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La via Salaria rappresenta il collegamento più diretto tra il versante tirrenico e quello medio-adriatico. La sua aderenza alla geo- grafia fisica ne ha determinato una particolare longevità rendendola protagonista della storia di questi territori. Tuttavia il successo di questo sistema itinerario si deve anche alle vie secondarie che garantivano un collegamento diretto tra i numerosi piccoli abitati distribuiti nelle vallate che sfociano sull’Adriatico. Tra queste si segnalano la Salaria Gallica e Picena, che mettevano in comunica- zione le città romane del Picenum e dell’ager Gallicus, collegandosi poi alla via Flaminia. Alcune recenti scoperte archeologiche, avvenute anche grazie all’utilizzo di foto aeree e indagini geofisiche, ci permettono di riconsiderare l’interpretazione e la cronolo- gia di questo sistema viario che parrebbe risalire già all’età repubblicana. Parole chiave: Piceno, agro Gallico, viabilità di età repubblicana The via Salaria is the most direct route between the Tyrrhenian and Middle-Adriatic sides. Its closeness to physical geogra- phy has determined his long-lasting life, becoming a major landmark of landscape history. However, the success of this road system is also due to the secondary paths that guaranteed a straight connection between the various small villages scattered in the valleys that flow into the Adriatic Sea. Among these are the Salaria Gallica and Picena, which connected the Roman towns of Picenum and ager Gallicus and then reached the via Flaminia. Some recent archaeological discoveries, also thanks to aerial photography and geophysical prospection, allow us to reconsider the interpretation and dating of this road system that seems to date back to the Republican age.

Report Scavo 2019 a Monte Rinaldo

Picenum and the Ager Gallicus at the Dawn of the Roman Conquest: Landscape Archaeology and Material Culture is a coherent collection of papers presented at an International Workshop held in Ravenna (Italy) on 13-14 May 2019. The event, organized by the Universities of Bologna and Ghent and Arcadria, focussed on the transition between Italic culture and Romanised society in the central Adriatic area – the regions ager Gallicus and Picenum under Roman dominance – from the fourth to the second centuries BCE. By bringing together the experience of international research on this topic, the volume highlights a period that marks a profound transformation in the whole of central Italy by analysing the relationships between the central settlements and their territories and, more generally, by measuring the impact of early Romanization on the territorial structure, social organization and cultural substrata of populations living here. The volume also discusses methodological aspects regarding best practices in fieldwork, landscape investigation and study of material culture, identifying research lines and perspectives for the future deepening of knowledge in this crucial period of central Adriatic archaeology

The Cesano Valley at the outset of the Roman conquest and the genesis of Suasa

The Suasan agrarian parcelling in light of the new researches · The remains of the ancient Roman city of Suasa, investigated for over 30 years by the University of Bologna, are lo- cated in the middle valley of the Cesano river in the Marche region. The history of the city and its territory can be outlined by analyzing the geomorphological evolution of the valley. The case study of Suasa allows us to reconstruct the genesis of the urban centre as a consequence of the rural settlement and of the previous structuring of the road network and of the agricultural land use, which took place after the Roman conquest of the Gallic countryside (295 B.C.). The physical shape of the valley played a decisive role even in the phases of depopulation and crisis of the hydraulic system accentuated after the end of the Roman era. Although these circum- stances have led to a poor conservation of the centuriation, the continuous monitoring by means of aerial and geophysical surveys, combined with some recent archaeological dis- coveries, allows for a new reconstruction of the centuriatio and more generally of the Roman landscape in the Cesano valley.

La ripresa delle indagini stratigrafiche nella casa di Obellio Firmo a Pompei giunge a compimento di un percorso già av- viato in precedenza, nell’ambito di una più ampia convenzione di ricerca tra il Parco Archeologico di Pompei e l’Università di Bologna. Questo tipo di approccio, che ricorre solo in ultima istanza alla verifica stratigrafica, rientra in una strategia consa- pevole sul piano del metodo, ispirata a esperienze ben più note a livello internazionale

The Urban Landscape of Bakchias: A Town of the Fayyūm from the Ptolemaic-Roman Period to Late Antiquity summarises the results of field research conducted on the archaeological site of Bakchias, located in the north-eastern part of the Fayyūm region. Historical, historico-religious and papyrological studies are also presented. The book provides a clear and comprehensive overview of the rise and fall of the kome of Bakchias. The settlement was a thriving centre from at least the 26th dynasty up until the ninth or tenth centuries CE, although with differing levels of economic prosperity and urban development. Equal weight is given not only to the archaeological and topographical aspects but also to the historical and the religious, whilst never forgetting the relationship between the urban settlement and other villages of the Arsinoite nomos, which is famously a peculiar exception in Egyptian geography.

