The nEU-Med project: Vetricella, an Early Medieval royal property on Tuscany&#39;s Mediterranean edited by Giovanna Bianchi and Richard Hodges, Florence, 2020

Richard Hodges; Giovanna Bianchi

Rovelli, A., The coins from the excavations of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto). Notes on the Pavese issues of Berengar I, in <em>The nEU-Med project : Vetricella, an early medieval royal property on Tuscany's Mediterranean</em>, a cura di G. Bianchi e R. Hodges, Firenze 2020, pp. 89-97. ISBN : 978-88-7814-971-7

"The complex events that affected the findings from the large Early Iron Age cemeteries of Vetulonia account for the scarcity of publications concerning these finds to date, in spite of the high number of excavated graves. The fieldwork was carried out mainly by Isidoro Falchi in the late 19th century and the grave goods were deposited at the Archaeological Museum of Florence, where the serious flood of 1966 damaged the objects and led to uncertainties about the original associations. These events stress the importance of adding to the available documentation the finds from the large Villanovan necropolis of Colle Baroncio forming the Guidi Collection, which were stored at the Archaeological Museum of Grosseto. Although constituted by out-of-context items, this group of finds can increase knowledge of Early Iron Age Vetulonia and allow observations to be made concerning the connections with different centres in its early stages. In anticipation of an overall publication of the finds, three decorated cinerary urns are discussed here, and the role played by artisans in the circulation of pottery and metal types is considered. Furthermore, the data can provide evidence of the links between Vetulonia and Vulci during the Early Iron Age, with particular reference to the Tomb of the Sardinian Bronzes."

Le origini della città fortificata di Mdina risalgono al periodo romano, anche se i suoi attuali confini furono definiti durante l'occupazione araba di Malta (870-1090 c.). In epoca medievale, durante il dominio aragonese (1283-1530), Mdina o la Città Notabile come era allora conosciuta, fiorì e prosperò come il principale insediamento urbano dell'isola. Tuttavia, con l'arrivo sull'isola dell'Ordine di San Giovanni, nel corso del XVI e XVII secolo Mdina declinò e perse la sua preminenza politica ed economica a vantaggio della nuova "Città dell'Ordine", Valletta. Questo contributo esamina l'impatto del terremoto del 1693 sulla città e l'impegno profuso dalla Chiesa locale nell'opera di ricostruzione nel tentativo di consolidarne il prestigio di antica sede episcopale. La ricostruzione della vecchia cattedrale medievale e la nuova edificazione del palazzo vescovile, e più tardi del seminario, fu parte integrante di una impresa architettoni...

Biblioteca di The nEU-Med project: Vetricella, an Early Medieval royal property on Tuscany’s Mediterranean project UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI SIENA edited by Giovanna Bianchi, Richard Hodges All’Insegna del Giglio BIBLIOTECA DI 28   Cultura materiale. Insediamenti. Territorio. Rivista fondata da Riccardo Francovich Comitato di Direzione Sauro Gelichi (responsabile) (Dipartimento Gian Pietro Brogiolo (già Università degli di Studi Umanistici – Università Ca’ FoStudi di Padova) scari di Venezia) Comitato Scientifico Lanfredo Castelletti (già Direttore dei Musei Civici di Como) Rinaldo Comba (già Università degli Studi di Milano) Paolo Delogu (Professore emerito, Sapienza Università di Roma) Richard Hodges (President of the American University of Rome) Antonio Malpica Cuello (Departamento Carlo Varaldo (Dipartimento di antichità, de Historia – Universidad de Granada) filosofia, storia, geografia – Università Ghislaine Noyé (École nationale des chartes) degli Studi di Genova) Paolo Peduto (già Università degli Studi Chris Wickham (già Faculty of History – di Salerno) University of Oxford) Juan Antonio Quirós Castillo (Departamento de Geografía, Prehistoria y Arqueología de la Universidad del País Vasco) Redazione Andrea Augenti (Dipartimento di Storia Cristina La Rocca (Dipartimento di Scienze Culture Civiltà – Università degli Studi storiche, geografiche e dell’antichità – Unidi Bologna) versità degli Studi di Padova) Giovanna Bianchi (Dipartimento di Scienze Marco Milanese (Dipartimento di Storia, Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università Scienze dell’uomo e della Formazione – degli Studi di Siena) Università degli Studi di Sassari) Enrico Giannichedda (Istituto per la Alessandra Molinari (Dipartimento di Storia della Cultura Materiale di Genova Storia – Università degli Studi di Roma [ISCuM]) Tor Vergata) Corrispondenti Paul Arthur (Dipartimento di Beni Culturali – Università degli Studi di Lecce) Volker Bierbrauer (Professore emerito, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) Hugo Blake (già Royal Holloway – University of London) Maurizio Buora (Società friulana di archeologia) Federico Cantini (Dipartimento di Civiltà e Forme del Sapere – Università degli Studi di Pisa) Gisella Cantino Wataghin (già Università del Piemonte Orientale) Enrico Cavada (Soprintendenza per i beni librari, archivistici e archeologici – Trento) Neil Christie (School of Archaeology and Ancient History – University of Leicester) Mauro Cortelazzo (Archeologo libero professionista) Fr ancesco Cuteri (AISB, Associazione Italiana Studi Bizantini) Lorenzo Dal Ri (già Direttore ufficio Beni archeologici – Provincia autonoma di Bolzano Alto Adige) Franco D’Angelo (già Direttore del Settore Cultura e della Tutela dell’Ambiente della Provincia di Palermo) Alessandra Frondoni (già Soprintendenza Archeologia della Liguria) Caterina Giostra (Dipartimento di Storia, archeologia e storia dell’arte – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) Federico Marazzi (Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa) Roberto Meneghini (Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali) Egle Micheletto (direttore della Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Province di Alessandria, Asti e Cuneo) Massimo Montanari (Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà – Università degli Studi di Bologna) Giovanni Murialdo (Museo Archeologico del Finale – Finale Ligure Borgo SV) Claudio Negrelli (Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici – Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia) Michele Nucciotti (Dipartimento di Storia, Archeologia, Geografia, Arte e Spettacolo – Università degli Studi di Firenze) Gabriella Pantò (Musei Reali di Torino – Museo di Antichità) Helen Patterson (già British School at Rome) Luisella Pejrani Baricco (già Soprintendenza Archeologia del Piemonte e del Museo Antichità Egizie) Sergio Nepoti (responsabile sezione scavi in Italia) (Archeologo libero professionista) Aldo A. Settia (già Università degli Studi di Pavia) Marco Valenti (Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università degli Studi di Siena) Guido Vannini (Dipartimento di Storia, Archeologia, Geografia, Arte e Spettacolo – Università degli Studi di Firenze) Philippe Pergola (LAM3 – Laboratoire d’Archéologie Médiévale et Moderne en Méditerranée – Université d’Aix-Marseille CNRS/Pontificio istituto di acheologia cristiana) Renato Perinetti (già Soprintendenza per i Beni e le Attività Culturali della Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta) Giuliano Pinto (già Università degli Studi di Firenze) Marcello Rotili (Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli) Daniela Rovina (Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le Province di Sassari, Olbia-Tempio e Nuoro) Lucia Saguì (già Sapienza Università di Roma) Piergiorgio Spanu (Dipartimento di Storia, Scienze dell’uomo e della Formazione – Università degli Studi di Sassari) Andrea R. Staffa (Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio dell’Abruzzo) Daniela Stiaffini (Archeologa libera professionista) Stanisław Tabaczyński (Polskiej Akademii Nauk) Bryan Ward Perkins (History Faculty – Trinity College University of Oxford) The nEU-Med project: Vetricella, an Early Medieval royal property on Tuscany’s Mediterranean edited by Giovanna Bianchi, Richard Hodges with contributions by Alexander Agostini, Veronica Aniceti, Giovanna Bianchi, Arianna Briano, Mauro Paolo Buonincontri, Isabella Carli, Letizia Castelli, Cristina Cicali, Luisa Dallai, Gaetano Di Pasquale, Alessio Fiore, Bernard Gratuze, Richard Hodges, Lorenzo Marasco, Pierluigi Pieruccini, Marta Rossi, Alessia Rovelli, Luisa Russo, Davide Susini, Serena Viva, Vanessa Volpi All’Insegna del Giglio Cover: Aerial view of excavations at Vetricella (Scarlino, GR) (photo nEU-Med project). Unless otherwise specified, all photos are by the authors of the individual articles. Italian to English translation Alexander Agostini for contributions: Introduction by G. Bianchi, R. Hodges The stratigraphic sequence at the site of Vetricella (8th-13th centuries): a revised interpretation by L. Marasco, A. Briano The coins from the excavations of Vetricella. Notes on the issues of Berengar I by the mint at Pavia by A. Rovelli The Medieval coins from Vetricella: the stratigraphic context by C. Cicali, L. Marasco Burials from the cemetery at Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): anthropological, paleodemographic and paleopathological analyses by S. Viva Rural public courts for an economic history of the Kingdom of Italy (10 th and 11th centuries): an archaeological survey by G. Bianchi Virna Pigolotti for contributions: Archaeological and geochemical surveys in the Pecora Valley: the first results by L. Dallai, I. Carli, V. Volpi Simonetta Ceglia for contributions: Single fired glazed ceramics and colature rosse from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): typological study and first thermoluminescence analysis (TL) by A. Briano The coarse, fine and selezionata wares from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): a comparative analysis of two contexts by L. Russo Glass artefacts from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) by L. Castelli Sergio Knipe for contributions: The Knots and the Nets: Fisc, Rural Estates and Cities in the Written Sources (Northern Italy, c. 800-1000) by A. Fiore English to Italian translation Simonetta Ceglia for contributions: The blue and bluish green glass sherds, decorated with opaque white glass strands, discovered at Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): analytical study by B. Gratuze Defining the archaeology of Bloch’s first Feudal Age. Implications of Vetricella Phases I and II for the making of Medieval Italy (8th-9 th centuries) by R. Hodges This volume has been subjected to double-blind peer review. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement n. 670792) 13897-P del 21/05/2018 ISSN 2035-5319 ISBN 978-88-7814-971-7 e-ISBN 978-88-7814-988-5 © 2020 All’Insegna del Giglio s.a.s. via Arrigo Boito, 50-52; 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI) tel. +39 055 6142 675 e-mail redazione@insegnadelgiglio.it; ordini@insegnadelgiglio.it sito web www.insegnadelgiglio.it Printed in Sesto Fiorentino (FI), April 2020 Tecnografica Rossi CONTENTS THE NEU-MED PROJECT: VETRICELLA, AN EARLY MEDIEVAL ROYAL PROPERTY ON TUSCANY’S MEDITERR ANEAN IL PROGETTO NEU-MED:VETRICELLA, UNA CORTE REGIA ALTOMEDIEVALE NELLA TOSCANA MEDITERR ANEA Italian abstracts Giovanna Bianchi, Richard Hodges Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Lorenzo Marasco, Arianna Briano The stratigraphic sequence at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): a revised interpretation (8th-13th centuries) . . . . 9 La sequenza stratigrafica nel sito di Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): una nuova lettura interpretativa (VIII-XIII secolo) . . 21 Davide Susini, Pierluigi Pieruccini Preliminary Geoarchaeological results from the Intermediate ring-shaped ditch at the archaeological site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Risultati preliminari dalla ricerca geoarcheologica nel fossato intermedio di Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) . . . . . . . 30 Alexander Agostini The metal finds from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): preliminary results from the study of an Early Medieval assemblage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 I reperti in metallo dal sito di Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto). Risultati preliminari dallo studio di un repertorio altomedievale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Arianna Briano Single fired glazed ceramics and colature rosse from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): typological study and first thermoluminescence analysis (TL). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Ceramiche invetriate in monocottura e colature rosse dal sito della Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): studio tipologico e prime analisi di Termoluminescenza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Luisa Russo The coarse, fine and selezionata wares from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): a comparative analysis of two contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 La ceramica acroma grezza, depurata e semidepurata dall’insediamento di Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): due contesti a confronto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Letizia Castelli Glass artefacts from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 I vetri dal sito di Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Bernard Gratuze The blue and bluish green glass sherds, decorated with opaque white glass strands, discovered at Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): analytical study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 I frammenti di vetro blu e verde bluastro, decorati con fili di vetro bianco opaco, scoperti a Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): studio analitico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Alessia Rovelli The coins from the excavations of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto). Notes on the Pavese issues of Berengar I . . . . . . . . 