Quintus Ennius tria corda habere sese dicebat, quod loqui Graece et Osce et Latine sciret.
"Quintus Ennius said that he had three hearts, because he spoke Greek and Oscan and Latin."
-Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 17.17
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Greetings from Athens
Apologies, dear readers (all four of you), for the lack of recent updates; preparations for summer field work and moving out of Philly have consumed my time. Posting will continue to be sporadic, but I'll try to provide at least minor updates on the work at Mt. Lykaion, starting June 1. I'm also planning an Italian excursion a bit later in the summer -- watch this space.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
April 22, 2009
The British School at Rome has elected a new director to succeed Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, in the person of Christopher J. Smith. Professor Smith, currently Vice-Principal of the University of St Andrews, is the author of Early Rome and Latium: Economy and Society c. 1000 to 500 BC (1996) and The Roman Clan: The Gens from Ancient Ideology to Modern Anthropology (2006) as well as numerous articles on the development of early Rome. One of his current projects is A Very Short Introduction to the Etruscans [More info at BSR (.doc), St. Andrews].
Italy has drawn up a list of cultural monuments damaged by the Abruzzo earthquake whose restoration is up for 'adoption' by foreign governments. Among those monuments is the 16th century Forte Spagnolo, home to the National Museum of Abruzzo, where rescue workers recently discovered the skeleton of a prehistoric elephant still intact after the quake. [ANSA; bis]
PastHorizons gives notice of the Vultur Project, which "will focus upon the Lucanian Frontier as a sphere of pre-Roman cultural interaction and Late Roman stability."
T. Eckhart reviews B. Cunliffe, Europe Between the Oceans. Themes and Variations: 9000 BC to AD 1000 at BMCR.
Coverage of the city of Rome's purported 2762nd birthday at EternallyCool.
David Gill reports on the return of 14 objects to Italy by the Cleveland Museum of Art today as well as ancient bronzes passing through North America.
The BBC reports on a University of Sheffield DNA study to determine if Bronze Age copper mining in Wales involved a migration from the Mediterranean. [More info at Dienekes' Anthropology Blog]
Bill Caraher reflects on two years of archaeological blogging.
Italy has drawn up a list of cultural monuments damaged by the Abruzzo earthquake whose restoration is up for 'adoption' by foreign governments. Among those monuments is the 16th century Forte Spagnolo, home to the National Museum of Abruzzo, where rescue workers recently discovered the skeleton of a prehistoric elephant still intact after the quake. [ANSA; bis]
PastHorizons gives notice of the Vultur Project, which "will focus upon the Lucanian Frontier as a sphere of pre-Roman cultural interaction and Late Roman stability."
T. Eckhart reviews B. Cunliffe, Europe Between the Oceans. Themes and Variations: 9000 BC to AD 1000 at BMCR.
Coverage of the city of Rome's purported 2762nd birthday at EternallyCool.
David Gill reports on the return of 14 objects to Italy by the Cleveland Museum of Art today as well as ancient bronzes passing through North America.
The BBC reports on a University of Sheffield DNA study to determine if Bronze Age copper mining in Wales involved a migration from the Mediterranean. [More info at Dienekes' Anthropology Blog]
Bill Caraher reflects on two years of archaeological blogging.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
19 April 2009
A series of caves beneath L'Aquila were revealed by the deadly Abruzzo earthquake, some of which may have been used by prehistoric humans [Via Explorator; Adnkronos; Libero-news.it (bis)]
EternallyCool reports on chariot races in honor of Rome's upcoming birthday.
The collection of Pompeian frescoes will reopen in the Naples Museum on April 29, after a decade of being closed. (No word on when they'll be open next once the 29th has passed...)
A Franco Valente philippic on the destruction of (possibly Roman) stone terraces near Venafro in Molise.
An Italian study of 3000 middle- and high-school students in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain finds that Italian students show the least interest in museums and monuments while Spanish students show the most.
EternallyCool reports on chariot races in honor of Rome's upcoming birthday.
The collection of Pompeian frescoes will reopen in the Naples Museum on April 29, after a decade of being closed. (No word on when they'll be open next once the 29th has passed...)
A Franco Valente philippic on the destruction of (possibly Roman) stone terraces near Venafro in Molise.
An Italian study of 3000 middle- and high-school students in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain finds that Italian students show the least interest in museums and monuments while Spanish students show the most.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Another brick in the lodge - 18 April 2009
The Museo Archeologico Provinciale 'F. Ribezzo' (MAPRI) in Brindisi will reopen April 19 after two years of reorganization. Among the museum's collections are the bronzes recovered from a shipwreck off the Punta del Serrone, including a portrait of L. Aemilius Paulus [Archeologia Subacquea; Salentonline.it].
The archaeological site of Faragola in the Foggia province of Puglia will be inaugurated and opened to the public on April 24. The site, discovered in 2003, is best known for its sumptuous Late Antique villa, but shows evidence of occupation from the 6th c. BCE to the 8th c. CE [Via Viveur; more info in English and Italian, with much of the relevant bibliography available as pdfs].
The rock engravings from Valcamonica, in the Brescia province of Lombardy, are the subject of a new exhibition, 'La Valle Delle Incisioni,' which celebrates the centenary of their discovery in 1909 and the 30-year anniversary of their inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The exhibit, at the Palazzo Martinengo in Brescia, runs until May 10.
Brief piece on archaeological solidarity in the Abruzzo [ANSA].
Foreign funding for the restoration of cultural monuments in the Abruzzo [ANSA -- scroll down to the bottom].
The archaeological site of Faragola in the Foggia province of Puglia will be inaugurated and opened to the public on April 24. The site, discovered in 2003, is best known for its sumptuous Late Antique villa, but shows evidence of occupation from the 6th c. BCE to the 8th c. CE [Via Viveur; more info in English and Italian, with much of the relevant bibliography available as pdfs].
The rock engravings from Valcamonica, in the Brescia province of Lombardy, are the subject of a new exhibition, 'La Valle Delle Incisioni,' which celebrates the centenary of their discovery in 1909 and the 30-year anniversary of their inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The exhibit, at the Palazzo Martinengo in Brescia, runs until May 10.
Brief piece on archaeological solidarity in the Abruzzo [ANSA].
Foreign funding for the restoration of cultural monuments in the Abruzzo [ANSA -- scroll down to the bottom].
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Weekly Bricolage: April 15, 2009
David Meadows skims the cream From the Italian Press at rogueclassicism.
The remains of the 7th c. BCE necropolis at Chiavari in Liguria, currently housed in Cicagna, could be moved to an exhibition space close to the location of the original excavation by this summer [Teleradiopace.tv; Google Maps]. It's not only the artifacts that are on display, but also, it seems the necropolis itself.
The Museo Bardini in Florence has reopened after a decade of restorations. Its collections run from antiquity up to the 18th century, with an emphasis on the Medieval and Renaissance.
The Palazzo Altemps in Rome is opening four new rooms for its Egyptian collection.
Clifford Ando reviews Edward Bispham, From Asculum to Actium. The Municipalization of Italy from the Social War to Augustus (2007) at BMCR; I note that "Bispham traces in relief the existence and history of the wide swaths of Italy that long remained unmunicipalized," though necessarily cursorily.
If your Italian interests run to the post-Antique, I note the recent publication (March 2009) of Paul Oldfield's City and Community in Norman Italy by Cambridge University Press. If you need to brush up on the intervening centuries, you might try C. Salvatore's Storia dell'Italia bizantina (VI-XI secolo). Da Giustiniano ai Normanni (2008).
When on Google Earth 18 is up at Scott McDonough's An Intermittent Waste of Time.
I can't let the recent earthquake in the Abruzzo pass without some words: a notice at Archeorivista. At The Guardian. The Italian Red Cross with the option of making a donation toward earthquake relief. MiBAC with information for donating to cultural heritage relief.
The remains of the 7th c. BCE necropolis at Chiavari in Liguria, currently housed in Cicagna, could be moved to an exhibition space close to the location of the original excavation by this summer [Teleradiopace.tv; Google Maps]. It's not only the artifacts that are on display, but also, it seems the necropolis itself.
The Museo Bardini in Florence has reopened after a decade of restorations. Its collections run from antiquity up to the 18th century, with an emphasis on the Medieval and Renaissance.
The Palazzo Altemps in Rome is opening four new rooms for its Egyptian collection.
Clifford Ando reviews Edward Bispham, From Asculum to Actium. The Municipalization of Italy from the Social War to Augustus (2007) at BMCR; I note that "Bispham traces in relief the existence and history of the wide swaths of Italy that long remained unmunicipalized," though necessarily cursorily.
If your Italian interests run to the post-Antique, I note the recent publication (March 2009) of Paul Oldfield's City and Community in Norman Italy by Cambridge University Press. If you need to brush up on the intervening centuries, you might try C. Salvatore's Storia dell'Italia bizantina (VI-XI secolo). Da Giustiniano ai Normanni (2008).
When on Google Earth 18 is up at Scott McDonough's An Intermittent Waste of Time.
I can't let the recent earthquake in the Abruzzo pass without some words: a notice at Archeorivista. At The Guardian. The Italian Red Cross with the option of making a donation toward earthquake relief. MiBAC with information for donating to cultural heritage relief.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Picking pebbles out of a drain
I've posted a video of Will Sheff of the band Okkervil River performing "A Stone" live in Milwaukee. This is a bit beyond our usual purview here at Tria Corda, but there's archaeological imagery throughout the lyrics—unintentional I'm sure—plus I happen to like the song.
"You love white veins, you love hard grey, the heaviest weight, the clumsiest shape, the earthiest smell, the hollowest tone..."I originally heard "hard grey" as "hard grain," which would have made the description of the stone a bit more scientific; for some reason I imagined the stele of Hammurabi, though its hard-grained, heavy, clumsily-shaped diorite doesn't have white veins in evidence. Nor have I detected any particularly earthy smell about it; if anyone's ever given it a ding, could you let me know how it sounds?
"You love a stone, because it's smooth and it's cold. And you'd love most to be told that it's all your own."As long as there is a demand for antiquities, looting will continue.
