Category: Archaeology

A Nice Mosaic is Emerging …

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

from the earth near Didymoteicho  … Greek Reporter has the details:

A series of well-preserved archaeological finds have been discovered during this year’s excavations at what has been identified as the ancient Plotinopolis, situated in the outskirts of modern-day Didymoteicho, northeastern Greece. Plotinopolis was a Roman city founded by the Roman Emperor Traianus, who named it after his wife Plotini.

The hill of Aghia Petra, just outside Didymoteicho, has been the focus of archaeological interest since before World War II, while in 1965 a golden forged bust of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus was found there. From 1965 onward, the 19th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities has been conducting systematic excavations in the area.

The mosaics unearthed, form part of the floor of a typical Roman triclinium, the formal dining room in Roman houses. Monstrous ichtyocentaurs and Nereids are depicted in the mosaic unearthed, along with portrayals of the God of Eurus River and Plotini.

The leader of the excavations, archaeologist Matthaios Koutsoumanis, describes the findings as: “both (creatures) are seated on a dolphin, and one of them is holding a scarf over the head like a ‘peplos’. It is certain by now that the scene with the Eurus River and Plotini is not the only one, as a second panel is coming to light. (…) Next year’s excavation has a lot of surprises in store for us.” That could make Plotinopolis one of the biggest excavations in the region of Thrace.

… a small photo accompanies the original article. There appear to be more photos here (I’m inferring) but the source isn’t clear …

Back in 2005, there was a brief overviewish piece on the finds (up till then, of course) in Plotinopolis:

Breaking (sort of): Original Port of Ostia Found

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

French and Italian archaeologists have located the site of the original port of Rome (i.e. Ostia), which has been much disputed over the years. The English coverage of this really doesn’t do the original press release from the CNRS justice, so to quickly summarize, they took core samples from a site near the Imperial Palace northwest of Portus and found a succession of sediment which matches nicely ancient accounts of the original site silting up. Here’s the original press release:

Le premier port antique de Rome enfin retrouvé
Si les archéologues avaient mis au jour les grands monuments antiques d’Ostie, restait à découvrir l’emplacement du port qui alimentait Rome en blé. Grâce à des carottages sédimentaires, ce port « perdu » vient enfin d’être localisé au nord-ouest de la cité d’Ostie, en rive gauche de l’embouchure du Tibre. La stratigraphie révèle également qu’à sa fondation, entre le IVe et le IIe s. avant J.-C., le bassin était profond de 6 m, soit la profondeur d’un grand port maritime. Ces recherches ont été réalisées par une équipe franco-italienne de la Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée (CNRS/ Université Lumière Lyon 2), de l’Ecole Française de Rome et de la Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma – Sede di Ostia (1) et sont publiées dans les Chroniques des Mélanges de l’Ecole Française de Rome du mois de décembre 2012.
D’après les textes anciens, Ostie a été fondée par Ancus Marcius, le quatrième roi de Rome. L’objectif était triple : donner à Rome un débouché à la mer, assurer son ravitaillement en blé et en sel et enfin, empêcher une flotte ennemie de remonter le Tibre. Les fouilles archéologiques ont montré que le noyau urbain initial (castrum) remonte au plus tôt au tournant du IVe s. et IIIe s av. J.-C. Si les grands édifices antiques et les principales voies ont été progressivement mis au jour, l’emplacement du port fluvial d’embouchure d’Ostie restait inconnu à ce jour. Pour certains, ce dernier était considéré comme un port perdu à jamais. En effet, depuis la Renaissance, de nombreuses tentatives de localisation du port d’Ostie ont été entreprises, sans succès. Il faut attendre les XIXe et XXe siècle pour que des archéologues italiens définissent un secteur au nord-ouest de la ville, proche du Palais Impérial. Au début du XXIe siècle, les archéologues confirment la probable localisation du bassin, dans ce secteur nord, grâce à l’utilisation d’instruments géomagnétiques. Mais il n’y avait toujours pas consensus sur la localisation exacte du port et le débat restait vif.