Report degli scavi 2018 a Monte Rinaldo

The numerous contributions of recent research on the medieval archaeology of the arche region allow us to overcome the lack of archaeological information that has limited studies in the past. Furthermore, this new data collection allows us to draw a more complete synthesis. As a result, we can highlight some phenomena that characterise the evolution of the regional landscape, in the transition between Antiuity and the iddle Ages. Urban archaeology shows how, in the continuously inhabited centres, there was ruralisation in some areas and, in others, the growth of new agglomerations aecting various sectors of ancient cities (Ascoli, Camerino, Cagli). These new urban centres are distributed in signicant points, often connected with the road network that branches o into the surrounding area. Only with urban development of a fully medieval age would many urban areas once again be occupied extensively, often destroying and reusing the remains of the surviving Roman buildings. A dierent destiny characterises some urban centres in low valleys or valley outlets, which were abandoned according to dierent dynamics and at dierent times, dictated above all by environmental changes, with dierent outcomes in each valley (Fossombrone, Suasa, Ostra, Potenza, Cupra). The historical curve of the urban centres and the environmental changes also inuenced the development of the rural population

breve introduzione sull'urbanistica di Agrigento e dell'area del quartiere ellenistico-romano

Nuove ricerche nel municipio romano di Suasa, nell'ager Gallicus, con particolare attenzione alla genesi urbana

La scoperta e i primi scavi del santuario di Monte Rinaldo, nel cuore del Piceno, avvennero alla fine degli anni Cinquanta del secolo scorso e suscitarono subito una certa eco tra gli archeologi, che trovò pronto riscontro in occasione del Colloquio sulla cultura ellenistica in area medio-italica che si tenne a Göttingen del 1974. Tuttavia le ricerche e gli studi successivi, per varie ragioni contingenti, non giunsero mai a far maturare le aspettative degli studiosi e le potenzialità di un sito archeologico straordinario sotto molti aspetti nel panorama medio-adriatico. A questa incompiutezza si tenta ora di dare una prima risposta grazie alle nuove ricerche sistematiche intraprese dall’Università di Bologna e dalla Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio delle Marche, con il supporto del Comune di Monte Rinaldo. Oggi le colonne del portico maggiore, ricostruite per venire incontro al desiderio di restituirne la monumentalità, prima ancora che la ricostruzione filologica, contrastano con il paesaggio agrario circostante suscitando un impatto emotivo che rischia di essere fuorviante. Per comprendere il monumento occorre considerarlo all’interno del territorio e del popolamento coevo, ma bisogna anche cercare di risalire all’originario contesto monumentale e architettonico, conservato nei numerosi documenti d’archivio, ma ora oggetto di nuove indagini stratigrafiche. Solo in tal modo è possibile tornare a indagare questo luogo, all’insegna di approcci e metodi moderni, tracciando nuove ipotesi ricostruttive che lo restituiscano più compiutamente. Sono queste le linee di ricerca di cui si intende dare ragione in questo volume, nella convinzione di avere intrapreso un percorso che potrà segnare altri passi importanti anche in futuro.

The paper presents a view over the last archaeological acquisitions achieved by the Urban Archaeology Project in Asculum, led by the University of Bologna in agreement with the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio delle Marche.