"You're out singing songs, and I'm down shouting names at the flickerless screen..."Sounds like somebody got stuck doing the GIS work while everybody else nipped off for a drink...
"And I think I believe that, if stones could dream, they'd dream of being laid side-by-side, piece-by-piece, and turned into a castle for some towering queen they're unable to know."I particularly dig this part: the agency, intentionality of objects; taking their meaning from being grouped into "castle," anyone?
I've posted the lyrics below, because the band's site is in Flash and doesn't allow for direct linking to particular bits...
Hot breath, rough skin, warm laughs and smiling, the loveliest words whispered and meant - you like all these things. But, though you like all these things, you love a stone. You love a stone, because it's smooth and it's cold. And you'd love most to be told that it's all your own. You love white veins, you love hard grey, the heaviest weight, the clumsiest shape, the earthiest smell, the hollowest tone - you love a stone. And I'm found too fast, called too fond of flames, and then I'm phoning my friends, and then I'm shouldering the blame, while you're picking pebbles out of the drain, miles ago. You're out singing songs, and I'm down shouting names at the flickerless screen, going fucking insane. Am I losing my cool, overstating my case? Well, baby, what can I say? You know I never claimed that I was a stone. And you love a stone. You love white veins, you love hard grey, the heaviest weight, the clumsiest shape, the earthiest smell, the hollowest tone - you love a stone. You love a stone, because it's dark, and it's old, and if it could start being alive you'd stop living alone. And I think I believe that, if stones could dream, they'd dream of being laid side-by-side, piece-by-piece, and turned into a castle for some towering queen they're unable to know. And when that queen's daughter came of age, I think she'd be lovely and stubborn and brave, and suitors would journey from kingdoms away to make themselves known. And I think that I know the bitter dismay of a lover who brought fresh bouquets every day when she turned him away to remember some knave who once gave just one rose, one day, years ago.
We now return to our irregularly-scheduled programming...
Monday, March 30, 2009
Snippets for March 30
MiBAC announces the launch of "Cultura Italia," a web portal for Italy's cultural heritage, which looks like it would bear some exploring (available in Italian or English).
Construction on the Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Adria has been completed after seven years; the new Roman section opened on March 28 (IGN/Adnkronos; museum pages).
Stephen Chrisomalis blogs about deciding whether or not to go to grad school in anthropology over at Glossographia... which leads me to a personal aside: I'll be starting work on a PhD in the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology (IPCAA) at the University of Michigan this fall.
Construction on the Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Adria has been completed after seven years; the new Roman section opened on March 28 (IGN/Adnkronos; museum pages).
Stephen Chrisomalis blogs about deciding whether or not to go to grad school in anthropology over at Glossographia... which leads me to a personal aside: I'll be starting work on a PhD in the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology (IPCAA) at the University of Michigan this fall.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
In the journals...
This is in no way an exhaustive list, but I note some articles relevant to pre-, very pre-, or not-so- pre-Roman Italy in recent periodicals...
C. Bottari et al., "Archaeological evidence for destructive earthquakes in Sicily between 400 B.C. and A.D. 600," Geoarchaeology 24.2 (2009): 147-175.
V. Compare et al., "Three-dimensional Resistivity Probability Tomography at the Prehistoric Site of Grotta Reali (Molise, Italy)," Archaeological Prospection 16 (2009): 53–63.
M. Mariotti Lippi et al., "Comparing seeds/fruits and pollen from a Middle Bronze Age pit in Florence (Italy)," Journal of Archaeological Science 36.5 (May 2009): 1135-1141.
M. Pluciennik, review of M. Fitzjohn (ed.). Uplands of ancient Sicily and Calabria: the archaeology of landscape revisited (Accordia Specialist Studies on Italy Volume 13). (2007), Antiquity 83 (2009): 233–234.
L.V. Rutgers et al., "Stable isotope data from the early Christian catacombs of ancient Rome: new insights into the dietary habits of Rome's early Christians," Journal of Archaeological Science 36.5 (May 2009): 1127-1134.
J.M. Thorn, "The invention of ‘Tarentine’ red-figure," Antiquity 83 (2009): 174–183 (cf. T.H. Carpenter, "Prolegomenon to the Study of Apulian Red-Figure Pottery," AJA 113.1 (2009): 39-56, already commented on here at Tria Corda).
M. Tröster, "Roman Hegemony and Non-State Violence: A Fresh Look at Pompey's Campaign against the Pirates," Greece and Rome 56 (2009): 14-33.
Reviews in The Classical Review 59.1, (April 2009):
- Shane Hawkins reviews Adams, The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC–AD 600 (106-109)
- amicus noster Angelo O. Mercado reviews De Melo, The Early Latin Verb System. Archaic Forms in Plautus, Terence, and Beyond (109-111)
-P. J. Davis reviews Rea, Legendary Rome. Myth, Monuments, and Memory on the Palatine and Capitoline (143-144)
-Karl-J. Hölkeskamp reviews Eckstein, Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome (211-214)
-Roman Roth reviews Liébert, Regards sur la truphè étrusque (214-215)
-William E. Klingshirn reviews Engels, Das römische Vorzeichenwesen (753–27 v. Chr.). Quellen, Terminologie, Kommentar, historische Entwicklung (215-218)
-Christoph Reusser reviews Mannino, Vasi attici nei contesti della Messapia (480–350 a.C.) (237-239)
-Cesare Letta reviews Criniti (ed.), ‘Veleiates’. Uomini, luoghi e memoriae dell' Appennino piacentino-parmense (253-255)
-Heather Vincent reviews Clarke, Looking at Laughter. Humor, Power, and Transgression in Roman Visual Culture, 100 B.C.–A.D. 250. (257-260)
-Michael H. Crawford, notice on Marrazzo, Romagnoli, Stazio, & Taliercio (edd.), Presenza e funzioni della moneta nelle chorai delle colonie greche dall' Iberia al Mar Nero. Atti del XII Convegno organizzato dall' Università ‘Federico II’ e dal Centro Internazionale di Studi Numismatici, Napoli, 16–17 giugno 2000 (307)
C. Bottari et al., "Archaeological evidence for destructive earthquakes in Sicily between 400 B.C. and A.D. 600," Geoarchaeology 24.2 (2009): 147-175.
V. Compare et al., "Three-dimensional Resistivity Probability Tomography at the Prehistoric Site of Grotta Reali (Molise, Italy)," Archaeological Prospection 16 (2009): 53–63.
M. Mariotti Lippi et al., "Comparing seeds/fruits and pollen from a Middle Bronze Age pit in Florence (Italy)," Journal of Archaeological Science 36.5 (May 2009): 1135-1141.
M. Pluciennik, review of M. Fitzjohn (ed.). Uplands of ancient Sicily and Calabria: the archaeology of landscape revisited (Accordia Specialist Studies on Italy Volume 13). (2007), Antiquity 83 (2009): 233–234.
L.V. Rutgers et al., "Stable isotope data from the early Christian catacombs of ancient Rome: new insights into the dietary habits of Rome's early Christians," Journal of Archaeological Science 36.5 (May 2009): 1127-1134.
J.M. Thorn, "The invention of ‘Tarentine’ red-figure," Antiquity 83 (2009): 174–183 (cf. T.H. Carpenter, "Prolegomenon to the Study of Apulian Red-Figure Pottery," AJA 113.1 (2009): 39-56, already commented on here at Tria Corda).
M. Tröster, "Roman Hegemony and Non-State Violence: A Fresh Look at Pompey's Campaign against the Pirates," Greece and Rome 56 (2009): 14-33.
Reviews in The Classical Review 59.1, (April 2009):
- Shane Hawkins reviews Adams, The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC–AD 600 (106-109)
- amicus noster Angelo O. Mercado reviews De Melo, The Early Latin Verb System. Archaic Forms in Plautus, Terence, and Beyond (109-111)
-P. J. Davis reviews Rea, Legendary Rome. Myth, Monuments, and Memory on the Palatine and Capitoline (143-144)
-Karl-J. Hölkeskamp reviews Eckstein, Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome (211-214)
-Roman Roth reviews Liébert, Regards sur la truphè étrusque (214-215)
-William E. Klingshirn reviews Engels, Das römische Vorzeichenwesen (753–27 v. Chr.). Quellen, Terminologie, Kommentar, historische Entwicklung (215-218)
-Christoph Reusser reviews Mannino, Vasi attici nei contesti della Messapia (480–350 a.C.) (237-239)
-Cesare Letta reviews Criniti (ed.), ‘Veleiates’. Uomini, luoghi e memoriae dell' Appennino piacentino-parmense (253-255)
-Heather Vincent reviews Clarke, Looking at Laughter. Humor, Power, and Transgression in Roman Visual Culture, 100 B.C.–A.D. 250. (257-260)
-Michael H. Crawford, notice on Marrazzo, Romagnoli, Stazio, & Taliercio (edd.), Presenza e funzioni della moneta nelle chorai delle colonie greche dall' Iberia al Mar Nero. Atti del XII Convegno organizzato dall' Università ‘Federico II’ e dal Centro Internazionale di Studi Numismatici, Napoli, 16–17 giugno 2000 (307)
Sunday, March 22, 2009
News for March 24, 2009: the weekly bric-a-brac
The splendid-looking (anybody been?) exhibit 'Potere e Splendore. Gli antichi Piceni a Matelica,' which opened at Matelica, will be on display at Bologna's Museo Civico from 30 April to 13 September 2009. The exhibit's website is http://www.poteresplendore.it, and details on its manifestazione bolognese are here.
The Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Florence has a new partnership with the Getty, which will bring the Chimera of Arezzo (along with loans from Rome, Naples, Basel, New York, and Boston) to LA for an exhibition opening July 16. Also in the pipeline are exhibits of ancient bronzes and of Etruscan materials from the Florence collection (Artdaily; via the Cranky Professor).
The British Museum has been doing some housekeeping inside a 12th century portable altar, and found relics belonging to 39 different saints, including St. Benedict (Guardian; via Adrian Murdoch).