89 Le monete dallo scavo di Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto). Note su di un assemblaggio di denari di Berengario I dalla zecca di Pavia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Lorenzo Marasco, Cristina Cicali The Medieval coins from Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): the stratigraphic context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Le monete medievali dal sito di Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): il contesto stratigrafico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Serena Viva Burials from the cemetery at Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): anthropological, paleodemographic and paleopathological analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Le sepolture del cimitero di Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): indagine antropologica, paleodemografica e paleopatologica . .119 Veronica Aniceti The zooarchaeological analyses from Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): an overview of animal exploitation at the site. . . 121 Analisi zooarcheologiche da Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): una panoramica sullo sfruttamento animale nel sito . . . 129 Mauro Paolo Buonincontri, Marta Rossi, Gaetano Di Pasquale Medieval forest use and management in Southern Tyrrhenian Tuscany: archaeo-anthracological research at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) (AD 750-1250) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Uso e gestione delle foreste medievali nella Toscana tirrenica meridionale: ricerche archeoantracologiche nel sito della Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) (750-1250 d.C.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Luisa Dallai, Isabella Carli, Vanessa Volpi Archaeological and geochemical surveys in the Pecora Valley: the first results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Ricognizioni archeologiche e geochimiche nella valle del Pecora: primi risultati . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Pierluigi Pieruccini, Davide Susini The Holocene sedimentary record and the landscape evolution along the coastal plains of the Pecora and Cornia rivers (Southern Tuscany, Italy): preliminary results and future perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Il record sedimentario olocenico e l’evoluzione del paesaggio lungo le pianure costiere dei fiumi Pecora e Cornia (Toscana meridionale, Italia): risultati preliminari e prospettive future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 * * * Richard Hodges Defining the archaeology of Bloch’s first Feudal Age. Implications of Vetricella Phases I and II for the making of Medieval Italy (8th-9th centuries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Verso una definizione dell’archeologia della prima età feudale di Bloch. Lo sviluppo del sito di Vetricella nei Periodi I e II per un contributo alla definizione dell’Italia Medievale (VIII-IX secolo) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Giovanna Bianchi Rural public properties for an economic history of the Kingdom of Italy (10th and 11th centuries): an archaeological survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Corti pubbliche rurali per una storia economica del Regno d’Italia (X e XI secolo): una ricognizione archeologica . . . 195 Alessio Fiore The Knots and the Nets: Fisc, Rural Estates and Cities in the Written Sources (Northern Italy, c. 800-1000) . . . . . 197 I nodi e le Reti: Fisco, proprietà rurali e città nelle fonti scritte (Nord Italia, IX-X secolo) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Giovanna Bianchi, Richard Hodges INTRODUCTION cant materials gathered during fieldwork activities, namely: finds in metal (Agostini), ceramic (Russo, of which, due to the significant recorded numbers, an analysis is presented of two specific contexts), glass (Castelli) with relative archaeometric analyses (Gratuze), coins (Rovelli and Marasco, Cicali), faunal remains (Aniceti) and anthropological evidence recorded in the site’s burial area (Viva). The picture is then extended further to the territory around the site with the reconstruction, by way of archaeobothanical analysis, of the forest cover and agricultural environment surrounding Vetricella (Buonincontri, Rossi, Di Pasquale). The Val di Pecora and adjacent Val di Cornia are instead at the centre of two articles, the first dedicated to archaeological and chemical surveys (Dallai, Carli, Volpi), the second (Pieruccini, Susini) centered on the geomorphological characteristics of the original coastal lagoons developing in correspondence with the mouth of the two rivers that provide the aforementioned valleys with their name. The volume ends with three contributions (Hodges; Bianchi; Fiore) in which, following a chronological sequence that covers the period between the 9th and 11th centuries, the case of Vetricella is placed within broader themes and contexts by way of comparative analysis, making extensive use of material sources in the first two contributions and documentary ones in the article by Alessio Fiore. The complexity and volume of evidence recorded in the last two years of research means that almost all the contributions should be considered as preliminary studies, necessary to trace an overall picture in this volume that will be followed by future monographs for the detailed analysis of the single discussed topics. This second volume dedicated to the nEU-Med project is centered on the site of Vetricella and its territory, an important royal property that preserved this status until the end of the 11th century, when the function of the site started to be only occasionally frequented before its definitive abandonment in the following centuries. Vetricella is the project’s key site, at the centre of a sample area selected for more in-depth research because it represents a territory type exemplifying many other coastal landscapes of the Early Medieval western Mediterranean. Thanks to the evidence garnered from research carried out in this context it was possible to locate interpretative markers that have enabled us to lay for new lines of enquiry and review previously acquired data from past research, set in a wider picture that goes beyond Tuscany encompassing the whole Kingdom of Italy. Fieldwork carried out in 2018, followed by a smaller excavation campaign in July 2019, has in fact delivered new evidence, providing a more certain interpretation of the material culture read through inter and multidisciplinary lenses according to the research grounds on which the nEU-Med project is founded. The volume opens with an important update of the archaeological sequence recorded at the site (Marasco, Briano) and is directly connected to the successive contribution on the detailed geomorphological analysis of the ditches and their infills (Susini, Pieruccini), of fundamental importance in understanding the transformations the site of Vetricella underwent especially during the period between the 9th and 10th centuries. These contributions are followed by a series of articles aimed at presenting a preliminary study of the most signifi- 7 Lorenzo Marasco*, Arianna Briano* THE STRATIGRAPHIC SEQUENCE AT THE SITE OF VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): A REVISED INTERPRETATION (8TH-13TH CENTURIES) 1. INTRODUCTION specific reference to the analytical study of the ceramics. It must, however, be noted how chronological indications provided from material finds were conditioned by episodes involving levelling activities that characterize almost all the periods at Vetricella, with a limited conservation of primary deposits. Such conservation conditions have greatly influenced the analyses conducted on material data and excavated finds, with the result that most of the finds were recovered from secondary deposits consequently limiting value 2. The chronological framework elaborated according to radiocarbon dates has allowed us to define, in a sufficiently accurate form, the period sequence on which the site history has been reconstructed. This is articulated through a succession of six distinct phases taking place between the mid-8th (Period 1) and mid-13th (Period 6) centuries (tab. 1). We have deemed it correct to exclude from this brief contribution the seventh period of the stratigraphic sequence (Period 7), corresponding to the present-day and materially represented by agricultural activities carried out from about the mid-20th century 3. For each single period an interpretative synthesis of the stratigraphic evidence is presented along with indications of the main elements used for the chronological framework 4. Following the description of the sequence based on stratigraphic relationships, and the interpretative analysis of the material evidence, an historical reading of the archaeological results is proposed, to be read also in relation to what has been previously presented (Bianchi, Hodges 2018) along with research conducted on the material record. The structure that emerges from this stratigraphic overview offers, in fact, remarkable insights into several possible reconstruction hypotheses of the history and changing functions of Vetricella (Hodges and Bianchi, see below). With the third excavation campaign, which ended in November 2018, the first part of the new research conducted at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino – Grosseto) and within the ERC nEU-Med project can be considered. The reconstruction of the stratigraphic sequence and the recent analysis of the associated finds has allowed us to put forward a more articulated and complex reconstruction compared to what has previously been presented (Marasco et al. 2018; Marasco 2013, 2012). The excavated area now amounts over 2.500 square metres. About 30% of the surface area was fully investigated. It is our contention, on the bases of these excavated areas, that the data collected offers a representative picture of the site’s main historical dynamics (fig. 1). Considering the current state of archeological study and the proximity of the project’s final phase, we will present in this contribution a synthetic overview, with a brief reconstruction of the revised interpretation of the stratigraphic sequence. It is necessarily a limited presentation, mainly aimed at describing the major material transformations identified in the excavated stratigraphy, so as to provide a valid point of reference for other contributions presented in this volume. In illustrating this subject we will emphasize, when necessary, the particular characteristics of the context, both in terms of the material singularities of the deposit and its stratigraphic conservation, as these are of fundamental importance for data interpretation. The relative stratigraphic sequence is presented as an accurate absolute periodization chronology, mainly defined on the basis of a significant number of radiocarbon dates 1, successively correlated to references inferred by the material culture with * Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università di Siena (lorenzo.marasco@unisi.it; arianna_briano@yahoo.it). 1 The reconstruction illustrated in the present contribution has made use of forty radiocarbon dates carried out on samples collected from the most significant stratigraphic contexts and selected on the basis of the relative sequence. The analyses were conducted in collaboration with the Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology at Campania’s “Luigi Vanvitelli” University – sample preparation Laboratory (Prof. Carmine Lubritto and Dott.ssa Paola Ricci), with the AMS facility at the INFN – LABEC lab (Nuclear Techniques Laboratory for the Environment and the Culture Heritage) in Florence (Dott.ssa Maria Elena Fedi and Dott.ssa Lucia Liccioli), and with the laboratories of the BETA Analytic Radiocarbon Dating of Miami (Florida, USA). 2 In particular, for methodological observations and the adopted analytical procedures we refer to the single studies on the various classes of material presented in this volume. 3 This last period of life of the site of Vetricella, although currently of limited historical importance for the present study, indirectly represents a fundamental period for the comprehension of the archaeological context, as it includes numerous significant activities that altered the preceding levels/periods. 4 As to references of the single radiocarbon dates, only the indicators with higher probability, both in 1σ confidence level (probability of reference 68.2%) and in 2σ (probability of reference 95.4%), will be presented. Dates have been calibrated in OxCal 4.3.2 and BetaCal 3.21, using the IntCal13 curve. 9 L. Marasco, a. Briano Period Period 1 Period 2 Period 3 Period 4.1 Period 4.2 Period 5 Period 6 Period 7 Date (range) Interpretation Settlement associated with 8 -mid-9 c. AD specialized activities Fortified control site, connected to second half 9th c. AD new land management Progressively ascending th first half 10 c. AD continuation of the previous context New central place as point of second half 10th c. AD reference for an economically productive system Continuation of the role of central first half 11th c. AD place, through initial development and subsequent decrease New function as probable central th th mid-11 -mid-12 c. AD place as part of a manorial property New settlement connected to th th mid-12 -mid-13 c. AD agricultural resources management second half 20th c. AD Contemporary farm th Main stratigraphic features th structural postholes; probable kilns and layers indicating fire-related activities fortification system with three concentric ditches and a main central building (tower-like structure); occupation layers occupation layers and progressive accumulation of Infill. layers in the ditches new construction phase, with a mortar mixer and new floor levels; intentional filling of ditches and new wooden enclosures; evidence of a cemetery with a small oratory levelling and elevation layers; new construction phases with repeated reconstructions and reusing of previous structures; new delimitation of the central area evidence of site re-occupation and new storage structures; layers rich in carbonized seeds; new delimitation of the central area systematic dismantling of the main central building and site re-occupation; new structures and seed storage pits ploughing and agricultural activities tab. 1 2. INTERPRETATIVE READING OF THE STR ATIGR APHIC DEPOSITS 3060, both interpretable as the remains of the last fueling charges for production activities. The radiocarbon analyses conducted on the samples obtained from these layers have provided a chronological indication respectively of AD 768886 and AD 687-768 5. A coherent chronological horizon belonging to the 8th-9th centuries was also confirmed by the ceramic fragments recovered in the possible abandonment phases of those same features (Russo, see below). 