Live and produce: Insula III of the Hellinistic-Roman Quarter

The remains of the Sanctuary of Monte Rinaldo are located in the middle-Adriatic area, along the border between the territories of the Latin Colony of Firmum Pikenum to the north and of the civitas foederata of Asculum to the south. Ancient literary sources recount that Asculum as civitas caput gentis, one of the capital cities of the Pikentes, and that Rome made an agreement with Asculum and the Pikentes during the 3rd century BC, in order to jointly oppose the invasion of the Galli Senoni from the north, and probably the city was still an ally of Rome in the following centuries up to the social civil war at the beginning of the 1st century BC (90 BC). The Sanctuary of Monte Rinaldo was discovered thanks to agricultural activity and has been investigated several times over the last sixty years. In the middle of the last century the collapsed main porticus was discovered and was subsequently rebuilt in the form that we can still see today

Gli imponenti resti delle mura di Phoinike e Butrinto hanno attratto per secoli l’attenzione di visitatori e studiosi. Le ricerche condotte dalla Missione Archeologica Italiana nel secolo scorso hanno posto le basi per gli studi successivi, fondati soprattutto sull’analisi delle tecniche edilizie. I recenti scavi italo-albanesi a Phoinike e i vari progetti internazionali a Butrinto consentono finalmente di rivederne l’interpretazione alla luce dell’archeologia. Si può dunque tentare di mettere a confronto le varie fasi di costruzione delle mura che difendono i due siti epiroti. Se a Butrinto si riscontrano fasi arcaiche e classiche, ignote a Phoinike, con l’età ellenistica emergono alcune affinità legate allo sviluppo della regione sotto la dinastia eacide e poi nel periodo del koinon epitota. Tuttavia alcune considerazioni di carattere storico-archeologico, unite ai pochi dati archeologici in nostro possesso, permettono di rivalutare tale sviluppo urbanistico anche in rapporto con l’arrivo di Roma. The imposing remains of the walls of Phoinike and Butrinto have attracted the attention of visitors and scholars for centuries. The research conducted by the Italian Archaeological Mission in the last century laid the foundations for subsequent studies, based mainly on the analysis of building techniques. The recent Italian-Albanian excavations in Phoinike and the various international projects in Butrinto finally allow us to review the interpretation in the light of archaeology. An attempt can therefore be made to compare the various phases of the construction of the walls that defend the two epirus sites. If in Butrinto there are archaic and classical phases, unknown to Phoinike, with the Hellenistic age emerge some affinities linked to the development of the region under the Eacid dynasty and then in the period of the Epirotic koinon. However, some historical and archaeological considerations, combined with the few archaeological data in our possession, allow us to reassess this urban development also in relation to the arrival of Rome

Over the course of more than thirty years of archaeological investigations conducted by researchers at the University of Bologna on the site of the ancient Roman city of Suasa, in the ager Gallicus (corresponding to today's northern Marche region), three necropolises and a late cemetery were brought to light. The necropolises are located along the main access roads to the city and date between the late Republican and the late Imperial Age. There are both burial burials and incinerations, as well as some funerary monuments from the Julio-Claudian Age. Among these is the recent discovery of the Eastern Necropolis, which housed a few day-cippings in the northern sector and a square lot bounded by stones inscribed in the southern sector. Finally, a cemetery dating back to the late antique and early medieval age was also investigated, planted in the garden of one of the main urban dwellings in the last phases of the city's life. This rich exemplification of burial areas allows us to draw some considerations on the evolution of the funerary culture of this Middle-Adriatic centre over a large part of its historical parable.

Excavations of Bologna Universitu and BSR 2019 at ‘La Cuma’ (Comune di Monte Rinaldo, Provincia di Fermo, Regione Marche)

Picenum and the Ager Gallicus at the Dawn of the Roman Conquest: Landscape Archaeology and Material Culture is a coherent collection of papers presented at an International Workshop held in Ravenna (Italy) on 13-14 May 2019. The event, organized by the Universities of Bologna and Ghent and Arcadria, focussed on the transition between Italic culture and Romanised society in the central Adriatic area – the regions ager Gallicus and Picenum under Roman dominance – from the fourth to the second centuries BCE. By bringing together the experience of international research on this topic, the volume highlights a period that marks a profound transformation in the whole of central Italy by analysing the relationships between the central settlements and their territories and, more generally, by measuring the impact of early Romanization on the territorial structure, social organization and cultural substrata of populations living here. The volume also discusses methodological aspects regarding best practices in fieldwork, landscape investigation and study of material culture, identifying research lines and perspectives for the future deepening of knowledge in this crucial period of central Adriatic archaeology.