Une équipe franco-italienne dirigée par Jean-Philippe Goiran, chercheur au laboratoire Archéorient (CNRS/ Université Lumière Lyon 2), a donc tenté de vérifier définitivement l’hypothèse d’un port au nord grâce à un nouveau carottier géologique. Bénéficiant des derniers progrès technologiques, celui-ci permet de dépasser le problème de la nappe d’eau phréatique qui empêchait les fouilles archéologiques traditionnelles de descendre au-delà de 2m de profondeur.

Les carottes sédimentaires obtenues ont ainsi permis de mettre au jour une stratigraphie complète sur une profondeur de 12 m et une évolution en 3 étapes :

1.La strate la plus profonde, antérieure à la fondation d’Ostie, indique que la mer était présente dans ce secteur au début du Ier millénaire av. J.-C.

2.Une strate médiane, riche en sédiments argilo-limoneux de couleur grise, qui caractérise un faciès portuaire. Les calculs donnent une profondeur de 6 m au bassin au début de son fonctionnement, daté entre le IVe et le IIe s. avant J.-C. Considéré jusqu’alors comme un port essentiellement fluvial, ne pouvant accueillir que des bateaux à faible tirant d’eau, le port d’Ostie bénéficiait en réalité d’un bassin profond susceptible d’accueillir de grands navires maritimes ; c’est ce qu’a montré la mesure de la profondeur.

3.Enfin, la strate la plus récente témoigne de l’abandon du bassin à l’époque romaine impériale par des accumulations massives d’alluvions. Grâce aux datations au radiocarbone, il est possible d’en déduire qu’une succession d’épisodes de crues majeures du Tibre est venue colmater définitivement le bassin portuaire d’Ostie entre le IIe s. av. JC et le premier quart de siècle ap. J.-C. (et ce, malgré d’éventuelles phases de curage). A cette période, la profondeur du bassin est inférieure à 1 m et rend toute navigation impossible. Ces résultats sont en accord avec le discours du géographe Strabon (58 av. J.-C. – 21/25 ap. J.-C.) qui indique un comblement du port d’Ostie par des sédiments du Tibre à son époque. Il a alors été abandonné au profit d’un nouveau complexe portuaire construit à 3km au nord de l’embouchure du Tibre, du nom de Portus.

Cette découverte du bassin portuaire d’embouchure d’Ostie, au nord de la ville et à l’ouest du Palais Impérial, va permettre de mieux comprendre les liens entre Ostie, son port et la création ex-nihilo de Portus, commencé en 42 ap. J.-C et achevé sous Néron en 64 ap. J.-C. Ce gigantesque port de 200 ha deviendra alors le port de Rome et le plus grand jamais construit par les romains en Méditerranée.

Entre l’abandon du port d’Ostie et le lancement des opérations de construction de Portus, les chercheurs estiment ainsi que près de 25 ans se sont écoulés. Comment Rome, capitale du monde antique, et première ville à atteindre un million d’habitant, était-elle alimentée en blé durant cette période ? La question se pose à présent aux chercheurs.

Notes :

(1) Ces travaux ont été également menés en collaboration avec la Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme (CNRS/ Aix-Marseille Université), l’Universita Roma 3, la chaire de l’Institut Universitaire de France de P. Arnaud et ont reçu le soutien de l’ANR.
Références :

J.-Ph. Goiran, F. Salomon, E. Pleuger, C. Vittori, I. Mazzini, G. Boetto, P. Arnaud, A. Pellegrino, décembre 2012, “Résultats préliminaires de la première campagne de carottages dans le port antique d’Ostie”, Chroniques des Mélanges de l’Ecole Française de Rome, vol. n°123-2.

… the original article is accompanied by a photo which doesn’t really add or detract from the piece (looks like a nice Italian field).

If you want an example of the English coverage, here’s AFP via PhysOrg:

French and Italian archaeologists have found the remains of a grain port that played a critical role in the rise of ancient Rome, France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said on Thursday. Cores drilled at a location at the mouth of the River Tiber have revealed the site of a port whose existence has been sought for centuries, it said in a press release. The port lies northwest of Ostia, which was established by Rome as a fortress gateway to enable trade to pass upriver towards the city and prevent pirates and marauders. The evidence points to a port established between the fourth and second century BC and had a depth of six metres (20 feet), making it accessible to sea-going vessels, the CNRS said. Rome emerged as the prime power of the Mediterranean thanks in part to trade. It imported huge amounts of wheat, especially from Egypt. In the first century AD, the grain port at Ostia was superseded by a giant installation covering 200 hectares (500 acres) at Portus.

