Rethinking the ‘Domus of the Dancing Cherubs’ at Aquileia
This probably won’t last long at ANSA: Archaeologists working on the remains of an ancient dwelling in northern Italy have reassessed their ideas about the site after uncovering lavish decorations and imposing architectural features. The building in Aquileia, which previously appeared to be a normal Roman villa, has now emerged as a majestic mansion complex, [...]
Roman Shipwreck near Panarea
Image via Wikipedia Starting the summer blogging season with a brief item from ANSA: The wreck of a Roman ship from the first century AD which is still whole and has over 500 wide-mouthed amphorae onboard has been discovered to the south of the island of Panarea. The discovery, which was made by the Sea [...]
PreRoman Tomb from Foligno
Most of the interesting stuff is in the first couple sentences of this one … a sixth-century female burial along with an iron fibula and amber necklace … Una tomba a tumulo di eta’ preromana e’ stata rinvenuta a Foligno nel corso dei lavori di realizzazione della Variante Nord della citta’; all’interno della tomba e’ [...]
Roman pots found off Italy’s coast
Not sure how you stumble underwater but … Researchers have stumbled upon a collection of rare Roman pots while scouring ship wrecks off the Italian coast of Capo Palinuro, near Policastro. The British team from the Aberdeen-based Hallin Marine International energy company found hundreds of ancient pots 1,640ft under the sea while trawling modern wrecks [...]
Carandini Concerned for Hadrian’s Villa
In the wake of the collapse at the Domus Aurea a week or so ago, Andrea Carandini has voiced his concerns that something similar/worse lies in store for Hadrian’s Villa … here’s the incipit of a piece at Il Messaggero: «Temo che quello che è accaduto martedì alla Domus Aurea possa capitare anche a Villa [...]
Ancient Roman Gluten Death?
This one’s already making the rounds on Twitter (DK, LP) … very interesting: An Italian doctor claims to have found the first Italian case of death from gluten intolerance in a female skeleton uncovered at an Ancient Roman site.The skeleton was found in the ancient town of Cosa, today’s Ansedonia, in southern Tuscany.Giovanni Gasbarrini, a [...]
Burrito Burial From Gabii
This one’s making the rounds and is in multiple copies in my mailbox … excerpts from a very interesting item at the National Geographic. A 1,700-year-old sarcophagus found in an abandoned city near Rome could contain the body of a gladiator or a Christian dignitary, say archaeologists who are preparing to examine the coffin in [...]
Satyr on Display
The incipit of an item in Corriere del Mezzogiorno mentions a satyr found at Santa Maria Capua Vetere two years ago, which is apparently a copy of a Praxiteles in the Capitoline Museum: Nel foyer del teatro Garibaldi di S. Maria Capua Vetere, dal 15 aprile al 30 giugno, sarà per la prima volta esposto [...]
What is Going On At Italian Sites???
Okay … for the past while I’ve been trying to understand a number of Italian newspaper articles about changes going on at the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali . It seemed that there were things going on ‘at the top’, but it took an item in English from the March edition of [...]
Tarquinian Reggia from Gabii?
This one’s working its way through the Italian press … a sixth century (B.C.) edifice which includes an image associated with the Tarquins. Also of interest is evidence of ritual foundation sacrifice and the burial of five (non-sacrificed?) children under the foundations as well. Il Messaggero seems to have the best coverage so far: Gli [...]
Site of the Golden Bough Found?
From the Telegraph … I may have things to add later when I have time to look into this more detail: In Roman mythology, the bough was a tree branch with golden leaves that enabled the Trojan hero Aeneas to travel through the underworld safely. They discovered the remains while excavating religious sanctuary built in [...]
Vespasian’s Birthplace Redux
The incipit of a recently-dated piece from AdnKronos which seems to be being picked up by some other papers: An international team of archaeologists claims to have unearthed the 2000-year-old birthplace of the Roman emperor, Vespasian, north of the Italian capital. Vespasian ruled the Roman empire in the first century A.D. and was behind the [...]
Asian Burial at Vagnari?
Very interesting item from the Independent: A team of researchers announced a surprising discovery during a scholarly presentation in Toronto last Friday. The research team, based at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, has been helping to excavate an ancient Roman cemetery at the site of Vagnari in southern Italy. Led by Professor Tracy Prowse, they’ve [...]