Small organic molecules, lipids, proteins, and DNA fragments can remain stable over centuries. Powerful and sensitive chemical analysis can therefore be used to characterize ancient remains for classical archaeological studies. This bio-ecological dimension of archaeology can contribute knowledge about several aspects of ancient life, including social organization, daily habits, nutrition, and food storage. Faecal remains (i.e. coprolites) are particularly interesting in this regard, with scientists seeking to identify new faecal markers. Here, we report the analysis of faecal samples from modern-day humans and faecal samples from a discharge pit on the site of the ruins of ancient Pompeii. We propose that bile acids and their gut microbiota oxo-metabolites are the most specific steroid markers for detecting faecal inputs. This is due to their extreme chemical stability and their exclusive occurrence in vertebrate faeces, compared to other ubiquitous sterols and steroids.

Introduzione al libro e descrizione del progetto editoriale

Within the research agreement between the Pompeii Archaeological Park and the University of Bologna, since 2016 a new research project on the House of Obellio Firmo (IX, 14, 4) has been carrying out, aimed at the comprehension of building complex’s evolution before the crucial date of the 79 AD. With the same objectives of the Plan for Knowledge of the Great Pompeii Project, geophysical and topographical surveys allowed the verification of some research hypotheses, partially derived from previous studies and from new analysis of the architectures and archival documents, as the original division into two housing units, represented by the two existing atriums in the house. In particular, the geophysical mapping in the whole accessible spaces fostered the understanding of the buried evidences regardless of the planimetric segmentation of the house. The presence of significant anomalies referable to buried structures detected in the garden of the peristilium stimulated the opening of trial digs. The archaeological investigations conducted between 2017 and 2018 confirmed the existence of hidden structures distinguished from the domus of Obellio Firmo, and referable to three main phases: 1) the high-imperial structures cut off in order to enlarge the garden, 2) the remains of two buildings of Samnite age and 3) some fragments of structures of archaic period. The structures of the Samnite age seem to confirm the strong phenomenon of urbanization and building occurred between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. The archaic evidence, which represents the most eastern finding in urban area, suggests a planning of the space according to a regular design, in line with the new data emerging from the recent research, that recognize a defined organization of the urban space since the VI sec. BC.

The Butrint Project, coordinated by Belisa Muka (Institute of Archaeology of Tirana) and Enrico Giorgi (University of Bologna), in agreement with the Butrint National Park, is part of the broader program of Italian-Albanian archaeological research in ancient Caonia, an Epirus region corresponding to present southern Albania, directed by Sandro De Maria and Shpresa Gjongecaj. Since 2017 the project has been part of the activities of the Archaeological Mission of the University of Bologna in Butrint, and is financially supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic. The main objectives of the field research were the following: First phase of study and Laser Scanner Relief of the Temple on the Terrace above the Theatre (2015) Critical review of previous bibliographic and archival studies and photographing of the entire wall circuit with particular attention to the problems of degradation. Topographic survey with Laser scanner and mapping of the deterioration of the walls (from 2016 and still in progress). Realisation of targeted stratigraphic surveys (2018)

For a long time the study of the evolution of the Roman landscape of Caonia, the northern region of Epirus, has been overlooked and limited essentially to the territory of Butrint, while the wider studies of this region have often favoured the Hellenistic age. The research of the last few years, however, has opened up new study perspectives that allow to re-evaluate the development of cities such as Phoinike, Butrint and their territories especially in the early Roman age. Similar historical vicissitudes are also observed in other sites in this region. In the early and middle imperial Roman age (at the beginning of the 1st and of the 2nd century AD), there are important developments in urban areas and in the surrounding landscape (such as in the viability and in the agricultural infrastructures). But these dynamics are rooted in the important changes that took place after the end of the Macedonian wars in the 2nd century BC, and maybe before, when Rome looks for the first time in this area of peripheral Greece at the end of the 3rd century BC.