Greece returned to Italy two 11th c. CE tomb frescoes stolen from the Grotta delle Fornelle at Calvi (ancient Cales) in 1982 (ANSA; comments by David Gill)
Not strictly Italian, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were on its way there when it sank, and it's pretty cool besides: A Greek fisherman pulled up part of a late 2nd c. BCE bronze equestrian statue between Kos and Kalymnos off the coast of Asia Minor and turned it in (AP/New Observer):
The British Museum has been doing some housekeeping inside a 12th century portable altar, and found relics belonging to 39 different saints, including St. Benedict (Guardian; via Adrian Murdoch).
Gratuitous link of the month: "Bizarre Lobster-Sized Creature Was the Monster Predator of the Cambrian"
The Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Florence has a new partnership with the Getty, which will bring the Chimera of Arezzo (along with loans from Rome, Naples, Basel, New York, and Boston) to LA for an exhibition opening July 16. Also in the pipeline are exhibits of ancient bronzes and of Etruscan materials from the Florence collection (Artdaily; via the Cranky Professor).
The British Museum has been doing some housekeeping inside a 12th century portable altar, and found relics belonging to 39 different saints, including St. Benedict (Guardian; via Adrian Murdoch).
Greece returned to Italy two 11th c. CE tomb frescoes stolen from the Grotta delle Fornelle at Calvi (ancient Cales) in 1982 (ANSA; comments by David Gill)
Not strictly Italian, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were on its way there when it sank, and it's pretty cool besides: A Greek fisherman pulled up part of a late 2nd c. BCE bronze equestrian statue between Kos and Kalymnos off the coast of Asia Minor and turned it in (AP/New Observer):
The British Museum has been doing some housekeeping inside a 12th century portable altar, and found relics belonging to 39 different saints, including St. Benedict (Guardian; via Adrian Murdoch).
Gratuitous link of the month: "Bizarre Lobster-Sized Creature Was the Monster Predator of the Cambrian"
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
1a Rassegna del Cinema Archeologico a Trinitapoli
If you happen to be in northern Puglia over the next few months, you might stop by Trinitapoli to take in a showing of their archaeological film series... but mostly I'm posting this because I happen to like the poster!
The original poster pdf is here, and the full program with info on the films is here (also a pdf).
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sexing Up the Antiquities Market?
Over the past week or two, a certain antiquities gallery has begun sending out email updates titled "Can YOU find the antiquity?" with a link to an object for sale. The first object to be so treated was this pre-Dynastic Egyptian vessel; the photo showing it next to a pair of shapely female legs has since been removed, presumably to make way for number 2. The conceit, based on the responses provided-- e.g. "I couldn't see the antiquity and I stared at the picture for a good 10 minutes"; "This must be a joke; there is no antiquity in this picture"-- is that we are to be distracted by the other objet d'art present in the photo.
My objection is not to do with any notions of prudishness; the pictures involved are not terribly risqué. Rather, I object to promoting the sale of unprovenanced antiquities (I admit I don't know when the late William Bowmore, O.B.E., collected the piece) through association with attractive women. That's a clumsy way to put it, I know, but it'll have to do for now.
Perhaps it's something to do with the economy, I don't know. Are antiquities no longer sexy enough to sell on their own appeal? Are they slipping relative to fur coats (Carlos Picón wants one) and in need of a makeover?
My objection is not to do with any notions of prudishness; the pictures involved are not terribly risqué. Rather, I object to promoting the sale of unprovenanced antiquities (I admit I don't know when the late William Bowmore, O.B.E., collected the piece) through association with attractive women. That's a clumsy way to put it, I know, but it'll have to do for now.
Perhaps it's something to do with the economy, I don't know. Are antiquities no longer sexy enough to sell on their own appeal? Are they slipping relative to fur coats (Carlos Picón wants one) and in need of a makeover?
Sabines and Peuceti(?)
I've been on the road visiting grad schools lately, so I'm a bit behind, but here's some non-Google Earth-related news for a change...
An exhibition titled "I Sabini popolo d'Italia, dalla storia al mito" ('The Sabines, people of Italy, from history to myth') is opening at the Vittoriano on March 20, and will run until April 26. [IGN, Exibart]
A newly-discovered 5th-1st(?) century BCE site at Castellaneta (photo above) near Taranto, Puglia, has been put under the watch of the Guardia di Finanza. The 1600 sq. m site includes both habitation and burial, and has yielded sarcophagi, tombstones, and column fragments. The Soprintendenza area manager Teresa Schojer says there's no money to conduct further excavation. [ANSA, La Repubblica]
An exhibition titled "I Sabini popolo d'Italia, dalla storia al mito" ('The Sabines, people of Italy, from history to myth') is opening at the Vittoriano on March 20, and will run until April 26. [IGN, Exibart]
A newly-discovered 5th-1st(?) century BCE site at Castellaneta (photo above) near Taranto, Puglia, has been put under the watch of the Guardia di Finanza. The 1600 sq. m site includes both habitation and burial, and has yielded sarcophagi, tombstones, and column fragments. The Soprintendenza area manager Teresa Schojer says there's no money to conduct further excavation. [ANSA, La Repubblica]
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
When on Google Earth, No. 10
Q: What is When on Google Earth? A: It’s a game for archaeologists, or anybody else willing to have a go!
Q: How do you play it? A: Simple, you try to identify the site in the picture.
Q: Who wins? A: The first person to correctly identify the site, including its major period of occupation, wins the game.
Q: What does the winner get? A: The winner gets bragging rights and the chance to host the next When on Google Earth on his/her own blog!
 ΠΟΤΕΝΓΟΥΓΕΛΟΓAΙΟΝΙΚΗΣ | ||||
| # | Host: | Victor: | Site: | Period: |
| 1. | Shawn Graham | Chuck Jones | Takht-i Jamshid / Persepolis terrace | Achaemenid period |
| 2. | Chuck Jones | PDD | Church of Saint Simeon at Qalat Siman, Syria | 5th-6th c. AD |
| 2.1. | Chuck Jones | Paul Zimmerman | Qal’at al-Bahrain | 16th c. AD |
| 3. | Paul Zimmerman | Heather Baker | Baraqish (Yathill), Yemen | Minaean |
| 4. | Heather Baker | Jason Ur | Mohenjo Daro | ca. 2600-1900 BC |
| 5. | Jason Ur | Dan Diffendale | Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico | 1st-5th centuries CE |
| 6. | Dan Diffendale | Claire of Geevor Mine | Segontium, Caernarfon, Wales | 77ish to about 390 AD |
| 7. | Claire of Geevor Mine | Ivan Cangemi | Carn Euny | ca. 500 BCE-100 CE |
| 8. | Ivan Cangemi | Southie Sham | Monks Mound (Cahokia), Illinois USA | fl. 1050-1200 |
| 9. | Southie Sham | Dan Diffendale | Gergovia | fl. 1st c. BCE |
| 10. | Dan Diffendale | |||
Friday, March 06, 2009
When on Google Earth, no. 8
Q: What is When on Google Earth?
A: It’s a game for archaeologists, or anybody else willing to have a go!
Q: How do you play it?
A: Simple, you try to identify the site in the picture.
Q: Who wins?
A: The first person to correctly identify the site, including its major period of occupation, wins the game.
Q: What does the winner get?
A: The winner gets bragging rights and the chance to host the next When on Google Earth on his/her own blog!
Like so much in archaeology, this game comes to us from our methodological cousins in geology. Shawn Graham adopted their game, and modified it for our use at whenonge #1. Chuck Jones had the first correct answer, and then hosted whenonge #2. The mysterious and elusive PDD got #2 right but never claimed his prize, so Chuck struck back with whenonge #2.1. Paul Zimmerman got the correct answer to #2.1 and hosted whenonge # 3. Heather Baker got the correct answer to #3 and hosted whenonge # 4, and Jason Ur won and hosted whenonge # 5. Dan Diffendale won that, and hosted whenonge #6 . Claire at the Geevor Mine won #6 and hosted #7, which was won by Ivan Cangemi. Since Ivan is without a blog of his own, I offered to host it here at Tria Corda. Be the first to correctly identify the site above and its major period of occupation in the comments below and you can host your own!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
When on Google Earth, No. 6
Q: What is When on Google Earth?
A: It’s a game for archaeologists.
Q: How do you play it?
A: Simple, you try to identify the site in the picture.
Q: Who wins?
A: The first person to correctly identify the site, including its major period of occupation, wins the game.
Q: What does the winner get?
A: The winner gets bragging rights and the chance to host the next When on Google Earth on his/her own blog!
Like so much in archaeology, this game comes to us from our methodological cousins in geology. Shawn Graham adopted their game, and modified it for our use at whenonge #1. Chuck Jones had the first correct answer, and then hosted whenonge #2. The mysterious and elusive PDD got #2 right but dropped the ball and never claimed his prize, so Chuck struck back with whenonge #2.1. Paul Zimmerman got the correct answer to #2.1 and hosted whenonge # 3. Heather Baker got the correct answer to #3 and hosted whenonge # 4, and Jason Ur won that round. His challenge of whenonge # 5 was over at AWBG, and I won that, so here we are... be the first to correctly identify the site above and its major period of occupation in the comments below and you can host your own!
In bocca al lupo!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
From the Italian Press
A bunch of Italian news over the past few days; since we're still catching up, I'll just direct you to David Meadows' list at Rogue Classicism, "From the Italian Press."
Thursday, January 15, 2009
One Steak with Catchup
Finally made it home from that little AIA/APA shindig in Philadelphia... here's a wrap-up of what happened while we were conferring.
The Soprintendenza di Bari is digging at S. Severo near Foggia in the Apulian Tavoliere, in an area previously targeted by tombaroli. Among the finds was a 4th century BCE tomb containing a lower jawbone, a bit of an upper jawbone, and two bronze spearpoints -- the 'Daunian warrior' of the headlines. (ANSA, TeleRadioErre)
Three "Crime Beat" Stories thanks to SAFE:
I see that Past Horizons is now selling trowels from Battiferro, so you don't have to order direct from Italy anymore...
Finally, Jovanotti was King of Italy in 2008 -- at least as regards record sales. You know you love Jovanotti.
