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

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]

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].

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].

[Terni in Rete, RAI]

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...

"...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).

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...

CC: Originally uploaded to flickr
by sunshinecity

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]

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]

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]

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 1.10.1 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.)

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]

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]

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]

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)

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

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

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.

"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.)

Italic Webcast!

This isn't a proper summer wrap-up post (since, among other things, it's no longer summer), but I wanted to draw your immediate attention to:

Communicating Identity in Italic Iron Age Communities
International Symposium
23-24 October 2008
Copenhagen

which will be (and I suppose already half has been) webcast with a live feed, and is supposed to be available as a podcast after the fact.

For more info
Abstracts

For the live feed (QuickTime required)