2.1 The first settlement (Period 1) Chronology: 8th-mid-9th century AD The latest fieldwork activities carried out at Vetricella confirmed that the activities taking place during Period 1 encompass the whole natural outcrop on which the site is located, the same outcrop that will successively undergo artificial transformations through excavations and levelling. Although it was possible to carry out a complete analysis only on the site’s central portion, stratigraphic remains from this period were recorded from the various excavated interventions conducted in all the sectors (particularly in sectors I, III and IV) (fig. 2). From a stratigraphical perspective the elements that emerge are all indicative of features using perishable materials (posthole cuts and possible foundation trenches) and specialized production activities (kilns etc.). In the case of production features, wide elliptical (US 809=1303 Sector III, size 0.77×0.87 m) and circular (US 3060 Sector III, diameter 0.48 m) pits were identified, characterized by intensely burnt side walls and deep charcoal deposits (in some cases along with fragments of thermally transformed stones). The absence of clearer indicators provided by the later fills in these features and the lack of correlated external layers allows us to conclude that these were kilns employed for specialized metallurgical activities (in all the contexts it is possible to register the complete removal of all the horizontal layers during the establishment of Period 2). In addition, distinctive traces of a significant occupation appear to cover the whole outcrop without any specific concentration and with indications that this settlement was associated with production activities. The removal of these levels, that we identify in part as secondary deposits on the bottom of the later (Period 2) ditches, is not helpful in terms of providing a more precise archeological reading of the occupation. Nonetheless, the frequent presence of contexts indicating fire-related activities has provided organic material, that when submitted for radiocarbon dating, offers a first chronological range between the 8th and 9th centuries. These are specifically: a charcoal deposit US 1314 found on the bottom of ditch US 809=1303 and the analogous charcoal level US 3059 accumulated in pit US 2.2 The fortification of Vetricella: establishment and first activities (Period 2) Chronology: second half 9th c. AD The second period corresponds to one of the most important passages in the history of Vetricella, with a major transformation of the whole site. The characteristics of the stratigraphic deposit show a precise and well-programmed process of structural change, attested both by the removal of pre-existing layers with levelling cuts and selective earthen levelling, significantly accompanied by the remarkable excavation of the system of three concentric ditches. On a material level it is possible to recognize the traces of a planned project aimed at creating at the center of the site a raised portion with artificial levelling, surrounded by three potentially defensive elements 6 (fig. 3). Although the three ditches have been investigated only by explorative trenches, all confirm the complexity of their excavation and initial maintenance, suggesting the defensive nature of at least the two innermost ditches. Notwithstanding the absence of direct stratigraphic relationships, the creation of the three concentric ditches can be ascribed to a single construction project due to the persistence of the work’s material aspects and the dimensional relation existing between single cuts (the size of the three ditches can be referred to multiple ratios of a single unit of measure: the Liutprand foot, corresponding to about 44 cms: 5 The complete chronological references are the following: US 1314, radiocarbon age 1209±49 BP, cal. 1σ AD 768-886 (62.7%), cal. 2σ AD 680-901 (90.6%); US 3059, radiocarbon age 1270±30 BP, cal. 1σ AD 687-768 (68.2%), cal. 2σ AD 662-778 (92.3%). 6 Although the trench carried out has not brought to light clear evidences, it is worth noting possible enlargement traces as well as changes in the cut’s original shape during the site’s existence, also in relation to maintenance and cleaning operations of the ditches themselves. 10 fig. 1 – Localization of the research area with main cited toponyms (B), view of the excavation from the drone at the end of the 2018 campaign (B), general planimetry at the end of the 2018 campaign (C) and UAV orthophoto - 2018 campaign (D; elaboration by Giulio Poggi). fig. 2 – Period 1: period plan (A) and examples of fire-related activities recorded on site, with particular reference to possible interred kilns/smithing earths (B-C) and thermally altered soils (D). fig. 3 – Period 2: period plan (A), a view of the test trenches on the complex system of three concentric ditches around the tower-like building (B-C). In particular, in frame B one can observe in the foreground the extensive eastward trench that intercepts the intermediate ditch with the outermost visible at the back. fig. 4 – Period 3: period plan (A) and images of the contexts still referable to possible metalworking activities, referable and discarded waste accumulated in the innermost ditch and resulting in its progressive filling (B). The stratigraphic sequence at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) Marasco et al. 2018, pp. 75-76) 7. We are presently unable to exclude the existence of other potential defensive elements associated with the ditches. Later levelling removed deposits associated with the two outer ditches, while an accumulation deposit inside the innermost ditch might have been some kind of rampart (UUSS 4010 and 4011). The central portion of the raised area inside the innermost ditch may be indicative of a floor surface associated with a major structure (building A, this tower-like structure with a square plan of about 9.7 m per side) 8. The presence of a tower-like structure is evident only in the form of a distinctive robber trench that in the course of the 12th century led to the removal of the structures, preserving only the perimeter of the original edifice and part of its internal deposits. Remaining levels clearly indicate the presence here of a square tower with stone foundations almost certainly belonging to the successive Period 4.1 (see below), allowing us to postulate a similar building in Period 2 as likely as not constructed of different materials. A few layers with associated ceramics belonging to this early occupation level illustrate aspects of the probable function of the building (Russo, infra). Further evidence of this early period emerges from the two innermost ditches. Here clearing activities and progressive infill phenomena, due to natural and artificial deposits, can be identified 9. In particular, the formation processes of these latter deposits, along with evidence from a number of test trenches on the outer side of the ditches, seem to point to the presence of episodic production activities in the area around the ditched settlement (essentially in the form of ceramics and metalworking debris). The limited evidence from all parts of the site in this period, notwithstanding the issues of preservation, helps us to throw light on its interpretation at this time. The dating of Vetricella in this period appears to be fairly clear, based on radiocarbon dates, stratigraphic relationships with other contexts, and on preliminary examinations of the material culture. A first post quem chronological reference derives from a sample collected from a fire-related activity cut by the inner ditch (US 506), presenting a chronological range between AD 760 and AD 890. A second radiocarbon date, related to loamy deposits on the bottom of the middle ditch, seems to confirm the same chronology, pinpointing its occupation within a range of AD 800-899 10. These two dates are broadly in line with the preliminary dating of the associated pottery. 2.3 The fortification of Vetricella: between continuity and development (Period 3) Chronology: first half 10th c. AD Period 3 of the sequence is represented by traces of occupation and activities in a reduced form (fig. 4). It is possible to assign to this period a number of contexts in Sector III and IV containing burnt seeds and fire-related activities, along with the first traces indicating activities linked to the butchering of pigs (Aniceti, see below) 11 as well as layers featuring metalworking evidence. Both inside building A and in the external area within the innermost ditch remains were found of floor levels made with crushed limestone as well as post-hole cuts belonging to structures of uncertain dimensions and form. In connection with these occupation levels we can also verify a progressive filling of the bottom level of the innermost ditches. Deposits deriving from both colluvial build-up and maintenance operations now show a clear abandonment of the ditch leading later to its progressive sealing. Significantly, the first intentional infilling occurred when soil and other deposits were thrown in from external areas. These deposits confirm that activities took place around the outer edge of the inner ditch. A radiocarbon sample was selected from the accumulated seed and charcoal deposit in Sector III (US 3064); this dated to AD 893-970, and a charcoal sample in nearby Sector II (US 670), belonging to those activities occurring outside this innermost ditch dating to AD 890-990 12. The two dates are compatible with those from the uppermost infilling of the intermediate ditch dating to AD 891-991 13. These dates are also consistent with the provisional dating of the ceramics associated with primary deposits such as working surfaces. 2.4 The Ottonian Age transformations (Period 4.1) Chronology: second half 10th c. AD In the second half of the 10th century a new period of transformation occurred at Vetricella. This is characterized by radical changes to the structure created during Period 2. These changes had an impact upon all the previous levels and features. This has made it particularly difficult to offer a precise reconstruction of single sequences, complicating the study of the related material culture. The first levels suggest some continuity of previous activities. There was, though, a marked increase in the amount of material culture. A number of elements recorded inside building A can be ascribed to this first phase (fig. 5). These are contexts that in a number of cases do not feature definite 7 The dimensional references of the three ditches, proceeding from the outermost one, are the following: first ditch, about 4.5 m wide, 0.8 m deep and about 116 m in diameter, with a radius corresponding to about 132 units of the Liutprand foot; second ditch, 8.2 m wide, about 2 m deep and 77 m in diameter, with a radius of about 88 units of the Liutprand foot; third ditch, about 6 m wide, 2 m deep and about 39 m in diameter with a radius equivalent to 44 units of the Liutprand foot. For a more detailed analysis of the morphology of the two innermost ditches and their infills see Susini, Pieruccini, infra. 8 The square central building (A) appears to have sides that equate to 22 Liutprand feet. 9 In the two outermost ditches the geomorphological analyses carried out by Pierluigi Pieruccini and Davide Susini have clearly noted the presence of standing water, especially in the intermediate ditch, with the consequent accumulation of loamy-clay deposits and its progressive reduction in depth (Susini, Pieruccini, infra). 10 The complete results of the two dates are the following: US 506, radiocarbon age 1210±55 BP, cal. 1σ AD 760-890 (58.8%), cal. 2σ AD 670-900 (87.8%); bottom Lvl. 5 of the second ditch, radiocarbon age 1161±45 BP, cal. 1σ AD 800-899 (48.6%), AD 924-946 (11.1%) cal. 2σ AD 769-984 (94.4%). 11 In this case the indicator corresponds to a fragment of bone, specifically a pig shoulder recorded in the destruction infill of a posthole inside the tower structure (US 800, cut US 799), that provided a more probable chronology between the 9th and first half of the 10th century: radiocarbon age 1161±43 BP, cal. 1σ AD 801-899 (48.6%) and AD 924-945 (10.9%), cal. 2σ AD 769-982 (95.4%). 12 The following are the detailed references of the two radiocarbon analyses: US 3064, radiocarbon age 1120±30 BP, cal. 1σ AD 893-970 (893-970%), cal. 2σ AD 862-994 (862-994%); US 670, radiocarbon age 1103±46 BP, cal. 1σ AD 890-990 (68.2%), cal. 2σ AD 810-1030 (95.4%). 13 Radiocarbon analysis of charcoal sampled from the higher lime deposits inside the intermediate ditch: Lvl 5 of the second ditch, radiocarbon age 1103±48 BP, cal. 1σ AD 891-991 (68.2%), cal. 2σ AD 860-1021 (87.1%). 