Torre di Satriano back in the news

The mid-6th century BCE building at Torre di Satriano in Lucania is back in the news; we last heard about it in January, when the news-worthy angle was calling it a 'palace'. This time around it's the news that the 'temple or palace' has got a pre-fab roof system. The Telegraph and other English-language sources have the idea that the whole building, stones and all, was so built, but I believe that the inscriptions are limited to the terracotta elements of the roof system (for which see the informative Unibas site, images numbers 15-20 and 32-60). The inscriptions on are in Laconian-Tarentine characters of the 6th c., matching the date proposed on the basis of the decoration.

The whole system is similar to one known from Serra di Vaglio, loc. Braida, which may come from the same moulds. The mid-6th century structure at Torre di Satriano was transformed in the late 6th/early 5th century and re-roofed with anthemia and lion-head waterspouts of Tarentine moulds. In plan, the structure seems to a have a megaron-like element, to which is appended a colonnaded porch on the side that shifts the entrance to the short axis (see, e.g. fig. 34).

[ANSA; Telegraph; Times Online; Vancouver Sun]

Previous coverage at Tria Corda:
6th c. BCE Palace at Torre di Satriano

Fieldwork opportunity: Crustumerium 2010

A.J. Nijboer writes to the Italian-Archaeology mailing list:

Since 2006 the Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA) excavates in the summer at Crustumerium, on the outskirts of present Rome, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma (SSBAR; Dr. F. di Gennaro).

This summer we will be at Crustumerium from June 29 till July 24. We intend to excavate amongst others a cluster of tombs, a chamber tomb and some other burials. So far, we have a small team of Dutch, Italian and English students. Daily supervisors will be Albert Nijboer and Sarah Willemsen.

There are 4 to 5 vacancies for archaeology students with some experience in archaeological fieldwork in Italy. Costs for students are travelling expenses and a contribution towards the living expenses (ca. 50 euro per week). We invite those interested to participate from June 29 till July 24, to send an application to:
A.J.Nijboer [at] rug.nl
or
S.L.Willemsen [at] rug.nl

The application implies a letter stating your interest in the excavations at Crustumerium and a CV. Once accepted you receive further information on arrangements and excavation.

Information on Crustumerium and our research can be found on:
www.irfrome.org/dokumentit/Nijboer.pdf
http://www.rug.nl/let/onderzoek/onderzoekinstituten/gia/phdprojectWillemsen
http://www.irfrome.org/ita/temp_06.asp?IdCat=35

The third link to the Finnish Institute at Rome has quite a number of preliminary reports on the work carried out at Crustumerium so far...

ArcheoMolise nos. 3 and 4 (January-March, April -July 2010)

The latest number of ArcheoMolise (ISSN: 2036-3028) is available to download here. Contents of the April-June 2010 issue follow:

Ettore Rufo, Antonella Minelli, Giuseppe Lembo, Bruno Paglione, and Carlo Peretto, "La Preistoria dell'Alto Molise. Una panoramica."

Alberto Cazzella, Valentina Copat, Michela Danesi, Alessandro De Dominicis, Giulia Recchia, and Cristiana Ruggini, "Siti dell'Età del Bronzo nel Molise interno. Località Paradiso a Monteroduni (IS) e Rocca di Oratino (CB)."

Adriano La Regina, "Pietrabbondante: La domus publica del santuario."

Maria Teresa Lembo, "I feudi di Clusanum e Viperam. Insediamenti fortificati medievali scomparsi nel territorio di Gambatesa."

Emilia De Simoni, "Il Mája di Acquaviva Collecroce. Personificazioni del Maggio in Molise."

Lidia Di Giandomenico, "Il popolamento antico della costa molisana. Breve contributo sulle testimonianze archeologiche dei centri costieri."

Plus notices of exhibitions and short book reviews.


I haven't yet mentioned the previous issue of ArcheoMolise, no. 3 (January-March 2010), also available at the C.E.R.P. Isernia site; contents below:

Paolo Galli & Luigi Scaroina, "Il fascino discreto dell'archeosismologia. Casi studio dal Molise." pp. 6-19.

Ulderico Iorillo, "L'icona della Madonna della Luce nella cattedrale di Isernia." pp. 20-29.

Francesco de Vincenzi, "Ditta Florindo Martino. Manifattura della lana a Sepino." pp. 30-41.

Rosalia Gallotti, "Archeologia e GIS: lo stato dell'arte." pp. 42-49.

Mauro Gioielli, "Antiche zampogne. Dall'utriculus latino alla sordellina barocca." pp. 50-59.

Michele Pasquale, "Una chiese medievale sulla sommità della 'Morgia'. Il complesso architettonico della chiesa di San Giacomo Apostolo il Maggiore e la cripta di Santa Margherita d'Antiochia a Pietracatella." pp. 60-69.

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The contents of the first three issues of ArcheoMolise are available here.

From the Journals, April 2010

Maria Longhena reviews John Robb, The Early Mediterranean Village. Agency, Material Culture, and Social Change in Neolithic Italy (Cambridge 2007) in the European Journal of Archaeology (April 2010, Volume 13, No. 1, pp. 123-124).


World Archaeology, Volume 42 Issue 1 (2010):

M. MacKinnon, "Cattle 'breed' variation and improvement in Roman Italy: connecting the zooarchaeological and ancient textual evidence," pp. 55 – 73.

J. Krasilnikoff, "Irrigation as innovation in ancient Greek agriculture," pp. 108 - 121 (with reference to Herakleia and Metaponto).


Recent stuff from the Journal of Archaeological Science...

De Donno et al., "Analysis of Neolithic human remains discovered in southern Italy," Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 37, Issue 3, March 2010, pp. 482-487.

R. Arletti et al., "The first archaeometric data on polychrome Iron Age glass from sites located in northern Italy,"Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 37, Issue 4, April 2010, pp.703-712.

G. Barone et al., "A volcanic inclusions based approach for provenance studies of archaeological ceramics: application to pottery from southern Italy," Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 37, Issue 4, April 2010, pp. 713-72.

S. Perusin & P. Mazza, "Semitella, an Italian Bell-Beaker (Final Copper Age) animal burial ground," Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 37, Issue 4, April 2010, pp. 737-757.

Verhoeven & Schmitt, "An attempt to push back frontiers – digital near-ultraviolet aerial archaeology,"Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 37, Issue 4, April 2010, pp. 833-845 (with some reference to Potentia, Le Marche).

A.D. Isaac et al., "Genetic analysis of wheat landraces enables the location of the first agricultural sites in Italy to be identified," Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 37, Issue 5, May 2010, pp. 950-956.

G. Giachi et al., "The prehistoric pile-dwelling settlement of Stagno (Leghorn, Italy): wood and food resource exploitation," Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 37, Issue 6, June 2010, pp. 1260-1268.