The Soprintendenza di Bari is digging at S. Severo near Foggia in the Apulian Tavoliere, in an area previously targeted by tombaroli. Among the finds was a 4th century BCE tomb containing a lower jawbone, a bit of an upper jawbone, and two bronze spearpoints -- the 'Daunian warrior' of the headlines. (ANSA, TeleRadioErre)Three "Crime Beat" Stories thanks to SAFE:
- The Palermo Carabinieri have arrested a man for attempting to sell on Ebay more than 500 artifacts looted from sites of numerous periods in Sicily. (Business Week)
- The Italian crackdown on looting is having an effect: the value of stolen or looted objects recovered in 2008 was more than double the value of such objects recovered in 2007. But the number of illegal digs in Italy increased by 15 percent, to a total of 238. (ArtInfo) ...of course, it's hard to say whether in fact the actual number of clandestine excavations increased, or whether the Carabinieri are just getting better at finding them.
- And, finally, the repatriations go both ways: Italy will return 3800 artifacts, mostly coins, stolen from Bulgaria and recovered in Verona (Sofia Echo). Nathan T. Elkins adds much more to the story at Numismatics and Archaeology...
I see that Past Horizons is now selling trowels from Battiferro, so you don't have to order direct from Italy anymore...
Finally, Jovanotti was King of Italy in 2008 -- at least as regards record sales. You know you love Jovanotti.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
AJA 113.1
The latest issue of the American Journal of Archaeology (113.1, 2009) is out, and it's chock full of good stuff. Three articles pertain to Italian pottery of the 5th through 1st centuries BCE. First and foremost for the purview of Tria Corda is T.H. Carpenter's "Prolegomenon to the Study of Apulian Red-Figure Pottery" (39-56; Abstract), in my opinion a must-read.
Carpenter's analysis offers a fresh alternative to the (art historical) orthodoxy represented by the work of the late A.D. Trendall, and places the vases back into their "native" context—at least as far as possible for an object class that has suffered so much from looting: "To use the term 'Hellenized' for [the Italic] people, who had been trading with the Greeks for several hundred years, is meaningless unless the specific meaning is that they were Hellenized in the same sense that mainland Greeks were orientalized in the seventh century" (p.36). Recent scholarly activity has gone far in overturning colonial ideologies both ancient and modern, e.g. in the work of Edward Herring (for a good introduction to current trends, see his "Daunians, Peucetians and Messapians? Societies and Settlements in South-East Italy," in Bradley, Isayev & Riva, (eds.), Ancient Italy: Regions without Boundaries, Exeter 2007, 268-294); that such a well-known class of artifact had escaped such treatment up to now may be a function of the eminence of Trendall in the field. Carpenter also dissociates Taranto from its traditional role as producer of or major influence on Apulian vases, especially with regard to theatrical scenes, and refutes the notion that some scenes on Apulian vases represent images from "Orphic" religion.
Elsewhere, J. Theodore Peña and Myles McCallum discuss evidence for both the pre-Roman and Roman phases of the city in "The Production and Distribution of Pottery at Pompeii: A Review of the Evidence; Part 1, Production" (57-79; Abstract). Notable is the evidence for a Black Gloss Ware pottery production facility dating before the 2nd half of the 2nd century BCE, in the Vicolo Storto Nuovo.
Roman Roth—whose dissertation, published as Styling Romanisation: Pottery and Society in Central Italy (Cambridge 2007), treated Black Gloss Ware in Volterra and Capena—discusses the social implications of the replication of specific ceramic urn shapes in stone during the 2nd century BCE in "From Clay to Stone: Monumentality and Traditionalism in Volterran Urns" (39-56; Abstract).
Hélène Verreyke and Frank Vermeulen report on some results of the Potenza Valley Survey Project in "Tracing Late Roman Rural Occupation in Adriatic Central Italy" (103-120; Abstract), in a region (Picenum) better known for its Iron Age inhabitants.
Nothing explicitly to do with either pottery or Italy, but Stephen V. Tracy and Constantin Papaodysseus' note on "The Study of Hands on Greek Inscriptions: The Need for a Digital Approach" (99-102; Abstract) is very exciting--it means that we can soon replace epigraphists with computers... but seriously, this technique has a lot of potential. I wonder if it could be used to compare the work of known forgers with doubtful inscriptions?
Carpenter's analysis offers a fresh alternative to the (art historical) orthodoxy represented by the work of the late A.D. Trendall, and places the vases back into their "native" context—at least as far as possible for an object class that has suffered so much from looting: "To use the term 'Hellenized' for [the Italic] people, who had been trading with the Greeks for several hundred years, is meaningless unless the specific meaning is that they were Hellenized in the same sense that mainland Greeks were orientalized in the seventh century" (p.36). Recent scholarly activity has gone far in overturning colonial ideologies both ancient and modern, e.g. in the work of Edward Herring (for a good introduction to current trends, see his "Daunians, Peucetians and Messapians? Societies and Settlements in South-East Italy," in Bradley, Isayev & Riva, (eds.), Ancient Italy: Regions without Boundaries, Exeter 2007, 268-294); that such a well-known class of artifact had escaped such treatment up to now may be a function of the eminence of Trendall in the field. Carpenter also dissociates Taranto from its traditional role as producer of or major influence on Apulian vases, especially with regard to theatrical scenes, and refutes the notion that some scenes on Apulian vases represent images from "Orphic" religion.
Elsewhere, J. Theodore Peña and Myles McCallum discuss evidence for both the pre-Roman and Roman phases of the city in "The Production and Distribution of Pottery at Pompeii: A Review of the Evidence; Part 1, Production" (57-79; Abstract). Notable is the evidence for a Black Gloss Ware pottery production facility dating before the 2nd half of the 2nd century BCE, in the Vicolo Storto Nuovo.
Roman Roth—whose dissertation, published as Styling Romanisation: Pottery and Society in Central Italy (Cambridge 2007), treated Black Gloss Ware in Volterra and Capena—discusses the social implications of the replication of specific ceramic urn shapes in stone during the 2nd century BCE in "From Clay to Stone: Monumentality and Traditionalism in Volterran Urns" (39-56; Abstract).
Hélène Verreyke and Frank Vermeulen report on some results of the Potenza Valley Survey Project in "Tracing Late Roman Rural Occupation in Adriatic Central Italy" (103-120; Abstract), in a region (Picenum) better known for its Iron Age inhabitants.
Nothing explicitly to do with either pottery or Italy, but Stephen V. Tracy and Constantin Papaodysseus' note on "The Study of Hands on Greek Inscriptions: The Need for a Digital Approach" (99-102; Abstract) is very exciting--it means that we can soon replace epigraphists with computers... but seriously, this technique has a lot of potential. I wonder if it could be used to compare the work of known forgers with doubtful inscriptions?
Etruria in Philadelphia, Post AIA/APA
If you're still in town the day after the Annual Meeting wraps up, or if you're just lucky enough to live in Philadelphia, be sure to check out the following lectures on Monday the 12th of January:
Alba Frascarelli: Lost History Rediscovered? The Campo della Fiera Excavations and Livy's Fanum Voltumnae
The twelve peoples of ancient Etruria were said to meet at the shrine of their most important god, the Fanum Voltumnae outside the city of Volsinii, now recognized as modern Orvieto. Only recently have excavations by the University of Macerata begun to identify this all-important site of so much history. Dr. Frascarelli, one of the excavators, will present the latest findings.
Claudio Bizzarri: American Archaeological Projects in Etruria: The Excavations at Poggio Civitelle and Monterubiaglio.
The co-director of joint US-Italian excavations in Tuscany presents the results of this year's campaigns conducted by Florida State University, the University of Oklahoma and St. Anselm College.
Monday, January 12th
Classroom 2
University of Pennsylvania Museum
6pm
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Canosa
Happy new year. Bidding has opened (and closed?—I don't pretend to know anything about how this works) for the construction of a new National Archaeological Museum (not to be confused with the existing Museo Civico) in Canosa di Puglia. The planned complex will incorporate the remains of the Baptistery of S. Giovanni with its attached basilicas of Sta. Maria and S. Salvatore (as seen in the plan). The entire project runs to the tune of 16 million euro.[From CanosaWeb, and again]
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Update on Daunian stele in Emilia-Romagna
Last year, it was reported that excavation for a shopping center on the outskirts of Cattolica in Emilia-Romagna had turned up a 6th century BCE Daunian stele [Soprintendenza BA dell'E-R, Archeoblog]. Lithographic and pollen analyses now prove its origin in the area of Manfredonia in the Tavoliere of Puglia, as expected for such monuments. The Soprintendenza reports that it was not found in situ, but is probably to be connected with illegal landfills in the area, dumped in the 1960s or 70s; the stone appears to bear the mark of an excavator arm [Manfredonia.net].
Monday, December 29, 2008
7th Century BCE Necropolis at Spoleto, Umbria
Rescue excavations in Spoleto (PG), Umbria, have turned up tombs dating from the 7th and early 6th centuries BCE. The ten inhumation pit graves were discovered in advance of the construction of 18 housing units in the Piazza d'Armi [Google Maps].
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Some notes on the votive deposit at Campoverde
There seems to be some confusion. There's been a lot of coverage (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, IGN/Adnkronos, GMA News/AP, Winston-Salem Journal/AP, Discovery Channel, etc.; blogs: ArchaeoBlog, ArchaeoBlog (again), Archaeology in Europe, Looting Matters, Rogue Classicism, Tria Corda, Tria Corda (again), etc.) of the votive deposit apparently dug up by a farmer in Campoverde near Aprilia in Lazio. The site, at a certain 'Laghetto del Monsignore', dates to the 7th-6th centuries BCE, and was unknown to the scientific world ("sconosciuto al mondo scientifico": thus MiBAC; some sources add a gratuitous "assolutamente"). And yet...
A votive deposit was discovered at the spring of Laghetto del Monsignore, on the Via Mediana in Campoverde, in 1968 (Fulminante 2003: 226, note 409, with references). And, in 1977-1978...