13 L. Marasco, a. Briano fig. 5 – Period 4.1: period plan (A), view of the context referable to the occupation layers inside the central building, with evidence of the significant disturbances caused by agricultural ploughing (B). Below, the main elements connected to the construction phase, with the mortar mixer and spread of mortar surfaces that characterize the site in the last thirty years of the 10th century (C and D). In particular, it is worth noting in C the large (often twinned) postholes that cut construction levels and that are referable to new wooden delimitations around the tower. stratigraphic relationships whereas others may connect to Period 3. In particular, it is possible to signal the setting up of a probable pit for interred vessels (US 509), whose function can be assumed by the morphology of the filling layers and the finds, along with a great central hollow (US 250), a possible base for a brazier or hearth associated with a nearby charcoal pit (US 450). Also in Sectors III-IV an initial continuity with the previous metalworking areas (mostly in the form of smithying activities) was registered, with areas featuring thermally altered soils connected to new structures. In these cases there were levels of reddened soil and charcoal containing hammerscales (UUSS 3047-3048 in Sector III) as well as an area characterized by an interred combustion pit and burnt surfaces (UUSS 1265 and 1287 in Sector IV). It must also be noted that in these contexts a high level of soil magnetization was registered, arising from dispersed metallic micro-elements. The production activities are well illustrated by charcoal layer US 3048. This was the result of an active combustion phase, as shown by the reddening of the surrounding soil and the alteration of the material recorded within the layer. Finds included a coin of the Emperors Otto I and Otto II minted between AD 962-967 (post-quem reference). Many metal finds were also associated with these activity layers. In the last decades of the 10th century the real transformation process takes place, as shown by the different absolute chronology methods as well as the relative sequence represented by the occurrence of the first mortar mixer (US 581) and different associated construction activities 14. An extensive spread of mortar outside the tower (UUSS 633=700 and 542bis=1349) and over the innermost ditch (US 1177=1186) can be traced to this period. This layer would seem to belong to the last thirty years of the 10th century. The mortar mixer is almost certainly related to the construction of a stone tower. Parts of its mortared foundations were discovered in the north-eastern corner (US 2141). Abundant amounts of mortar were found in the robber trench (Period 6) 15. In the wake of these activities a close sequence of further structural changes took place over a short time period. There was a partial infilling of the inner ditch with regular layers of stones. In its place, on the edge of what had been the intermediate ditch, a line of 14 The identification of a single major construction level (distinguishable from a second one, assigned to the following Period 4.2) is made possible not only from the analysis of the overall stratigraphic relations, but also from the results of the mineralogical-petrographic analysis on the different mortar samples, conducted at the Department of Physical Science, Earth and Environment – R.U. “Cultural Heritage Conservation”, University of Siena (Prof. Marco Giamello, Dott. Andrea Scala, Dott.ssa Francesca Droghini). 15 As already mentioned in the description of Period 2 and the first appearance of the central tower-like structure, it is possible to hypothesize during Period 4.1 the partial refurbishment of a previous wooden building with new structural elements, including mortared stone foundation. 14 The stratigraphic sequence at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) post-holes showed that a palisade now enclosed the tower. The post-holes, in some cases twinned holes, marked out a new area around the central building. The relationship between this new area and the increase in production activities appears evident and is indicated by an increase in metal and ceramic finds as well as animal bones in the filling of the ditch as well as the levelling layers around the tower. Analysis of these finds shows a progressive development in the activities practiced at Vetricella. The presence of numerous ceramic storage vessels and large numbers of iron objects, some semi-finished and possibly destined for recycling shows that in the course of Period 4.1 the site’s function evolved to be a collection centre as well as one involved in a production activities. Another further development in the last decades of the 10th century was the creation of a cemetery in the space inbetween the two wooden enclosures (Sectors II and III). This was situated above the distinctive spread of mortar and came into use during the final infilling of the innermost ditch 16. Associated with the cemetery is a possible religious structure (building B), identified as a rectangular structure with a NW-SE alignment. This was identified from a robber trench. The trench shows that the structure’s original perimeter (US 136) had dimensions of 6×4 m. This building appears to be a small oratory in some perishable material with walls of either timber or pisé built upon timber foundations or so-called sleeper beams. The perimeter of the building was surrounded by graves of sub-adults whilst its floor area was bare without any features (Viva, infra). The distribution and orientation of the graves around this building show a clear relationship with the tower and the new palisade enclosure. All the elements in the area are positioned in a radial form around the site’s centre. In the development of the small cemetery the first phase appears to occupy the strip on the inner portion of the ditch. It consists of an arrangement of graves in parallel rows with a N-S alignment. The exceptions to this alignment are the numerous sub-adult graves concentrated along the perimeter walls of the building. The wealth of elements characterizing Period 4.1 has provided numerous indicators for a chronological framework of its main phases, both through the study of the finds and, yet again, thanks to radiocarbon analyses. In this way useful indications have been obtained to frame the life and use of the tower’s internal elements, such as the charcoal pit US 450, dated to AD 960-1020, and the construction phase associated with a mortar mixer producing dates of AD 940-1020 and AD 980-1040 for the spread of mortar surfaces and AD 977-1020 for layers covering the ditch 17. In addition, the continuation of the fire-related activities located on the outside of the first ditch and attested both by pit US 1265 (its charcoal charge has been dated to AD 975-1027) and accumulated waste deposits thrown into the ditch (note the numismatic reference to a post AD 962-967 recovered from the layer US 3048) 18 belong to the same chronological period. Finally, chronological indications come from a number of graves in the cemetery that confirm the exceptional concentration of activities carried out in a short time span. Specifically, two tombs located in the internal portion of the newly arranged site, close to the tower (UUSS 608 and 710), were dated respectively to AD 960-1040 and AD 950-1015, whereas a burial among those aligned in parallel rows (US 2059), provided a radiocarbon date of AD 943-1024 19. 16 We must underline that this is a significantly disturbed context and therefore difficult to make unequivocal stratigraphic interpretations on the basis of the limited area that was excavated. 17 Here are the complete radiocarbon analyses carried out on occupation and construction layers in relation to the tower and the central part of Vetricella: US 450, radiocarbon age 1065±40 BP, cal. 1σ AD 960-1020 (54%), cal. AD 2σ 890-1030 (91.8%); US 633=700, radiocarbon age 1080±40 BP, cal. 1σ AD 890-920 (17.2%) e AD 940-1020 (51.0%), cal. 2σ AD 810-1030 (95.4%); US 542bis=1349, radiocarbon age 1010±35 BP, cal. 1σ AD 980-1040 (65.4%), cal. 2σ AD 960-1060 (73.8%) and AD 1070-1160 (20.2%); US 1177=1186, radiocarbon age 1050±30 BP, cal. 1σ AD 977-1020 (68.2%), cal. 2σ AD 948-1026 (86.7%). 18 The following are the main chronological reference points related to the metalworking activities: US 1287, radiocarbon age 1036±38 BP, cal. 1σ AD 975-1027 (68.2%), cal. 2σ AD 939-1044 (83.9%). 19 The radiocarbon analyses of the two osteological samples have provided the following results: US 608, radiocarbon age 1035±45 BP, cal. 1σ 960-1040 AD (61.6%), cal. 2σ 890-1050 AD (87.4%); US 710, radiocarbon age 1077±44 BP, cal. 1σ AD 950-1015 (52.2%) e AD 901-921 (16%), cal. 2σ AD 875-1031 (94.9%). 20 We are referring to burial US 1288, that during this second phase of the cemetery appears as the one closest to its southern limits. Radiocarbon analysis has provided the following results: radiocarbon age 994±51 BP, cal. 1σ AD 990-1050 (38.6%) and AD 1084-1125 (22.5%), cal. 2σ AD 963-1165 (93.8%). 2.5 After the Ottonian Age: persistence and new interventions (Period 4.2) Chronology: first half 11th c. AD This second sub-period identified within Period 4 starts off by continuing previous activities, to the point that the assignment to one or the other grouping in some cases is hypothetical (fig. 6). The identification of this sub-period has been necessary to define a phase within the sequence in a more accurate manner, characterized by an articulated series of activities, often overlapping with one another and indicative of the continuous evolution of the management of the site. Apart from the central tower, the context that best illustrates this continuity is the cemetery. Here some changes are recorded in the levelling of the surfaces while continuing with funerary practices. An element of differentiation can only be noted in the distribution of the graves. In this period these are now mostly aligned on an E-W orientation, still rotated towards the tower in the centre, but more widely dispersed. Although precise references are missing, due to the removal of the successive levels, it is possible to hypothesize that the cemetery continued to be used up to the first decades of the 11th century. This is supported not only by the stratigraphical relationships, but also by the radiocarbon analyses of one of the burials furthest from the hypothetical oratory, dating to AD 990-1050 20. At the same time as these new burials were interred a number of transformations occurred in the central area, characterized by significant structural activities: the two wooden defensive and enclosing elements that had replaced the line of the ditches were dismantled and a consistent secondary earthen and stone level was laid out over this area, forming an annular rise around the central tower (UUSS 125, 126). In some cases, traces of occupation levels can be distinguished, 15 fig. 6 – Period 4.2: period plan (A), followed by a detail of the second mortar mixer found north of the tower (B), referable to the second construction phase at the beginning of 11th century and whose lower technical quality must be evidenced; (B) view of the remains of the stone foundation set up in the hollow of the erstwhile innermost ditch and that will shortly after be partially spoliated. Lastly, recording of the earthen and stone levelling layers accumulated around the central building, in order to create an annular drainage rise (D). fig. 7 – Period 5-6: plan of the two periods, connected by a substantial correspondence of contexts (A and C) and examples of two seed storage features, referable to Period 5 (B) and Period 6 (D) also on the basis of the radiocarbon dating of carbonized seeds. The significant difference between the two periods is represented by the systematic dismantling of the central tower set after the mid-12th century. The stratigraphic sequence at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) confirming the constant practice of stratigraphical removal and the existence of earthen deposits. On this new level a second construction context occurs associated with another mortar mixer (of poorer quality, UUSS 248 and 402) that on the basis of the mortar appears to have been used for the making of a foundation of some kind in the hollow of the erstwhile innermost ditch. This foundation is a feature that was recorded only in certain portions of the inner circle and of which we cannot reconstruct its original form. It consists of a bed of mortar on which stones were set at an angle and arranged in parallel and stacked rows, with the irregular presence of holes possibly used for anchoring of the wall of a structure in wood or pisé. In relation to this construction phase new elements occur in the area outside the enclosure, especially in Sector IV, where a structure associated with metalworking activities was recorded (confirmed by various iron finds and burnt surfaces). In addition, in Period 4.2 a second phase of further construction and rebuilding was identified. It is during the latter part of this period, probably within the first decades of the 11th century, that the site begins to be abandoned by stages. There is, for instance, the partial spoliation of the stone foundation in the erstwhile innermost ditch and concurrently the cemetery goes out of use. There is also an arrangement of new floor levels consisting of rough stone packing made with material taken from previous structures. This activity is evident in Sectors I and IV, where over the spoliation level a new surface of stones was laid down with the aim of creating a regularly drained basis for new occupation levels (UUSS 847, 1130=1139=1530). On this level a new circular posthole alignment was constructed, featuring yellow earth and stone reinforcements and referable to a new defensive enclosure. It is indicative that this regular stone level (perhaps a sort of walkway) has produced a significant number of finds, particularly ceramics and metalwork. This results from the removal of lower levels, showing material contexts dating to the end of the 10th-early 11th century. The principal activity in this period appears to be metalworking, largely focused on Sectors I and II. In Sector I a number of earthen and stone elements were recorded that delimit possible working structures. There was also a small pit, interpreted as a forge hearth (UUSS 643 and 644). In Sector II different traces of highly burnt soil appear to confirm activities within the probable re-use of the earlier, and by now abandoned, oratory. The dating of Period 4.2 rests on its relationship to Period 4.1 as well as two further reference points. The first reference point is burial US 1288 that defines the outmost southward development of the burial area in the date range of AD 990-1050. The second reference point comes from the latest metallurgical activities located in Sector I, where an organic sample was collected from forge US 643, providing a chronological range of AD 970-1050 21. 2.6 Between continuity and a new use (Period 5) Chronology: mid-11th-mid-12th century AD Period 5 can be read as the beginning of the last chapter in the life of the settlement at Vetricella. This was protracted into Period 6, bringing to a close what started in the 10th century, completing the transformations initiated in Period 4. The new period is characterized by a significantly rare preservation of layers and features, largely due to major disturbance caused by agricultural ploughing, but also in part related to an evident lessening in the intensity of activity here after the first half of the 11th century. The evidence that characterizes these contexts consists of new occupation levels, as well as a number of new structures and the continued use of some old ones (fig. 7). The main focus of continuity was the occupation of the tower. Inside it a new hearth was made against the northern wall (US 755). In the other sectors continuity in occupation includes the continued use of the rubble cobbling areas; the small oratory appears to be reused and evidence exists for grain threshing floors. These activities are associated with storage structures and the widespread scattering of charcoal, rich in carbonized seeds (especially in Sectors I, III and IV). Furthermore, in the course of this period, the dismantling of the last wooden palisade established in Period 4.2 took place. This was replaced by a new annular-shaped alignment with circular cuts on the edge of the old inner ditch and connected to a new delimitation of the central area. The dating of this period based on radiocarbon analyses shows it to range between the mid-11th-mid-12th century, overlying earlier Period 4 levels. The specific carbon 14 dates derive from the hearth located inside the tower (US 755), dated to AD 1030-1170 and the accumulated seeds located in Sectors I and III (UUSS 955 and 1040), dated to AD 1030-1160 and AD 1045-1163 22. 