As we all know, the archaeological investigation of a city has always been an issue of great interest for antiquity scholars and it represents one of the traditional research topics of the archaeologists at the University of Bologna, in particular in the mid-Adriatic area. Thanks to the research lead by Sandro De Maria, the interest of the University of Bologna over the last fifteen years has begun to focus more and more on Epirus and in particular on Phoinike. Along with the current digs at this site also many studies of this area have been carried out in order to place this capital city of Epirus in a wider context and to compare its historic parabola with that of other neighboring centers. Here we will try to focus our attention on a few towns of northern Epirus in an extremely preliminary manner, with the aim of presenting the problems, rather than the solutions, to our colleagues. Many of the considerations expressed herein are the result of a constant debate among the members of the Archaeological Mission in Phoinike, led by Sandro De Maria and by Shpresa Gjongekaj. For this reason I will need to share any eventual praise with them, but I take full responsibility for the less convincing hypotheses. The studies of my friend Julian Bogdani frees us from having to examine this topic in relation to the Hellenistic Age and thus allows us to concentrate on the Roman Age of northern Epirus, which corresponds to the territory of ancient Chaonia where the cities of Phoinike, Hadrianopolis and Buthrotum were located

Here we will try to focus our attention on a few towns of northern Epirus in an extremely preliminary manner, with the aim of presenting the problems, rather than the solutions, to our colleagues. Many of the considerations expressed herein are the result of a constant debate among the members of the Archaeological Mission in Phoinike, led by Sandro De Maria and by Shpresa Gjongekaj.

Butrinto: il mito di Enea e l’archeologia italiana

Viaggi e viaggiatori lungo la via Aemilia in età romana

For a long time the study of the landscape of Chaonia (northern region of Epirus) under Roman rule has been focused essentially on the territory of Butrint, while the wider studies of this region have often favoured the Hellenistic age. The research of the last few years has opened up new study perspectives that have allowed us to re-evaluate the development of cities such as Phoinike, Bouthrotum, Hadrianopolis and their territories in the Roman age. Similar historical parables can also be seen in other sites nearby. At the beginning of the 1st and 2nd century AD some important developments took place in urban areas and in the surrounding landscape, when it comes to, for example, the viability and the agricultural infrastructures. These dynamics were part of important changes that took place after the end of the Macedonian wars in the 2nd century BC, and possibly even before, when Rome first got interested in this area of peripheral Greece in the last decades of the 3rd century BC.

For a long time the study of the landscape of Chaonia (northern region of Epirus) under Roman rule has been focused essentially on the territory of Butrint, while the wider studies of this region have often favoured the Hellenistic age. The research of the last few years has opened up new study perspectives that have allowed us to re-evaluate the development of cities such as Phoinike, Bouthrotum, Hadrianopolis and their territories in the Roman age. Similar historical parables can also be seen in other sites nearby. At the beginning of the 1st and 2nd century AD some important developments took place in urban areas and in the surrounding landscape, when it comes to, for example, the viability and the agricultural infrastructures. These dynamics were part of important changes that took place after the end of the Macedonian wars in the 2nd century BC, and possibly even before, when Rome first got interested in this area of peripheral Greece in the last decades of the 3rd century BC.

Campagna di Scavo 2009 dell'Univ. di Bologna a Bakchias

Campagna di scavo 2010 Univ. Bologna a Bakchias

Relazione delle ricerche archeologiche nella città alta di Phoinike in Albania meridionale

The Agrigento: insula III Project began in 2016 thanks to an agreement between the Parco Archeologico e Paesaggistico Valle dei Templi di Agrigento and DiSCi - Bologna University; it aims to document an entire sector of the Hellenistic-Roman quarter, in a three-year period. The main goal is to start a systematic study of private housing from the Archaic period to Late Antiquity and, at the same time, provide a critical understanding of the town planning scheme in this part of the town, which still lacks a modern archaeological and topographical documentation. The interpretation of the previous documentation is the starting point, along with new mapping with laser scanning and a systematic campaign of geophysical investigations to obtain a BIM. As the Bologna University tradition teaches, modern technologies can answer precise historical and archaeological questions: what are the primary phases of the town map? Which one is the starting module of each lot and what are the changes in different ages? Is it possible to reconstruct the original architecture of Hellenistic houses? What is the relationship between this quarter and the rest of the town? The integration of traditional investigational techniques with more recent ones is the methodological assumption of the project, in order to solve the analysis of the complex stratigraphy of the setting, which was inhabited for at least a millennium, from the Archaic to the Middle Ages.