… and as long as we’re talking about Ostia, I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned the excellent Ostia Antica website …

Roman ‘Chianti’ Research

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

From an FSU press release:

Call it a toast to the past.

A Florida State University classics professor whose decades of archaeological work on a remote hilltop in Italy have dramatically increased understanding of the ancient Etruscan culture is celebrating yet another find.

This time around it’s not the usual shards of pottery and vessels, remnants of building foundations or other ancient artifacts unearthed in past years, but rather a treasure that’s far more earthy: grape seeds.

Actually, Nancy Thomson de Grummond has discovered some 150 waterlogged grape seeds that have some experts in vineyard-grape DNA sequencing very excited.

The tiny grape seeds, unearthed during a dig this past summer in Cetamura del Chianti, were discovered in a well and are probably from about the 1st century A.D., roughly about the time the Romans inhabited what is now Italy’s Chianti region. The seeds could provide “a real breakthrough” in the understanding of the history of Chianti vineyards in the area, de Grummond said.

“We don’t know a lot about what grapes were grown at that time in the Chianti region,” she said. “Studying the grape seeds is important to understanding the evolution of the landscape in Chianti. There’s been lots of research in other vineyards but nothing in Chianti.”

Nearly every summer since 1983, de Grummond, the M. Lynette Thompson Professor of Classics, has shepherded teams of enthusiastic Florida State students into Italy’s Tuscany region to participate in archaeological digs at Cetamura del Chianti, a site once inhabited by the Etruscans and later by ancient Romans.

Over the years, she and her students have unearthed numerous artifacts that have reshaped current knowledge of the religious practices and daily lives of a long-gone people.

De Grummond is a leading scholar on the religious practices of the Etruscans, a people whose culture profoundly influenced the ancient Romans and Greeks. Her book “Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend,” the first comprehensive account of Etruscan mythology, was published in 2006. She also co-wrote another book, “The Religion of the Etruscans,” with fellow Etruscan scholar Erika Simon; that book was published the same year.

The Etruscans, who once ruled most of the Italian peninsula, were conquered and absorbed by the Romans in the second and first centuries B.C.E. (“Before the Common Era”). Prior to that time, however, they were a highly advanced civilization that constructed roads, buildings and sewer systems and developed the first true cities in Europe. They also built large, complex religious sanctuaries.

De Grummond, who next summer will celebrate her 30th anniversary of taking Florida State students on research trips to Cetamura, said that fellow scholars at the site now include professors who were her former students at FSU. And those professors are now leading their own teams of students.

“We’re now getting the ‘grand-students,’” de Grummond said — a fond reference to the third generation of researchers she now works with in Cetamura.

Florida State’s international archaeological summer program in Italy features field trips to sites and museums that help enrich students’ knowledge of the cultures under excavation at Cetamura. It’s open to all interested students and is particularly recommended for students majoring in anthropology, art history and classics. Learn more about the program at http://international.fsu.edu/Types/College/Italy/Cetamura/Archaeology.aspx.

De Grummond said researchers in southern France who are compiling a database of vineyard seeds will study the grape seeds from this year’s dig.

“It’s kind of hard for me as an art historian who studies religion to think that these grape seeds might be my finest hour,” de Grummond said with a laugh. “But they might be.” […]

via: Classics professor unearths archaeological clues about ancient Roman vineyards

First Tartan? I Hae Me Doots

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hype for a documentary airing on BBC this Friday:

Remnants of a Roman statue in North Africa could be the “first-ever depiction of tartan”, according to a BBC Scotland documentary.

A piece of a bronze statue of the Emperor Caracalla contains the small figure of a Caledonian warrior wearing what appears to be tartan trews.

The third century Roman emperor Caracalla styled himself as the conqueror of the Caledonians.

A statue marking his achievements stood in the Moroccan city of Volubilis.

It stood above a great archway in the ancient city, which lay in the south west of the Roman empire, 1,500 miles from Caledonia – modern day Scotland.

A small piece of cloak from the monument still survives at the archaeological museum in Rabat in Morocco.

“It includes an early depiction of that great national stereotype – the long-haired Caledonian warrior,” says Dr Fraser Hunter, who presents the BBC Scotland programme.