2.7 Final destruction and new forms of occupation (Period 6) Chronology: mid-12th-mid-13th century AD The occupation of Period 6 has been recognized and distinguished from the previous one only following the most recent excavation campaign, where, thanks also to a number of radiocarbon dates, it was possible to assign a precise chronological period to a series of activities and levels that appear to provide a unified interpretative reading. These layers have been considerably altered due to ploughing, removing their vertical development and making it difficult to establish their duration as well as their correct positioning and relationships in the sequence. The peculiar character of this occupation phase takes on the form of a definitive break with the past settlement forms. Certain features and layers also continue from the previous period pattern along with the continuation of certain levels from the previous period, with the 21 Structure US 643 appears to have consisted of a circular feature of stones positioned so as to form some kind of containment of a modest dip in the soil, set on the stone drainage level US 847 and appearing as completely reddened and thermally altered (UUSS 642, 975). It contained charcoal and the only partially carbonized remains of a cork bark (US 644). A sample of this last element has undergone radiocarbon analysis, providing the following results: radiocarbon age 1015±47 BP, cal. 1σ AD 970-1050 (55.8%), cal. 2σ AD 940-1160 (90.2%). 22 The chronological range of this period is defined by the following radiocarbon results: US 755, radiocarbon age 918±50 BP, cal. 1σ AD 1030-1170 (68.2%), cal. 2σ AD 1020-1220 (95.4%); US 955, radiocarbon age 941±49 BP, cal. AD 2σ 1010-1210 (95.4%); US 1040, radiocarbon age 910±47 BP, cal. 1σ AD 1045-1163 (55.8%) and AD 1120-1142 (16.1%), cal. 2σ AD 1033-1190 (94%). 17 L. Marasco, a. Briano the later castle of Valle that was to pass down its name (a hillside location positioned on the northern limit of our area; for the documentary evidence see Farinelli 2007). The embayment that justifies the toponym can be identified with the final portion of the Pecora river valley, the Teupascio of Medieval sources, legible also as Acque del Re (from Þeudo-bakiz = state-owned river, see Francovich, Onesti 2002). In particular, we can recognize this with the past alluvial plain, partially occupied by water basins and marshlands, that today we identify with the lowlands around Scarlino (see fig. 1). This territory can be ascribed to a single large landed property of fiscal nature that, starting from the modern hills of Follonica to the north (where the castle of Valle, mentioned above, was estabilished and where already in the 9th century an important Early Medieval site is attested near the toponym of Aione, see Cucini 1989) reached its southern limits on the Monti d’Alma (where the manorial nucleus, the castle of Scarlino, was probably a dependency of the larger curtis of Valli). This included the port area of Portus Scabris/Portiglioni (where probable properties of fiscal origin still seem to be attested in the 11th century, see Ceccarelli Lemut 1985). The curtis of Valli, can be imagined as a large landed unit, not dissimilar to the nearby royal curtis of Cornino that has been reconstructed from the documentary sources (Collavini 2016, pp. 67-68), the other public property that in AD 937 constituted part of the Tuscan royal patrimony in this region. The same archaeological evidence discovered in the last two decades permits us to advance a hypothesis on the formation process of such a holding. It would appear to be a direct passage of a block of land from ancient Imperial Roman times through the course of the first millennium AD. This reading of the deep history is suggested by the topographical superimposition between the Early Medieval area of Valli, as illustrated above (set between the hills of the site of Aione/castle of Valle to the north and the holdings near Portus Scabris/Portiglioni on the southern limit) and the properties of the senatorial family of the Aurelii Cottae, attested by a number of brick stamps found in two villas, one of which is located near the toponym of Aione (locality Sontrone, see Dallai, Ponta, Shepherd 2006), the other being from near Portus Scabris (ibid.; Manacorda 2006). If we attempt to place the archaeological site of Vetricella in this long estate history, we can already attribute to this hypothetical landed (fiscal) unit the first structures recorded and assigned to Period 1 (8th-mid-9th century), the first of four significant moments in the history of the site. We have seen how Period 1 at Vetricella, although still requiring further archaeological analysis shows an already complex reality, featuring clear signs of articulated productive activities and extensive occupation of a natural outcrop evolved above the floor of the flooded plain. This might be interpreted as more than a village, presently more closely associated with specialized production activities. These production activities almost certainly involved metalworking and similar crafts involving kilns. This evidence points to a site included in those public possessions that already from the 8th century are attested both north of Vetricella, protraction of activities up until the mid-13th century. The central activity of the period was the complex work of demolishing and dismantling the tower (building A), conducted in such a way that allows us to hypothesize a coordinated and systematic salvaging of building material 23. The small oratory (building B) in Sector II does not appear to have been subjected to spoliation at least until the end of this period. After having fallen out of use for its primary purposes in the first half of the 11th century, the stratigraphy suggests it was turned over to domestic or artisanal activities. Around it, a number of levels suggest that new, rather modest, timber structures were erected. The most evident traces of these new structures occurred in Sector I in the vicinity of the old tower, where, following the spoliation, a number of wall features in stone and earth flanked by postholes were observed. A further post-built structure can be attributed to this phase, erected on the western limit of the sector and related to a small interred pit employed for the storage of seeds (US 994). It is from this context that the only important indicator for dating this last phase of occupation at Vetricella was recovered. Radiocarbon analyses of two seeds collected from this pit have returned dates from AD 1222-1264 and AD 1246-1279 24. L.M., A.B. 3. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION The reconstruction of the history of Vetricella that we have proposed on stratigraphical grounds allows us to identify an essentially linear evolutionary process. At least four significant moments characterize its material expression. These are moments that, according to the recorded archaeological evidence, can be set in an accurate chronological timeframe. The new evidence should be read in relation to what we already know concerning the historical events relating to Vetricella and its territory (Bianchi, Collavini 2018; Marasco et al. 2018), prompting new points of correlation with a more general picture of the management of public properties and their relative economic strategies (Wickham 2019; Bianchi 2018; Ead. see below). It has already been significantly shown how the key to interpreting Vetricella can be traced back to the identification of fiscal possessions identified in the curtis of Valli (Bianchi, Collavini 2018, p. 150-151). This curtis from at least AD 937 was connected to the interests of Hugh of Provence and his royal properties (Vignodelli 2012). The reading of the toponym Valli in relation to the presence in this area of a vast and for the most part lagoon-like embayment (Marasco et al. 2018 pp. 58-62; Pieruccini, Susini infra) allows us to extend the identification well beyond the spatial limits of the single site of Vetricella or 23 The robber ditch that remains, defining the original perimeter, contained particularly abundant fragments of mortar, a few small sized stone remains and traces of occupation layers. 24 The complete chronological references are the following: US 994B, radiocarbon age 790±30 BP, cal. 1σ 1222-1264 AD (68.2%), cal. 2σ 1190-1278 AD (95.4%); US 994A, radiocarbon age 760±30 BP, cal. 1σ 1246-1279 AD (68.2%), cal. 2σ 1219-1284 AD (95.4%). 18 The stratigraphic sequence at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) between the area of the Colline Metallifere and the Val di Cornia (Farinelli 2007; Collavini 2016), and to the south beyond the Monti d’Alma, in the territory of Roselle and the Prile Lake (Bianchi, Collavini 2018, pp. 226). Following this theme, the intervention towards the mid-9th century marks the second important moment for Vetricella. This involved the establishment of the fortified structure that was to become its defining aspect. It seems to have involved a new strategy of management and control of fiscal possessions by a public authority or its local representatives. As already outlined in other contributions to this volume, it is still difficult to interpret on a functional and historical level the construction of the site of Vetricella during Period 2, with its distinctive morphology and its apparent fortified nature. Vetricella now transformed the micro-landscape, with an imposing project that entailed a remarkable investment of labour based upon an equally remarkable planned concept. Unfortunately, the limited number of preserved primary levels do not provide us with a better interpretative reading of the site’s function. Its plan certainly suggests northern European construction traditions (Settia, Marasco, Saggioro 2013; Marasco et al. 2018). On these grounds we might propose that it played a significant role in the changing mid 9th-century socio-political circumstances in this region (Gelichi 2016; Collavini 1998). A possible direct connection with the March of Tuscia might be seen in the role that the Adalbertingi Marquis (Adalbert I, and more probably, Adalbert II the Rich) played along the coastal territory around the mid-9th century, especially as far as defending and safeguarding public holdings (Renzi Rizzo 2011) 25. After all, our territory falls into that italic coastline there were those public castella entrusted to royal officials and cited in the 866 capitulary of Louis II as nodal points in a specific defensive and administrative organization (Settia 2003). However, in light of the archaeological evidence, it would be reductive to read Vetricella’s Period 2 as limited only to a fortified garrison. Added to this, there is the new evidence from the analysis of the territory (Pieruccini et al. 2018), where along the river Pecora/Teupascio from the mid-9th century the first interventions of land management have been recorded. On this evidence, Period 2 of Vetricella can be interpreted as an expression of new estate policies. This policy became increasingly evident during successive periods. In the following period, now ascribed to the first half of the 10th century, there was a phase of continuity and consolidation of what had been built a few decades before. The excavated evidence indicates the presence of possible metalworking activities along with butchery practices associated with distinctive animal husbandry (Aniceti, infra). In this period Vetricella had become a place that in some way attracted the attention of King Hugh of Provence. He then selected it from among his various fiscal holdings, to give it, along with the nearby curtis of Cornino, as a dowry to his wife Berta and future daughter-in-law Adelaide in AD 937. It is safe to think that this was a valuable possession or in any case with obvious potential. Period 3 at Vetricella can suggest indications of a control centre connected not only to agricultural production, but also to other resources, as can be inferred from the written sources (Bianchi, Collavini 2018, pp. 224-225). The results of the nEU-Med project provide us with fragments of a general picture where it seems that a focused managerial strategy was being implemented across the territory from around the mid-10th century (attested both on an archaeological and documentary level, see Pieruccini et al. 2018 and Bianchi, Collavini 2018, pp. 225-227). The passage from Period 3 to Period 4 does not appear to be a real change, but rather a gradual evolution that in the last decades of the 10th century (Period 4.1) would definitively transform the nature of the place. The excavations show how Vetricella progressively lost its distinctive form – the fortification comprising three concentric ditches – evolving at least on a material level into something very different. From a historical perspective this transformation in Period 4.1 corresponds to the phase of affirmation and consolidation of the figure of Queen Adelaide in court politics, first as the wife of the Emperor Lothar II and then as a referential figure for the Ottonian dynasty. On an archaeological level it is during this third important moment dating to the third decade of the 10th century that a consistent quantitative development of material indicators occurs, both in stratigraphic terms, as well as material finds. This also evident in significant structural transformations. A phase now starts that within a few decades would lead to a continual succession of different construction activities, the first with an apparent uniformity of design (the final phase of Period 4.1), the second instead involving a chaotic overlapping of structural changes (Period 4.2, occurring in the first half of the 11th century). Despite the uncertainties offered by the archaeology, the possibility of tracing a chronological overview provided by the numerous radiocarbon analyses related to the relative excavation sequence permits us to establish that this transformation took place in the last thirty years of the 10th century. The project can be interpreted in terms of the significant renewal of Vetricella as a centre, involving new buildings, as well as the systematic dismantling of earlier structures and features. Filling in the earlier concentric ditches involved managing notable amounts of labour. This is also the moment in which, in an extremely short temporal sequence, it is possible to witness in only a few years the appearance of a cemetery (containing at least 52 currently recorded burials) and a small religious structure, probably an oratory. The cemetery and oratory confirm the transformation of the significance Vetricella now had for communities in the surrounding territory. These were communities which archaeology has defined in terms of settlement nuclei and distribution patterns, now enriched further by the recent identification of a second area of coeval burials to those from our site (Marasco 2013; Dallai, Marasco, Volpi 25 A connection between the public role of the Adalbertingi and a family estate linked to fiscal possessions appears to be legible also in the analysis by Giacomo Vignodelli on the presence of Tuscan properties, among which appears the curtis of Valli, in the AD 937 dotary of Hugh (Vignodelli 2012 pp. 275-276). 