References:
Crescenzi, L. 1978. "Campoverde." Archeologia Laziale 1:51-55 [non vidi]
Fulminante, F. 2003. Le sepolture principesche nel Latium Vetus.
Guidi, A., 1980 "Luoghi di Culto dell'Età del Bronzo Finale e della Prima Età del Ferro nel Lazio Meridionale." Archeologia Laziale 3:148-155. [non vidi]
Kleibrink, M. 1997. "The miniature votive pottery dedicated at the 'Laghetto del Monsignore', Campoverde." Palaeohistoria 1997-1998, vol. 39-40, pp. 441-512 (abstract).
A votive deposit was discovered at the spring of Laghetto del Monsignore, on the Via Mediana in Campoverde, in 1968 (Fulminante 2003: 226, note 409, with references). And, in 1977-1978...
"...the Archaeological Soprintendenza per il Lazio rescued a fair quantity of miniature and normal sized ancient artefacts from a small lake with a spring at its heart, today called the 'Laghetto del Monsignore'. These artefacts, mostly ceramic vessels but also a few bronze sheet figurines, fibulae, glass and amber pearls, constitutes probably only a very small portion of a much larger quantity of ancient votive objects dedicated at the spring. The spring at Campoverde must be considered an open votive deposit, the gifts were directly thrown into the water and they remained there for a long time as can be concluded from the streaks of scale (limonite) on the little pots. The spring may be called a 'deposito volontari' or favissa. At the moment of the rescue-excavation the area already had been illegally plundered, but still a few hundred small votive vessels could be stored. Today, only the here published miniatures are available for further study because robbers struck again in the storerooms of the Soprintendenza per il Lazio at Tivoli." (Kleibrink 1997: 441)This must be the same spring-fed lake with the same name and the same types and dates of finds -- and apparently the same problems with looting. None of the sources I've seen on the latest, 2008, operation mention the earlier discovery or its circumstances, at least directly. The Discovery article's lede hints at it—"Italian police have found the long-sought 'treasure of Satricum' in a farmer's bookshelf"—but goes no further. I don't know what, if anything, came of the earlier robbery, or whether the objects retrieved in the farmer's cabinet are to be understood as the material robbed in 1978 and thus "long-sought".
References:
Crescenzi, L. 1978. "Campoverde." Archeologia Laziale 1:51-55 [non vidi]
Fulminante, F. 2003. Le sepolture principesche nel Latium Vetus.
Guidi, A., 1980 "Luoghi di Culto dell'Età del Bronzo Finale e della Prima Età del Ferro nel Lazio Meridionale." Archeologia Laziale 3:148-155. [non vidi]
Kleibrink, M. 1997. "The miniature votive pottery dedicated at the 'Laghetto del Monsignore', Campoverde." Palaeohistoria 1997-1998, vol. 39-40, pp. 441-512 (abstract).
Friday, December 19, 2008
Italian Updates, December 19, 2008
From MiBAC, more on the illegal excavations in the sanctuary at Campoverde near Aprilia in Lazio, with photos and a video slide-show (~2 min., no sound) of the looted landscape, plus a video segment from a local news station. At the same press conference, the Carabinieri displayed the recovered marble heads that had been stolen from an apartment in Rome while its residents were drugged, as well as a mosaic from the catacombs of St. Domitilla that somebody had tried to sell on an online auction site. Of note: between January 1 and September 30, there were 53 illegal excavations discovered in Italy, or almost six a month -- and that's not counting the ones that haven't yet been, or won't be, discovered.
At Cattolica in Emilia-Romagna, there's an
exhibit of artifacts (right) from a 3rd century BCE deposit discovered in 2004 at the mouth of the Tavollo during the construction of a new dock. The exhibit, "VETUS LITUS. Archeologia della foce. Una discarica di materiali ceramici del III secolo a.C. alla darsena di Cattolica lungo il Tavollo," will run from 19 December 2008 to 3 May 2009 at three locations in Cattolica: the Museo della Regina, the Galleria Comunale S. Croce, and the Sala Lavatoio.John Muccigrosso blogs a newly cleaned and identified silver quinarius of Marc Antony from the Drew excavations in Umbria this past summer.
In Ruvo di Puglia yesterday, there was a conference on the topic of the famous Tomb of the Dancers discovered in that city in 1833 (and accordingly now to be found in the National Museum in Naples), with a presentation by Dr. Giuseppina Gadaleta, who wrote a book on the subject in 2002.
Finally, it seems there's some connection between live presepi (Nativity scenes) and ancient tombs this year. In Canosa, the D'Ambra Hypogeum will be open to the public during the presepe vivente; in Sutri, the actors will actually be inside the Etruscan tombs (seen below) near the amphitheater...
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Italian Updates
Some 4th century BCE coins from Hyria and Nola have found a home in the Nola Museum, seven years after being donated by an American. Among the 15 silver coins are five didrachms, two each from Hyria and Nola, and one from Neapolis.
[from IlNolano.it]
(More of) a Late Antique mosaic has been discovered in the crypt of the cathedral of Reggio Emilia. The polychrome mosaic extends over 13 square meter and dates between the 4th and 5th centuries CE.
[from Archaeogate]
A farmer in Lazio has been arrested for trying to sell off antiquities [see photo above] he dug up from a 7th-6th century BCE sanctuary near Aprilia, south of Rome.
[JournalNow, AdnKronos]
The discovery of the Greek necropolis at Himera has hit the Anglophone news.
[National Geographic]
[from IlNolano.it]
(More of) a Late Antique mosaic has been discovered in the crypt of the cathedral of Reggio Emilia. The polychrome mosaic extends over 13 square meter and dates between the 4th and 5th centuries CE.
[from Archaeogate]
A farmer in Lazio has been arrested for trying to sell off antiquities [see photo above] he dug up from a 7th-6th century BCE sanctuary near Aprilia, south of Rome.[JournalNow, AdnKronos]
The discovery of the Greek necropolis at Himera has hit the Anglophone news.
[National Geographic]
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Italian Antiquities Bust in Geneva
The Cultural Heritage Protection unit of the Carabinieri has confiscated 974 objects in two warehouses in Geneva. The pieces date between the 7th century BCE and the 4th century CE and come from Apulia, Lazio, Sardinia, and Magna Graecia. They include five loutrophoroi, a squatting Venus in Parian marble, 30 volute kraters and two bronze hydriae. The total value of the objects was estimated at € 25 million. The smuggling ring, based in Liechtenstein, had been operating since the mid 1990s, and was managed by a Swiss citizen and a Japanese national resident in England, both of whom have been arrested for receiving and exporting antiquities.
[From MelitoOnLine.it]
[From MelitoOnLine.it]
Friday, December 12, 2008
Apulia-Spain Antiquities Smuggling Route Exposed
The Cultural Heritage Protection branch of the Carabinieri, in conjunction with its Spanish counterpart, has exposed an antiquities trafficking route leading from clandestine excavations in Puglia, in the provinces of Bari and Foggia, via Valencia, Spain, to enter the market in a collaborating gallery in Barcelona.Among the pieces seized in Barcelona and Valencia are a 1.00 m high marble torso and 131 ceramics, including red-figure bell kraters, hydriae, lekythoi, volute kraters, askoi, skyphoi, kylikes, and terracotta statuettes, the lot valued at €1,000,000. (The list also includes something called an 'asphageon,' which neither I nor anyone else currently in the vicinity can make sense of -- ideas?)
[Info and image from MIBAC]
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Another Etruscan DNA Study...
David Meadows at rogueclassicism points us to yet another article studying the DNA of those ever-enigmatic (sigh) "Etruscans" and attempting to show links to Anatolia:
F. Brisighelli et al., The Etruscan timeline: a recent Anatolian connection
European Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication 3 December 2008; doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2008.224
I will make just a couple of comments on the short report. They sampled the mitochondrial DNA of 258 modern Tuscans (from Arezzo, Chiusi, Collevecchio, Elba, Magliano Sabina, Monte Fiascone, Pitigliano, Tarquinia, Tuscania, and Vulci), of which 63 were "compatible with typical Near Eastern haplogroups," "show[ed] ambiguous haplogroup affiliation," or could provide "some phylogeographic information at the control region level." Only in the title and the historical introduction, referencing Herodotus, do the authors draw any specifically Anatolian connection; the science simply indicates the presence of haplogroups with generally Near Eastern counterparts. I guess Anatolia is an inference from the Father of Lies?
Brisighelli et al. point out a relatively high frequency of "the typical Near Eastern U7 haplogroup" in the samples from Elba. Within these samples they identify a new sub-branch of the U7a2 haplogroup, which haplogroup is known from only two other individuals, a Pakistani and an Andalusian. The amount of variation in this new sub-branch, U7a2a, is then used to calculate the arrival of a single founder on the island in the range 1.1
0.1 to 2.30.4 kya B.P., that is, 450 BCE 400 years to 850 CE 100 years. This elicited David's comment, "... not sure about the dating there; even on the 'outside' end, it seems a bit short, no?" The authors suggest that this is "compatible with the Etrurian culture (9th-1st century BC)." Intensive working of the Elban mines began in the 6th century BCE; I don't know much about the earlier history of the island. But with a time span as wide as that, it seems just as probable that the haplogroup founder on Elba was a Byzantine or a Saracen... and that's all I'm going to say about that.
F. Brisighelli et al., The Etruscan timeline: a recent Anatolian connection
European Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication 3 December 2008; doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2008.224
I will make just a couple of comments on the short report. They sampled the mitochondrial DNA of 258 modern Tuscans (from Arezzo, Chiusi, Collevecchio, Elba, Magliano Sabina, Monte Fiascone, Pitigliano, Tarquinia, Tuscania, and Vulci), of which 63 were "compatible with typical Near Eastern haplogroups," "show[ed] ambiguous haplogroup affiliation," or could provide "some phylogeographic information at the control region level." Only in the title and the historical introduction, referencing Herodotus, do the authors draw any specifically Anatolian connection; the science simply indicates the presence of haplogroups with generally Near Eastern counterparts. I guess Anatolia is an inference from the Father of Lies?