Antonine-era Imperial Statue Found!
… in the courtyard of a condominium development in the Fuorigrotta neighbourhood of Naples! The carabinieri were in a ‘race against time’ to find the item, apparently originally found in the 1930s and destined for the black market, of course. Here’s the coverage from Libero: Una statua in marmo bianco raffigurante un imperatore di epoca [...]
Ancient ‘Reggia’ from Basilicata
Interesting find near Basilicata — a sixth-century B.C. ‘palace’ (for want of a better word) of a local ruler. The region was known as ‘Lucania’ in ancient times, but I think this predates the Lucanians arrival in the area (I might be wrong in that): Una scoperta davvero importante per l’archeologia della Basilicata. La Scuola [...]
Bronze Head of Augustus Found in Aosta
Haven’t seen coverage of this in the English press (or a photo, alas) … bronze head, probably Augustus, some 15cm high: Il patrimonio archeologico valdostano si arricchisce di una testa bronzea risalente all’epoca romana. Il reperto è stato trovato nel centro storico di Aosta, durante alcune indagini (scavi) in piazza Roncas. Si tratta di un’applique [...]
Greek Necropolis at Gela?
Another one which probably won’t go much beyond the Italian press (where it is getting rather brief attention, actually) … Archaeologists working in downtown Gela have come across remains of a 7th to 5th century B.C. (Greek) necropolis. So far, four tombs have been found of the enchytrismos alla cappuccina variety and it is believed [...]
Ancient Skylletium?
I was having problems understanding the Italian coverage on this one yesterday (specifically, the architect’s description, which is also in Il Quotidiano), but thankfully it’s appeared in the English press this a.m. … here’s the ANSA coverage: An amateur scuba diver has discovered what may be the ruins of an ancient city off the coast [...]
Roman Shipwrecks of Ventotene
This has finally hit the newswires, it appears … excerpts from the Reuters coverage: A team of archaeologists using sonar technology to scan the seabed have discovered a “graveyard” of five pristine ancient Roman shipwrecks off the small Italian island of Ventotene. The trading vessels, dating from the first century BC to the fifth century [...]
Finds at Vicus Martis Tudertium
Not sure if anyone saw our last From the Italian Press compilation a couple of days ago (since I forgot to give it a title), but one of the items therein was hyping the upcoming (at the time) dig at Vicus Martis Tudertium … turns out they (including John Muccigrosso, whose name will be familiar [...]
Temple of Antinous?
Tantalizingly brief item from ORF relating the discovery of a temple built by Hadrian to Antinous (at Tivoli, presumably): Auf dem ehemaligen Anwesen des römischen Kaisers Hadrian ist unerwartet ein Tempel gefunden worden, den er seinerzeit zu Ehren seines jungen Liebhabers Antonius erbauen ließ. Das Anwesen liegt etwa 30 Kilometer entfernt von Rom und diente [...]
From the Italian Press
… the last bit of the backlog! woohoo! A piece of a Roman column was found in a drain during sewer work in Naples (I think): ARCHEOLOGIA: TROVATA COLONNA ROMANA IN UN CANTIERE (Espresso) Excavations in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence have revealed remains of a first century theatre: Novità negli scavi sotto Palazzo Vecchio [...]
Etruscan Necropolis from Foggia
A brief item from AdnKronos: An ancient Etruscan cemetery has been uncovered by Italian tax police or Guardia di Finanza in the country’s south during a police investigation to stop tomb robbers. The cemetery or necropolis is believed to date back to the Etruscan civilisation that existed in central and southern Italy from 1,200 BC [...]
Gela Shipwreck?
This is another one from the Italian press which I’ve been hoping would get some notice in the English press, but it doesn’t appear that that will be happening. The Carabinieri have been diving in the sea near Caltanisetta to recover assorted archaeological items which appear to be associated with several periods and several (?) [...]
Finds from Pozzuoli
Most of the coverage of this one — both in Italian and English — is pretty much the same. The site is Rione Terra, which overlooks Pozzuoli. Here’s the coverage from AdnKronos: Archaeologists have unearthed a number of ancient Roman treasures during excavation outside the southern Italian city of Naples. Twelve ancient statues, columns and [...]