19 L. Marasco, a. Briano 2018). Furthermore, the material record reveals the image of a centre that acted as a point of reference both for the territory and an economic-productive system, as testified by the numerous finds that point to the role of collecting and storing, most likely for subsequent redistribution 26. What emerges at an archaeological level allows us also to imagine a direct relationship between the new asset and a royal strategy of patrimonial management, that in these years lead to the significant donation of Valli on behalf of Adelaide to ‘her’ monastery of San Salvatore of Pavia (Bianchi, Collavini 2018, p. 226). From the material culture point of view there is no lack of indicators that confirm the persistence of direct relations with exchange and supply networks of an international nature (Agostini, Castelli and Gratuze, infra). A last change in Vetricella’s long trajectory can be seen not as much in Period 4.2, that presents itself as a progressively descending continuation of the context established at the end of the 10th century, but rather in the two final periods. In fact, it is even more evident from the most recent excavation data how during Period 4.2 a series of closely set activities occur, between maintenance and adjustments, possibly indicative of repeated management changes. The same alterations can also be read at a documentary level as the result of a new scenario with public property becoming a point of contention between different players (Bianchi, Collavini 2018, p. 226). With Periods 5 and 6 Vetricella emerges as a different site, with new functions and probably a new role with regards to the dynamics of political affirmation of different subjects (in particular for this area the Aldobrandeschi) and new economic interests. That this consists in the dismantling of the old public property can be seen in the ‘coordinated’ process of demolishing Vetricella’s tower, around the mid-11th century. After all, this was the material representation of a bygone superstructure (complementing the development of nearby seigneural castles). However, it is very significant that even in a new political scenario, the functional memory of the site is preserved, continuing to be a possible centre for the collection of agricultural resources in the 12th and 13th centuries. As if in some way the historical role of this site had survived even after the dissolution of the royal management. In this reconstruction spanning six hundred years, what is more than evident is the need to better define the initial phases of Vetricella in terms of its purposes and material culture, and how this might help inform future archaeological investigations in other parts of the territory that formed the royal curtis of Valli. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bianchi G., 2018, Spazi pubblici, beni fiscali e sistemi economici rurali nella Tuscia post carolingia: un caso studio attraverso la prospettiva archeologica, in G. Bianchi, C. La Rocca, T. Lazzari (a cura di), Spazio pubblico e spazio privato tra storia ed archeologia (secoli VI-XI), Turnhout, pp. 293-325. Bianchi G., Collavini S., 2018, Public estates and economic strategies in Early Medieval Tuscany: towards a new interpretation, in G. Bianchi, R. Hodges C. (a cura di), Origins of a new economiuc union (7th-12th centuries), Firenze, pp. 147-162. Bianchi G., Gelichi S. (a cura di), 2016, Un monastero sul mare. Indagini archeologiche a San Quirico di Populonia, Firenze. Bianchi G., Hodges R. (a cura di), 2018, Origins of a new economiuc union (7th-12th centuries), Firenze. Ceccarelli Lemut M.L., 1985, Scarlino: le vicende medievali fino al 1399, in R. Francovich (a cura di), Scarlino. Storia e territorio, Firenze, pp. 19-75. Cucini C., 1989, L’insediamento altomedievale di podere Aione (Follonica – GR),«Archeologia Medievale», XVI, pp. 499-512. Collavini S., 1998, «Honorabilis domus et spetiosissimus comitatus». Gli Aldobrandeschi da «conti» a «principi territoriali» (secoli IX-XII), Pisa. Collavini S.M., 2016, San Quirico di Populonia nelle fonti scritte (secc. XI-XII), in Bianchi, Gelichi 2016, pp. 51-88. Gelichi S., 2016, Prima del monastero, in Bianchi, Gelichi 2016, pp. 337-372. Dallai L., Marasco L., Volpi V., 2019, Progetto ERC nEU-Med: pXRF e magnetometria, uno studio integrato del paesaggio antropico in Val di Cornia e Val di Pecora, in Sogliani F., Gargiulo B., Annunziata E., Vitale (a cura di), VIII Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Medievale, Pre-Atti (Matera, 12-15 settembre 2018), Vol. 2, Firenze, pp. 98-103. Dallai L., Ponta E., Shepherd E.J., 2006, Aurelii e Valerii sulle strade d’Etruria, in S. Menchelli, M. Pasquinucci (a cura di), Territorio e produzioni ceramiche: paesaggi, economia e società in età romana, Atti Convegno Pisa 2005, Pisa, 2006, pp. 181-192. Farinelli R., 2007, I castelli nella Toscana delle “città deboli”, Firenze, repertorio n. 17.01. Francovich Onesti N., 2002, Filologia germanica, Roma, p. 149. Manacorda D., 2006, Dai Paapi agli Scauri, in M. Aprosio, C. Mascione (a cura di), Materiali per Populonia 5, Pisa, pp. 305-321. Marasco L., 2012, Una “motta” medievale in Toscana: nuovi dati sull’assetto di una pianura costiera maremmana tra alto medioevo e secoli centrali, in P. Galetti (a cura di), Villaggi, comunità e paesaggi medievali, atti di convegno (Bologna 14-16 gennaio 2010), CISAM, Spoleto, pp. 709-718. Marasco L. 2013, La Castellina di Scarlino e le fortificazioni di terra nelle pianure costiere della Maremma Settentrionale, in Settia, Marasco, Saggioro 2013, pp. 57-68. Marasco et al. 2018 = Marasco L., Briano A., Greenslade S., Sheppard S., Greenslade S., Lubritto C., Ricci S., Investigations at Vetricella: new findings in anthropic and natural landscapes, in Bianchi, Hodges 2018, pp. 57-80. Pieruccini et al. 2018 = Pieruccini P., Buonincontri M., Susini D., Lubritto C., Di Pasquale G., Changing landscapes in the Colline Metallifere (Southern Tuscany, Italy): early medieval palaeodhydrology and land management along the Pecora river valley, in Bianchi, Hodges 2018, pp. 12-18. Renzi Rizzo C., 2011, La Toscana e il mare nelle fonti scritte dei secoli VIII-XI, in G. Petralia (a cura di), I sistemi portuali della Toscana mediterranea, Pisa, p. 75. Settia A.A., 2003, Strutture materiali e affermazione politica nel regno italico: i castelli marchionali e comitali dei secoli X e XI), «Archeologia Medievale», XXX, pp. 11-18. Vignodelli G., 2012, Berta e Adelaide: la politica di consolidamento del potere regio di Ugo di Arles, in T. Lazzari (a cura di), Il patrimonio delle regine: beni del fisco e politica regia tra IX e X secolo, Reti Medievali Rivista, 13 (2), pp. 247-294. Wickham C., 2019, in F. Bougard, V. Loré (a cura di), Biens publics, biens du roi Les bases économiques des pouvoirs royaux dans le haut Moyen Âge, Turnhout. L.M. 26 It must emphasized that while the excavation have produced a significant archaeological sequence, rich with material finds, any significant settlement traces are absent. 20 Italian abstract LA SEQUENZA STR ATIGR AFICA NEL SITO DI VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO: UNA NUOVA LETTUR A INTERPRETATIVA (VIII-XIII SECOLO) Le ultime indagini condotte sul sito di Vetricella offrono un quadro sufficientemente ricco di dati per ricostruire la sequenza stratigrafica complessiva e per una sua analisi interpretativa. In questo contributo si presenta una ricostruzione accurata, seppur sintetica, delle principali dinamiche che hanno interessato il sito tra l’VIII e la metà del XIII secolo. La ricostruzione della sequenza stratigrafica è stata elaborata attraverso lo studio complessivo delle varie campagne di scavo condotte e in parallelo alle analisi specialistiche dei materiali rinvenuti. Quanto qui presentato quindi ha anche lo scopo di fornire un inquadramento stratigrafico e di contesto ai singoli contributi specialistici presenti in questo stesso volume. La periodizzazione della vita di Vetricella individua una sequenza di sette Periodi di frequentazione (il Periodo 7 corrisponde alla fase di uso agricolo contemporaneo e non viene trattato in questa sede), con una necessaria distinzione in due sotto-periodi per il Periodo 4 (inquadrabile tra metà X e metà XI secolo), caratterizzato da più elevata presenza di tracce materiali e da maggiore articolazione dei contesti stratigrafici. L’elaborazione di tale sequenza si può inoltre avvalere del supporto di numerose datazioni radiocarboniche per un efficace ancoraggio delle stratigrafie a cronologie assolute piuttosto precise. L’interpretazione e la lettura storica dei dati archeologici sono incentrate sull’identificazione del sito di Vetricella con uno dei centri dell’antica curtis regia di Valli, attestata nel dotario di Re Ugo per Berta e Adelaide del 937, e localizzabile nelle pianure costiere tra Scarlino e la Val di Cornia. Alla luce di questa identificazione la lettura delle dinamiche riconosciute nel deposito stratigrafico può essere correlata all’evoluzione storica di questo possedimento di origine fiscale, forse già a partire dal primo nucleo di VIII secolo, centro di riferimento di un sistema gestionale e produttivo che dalla metà del X secolo manifesta lo sviluppo di specifiche strategie sul patrimonio regio. Il primo periodo di occupazione di Vetricella è testimoniato da una serie ridotta ma significativa di stratigrafie riferibili ad una frequentazione estesa su tutto il dosso naturale che caratterizza il sito. Questa fase di vita, pur nella scarsità di depositi conservati, restituisce indicatori di intense attività di combustione, al momento non meglio identificabili, ma senz’altro rapportabili ad attività produttive. Si individuano alcune fosse per combustione ad alte temperature, possibili residui di forge/forni interrati collegabili per confronti a lavorazioni metallurgiche specializzate. Le analisi radiocarboniche inquadrano questa fase tra VIII e IX secolo, quando nel territorio circostante i documenti attestano un vasto complesso di beni fiscali. Il sito vede poi una consistente trasformazione dopo la metà circa del IX secolo, con un profondo intervento di ricostruzione a carattere fortificato. Questo è il Periodo 2 della sequenza stratigrafica, che raccoglie tracce della realizzazione di un complesso sistema difensivo a tre fossati concentrici, con livellamento preventivo dell’area centrale e modesto rialzamento con terra di riporto. Al centro dell’impianto così realizzato viene predisposta una grande struttura a pianta quadrata e sviluppo verticale, che in questa fase si ipotizza realizzata in materiale deperibile (tale edificio risulterà poi rifatto, almeno in parte, nel Periodo 4.1 con elementi in muratura). Si tratta di una struttura identificabile con una torre (edificio A), testimoniata esclusivamente da una più tarda fossa di spoliazione, ma che per i materiali rinvenuti nei primi livelli interni risulta già in uso in questo periodo. La vita di questa fase di Vetricella, che si associa ad un vero progetto di rimodellazione del sito, si colloca durante la seconda metà del IX secolo, in base alla posteriorità stratigrafica con i depositi precedenti e ai dati radiocarbonici relativi alla costruzione e alla vita dei fossati. Si tratta di un periodo che comporta un accrescimento stratigrafico modesto nell’area rilevata centrale, mentre nei fossati si individuano accumuli di ributto provenienti dall’esterno che evidenziano una maggiore intensità di frequentazione. Alla luce di questi dati, pur in assenza di riferimenti documentari, si può ipotizzare una relazione diretta tra la presenza di possedimenti pubblici nell’area ed il progetto di costruzione di Vetricella, che per altro esprime nelle sue forme modelli di fortificazione che richiamano tradizioni ed influenze costruttive nord-europee. La ricostruzione archeologica di Vetricella prosegue poi individuando un terzo periodo nella sequenza stratigrafica, che racchiude una serie di prime evidenze indicative di un’evoluzione che si manifesterà soprattutto nel Periodo 4 (distinto nei suoi due sotto-periodi). In un momento che le analisi radiocarboniche datano alla prima metà del X secolo si individuano indicatori di una generale continuità di vita, ma anche di significativi sviluppi, come la progressiva defunzionalizzazione dei fossati. Questa avviene con successivi accumuli intenzionali di riporti di terreno, che restituiscono un numero sempre maggior di reperti (soprattutto contenitori ceramici, oggetti in ferro e ossi animali). Tali contesti, che indicano l’esistenza nel sito sia di attività di raccolta di prodotti che di produzione/lavorazione, rappresentano il legame di passaggio con il periodo successivo, attraverso un sempre maggiore incremento quantitativo. Il Periodo 4.1, infatti, si caratterizza nella seconda metà del X secolo per un progressivo accrescimento di stratigrafie, collegate evidentemente ad uno sviluppo delle attività svolte sul sito e ad un’intensificazione degli interventi costruttivi. Quest’ultimi in particolare si concentrano