Brisighelli et al. point out a relatively high frequency of "the typical Near Eastern U7 haplogroup" in the samples from Elba. Within these samples they identify a new sub-branch of the U7a2 haplogroup, which haplogroup is known from only two other individuals, a Pakistani and an Andalusian. The amount of variation in this new sub-branch, U7a2a, is then used to calculate the arrival of a single founder on the island in the range 1.1
0.1 to 2.30.4 kya B.P., that is, 450 BCE 400 years to 850 CE 100 years. This elicited David's comment, "... not sure about the dating there; even on the 'outside' end, it seems a bit short, no?" The authors suggest that this is "compatible with the Etrurian culture (9th-1st century BC)." Intensive working of the Elban mines began in the 6th century BCE; I don't know much about the earlier history of the island. But with a time span as wide as that, it seems just as probable that the haplogroup founder on Elba was a Byzantine or a Saracen... and that's all I'm going to say about that.
The Italic APA, 2009
The 2009 Philadelphia APA Program (pdf) is now available. As expected, it looks like slim pickins for the Italicist...
Friday
11:15 A.M. – 1:15 P.M. SECTION 10 Grand Ballroom K
Greek Religion
Rick Hamilton, Presider
3. Mary R. Bachvarova, Willamette University
The Transmission of Liver Divination from the Near East to Greece and Italy (15 mins.)
Saturday
11:15 A.M. – 1:15 P.M. SECTION 14 Independence II
Greek and Latin Linguistics
Sponsored by the Society for the Study of Greek and Latin Languages
Jeremy Rau and Benjamin Fortson IV, Organizers
1. Rebecca Sears, University of Michigan
Old Latin Stress in the Scipio Epitaphs: An Alternate Accentual Scansion (30 mins.)
1:30 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. SECTION 38 Independence I
The Etruscan Objects Speak: New Linguistic and Socio-Historical Approaches to
Etruscan Epigraphy
Joint APA/AIA Session
Hilary Becker and Rex Wallace, Organizers
1. Rex Wallace, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Alphabet, Orthography, and Paleography at Poggio Civitate (Murlo) (15 mins.)
2. Enrico Benelli, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Inscriptions on Tiles from Chiusi: Archaeological and Epigraphical Notes (15 mins.)
3. Margaret Watmough & Judith Swaddling, The British Museum
Surveying the Etruscan Inscriptions on Objects in the British Museum’s Collections (15 mins.)
4. Hilary Becker, The College of William and Mary
Public, Private, and Clan Property in Etruria (15 mins.)
5. Gary Farney, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Lucumo to Lucius: Etruscans with Both Etruscan and Latin Names on Bilingual Inscriptions from
Etruria (15 mins.)
Larissa Bonfante, New York University
Respondent
7:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M. Reception Sponsored by the Etruscan Foundation
Sunday
1:45 P.M. – 4:15 P.M. SECTION 59 Independence II
Coins and Identity
Sponsored by the Friends of Numismatics
Jane DeRose Evans, Organizer
1. Rabun Taylor, The University of Texas at Austin
Their Neighbor’s Keeper: A Neapolitan Coin for Capua (15 mins.)
Friday
11:15 A.M. – 1:15 P.M. SECTION 10 Grand Ballroom K
Greek Religion
Rick Hamilton, Presider
3. Mary R. Bachvarova, Willamette University
The Transmission of Liver Divination from the Near East to Greece and Italy (15 mins.)
Saturday
11:15 A.M. – 1:15 P.M. SECTION 14 Independence II
Greek and Latin Linguistics
Sponsored by the Society for the Study of Greek and Latin Languages
Jeremy Rau and Benjamin Fortson IV, Organizers
1. Rebecca Sears, University of Michigan
Old Latin Stress in the Scipio Epitaphs: An Alternate Accentual Scansion (30 mins.)
1:30 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. SECTION 38 Independence I
The Etruscan Objects Speak: New Linguistic and Socio-Historical Approaches to
Etruscan Epigraphy
Joint APA/AIA Session
Hilary Becker and Rex Wallace, Organizers
1. Rex Wallace, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Alphabet, Orthography, and Paleography at Poggio Civitate (Murlo) (15 mins.)
2. Enrico Benelli, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Inscriptions on Tiles from Chiusi: Archaeological and Epigraphical Notes (15 mins.)
3. Margaret Watmough & Judith Swaddling, The British Museum
Surveying the Etruscan Inscriptions on Objects in the British Museum’s Collections (15 mins.)
4. Hilary Becker, The College of William and Mary
Public, Private, and Clan Property in Etruria (15 mins.)
5. Gary Farney, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Lucumo to Lucius: Etruscans with Both Etruscan and Latin Names on Bilingual Inscriptions from
Etruria (15 mins.)
Larissa Bonfante, New York University
Respondent
7:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M. Reception Sponsored by the Etruscan Foundation
Sunday
1:45 P.M. – 4:15 P.M. SECTION 59 Independence II
Coins and Identity
Sponsored by the Friends of Numismatics
Jane DeRose Evans, Organizer
1. Rabun Taylor, The University of Texas at Austin
Their Neighbor’s Keeper: A Neapolitan Coin for Capua (15 mins.)
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Venetic, Roman and Medieval Finds in Vicenza
Restoration work in the Corte dei Bissari by the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza (Roman Vicentia) has led to the discovery of two Roman structures and a section of road, belonging to a previously unknown cardo. The Roman remains were found beneath "some residual Medieval layers" -- about which, unfortunately, no more is written.
The interior wall of a 3rd-4th century CE Roman house, preserved for a length of 9.70 m, divides two rooms, one paved in cocciopesto, the other originally mosaicked, of which only a few tesserae remain. To the south of this building is a second, whose details remain sketchy. Both buildings front a section of a north-south road (cardo), of which are preserved three curb blocks for a sidewalk ca. 1.00 m wide.
In addition to the remains of the Roman city, archaeologists found beaten clay floors belonging to the pre-Roman Venetic settlement.
[La Repubblica, Comune di Vicenza, Storia Romana]
The interior wall of a 3rd-4th century CE Roman house, preserved for a length of 9.70 m, divides two rooms, one paved in cocciopesto, the other originally mosaicked, of which only a few tesserae remain. To the south of this building is a second, whose details remain sketchy. Both buildings front a section of a north-south road (cardo), of which are preserved three curb blocks for a sidewalk ca. 1.00 m wide.
In addition to the remains of the Roman city, archaeologists found beaten clay floors belonging to the pre-Roman Venetic settlement.
[La Repubblica, Comune di Vicenza, Storia Romana]
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Discoveries at Modena both Licit and Il-
Excavations at Modena in Emilia-Romagna have brought to light a Roman ceramic kiln area and waster heaps dating to the first centuries CE. The discovery occurred in the course of construction of a basement for a new building on the Viale Reiter (see on Google Maps), outside the ancient city walls.
A Roman level was found at a depth of 5.50 m below a thick alluvial deposit. Large pits were found filled with kiln wasters, tile kiln elements, and general Roman trash including marble, plaster, stucco, mosaic tesserae, ceramics, coins and metal objects. A large pit, probably a clay quarry, produced misfired cooking ware, bricks, and amphorae, as well as kiln spacers and architectural elements. The pit containted ceramics of different productions, including Dressel type 2-4 amphorae, floor tiles, varnished jugs and bottles, thin-walled ware, North Italian terra sigillata cups, as well as over 100 Firmalampen (Factory Lamps) with the producers' stamps Fortis, Stabili, Communis, Phoetaspi, and Eucarpi.
Also found were a terracotta statuette of Hercules and the Erymanthian Boar, and 14 lead sling bullets, attributable to the Bellum Mutinensis of 43 BCE (I can't make out any inscriptions from the photograph).
[Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Emilia-Romagna, with many good photos; ItalyMag]
On the other side of the law, two collectors from Castelfranco Emilia (Modena) have been arrested and accused of illegal possession of antiquities, including a very fine javelin point and spear head, a 6th century BCE votive terracotta from Magna Graecia, Gothic and Lombard buckles, and Republican Roman coins.
[Il Nuovo Giornale di Modena, via David Gill at Looting Matters]
A Roman level was found at a depth of 5.50 m below a thick alluvial deposit. Large pits were found filled with kiln wasters, tile kiln elements, and general Roman trash including marble, plaster, stucco, mosaic tesserae, ceramics, coins and metal objects. A large pit, probably a clay quarry, produced misfired cooking ware, bricks, and amphorae, as well as kiln spacers and architectural elements. The pit containted ceramics of different productions, including Dressel type 2-4 amphorae, floor tiles, varnished jugs and bottles, thin-walled ware, North Italian terra sigillata cups, as well as over 100 Firmalampen (Factory Lamps) with the producers' stamps Fortis, Stabili, Communis, Phoetaspi, and Eucarpi.
Also found were a terracotta statuette of Hercules and the Erymanthian Boar, and 14 lead sling bullets, attributable to the Bellum Mutinensis of 43 BCE (I can't make out any inscriptions from the photograph).
[Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Emilia-Romagna, with many good photos; ItalyMag]
On the other side of the law, two collectors from Castelfranco Emilia (Modena) have been arrested and accused of illegal possession of antiquities, including a very fine javelin point and spear head, a 6th century BCE votive terracotta from Magna Graecia, Gothic and Lombard buckles, and Republican Roman coins.
[Il Nuovo Giornale di Modena, via David Gill at Looting Matters]
Thursday, November 20, 2008
7th century Etruscan village discovered near Parma
An Etruscan settlement dating to the 7th century BCE has been discovered near an industrial park on the outskirts of Parma. The finds include houses built on a network of channels for collecting rainwater, a kiln for bucchero production, and numerous home furnishings. Among the most recent finds is a fine red-varnished jug dating to the 5th century BCE. The settlement was inhabited for 150 years before the Etruscan foundation of Parma. The settlers came from Chiusi or Perugia, according to the archaeologists in charge.
(You can see the area, between Via Forlanini and Strada Uguzzolo, on Google Maps. I'm not sure if those are bulldozer marks, cropmarks, or what...)