The warrior is wearing checked leggings which, according to Dr Hunter, is “the first-ever depiction of tartan”.

It is thought the Celts have been weaving plaid twills for thousands of years and this is the earliest representation.

Dr Hunter adds: “The shield too is Celtic in style. You can see the warrior’s head with the cloak over the shoulders. The arms are bound behind the back.

“This guy is a captive. He’s a prisoner from the vicious campaigns of Severus and Caracalla.”

Septimius Severus, Caracalla’s father, led massive military campaigns into 3rd century Scotland.

The mighty Roman legions had conquered all before them but they stuttered to a halt when they took on the tribes of Iron Age Scotland.

Caracalla carried on his father’s fight, waging a brutal campaign.

Dr Hunter says prisoners could have been force-marched for months to other parts of the empire.

“They were living trophies of the emperor’s success. Some might have been traded as slaves in the great markets. Others would have been even less fortunate.”

Dr Hunter points to a mosaic from Tunisia which shows how one unfortunate Caledonian met his end.

“Captured, marched for months to this desert province, sent to the amphitheatre and killed by wild animals as exotic entertainment for the locals,” says Dr Hunter.

The expert says we have long had a curious “rather cuddly” relationship with the Romans.

“In the western world we often see ourselves as inheritors of Roman values and Roman culture,” he says.

“But this evidence from North Africa reminds us that the Romans were invaders and colonisers.

“Their strategies encompassed everything up to and including genocide.

“For the local tribes the Roman arrival in what we call Scotland must have been absolutely terrifying.”

The report includes a short excerpt from the doc and a quick view of the bits that supposedly show the tartan. I spent some time looking for a photo, but came up empty and for the life of me, I can’t see ‘tartan’ in what is in that photo. Whatever the case, amicus noster Adrian Murdoch expresses doubts over at Bread and Circuses rather more clearly than I could:

Very Interesting Helmet from Kent

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

From a University of Kent news release:

The department of Classical and Archaeological Studies at the University of Kent has helped confirm a helmet unearthed in Kent dates back to the 1st century BC.

The helmet, found in farmland near Canterbury in September, is made of bronze and was discovered alongside a brooch by an amateur metal detectorist.

Working with Canterbury Archaeological Trust, the helmet has been carefully scanned by archaeologists at Kent using state-of-the-art technology to help define the history of the object.

Using a high resolution contactless scanner, the team have been able to see small hammer indentations in the helmet. The scanner also produces digital pictures helping to reveal intricate details often hidden by colour variations on the helmet’s surface.

Dr Steven Willis, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and an expert in Iron Age and Roman Britain, said: ‘We are delighted to be able to assist with such a remarkable find for Canterbury and the local area. Using laser-scanning technology, which has become an essential part of the conservation of objects, we have been able to analyse the helmet from a distance and unlock many details, such as the manufacture, decoration and use.

‘This sort of emerging technology allows the rapid production of accurate and high-resolution digital 3D models of archaeological artefacts, minimising the potential harm associated with the repeated handling of these often fragile objects. The technology also ensures any details potentially overlooked by the naked eye are also highlighted.’

‘The secrets of this helmet are only just beginning to emerge but we will know much more as the work progresses. More or less intact helmets of this era are very rare finds, one used as a cremation container, as with this example, is known from Belgium’, Dr Willis added.

Due to the discovery’s archaeological significance, which includes two prehistoric metal objects found together, the find has been registered under the Treasure Act (1996). The objects have been reported to the Coroner and will remain at the British Museum where a special report will be prepared.

Julia Farley, Iron Age curator at the British Museum said: ‘This is a very exciting find, one of only a handful of Iron Age helmets to have been found in Britain. In Late Iron Age Kent, it was not unusual to bury the cremated remains of the dead in a bag fastened with one or more brooches, but no other cremation has ever been found accompanied by a helmet.

‘The owner of this helmet, or the people who placed it in the grave, may have lived through the very beginning of the story of Roman Britain.’

It is hoped that Canterbury Museum will be able to acquire the finds so they can be permanently displayed in Kent. The person who found the treasure has wished to remain anonymous.

The release includes a decent photo:

University of Kent photo
University of Kent photo

There’s a similar (I think) helmet in the British Museum …