nell’ultimo trentennio del X secolo, quando si registrano l’allestimento di un vero cantiere, con miscelatore da malta, e modifiche strutturali. In questa fase si realizza il possibile rifacimento della torre centrale, dotata adesso di un 21 L. Marasco, a. Briano basamento in muratura con alzato in materiale deperibile. Di fronte all’edificio viene allestito un piano di calpestio in malta, così come in malta viene realizzato il rivestimento del vecchio fossato più interno, ormai quasi interrato. Nello stesso ampio progetto di ricostruzione vengono allestite due nuove strutture lignee di delimitazione anulare intorno alla torre, sia in funzione difensiva al posto dei fossati, sia per definire nuovi spazi destinati a differenti funzioni. Tra queste si evidenzia la nascita di un’area cimiteriale associata ad un ridotto edificio in materiale deperibile, identificato con un probabile oratorio a pianta rettangolare (edificio B). Intorno a questo si concentrano diverse sepolture (ad oggi 52), con particolare localizzazione lungo il suo perimetro di numerose sepolture infantili. Le analisi radiocarboniche effettuate su alcuni inumati confermano l’inquadramento del contesto tra la fine del X secolo ed i primi decenni del successivo. Possiamo indicare come questo periodo esprima il massimo sviluppo materiale del sito e come i dati recuperati ne evidenzino un chiaro ruolo di riferimento in un sistema produttivo che potrebbe interessare tutta la fascia costiera. Il Periodo 4.2 si presenta come una continuazione progressivamente discendente del contesto allestito a fine X secolo, caratterizzata da un accavallarsi di interventi piuttosto serrati, distinti tra prosecuzione di attività e modifiche strutturali. Sono contesti collocabili nella prima metà dell’XI secolo e forse da collegare ai profondi cambiamenti socio-politici che in breve porteranno ad un riassetto nella gestione del territorio. In particolare lo scavo ha individuato una fase iniziale di modesto cantiere (con un secondo miscelatore da malta), che comporta nuovi rialzamenti intorno alla torre e la costruzione di un elemento in muratura sopra il fossato interno, seguita da una fase di nuove destrutturazioni e tentativi di riallestimento con materiali di spoglio. Gli ultimi cambiamenti sono identificabili proprio nelle stratigrafie del Periodo 5 e 6, distinti nella lettura della sequenza, ma collegati sul piano interpretativo come espressione di una nuova fase storica del sito. A partire dalla fase iniziale del Periodo 5, inquadrabile tra metà XI e metà XII secolo, emergono nuove forme di utilizzo del sito di Vetricella, con la sola presenza di tracce riferibili ad attività di raccolta di granaglie. La struttura del sito sembra rimanere sostanzialmente la stessa fino alla metà del XII secolo, momento dopo il quale la sua defunzionalizzazione si manifesta anche a livello strutturale con lo smontaggio della torre centrale e l’allestimento di nuove modeste strutture in materiale deperibile. Questa frequentazione relativa al Periodo 6 si inquadra, per datazione radiocarbonica di alcuni semi combusti, intorno alla metà del XIII secolo. 22 Davide Susini*, Pierluigi Pieruccini** PRELIMINARY GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL RESULTS FROM THE INTERMEDIATE RING-SHAPED DITCH AT THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO) 1. INTRODUCTION During past excavation seasons, test-trenches made on the three ditches revealed strong differences both in dimensions, geometries and sedimentary fillings. On-site stratigraphic observations showed that the inner ditch backfill is made up entirely by anthropogenic sediments, the intermediate ditch by mixed anthropogenic and natural sediments, whilst the outer ditch, the smallest and shallowest, by very few anthropogenic sediments. Following these preliminary results 4 more trenches were opened on the intermediate ditch, the deepest and largest and corresponding to cardinal points (therefore named S1DS; S2DE; S4DN; S7DW, fig. 1). This strategy was planned to better analyse the nature of the sedimentary filling, its function and its relationships with the activities in the inner and outer surfaces. Ring-shaped ditches are commonly related to several kinds of settlement from different periods. In Central Europe during the Late Neolithic, “rondels” were the most typical monumental enclosures (Blazkova 2015; Pasztor et al. 2015), whilst for the Medieval period there is a terminological variety which is usually inferred from historical records (e.g. ringwork, moated site, motte etc., see Kelland 2013 and references therein). Ring-shaped ditches related to these kinds of settlements are normally regarded as a means of defence (though not for moated sites), usually associated with defensive structures, such as fences, which enclosed and protected an inner area with buildings. On this matter, the literature available is polyhedral, ranging from cultural-sociological (Fasham 1982) to land-use (Carson et al. 2016) perspectives to more specific aspects such as paleaeoenvironmental reconstructions (Beneš et al. 2002) and backfill formation processes (Lisá et al. 2015). The latter is perhaps one of the first questions to be answered by geoarchaeology. In fact, ditch infillings are lithologically and texturally different and mainly depend on natural and anthropic processes. Thus, the study of backfill modality and the relationships between natural and anthropic sediments provide important information regarding the function of a ditch (e.g. defence vs water storage) and its evolution during the lifetime of a settlement (Lisá et al. 2013; Hausmann et al. 2018). In this paper, we present preliminary geoarchaeological results of the geometrical and sedimentological/stratigraphic analyses from the intermediate ring-shaped ditch of the archaeological site of Vetricella (southern Tuscany, Italy). The results provide important information about engineering planning, use of the ditch, and its relationships with the processes and activities that occurred in nearby areas, both inside and outside the archaeological site. 3. MATERIAL AND METHODS Trenches were dug by mechanical excavator, perpendicularly cutting the ditch at its 4 cardinal points. The excavation permitted to focus upon both the ditch backfills and the bedrock (Upper Pleistocene alluvial fan gravels: Pieruccini et al. 2018). Stratigraphic sections were manually cleaned and documented by orthophotograph, 3D modelling, stratigraphic sketches and sedimentological descriptions. The sedimentological analysis followed the principles of facies analysis (Goldberg, Macphail 2006) in order to assess the main nature of the process responsible for deposition within the ditch. Facies analysis mainly took into account composition, texture, fabric and sedimentary structures of the deposits within the intermediate ditch. Field descriptions were later improved and coupled with ortophotographs digital processing and 3D models. Three 14C dates have been also obtained from basal and top fillings of S4DN and S7DW sections (tab. 1). Additionally, the stratigraphic successions underwent sampling for palaeoenvironmental (ostracoda, geochemical proxies, charcoal, pollen, malacofauna) and microstratigraphical (micromorphology) analysis. These analyses are still proceding as are analyses of the archaeological material found in the ditch. 2. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF VETRICELLA The site of Vetricella is characterised by the presence of three concentric ring-shaped ditches, identified by aerial photography and confirmed by subsequent geophysical surveys, enclosing the inner area featuring a tower-like building (fig. 1). 4. DATA 4.1 Dimensions and geometry * Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell’Ambiente – Università di Siena (susini.davide@gmail.com). ** Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra – Università di Torino (pierluigi. pieruccini@unito.it). Measurements from each section (fig. 2a-b and tab. 2) were calculated and analysed by direct geometric digital comparison, in order to evaluate the volume of excavated 23 D. Susini, P. Pieruccini fig. 1 – Aerial view of the archaeological site of Vetricella at the end of the 2018 campaign, with the intermediate ditch (in red), the inner ditch (in yellow) and the towerlike building (in green) highlighted. Blue stripes indicate the location of the intermediate ditch trenches. sample CSN18_S7DW_CH3 CSN18_CCH_BULK CSN18_S4DN_CH5 contest Thin charcoal lense in S7DW base of facies 6 Burnt wood fragment in S4DN base of facies 5 Thin charcoal lens in S4DN top of facies 5 Lab. Code (Beta Analytic) 14 C concentration (pMC) t (years BP) t (years AD – 1σ) t (years AD – 2σ) Fi4045 85.67 ± 0.50 1243 ± 47 [686-778] [671-886] Fi4038 86.55 ± 0.48 1161 ± 45 [800-899] [769-984] Fi4037 87.17 ± 0.52 1103 ± 48 [891-991] [860-1021] tab. 1 – 14C dates from the intermediate ditch. For the localization of the samples, see fig. 4. is partly destroyed by modern agricultural activities, hence partially preventing the observation of the sealing phases related to the abandonment processes of the ditch. Despite these problems, the observed stratigraphic successions permitted to identify two distinct facies associations and their related characteristics: Anthropic facies (fig. 3a): facies related to human activities are made of poorly sorted, mainly clast supported, fine- to coarse-grained gravels with scarce sandy and silty matrix sediments, and plane-planar to cross-planar stratifications. Anthropic inputs, such as ceramic, often burnt animal bones and charcoals, are also very abundant, although locally concentrated. Natural facies (fig. 3b): facies related to natural fillings are made of massive to weakly laminated matrix supported clays to silty-clay sediments with scarce sands and pebbles and occasional sandy lenses. Locally these facies show a weakly developed sub-angular structure. material and possible water storage capability. The intermediate ditch has a diameter of c. 77 m with a c. 241 m circumference, with an average width of 8 m for c. 2 m depth. However, the observable depth is inferred from the modern agricultural soil which has truncated the top of the ditch. The absolute elevation of the base of the ditch at each trench was assessed by GPS in order to evaluate possible slope variations from one cardinal point to another. The base of the ditch is constant at 11,7 m a.s.l., with no notable slope. The estimated total volume of the body of water within the ditch is approximately 2477 m³. Sections obtained from the trenches also show the presence of a slope-step installed on the internal side of the ditch; this peculiar geometry forms a 1×1,5 m ramp highlighting a deeper central portion. Moreover, in S1DS and S4DN embankment works associated with the ramp were also observed (see below for further details). 4.2. Facies analysis 4.2.1 S1DS (fig. 4a) At the southern area of the ditch the initial phase of the infilling is characterized by natural facies that form the base of the succession (1b, 2b) within the central part of the ditch and pass laterally to anthropic facies (1a, 2a) inputted from the external sectors of the site. In a second phase, anthropic inputs come from the internal sector (3a), burying the slope- The sedimentary dynamics of the infillings of the intermediate ditch are complex, although facies analysis revealed a rather simple framework. This is due to the impossibility to establish a direct stratigraphic correlation between each of the four sections. Moreover, it has already been mentioned that the top of the ditch, and consequently the filling within, 24 Preliminary Geoarchaeological results from the Intermediate ring-shaped ditch at the site of Vetricella fig. 2 – A) Geometry of the intermediate ditch; B) Measures of the intermediate ditch (see related tab. 2) Trench Wmax (m) Wch (m) Wst (m) Dmax (m) Dst1 (m) Dst2 (m) Volume ch (m³) S1DS S2DE S4DN S7DW 8,9 7,4 8,2 8,6 3,1 5 3,8 4 1,8 1,1 1,5 1,5 2,2 1,7 2,1 2 1 0,9 1,1 1 1,2 0,8 1 1 164,5 135,15 137,2 144,05 Volume ch TOT Volume TOT Volume (m³) (m³) (m³) 695,8 483,2 580,9 2477 576,8 721,2 tab. 2 – Measurements of the ditch inferred from each sections (see fig. 2) and volume of the body of water in assumed low level periods (Volume ch TOT), in relationship with the ramp, and flooded periods (Volume TOT). fig. 3 – A) Anthropic facies (S2DE), note poorly selected sediments with sub-planar stratification and strong presence of anthropogenic input (white arrows); B) Natural facies (S4DN), note fine material with occasional pebbles, massive, with weakly developed sub-angular structure; C) Natural/anthropic facies alternation (S7DW); D) Reddish, leached Bt horizon representing an Argillisol with moderate prismatic structure on top of the pleistocenic alluvial fan, cut by the intermediate ditch (S4DN). Note that the top of the palaeosoil is truncated by modern plowing (grayish layer). 25 D. Susini, P. Pieruccini material coming from the internal sector (5, 6a, 7, 8) and to a lesser extent from the external sector (6b). One radiometric date has been obtained from a thin charcoal lens in the intermediate sequence of the filling (6), placing this moment at the 8th century, although this date must be treated with caution due to the charcoal’s state of preservation. step that is characterized by the presence of a stone wall, with a thin level of fresh-water bivalves (Unionidae) concentrated below, found in living position (fig. 5a-b). In this phase the natural facies extends for almost the whole width of the ditch (3b). The final phase is marked by the total deactivation of the ditch, sealed completely by anthropic sediments (4a; 4b). 4.2.2 S2DE (fig. 4b) At the eastern area of the ditch the initial phase of the filling is marked by thick anthropic layers inputted mostly from the external sectors (1; 2). The abundance of archaeological elements inside the facies are mainly related to domestic activities. Natural facies (3a) are present in a higher position than in the other sections, when the deeper part of the ditch was already partially filled. However, anthropic inputs continued coming from both sides of the ditch (3b; 4). Natural facies predominate in the later phase of filling (5a, 5b, 6, 7) when most of the ditch was flooded, although with a smaller anthropic layer (8, 9) inputted from the internal sector. Presence of fresh-water bivalves (Unionidae) are observed here as well (5b), although in minor quantity compared to S1DS section. 