[From Parmaok.it]
(You can see the area, between Via Forlanini and Strada Uguzzolo, on Google Maps. I'm not sure if those are bulldozer marks, cropmarks, or what...)
[From Parmaok.it]
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
18 Byzantine Tombs near Campomarino, Molise
Excavations by the Archaeological Soprintendenza for Molise and the Università degli Studi del Molise have brought to light 18 Byzantine tombs in the neighborhood of Marinelle Vecchie, just outside Campomarino on the coast of Molise. Such a discovery is so far unique in the area. Lombard presence is known in the region, but there is little other evidence for Byzantine activity in the 6th century.
Among the finds were amphorae and marbles with connections to Palestine, North Africa, Egypt and the opposite shore of the Adriatic, along with a Christian inscription dated to the 6th century CE. It is only the third such inscription known from Molise, according to Gianfranco De Benedittis of the Università degli Studi del Molise in Campobasso. The two previous date to the 4th and 5th centuries.
Work will continue with the hopes of locating a settlement connected with the necropolis. The excavation began a year ago, after a six-year study of the area with ground-penetrating radar, and was sponsored by the Regional Assessor for Culture Sandro Arco and the town of Campomarino.
(Via Il Tempo, Primapaginamolise.it, Termoli Online, Yahoo! News and Il Sannio Quotidiano)
Among the finds were amphorae and marbles with connections to Palestine, North Africa, Egypt and the opposite shore of the Adriatic, along with a Christian inscription dated to the 6th century CE. It is only the third such inscription known from Molise, according to Gianfranco De Benedittis of the Università degli Studi del Molise in Campobasso. The two previous date to the 4th and 5th centuries.
Work will continue with the hopes of locating a settlement connected with the necropolis. The excavation began a year ago, after a six-year study of the area with ground-penetrating radar, and was sponsored by the Regional Assessor for Culture Sandro Arco and the town of Campomarino.
(Via Il Tempo, Primapaginamolise.it, Termoli Online, Yahoo! News and Il Sannio Quotidiano)
Monday, November 10, 2008
Gabii Project pages
The much-anticipated Gabii Project has had a blog since July, Lapis Gabinus, which I think I've so far failed to mention. The project webpage was announced in October. They're looking for staff for the field season June 15 through July 31, 2009.
The Annotated Italic AIA, no. 2
(Part 2 of 2)
Saturday, January 10 at the 2009 AIA Annual Meeting presents a quandary of unfortunate cross-schedulings, viz. 4A: Current work in Pre-Roman and Roman Italy and 4D: Roman Cult and Ritual (with at least two Italicky papers), both from 8:30 to 11 AM, and 6A: The Ideology and Innovation of Monumental Architecture in Etruria and Early Rome, 6C: The Etruscan Objects Speak: New Linguistic and Socio-Historical Approaches to Etruscan Epigraphy, and 6G: Ancient Volsinii (Orvieto): Discoveries and Rediscoveries (workshop), all three from 1:30 to 4:30 PM. Architecture or epigraphy or Vieto? It seems one must choose.
Session: 4A: Current work in Pre-Roman and Roman Italy
Saturday, January 10, 8:30 AM - 11:00 AM
1. The Settlement of Ripacandida (Potenza, Italy) between Early Iron Age and Seventh Century B.C.
Gianfranco Carollo, Università degli Studi della Basilicata
2. A New Plan of an Ancient Italian City: Gabii Revealed
Jeffrey A. Becker, Boston University, Marcello Mogetta, The University of Michigan, and Nicola Terrenato, The University of Michigan
3. Excavations at Castel Viscardo, Italy: Field Reports 2006-2008
Silvia Simonetti (Field Director), Claudio Bizzarri (co-Director), David B. George (co-Director, Saint Anselm College)
4. Recent Excavations at Poggio Civitate (Murlo) – 2004-2008
Jason Bauer, Poggio Civitate Archaeological Project and Anthony Tuck, The University of Massachusetts at Amherst
5. First Season of Excavation at the Vicus ad Martis Tudertium
John Muccigrosso, Drew University
6. Decor, Destruction, and Renewal at Ostia in the Third–Fourth Centuries C.E.: Excavation of the Palazzo Imperiale, 2008
Joanne Spurza, Hunter College of The City University of New York
7. The Evidence for Linen as an Important Samnite Craft and Trade Good
China P. Shelton, Boston University
Session: 4D: Roman Cult and Ritual
Saturday, January 10, 8:30 AM - 11:00 AM
1. Italo-Hellenistic Sanctuaries of Pentrian Samnium: Questions of Accessibility
Rachel E. Van Dusen, University at Buffalo
...
3. (De-)Constructing Etruscan Cult Practice: New Perspectives on Etruscan Sacrificial Representations
Mareile Haase, University of Toronto
Session: 6A: The Ideology and Innovation of Monumental Architecture in Etruria and Early Rome
Saturday, January 10, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Organizer: Dr. Michael L. Thomas, The University of Texas at Austin
1. Defining Monumentality in Archaic Etruria: The Case of the Etruscan palazzi
Gretchen E. Meyers, Franklin and Marshall College
2. Straw to Stone, Huts to Houses: Transitions in Building Practices and Society in Protohistoric Latium
Elizabeth Colantoni, University of Rochester
3. The Performance of Death: Rituals of Display and the Emergence of Community Identity in Early Etruria
Anthony Tuck, University of Massachusetts Amherst
4. Monumentalization of the Etruscan Round Moulding
Nancy A. Winter, Wolfson College, Oxford (UK)
5. The Colossal Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and Roman Architectural History
John N. N. Hopkins, The University of Texas at Austin / American Academy in Rome
6. On the Introduction of Stone Entablatures in Republican Temples in Rome
Penelope J. E. Davies, The University of Texas at Austin
Session: 6C: The Etruscan Objects Speak: New Linguistic and Socio-Historical Approaches to Etruscan Epigraphy (Joint AIA/APA Colloquium)
Saturday, January 10, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Organizer: Dr. Hilary Becker, The College of William & Mary
1. Lucumo to Lucius: Etruscans with Both Etruscan and Latin Names on Bilingual Inscriptions from Etruria
Gary Farney, Rutgers University
2. Surveying the Etruscan Inscriptions on Objects in the British Museum’s Collections
Margaret Watmough and Judith Swaddling, British Museum
3. Alphabet, Orthography, and Paleography at Poggio Civitate (Murlo)
Rex Wallace, University of Massachusetts Amherst
4. Public, Private, and Clan Property in Etruria
Hilary Becker, The College of William & Mary
5. Inscriptions on Tiles from Chiusi: Archaeological and Epigraphical Notes
Enrico Benelli, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Session: 6G: Ancient Volsinii (Orvieto): Discoveries and Rediscoveries (workshop)
Saturday, January 10, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Organizer: Prof. Ann Blair Brownlee, University of Pennsylvania Museum
Saturday, January 10 at the 2009 AIA Annual Meeting presents a quandary of unfortunate cross-schedulings, viz. 4A: Current work in Pre-Roman and Roman Italy and 4D: Roman Cult and Ritual (with at least two Italicky papers), both from 8:30 to 11 AM, and 6A: The Ideology and Innovation of Monumental Architecture in Etruria and Early Rome, 6C: The Etruscan Objects Speak: New Linguistic and Socio-Historical Approaches to Etruscan Epigraphy, and 6G: Ancient Volsinii (Orvieto): Discoveries and Rediscoveries (workshop), all three from 1:30 to 4:30 PM. Architecture or epigraphy or Vieto? It seems one must choose.
Session: 4A: Current work in Pre-Roman and Roman Italy
Saturday, January 10, 8:30 AM - 11:00 AM
1. The Settlement of Ripacandida (Potenza, Italy) between Early Iron Age and Seventh Century B.C.
Gianfranco Carollo, Università degli Studi della Basilicata
2. A New Plan of an Ancient Italian City: Gabii Revealed
Jeffrey A. Becker, Boston University, Marcello Mogetta, The University of Michigan, and Nicola Terrenato, The University of Michigan
3. Excavations at Castel Viscardo, Italy: Field Reports 2006-2008
Silvia Simonetti (Field Director), Claudio Bizzarri (co-Director), David B. George (co-Director, Saint Anselm College)
4. Recent Excavations at Poggio Civitate (Murlo) – 2004-2008
Jason Bauer, Poggio Civitate Archaeological Project and Anthony Tuck, The University of Massachusetts at Amherst
5. First Season of Excavation at the Vicus ad Martis Tudertium
John Muccigrosso, Drew University
6. Decor, Destruction, and Renewal at Ostia in the Third–Fourth Centuries C.E.: Excavation of the Palazzo Imperiale, 2008
Joanne Spurza, Hunter College of The City University of New York
7. The Evidence for Linen as an Important Samnite Craft and Trade Good
China P. Shelton, Boston University
Session: 4D: Roman Cult and Ritual
Saturday, January 10, 8:30 AM - 11:00 AM
1. Italo-Hellenistic Sanctuaries of Pentrian Samnium: Questions of Accessibility
Rachel E. Van Dusen, University at Buffalo
...
