been transformed into a krater in modern times and which could be interpreted as the persuasion of Elena to draw into Paride’s arms. The scene could be included as fitting within an “alternating cycle” which starts at the mythical episode of Peleo and Teti’s gamos, leading to the “re-founding” of Rome by Augustus, the new Romulus and one to continue the descent of Aeneas. An element of this cycle is also the inscription attesting to the devotion of Graeceia Rufa Pomponia to Diana Lochia, which has allowed to further analyse other putealia dedications to female goddesses related to the cult of water and that of fertility.
Sepolture, rituali e comunità nei secoli IV-VI d.C. Il cimitero paleocristiano e bizantino di Vaste (Puglia meridionale), 2022
Nell’entroterra di Otranto, a partire dal 1991, un importante complesso paleocristiano e bizantino è stato portato alla luce durante gli scavi dell’Università del Salento, guidati da Francesco D’Andria e successivamente da Giovanni Mastronuzzi e Valeria Melissano. Questo libro è incentrato sullo studio del cimitero distribuito intorno alla chiesa-martyrium edificata nella seconda metà del IV secolo d.C. Ciascuna delle 164 tombe oggetto di indagine viene qui presa in esame e lo studio dei corredi e l’analisi dei dati bioarcheologici contribuiscono alla ricostruzione di una comunità vissuta nella Puglia meridionale tra il IV e il VI secolo d.C. Particolare attenzione viene rivolta allo studio del rituale funerario, guardando alla simbologia battesimale, all’organizzazione dei pasti funebri (refrigerium), all’inserimento delle monete tra le offerte funerarie, e alla ricostruzione degli aspetti della social-persona. Le appendici integrano i dati e illustrano alcuni aspetti metodologici del lavoro. This book is the complete study of the cemetery associated with the Palaeochristian church at Vaste (southern Apulia), in use between the 4th-6th centuries. It includes the systematic presentation of archaeological and bioarchaeological data. The concluding chapters offer a reconstruction of the main aspects of the funerary ritual.
Il Vallo di Diano rappresenta un prezioso osservatorio per lo studio delle comunità indigene della Lucania antica, per la presenza, lungo le sue pendici orientali, di insediamenti culturalmente consolidati, di cui si conserva un’ampia documentazione archeologica, costituita quasi esclusivamente da necropoli. In tal senso, si presenteranno i primi risultati di uno studio basato sull’analisi di contesti funerari, databili tra VII e V sec. a.C., relativi ai due insediamenti principali del Vallo, Atena Lucana e Sala Consilina, che ha consentito il recupero di dati interessanti, sia per un inquadramento più puntuale della cultura materiale e delle produzioni ceramiche sia per una lettura più specifica del profilo culturale di questo comprensorio.
Excavations at the Torba Tower conducted between 2017 and 2019 have revealed part of sequence of the more than four m. of stratified archaeological layers present in the courtyard between the monastery and the church of Santa Maria. Two important phases were identified: the first slightly precedes the Lombards’ arrival; the other, of late 6th to early 7th century date, is associated with a horse burial and the intense deposition of silts and clays interleaved with some trodden surfaces with hearths.