The studies conducted during the last decades on the agrarian divisions of Roman age, within the “ager Gallicus et Picenus” (Marche), finally allow us to trace a new synthesis. Landscape’s change in this middle-adriatic area made by the Roman surveyors was based to a careful reading of the physical geography. They had to keep in mind a predominantly hilly landscape with enough ample lowlands close to the main river mouth, often characterized by a strong instability. Despite it the region was strongly interested by the Roman farming. We identify some elements that link the whole area. Others aspects distinguish the Piceno by the Gallic land. We also notice, indeed, some fundamental historical phases in the Roman history of the region in which we identify the main centuriary assets, as the first on the 3rd century B.C. (beginnings of the Romanization); the 2nd c. B.C. and the Triumviral-Augustean Age (second half of the 1st c. B.C.).

La Missione Archeologica dell’Università di Bologna a Phoinike, antica capitale dell’Epiro, ha sempre affiancato alle indagini stratigrafiche dell’area urbana lo studio del territorio circostante. Di tutti questi studi si è sempre avuto cura di fornire tempestive notizie preliminari. Dopo oltre un decennio di ricerche sul campo si è finalmente giunti al momento della pubblicazione definitiva e questo volume dedicato al territorio inaugura la serie delle monografie fenichiote. L’archeologia del paesaggio nell’attuale Albania meridionale è per certi versi una disciplina ancora giovane, che deve confrontarsi con numerose difficoltà, come quelle del violento cambiamento tuttora in atto. Questo studio affronta il problema soprattutto in rapporto all’epoca ellenistica e romana, senza trascurare il rapporto con le altre fasi storiche. La prima parte del volume è dedicata all’analisi della parabola storica del territorio di Phoinike in età antica, la seconda ai dati archeologici, la terza alle conclusioni tenendo conto del circostante contesto regionale. Il volume ricostruisce le variazioni del paesaggio antico di un'ampia porzione dell'Epiro settentrionale corrispondente all'antica regione della Caonia. Il lavoro si compone di una prima parte che traccia il quadro storico e geografico e ricostruisce analiticamente i cambiamenti del paesaggio (ambiente, popolamento, viabilità)sin dalle fasi più antiche età protostorica, per poi approfondire soprattutto i cambiamenti di età ellenistica e romana, con un breve cenno alle evoluzioni tardo-antiche e alto medievali. Lo sguardo sul lungo periodo, infatti, permette di apprezzare meglio tali variazioni, cercando di far dialogare i dati archeologici, anche inediti (legati agli savi e alle ricognizioni nel territorio di Phoinike), con gli studi di carattere ambientale e con altre metodologie tipiche delle indagini sul territorio (toponomastica, analisi della cartografia storica e degli itinerari antichi). si tratta di metodologie consolidate che, tuttavia, per la prima volta vengono applicate in questo contesto geografico e che portano a nuove interpretazioni, come quelle sulla centuriazione romana nelle valli del Drinos e della Bistrica,, che aprono una linea di ricerca innovativa. la seconda comprende il catalogo dei siti che comprendono la Carta Archeologica della Caonia. Si tartta dell'edizione tradizionale del database SIARC (Sistema Informativo Archeologico della Caonia), che mette per la prima volta a disposizione degli studiosi, in una lingua più accessibile, informazioni omogenee su siti noti quasi solo alla bibliografia specialistica albanese. Tutti i siti sono stati oggetto di verifica sul posto, con la produzione di nuova documentazione fotografica, e sono comprese anche le schede dei siti inediti scoperti con le nuove ricognizioni. La sezione comprende anche l'edizione dello scavo archeologico e dei reperti del sito rurale di Matomara. La terza parte contiene considerazioni metodologiche, con la presentazione dei repertori cartografici utilizzati e le considerazioni finali con la rilettura integrale dei dati seguendo alcuni temi di studio di particolare rilevanza, come la genesi urbana in Epiro.