3. (De-)Constructing Etruscan Cult Practice: New Perspectives on Etruscan Sacrificial Representations
Mareile Haase, University of Toronto
Session: 6A: The Ideology and Innovation of Monumental Architecture in Etruria and Early Rome
Saturday, January 10, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Organizer: Dr. Michael L. Thomas, The University of Texas at Austin
1. Defining Monumentality in Archaic Etruria: The Case of the Etruscan palazzi
Gretchen E. Meyers, Franklin and Marshall College
2. Straw to Stone, Huts to Houses: Transitions in Building Practices and Society in Protohistoric Latium
Elizabeth Colantoni, University of Rochester
3. The Performance of Death: Rituals of Display and the Emergence of Community Identity in Early Etruria
Anthony Tuck, University of Massachusetts Amherst
4. Monumentalization of the Etruscan Round Moulding
Nancy A. Winter, Wolfson College, Oxford (UK)
5. The Colossal Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and Roman Architectural History
John N. N. Hopkins, The University of Texas at Austin / American Academy in Rome
6. On the Introduction of Stone Entablatures in Republican Temples in Rome
Penelope J. E. Davies, The University of Texas at Austin
Session: 6C: The Etruscan Objects Speak: New Linguistic and Socio-Historical Approaches to Etruscan Epigraphy (Joint AIA/APA Colloquium)
Saturday, January 10, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Organizer: Dr. Hilary Becker, The College of William & Mary
1. Lucumo to Lucius: Etruscans with Both Etruscan and Latin Names on Bilingual Inscriptions from Etruria
Gary Farney, Rutgers University
2. Surveying the Etruscan Inscriptions on Objects in the British Museum’s Collections
Margaret Watmough and Judith Swaddling, British Museum
3. Alphabet, Orthography, and Paleography at Poggio Civitate (Murlo)
Rex Wallace, University of Massachusetts Amherst
4. Public, Private, and Clan Property in Etruria
Hilary Becker, The College of William & Mary
5. Inscriptions on Tiles from Chiusi: Archaeological and Epigraphical Notes
Enrico Benelli, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Session: 6G: Ancient Volsinii (Orvieto): Discoveries and Rediscoveries (workshop)
Saturday, January 10, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Organizer: Prof. Ann Blair Brownlee, University of Pennsylvania Museum
The Annotated Italic AIA, no. 1
The preliminary schedule of the AIA 2009 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia has been posted. There's a heap of interesting titles on Italy roughly B.C.E., many of which I've picked out here for convenience. This is part 1 of 2.
Session 1D: South Italy and Sicily
Friday, January 9, 8:30 AM - 11:00 AM
1. The Marsala Hinterland Survey: Results of the 2008 Season
Emma Blake, Tufts University and Robert Schon, University of Arizona
2. Athenian Pottery, Metal Vessels, and Local Taste at Morgantina
Justin St. P. Walsh, Louisiana State University and Carla Antonaccio, Duke University
3. Harbor Facility Submerged Off Ancient Locri-Epizefiri, Southern Italy, Discovered by Geophysical Survey
Jean-Daniel Stanley, Smithsonian Institution, Jenny M. Tennent, University of Saskatchewan, Patrick E. Hart, US Geological Survey, and Maria Pia Bernasconi, Universitá della Calabria
4. Agency and the Articulation of Cult Activity in the Early Greek Colonization of Sicily and Southern Italy
Jennifer L. Boger, Tufts University
5. Stelae from the Sanctuary of Demeter Malophoros in Selinus
Allaire B. Stallsmith, Towson University
6. Navigating Multi-cultural Relationships in Western Sicily during the Greek Archaic Period
Jeanette Cooper, Independent Scholar
7. Votive Offerings from Lucanian Sanctuaries between the Fourth Century B.C. and the Age of Romanization: Changes and Continuity
Ilaria Battiloro, University of Alberta
Session: 2C: Prehistoric Stone Tools
Friday, January 9, 11:15 AM - 1:15 PM
...
3. Bronze Age Obsidian Trade in Sardinia (Italy): The Use of Monte Arci Subsources at Duos Nuraghes and Other Sites
Robert Tykot, University of South Florida
Session: 2I: Poster Session
Friday, January 9, 11:15 AM - 3:00 PM
8. Light Frame Architecture at Poggio Civitate: A Comparison of Elite and Non-Elite Domiciles
Andrea Rodriguez, University of Florida, Andrew Carroll, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Anthony Tuck, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
12. Synchopation and Synaesthic Response to the Temple of Apollo at Syracuse
Brian E. McConnell, Florida Atlantic University
14. An Early Roman Kiln Site in the Metapontine Chora: The New Excavations at Pizzica Pantanello
Adam Hyatt and Keith Swift, Institute of Classical Archaeology, University of Texas at Austin
23. Italian Prehistory and the Emergence of the Civic Museum
Elisabetta Cova, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
26. First Season of Excavation at the Vicus ad Martis Tudertium
John Muccigrosso, Drew University
Session: 3B: In the Shadow of Vesuvius
Friday, January 9, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Session: 3H: Gold Medal Symposium: Archaeological Approaches to the Study of Early States
Friday, January 9, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
1. Weak States and Weakening Paradigms. Against Teleology in Roman State and Empire Formation
Nicola Terrenato, University of Michigan
Session 1D: South Italy and Sicily
Friday, January 9, 8:30 AM - 11:00 AM
1. The Marsala Hinterland Survey: Results of the 2008 Season
Emma Blake, Tufts University and Robert Schon, University of Arizona
2. Athenian Pottery, Metal Vessels, and Local Taste at Morgantina
Justin St. P. Walsh, Louisiana State University and Carla Antonaccio, Duke University
3. Harbor Facility Submerged Off Ancient Locri-Epizefiri, Southern Italy, Discovered by Geophysical Survey
Jean-Daniel Stanley, Smithsonian Institution, Jenny M. Tennent, University of Saskatchewan, Patrick E. Hart, US Geological Survey, and Maria Pia Bernasconi, Universitá della Calabria
4. Agency and the Articulation of Cult Activity in the Early Greek Colonization of Sicily and Southern Italy
Jennifer L. Boger, Tufts University
5. Stelae from the Sanctuary of Demeter Malophoros in Selinus
Allaire B. Stallsmith, Towson University
6. Navigating Multi-cultural Relationships in Western Sicily during the Greek Archaic Period
Jeanette Cooper, Independent Scholar
7. Votive Offerings from Lucanian Sanctuaries between the Fourth Century B.C. and the Age of Romanization: Changes and Continuity
Ilaria Battiloro, University of Alberta
Session: 2C: Prehistoric Stone Tools
Friday, January 9, 11:15 AM - 1:15 PM
...
3. Bronze Age Obsidian Trade in Sardinia (Italy): The Use of Monte Arci Subsources at Duos Nuraghes and Other Sites
Robert Tykot, University of South Florida
Session: 2I: Poster Session
Friday, January 9, 11:15 AM - 3:00 PM
8. Light Frame Architecture at Poggio Civitate: A Comparison of Elite and Non-Elite Domiciles
Andrea Rodriguez, University of Florida, Andrew Carroll, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Anthony Tuck, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
12. Synchopation and Synaesthic Response to the Temple of Apollo at Syracuse
Brian E. McConnell, Florida Atlantic University
14. An Early Roman Kiln Site in the Metapontine Chora: The New Excavations at Pizzica Pantanello
Adam Hyatt and Keith Swift, Institute of Classical Archaeology, University of Texas at Austin
23. Italian Prehistory and the Emergence of the Civic Museum
Elisabetta Cova, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
26. First Season of Excavation at the Vicus ad Martis Tudertium
John Muccigrosso, Drew University
Session: 3B: In the Shadow of Vesuvius
Friday, January 9, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Session: 3H: Gold Medal Symposium: Archaeological Approaches to the Study of Early States
Friday, January 9, 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM
1. Weak States and Weakening Paradigms. Against Teleology in Roman State and Empire Formation
Nicola Terrenato, University of Michigan
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Of Plastics and Potsherds
I note a recent article in Science, "Bioactive Contaminants Leach from Disposable Laboratory Plasticware" (discussion at Wired). I wonder, not being so chemically attuned, whether this is so different from the fact that ceramics shouldn't be kept in plastic bags if they're to be submitted to organic residue analysis.
For discussion, see two pages every practicing field archaeologist should read, "Protocols: Ceramic Artefacts and Skeletal Material," in Archaeology Meets Science: Biomolecular Investigations in Bronze Age Greece, eds. Y. Tzedakis, H. Martlew, M.K. Jones, Oxbow 2008 [ISBN 1-84217-238-7, WorldCat] 236-7, the upshot of which is: when handling ceramics, don't use plastic bags, don't use plastic gloves (if gloveless, use "hands that are free of potions and lotions"), and don't wash with acid.
(And to make this post strictly relevant to the blog as a whole... pages 273-280 of the above-quoted book describe organic residue analyses of a Canaanite jar; a Myceneaean Vapheio cup, crocus-painted askos, and pithos; and local carinated cup and barbotine jug from the settlement of Punta d'Alaca on the island of Vivara near the Bay of Naples. Among the residues identified were vegetable oil flavored with a woody herb/bark, herb-flavored unresinated wine, olive oil flavored with an herbal extract, and an herbal mixture possibly flavoring milk or cream.)
For discussion, see two pages every practicing field archaeologist should read, "Protocols: Ceramic Artefacts and Skeletal Material," in Archaeology Meets Science: Biomolecular Investigations in Bronze Age Greece, eds. Y. Tzedakis, H. Martlew, M.K. Jones, Oxbow 2008 [ISBN 1-84217-238-7, WorldCat] 236-7, the upshot of which is: when handling ceramics, don't use plastic bags, don't use plastic gloves (if gloveless, use "hands that are free of potions and lotions"), and don't wash with acid.
"Archaeologists can render science useless unless as excavators, they handle their material in the right way...
No one, not any archaeologist or excavator, can be criticised for the way ceramic or skeletal material was excavated, cleaned, or stored, until contaminants started appearing in the organic residue results and were traced back to their sources. Excavators did what they thought was the best thing, and it was, until science came along and changed the rules.
From now on, however, there is no way an archaeologist can escape condemnation if he/she wilfully allows information that has been stored inside a pot or a bone, to be destroyed.
It is now an absolute obligation for excavators to think about the future application of science to archaeological subjects, and to prepare and archive artifacts accordingly, i.e. in such a way that the chemical signals that have survived hundreds or thousands of years, are not contaminated or destroyed through thoughtless handling and storage."
(And to make this post strictly relevant to the blog as a whole... pages 273-280 of the above-quoted book describe organic residue analyses of a Canaanite jar; a Myceneaean Vapheio cup, crocus-painted askos, and pithos; and local carinated cup and barbotine jug from the settlement of Punta d'Alaca on the island of Vivara near the Bay of Naples. Among the residues identified were vegetable oil flavored with a woody herb/bark, herb-flavored unresinated wine, olive oil flavored with an herbal extract, and an herbal mixture possibly flavoring milk or cream.)
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