Category: Italy

Greek Necropolis at Gela?

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 1 Comment

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 they may be part of a much larger necropolis identified by Paolo Orsi at the turn of the (20th) century. Here’s the coverage from Il Giornale:

Una necropoli arcaica è stata scoperta a Gela. Sono stati alcuni operai, al lavoro per posare i tubi dell’acquedotto in una zona centrale della città, ad aver trovato i resti. Si tratta di quattro tombe e di un piccolo sarcofago litico. Sono stati inoltre rinvenuti corredi ceramici di tipo corinzio, attico e ionico. Le tombe sarebbero state realizzate fra il quinto e il settimo secolo avanti Cristo, in età greca: il ritrovamento è davvero molto importante. Per questo i lavori di scavo per la condotta idrica sono stati immediatamente interrotti e la zona è ora presidiata 24 ore su 24 ore per impedire ai tombaroli di profanare quel che è affiorato. L’area potrebbe far parte di una più ampia necropoli già individuata ai primi del Novecento dall’archeologo Paolo Orsi durante una campagna di scavi nel vicino quartiere Borgo. Ora si andrà avanti ad esplorare il sottosuolo, con la regia della Sovrintendenza ai Beni culturali di Caltanissetta. E si spera, naturalmente, di trovare, con un briciolo di fortuna, altre testimonianze del passato glorioso di Gela. Le tombe venute alla luce sono del tipo enchytrismos alla cappuccina.

Ancient Skylletium?

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

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 of Calabria, a local town council said Friday.

Alessandro Ciliberto, an architect with a passion for scuba diving, discovered a group of stone blocks around 3-4 metres under water while he was diving 15 metres from the shore near the town of Squillace on Calabria’s east coast.

”Standing out against the sandy seabed there’s a dark-coloured form of around two metres in length and a metre and a half wide which seems to be man-made,” Ciliberto said.

”Continuing to explore the zone a few metres away, I found a white-coloured plinth half a metre high. Further on, there are a pair of stone blocks, one rectangular and of modest dimensions and the other an undefined shape,” he added.

Squillace town council said it was possible that the ruins belonged to the ancient seaside city of Scylletium, founded when southern Italy was a Greek colony.

The town became a Roman colony in 124 BC and was the birthplace of 6th-century Roman writer and statesman Cassiodorus, who claimed that its founder was legendary Greek king Ulysses.

Ruins from the city have previously been found in the nearby town of Roccelletta di Borgia.

Not sure why ‘city remains’ are assumed here; it might be something associated with a shipwreck …

Roman Shipwrecks of Ventotene

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 2 Comments

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 AD, lie more than 100 meters underwater and are amongst the deepest wrecks discovered in the Mediterranean in recent years, the researchers said on Thursday.

[…]

The vessels were transporting wine from Italy, prized fish sauce from Spain and north Africa, and a mysterious cargo of metal ingots from Italy, possibly to be used in the construction of statues or weaponry.

[…]

Due to their depth, the ships have lain untouched for hundreds of years but Gambin said the increasing popularity of deep water diving posed a threat to the Mediterranean’s archaeological treasures.

“There is a race against time,” he said. “In the next 10 years, there will be an explosion in mixed-gas diving and these sites will be accessible to ordinary treasure hunters.”

A few days ago, the primary researcher on this one (Dr. T. Gambin) posted to Ostia-l a link to the project’s webpage, which includes a very nice photogallery of finds. This sonar image of the set should give a sense of how major this find is (those are individual amphorae):

Aurora Trust Photo
Aurora Trust Photo

Finds at Vicus Martis Tudertium

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

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 to many of our readers) are finding some important stuff. From the AGI coverage:

Lungo l’antica Via Flaminia si concentrano le indagini che, come spiegato da Paolo Bruschetti, Ispettore della Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Umbria, ”ha visto una stretta collaborazione tra Soprintendenza, Comune di Massa Martana, Intrageo (impresa archeologica di Todi) e Drew University di Madison, New Jersey”. Agli scavi, sotto la direzione del prof. John Muccigrosso dell’universita’ americana, partecipano studenti americani con l’assistenza di un’equipe italiana. Il sito in esame conferma la presenza di un grande insediamento, una vera citta’ da riportare alla luce e rendere fruibile. Fatto non meno importante consiste nell’ipotesi offerta dalle ultime prospezioni geomagnetiche svolte in collaborazione con il Centro Eccellenza del Dipartimento Uomo e Territorio dell’Universita’ di Perugia.
Queste tecnologie hanno permesso di individuare strutture presenti nel sottosuolo anche a notevoli profondita’. Le prospezioni hanno interessato vaste aree esterne allo scavo e, oltre a stimare in circa 6 ettari la superficie urbanizzata del sito archeologico, fanno ipotizzare che la vecchia Via Flaminia corra all’interno del sito e non davanti, come e’ stato supposto finora dalla presenza e dall’orientamento della chiesa. ”Sotto un canale di drenaggio – ha annunciato il professor Muccigrosso – abbiamo trovato una tomba alla cappuccina”. Questo tipo di tomba era molto comune ed e’ stata usata per secoli, quindi e’ difficile da datare senza altre indicazioni. ”Allo stato attuale delle nostre conoscenze – ha concluso il dott. Bruschetti – il Vicus Martis Tudertium si configura come uno dei siti piu’ importanti della nostra regione”. L’iniziativa, inserita in un piu’ vasto programma di valorizzazione del territorio di Massa Martana e dei comuni di Acquasparta e S. Gemini, situati lungo l’antica Via Flaminia, proseguira’ nello scopo di migliorare la fruizione dei luoghi d’importanza storico-archeologica, ambientale e culturale.

After consulting folks on the Classics list and Twitter, the ‘tomba alla cappuccina’ is what is (apparently) usually translated as a ’tile tent’ burial. The practice was used in several periods and by several cultures, so, as Dr. Muccigrosso says, other evidence will be needed to firmly date the site.

Temple of Antinous?

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

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 einmal als Regierungs- und Wohnsitz Hadrians.

“Dies ist die bedeutendste archäologische Entdeckung seit Jahren in dieser Region”, sagte Anna Maria Reggiani, Chef-Archäologin der Region Lazio.

Hadrian war von 117 bis 138 Kaiser des römischen Imperiums und sorgte in dieser Zeit für wirtschaftlichen Aufschwung und Frieden. Das Interesse der Historiker erlangte er aber auch wegen seiner homosexuellen Neigung.