5. DISCUSSION The main feature of the intermediate ditch is the asymmetry of the slope, represented by a slope-step observable in the inner part (fig. 2a-b). This intentional setting served to create a central, deeper part and a shallower inner part. This accommodation forms a ramp which allowed access inside the ditch possibly to obtain water supply (for domestic and/or production activities) during drought periods, when only the deeper central part was flooded (estimated volume c. 581 m³, see tab. 2). The presence of sedimentary facies associated to standing water or low-energy water depositional environments support this hypothesis. It is also possible that the ramp was intended to facilitate maintenance operations (e.g. cleaning and/or dredging), as highlighted by anthropic facies at the base of the filling in S7DW. The presence of embankments built on the ramp and observed at the southern (stone wall) and northern (gravelly levee) areas of the ditch are evidence of subsequent management works (fig. 5). Stratigraphic analysis shows that these artificial levees were built when the deeper area of the ditch was already filled and sealed, hence their main purpose was probably to form an internal channel for water supply. This is particularly notable in S4DN where lenses of natural facies characterized the shallower inner area. Anthropic facies indicate that the ditch was also used as a discharge area. In S2DE the base of the infilling is mainly made of archaeological material related to domestic activities. This suggests that the ditch had also a secondary function, at least at a local level, for waste dumping and as a toss zone (Binford 1983). At the moment it is unclear whether this phase was related to the presence or absence of water. Anthropic facies are also associated with management/maintenance works. These facies are usually subsequent to early natural fillings and confined to the side portions, which may indicate the intention of gradually reducing the section of the ditch and/or fitting-out works for slope maintenance. The top of the filling, corresponding to the last sealing/ abandonment phase, is affected by modern agricultural activities, which removed part of it. Natural facies show evidence of short living soil formation processes with weakly developed soil structure (fig. 3b), enhanced by homogenisation of the sediment due to plant roots and edaphic fauna activity, which indicate wetting and drying cycles (Holliday 2004). This suggests that that the ditch was not permanently flooded but was affected by important oscillations of the water depth, most probably due to seasonal or intentional drainage, although evidences of the latter have not been observed. 4.2.3 S4DN (fig. 4c) At the northern area the ditch is cut within the palaeosoil on top of the alluvial fan (fig. 3d) which is a truncated reddish, leached Bt horizon representing an Argillisol (Nettleton et al. 2000; USDA 2015), which was already observed in the Pecora river geomorphological study (Pieruccini et al. 2018). Sediments at the base of the ditch are affected by severe carbonate precipitations due to the presence of the oscillating water-table. Anthropic facies are poorly represented and observed only in the initial and final phase of the filling (1, 5b, 5d). Management works, similar to S1SD, are observed on the slope-step improved by the installation of a gravelly levee (4) that separated the central and deeper part of the ditch from the shallower inner part. The natural facies are well distributed (2, 3, 5, 6) throughout the ditch and filled most of it, including the shallower inner part (5a, 5c). Two radiometric dates have been obtained from the intermediate and final phase of filling (5), spanning from the beginning of the 9th to the end of 10th centuries AD. However, the presence of earlier facies at the base, although strongly altered by water-table, suggests that the filling processes started earlier. 4.2.4 S7DW (fig. 4d) At the western area the base of the filling is formed by a thin anthropic layer (2, 3b) cut at the top by an important unconformity and buried by subsequent natural facies (3a, 4). However, a thin natural layer on top of the ramp (1) indicates that natural deposition affected the very first phase of the ditch filling. Subsequent phases show that the body of water occupied the entire ditch (6) with lateral input of anthropic 26 Preliminary Geoarchaeological results from the Intermediate ring-shaped ditch at the site of Vetricella fig. 4 – Facies analysis of the intermediate natural (red) and anthropic (green) ditch infillings: A) S1DS Section; B) S2DE Section; C) S4DN Section, with localization of the 14C dates (see tab. 1); D) S7DW Section, with localization of the 14C date (see tab. 1). 27 D. Susini, P. Pieruccini A B C fig. 5 – Intermediate ditch subsequent embankment works related to the ramp: A) frontal view of S1DS stone wall, note the presence of a thin layer of bivalves (Unionidae) in life position (white arrow); B) same as A) but in relationship with the stratigraphic section; C) gravelly levee (marked in red) in S4DN. Geomorphological remote analysis show no visible canals or collectors for water exploitation in order to supply the ditch. Moreover, the Pecora river is situated at a lower elevation (Pieruccini et al. 2018), preventing the possibility of a connection channel. However, remote analysis shows that Vetricella is located on the watershed between two small concave-shaped impluviums modelled by run-off processes on top of the Late Pleistocene alluvial fan (fig. 6). Therefore, it is possible that water supply was mainly related to the surface drainage, which is driven by seasonal rainy periods, both from direct run-off (i.e. rain) and surface run-off (i.e. rills and gullies). 6. CONCLUSIONS Geoarchaeological analysis of the intermediate ditch filling succession allowed to reconstruct its main formation processes, use and function and its evolution in time. The filling is made up of two major type of sediment bodies which are the result of cut-and-fill sequences of anthropic intentional infilling and natural processes, the latter related to deposition in a standing or low-energy water environment. Post-depositional processes are also evidence that the body of water within the ditch was not permanent but strictly dependent on seasonal waters triggered by meteorological events. The function of the ditch as a water collector/reservoir is highlighted by the presence of a ramp which allowed people to collect water during drought periods and maintenance works. fig. 6 – Geomorphological sketch of the surrounding area of Vetricella: 1. Alluvial fan; 2. artificial channel; 3. palaeochannel; 4. Late Holocene alluvial plain; 5. Late Pleistocene alluvial deposits. 28 Preliminary Geoarchaeological results from the Intermediate ring-shaped ditch at the site of Vetricella Golberg P., Macphail R., 2006, Practical and Theoretical Geoarchaeology, Oxford. Hausmann et al. 2018 = Hausmann J., Zielhofer C., Werther L., Berg-Hobohm S., Dietrich P., Heymann R., Werban U., Direct push sensing in wetland (geo)archaeology: High-resolution reconstruction of buried canal structures (Fossa Carolina, Germany), «Quaternary International», 473, pp. 21-36. Holliday V.T., 2004, Soils in archaeological research, Oxford. Kelland C.H., 2013, Castelli in terra e legno in Gran Bretagna e Irlanda: una panoramica, «Archeologia Medievale», XI, pp. 37-48. Lisá et al. 2013 = Lisá L., Bajer A., Válek D., Květina P., Šumberová R., Micromorphological Evidence of Neolithic Rondel-like Ditch Infillings: Case Studies from Těšetice-Kyjovice and Kolín, Czech Republic, «Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica», IV (2), pp. 135-146. Lisá et al. 2015 = Lisá L., Komoróczy B., Vlach M., Válek D., Bajer A., Kovárnik J., Rajtár J., Hüssen C.M., Šumberová R., How were the ditches filled? Sedimentological and micromorphological classification on formation processes within graben-like archaeological objects, «Quaternary International», 370, pp. 66-76. Nettleton W.D., Olson C.G., Wysocki D.A., 2000, Paleosol classification: problems and solutions, «Catena», 41, pp. 61-92. Pasztor E., Barna J.P., Zotti G., 2015, Neolithic Circular Ditch Systems (“Rondels”) in Central Europe, in C.L.N. Ruggles (ed.), Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, New York, pp. 1317-1326. Pieruccini et al. 2018 = Pieruccini P., Buonincontri M.P., Susini D., Lubritto C., Di Pasquale G., Changing landscapes in the Colline Metallifere (Southern Tuscany, Italy): Early medieval palaeohydrology and land management along the Pecora river valley, in G. Bianchi, R. Hodges (eds.), Origins of a new economic union (7th12th centuries). Preliminary results of the Neu-Med Project: October 2015-March 2017, Firenze, pp. 19-27. USDA 2015. Keys to Soil Taxonomy. U.S. Department of Agriculture. The uniformity and precision of geometry and dimensions and the presence of the ramp denote a specific intent and project management which is the result of a high level of engineering competence coupled with remarkable technical knowledge. Such high level work must have been possible thanks to the available labour and high quality engineering and works management. While these can be considered as preliminary results, the further collecting of data will allow to better understand the use of the ditch as well as the surrounding natural and anthropic environment. BIBLIOGR APHY Beneš et al. 2002 = Beneš J., Kaštovský J., Kočárová R., Kočár P., Kubečková K., Pokorný P., Staree P., Archaeobotany of the Old Prague Town defence system, Czech Republic: archaeology, macroremains, pollen, and diatoms, «Vegetation History and Archaeobotany», 11, pp. 107-119. Binford L.R., 1983, In Pursuit of the Past. Decoding the Archaeological Record, London. Blazkova T., 2015, Testimony of Archaeological Finds from the Neolithic Rondel in Praha-Ruzyně, Czech Republic, «Anthropologie», LIII/3, pp. 485-500. Carson et al. 2016 = Carson J.F., Mayle F.E., Whitney B.S., Iriarte J., Soto D., Pre-Columbian ditch construction and land use on a ‘chocolate forest island’ in the Bolivian Amazon. «Journal of Quaternary Science», 31(4), pp. 337-347. Fasham P.J., 1982, The excavation of four ring-ditches in central Hampshire (MARC3 Sites R17, Feature 1972; R7; R30 and R363), «Proceeding of Hampshire Field Club Archaeology», 38, pp. 19-56. 29 Italian abstract RISULTATI PRELIMINARI DALLA RICERCA GEOARCHEOLOGICA NEL FOSSATO INTERMEDIO DI VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO) Durante la campagna di scavo 2018 presso il sito archeologico di Vetricella sono state aperte per mezzo di pala meccanica 4 trincee esplorative (collocate ai punti cardinali S1DS a Sud, S2DE ad Est, S4DN a Nord, S7DW ad Ovest) allo scopo di investigare i depositi di riempimento del fossato intermedio. L’obiettivo, dal punto di vista geoarcheologico, è stato quello di analizzare le evidenze di modalità realizzativa (le geometrie), la stratigrafia del riempimento (tipologia di sedimentazione, le relazioni tra riempimenti antropici e naturali, le caratteristiche dell’ambiente all’intorno) e quindi fornire indicazioni circa i processi di formazione e la sua funzione nel tempo. Le 4 sezioni stratigrafiche ottenute sono state documentate tramite ortofoto e analizzate e descritte dal punto di vista sedimentologico (analisi di facies) e stratigrafico, nonché campionate per analisi paleoambientali (carboni, pollini, ostracodi, malacofauna), chimiche (conducibilità elettrica, TIC, TOC, pH) e micromorfologiche. Ulteriori indagini sono in corso per i materiali contenuti negli strati antropici. Tre datazioni radiometriche sono state ottenute dai riempimenti basali e sommitali delle trincee S4DN e S7DW. Le sequenze stratigrafiche osservate sono state descritte secondo il metodo dell’analisi di facies analizzando nel dettaglio le litofacies (granulometria, composizione, morfologia, geometria interna, strutture sedimentarie e fabric) e le loro reciproche relazioni geometriche e composizionali. Il fossato intermedio ha un diametro stimato di 77 m per una circonferenza di 241 m e una larghezza media di circa 8 m con una profondità di circa 2 metri. Tuttavia, non si può escludere una profondità maggiore rispetto all’originale piano di campagna dato che il tetto del fossato è stato troncato dall’attività agricola moderna. La base del fossato in tutte e quattro le trincee è costante a quota 11,7 m s.l.m. senza pendenze rilevabili. Il fossato è stato scavato all’interno dei sedimenti del conoide alluvionale antico (Pleistocene superiore) che costituisce la superficie del terrazzo sul quale è ubicato il sito di Vetricella. Approssimando una sezione costante del fossato, si stima che il volume complessivo di sedimenti ghiaiosi estratti per la costruzione del fossato (e conseguentemente il volume totale dell’invaso) sia di circa 2477 m³. Le sezioni del fossato mostrano una geometria costante con la presenza, sul fianco interno, di un gradino di circa 1 m di altezza e 1,5 m di larghezza. Tale gradino forma di fatto una rampa che separa la porzione centrale del fossato, più profonda, da quella situata nella porzione interna (meno profonda). Le successioni stratigrafiche osservate rivelano la presenza di due facies sedimentarie distinte, caratteristiche di diversi processi sedimentari: Facies antropiche – le facies relative all’attività antropica sono caratterizzate da sedimenti grossolani poco selezionati a supporto clastico, da ghiaia grossolana a fine con scarsa matrice fine sabbiosa-siltosa. La composizione di queste facies è inoltre caratterizzata dalla presenza di elementi antropici (prevalentemente ceramiche, ossi animali, carboni ecc.), abbondanti ma concentrati localmente. Facies naturali – le facies relative ai riempimenti naturali sono caratterizzate da sedimenti da massivi a debolmente laminati a supporto di matrice da argillosa a siltosa-argillosa, con scarse sabbie e ciottoli. L’analisi geoarcheologica delle geometrie e dei riempimenti dei fossati ha permesso di comprendere i relativi processi di formazione, della funzione e delle modalità di evoluzione nel tempo. Il fossato intermedio mostra una tecnica realizzativa frutto di una precisa strategia funzionale. Le dimensioni, la particolare precisione nella realizzazione (dimensioni medie e geometrie costanti) e le caratteristiche del substrato oggetto di scavo denotano una precisa volontà progettuale e delle capacità tecniche notevoli. Il volume totale scavato (ca. 2447 m³) è costituito dai depositi ghiaiosi appartenenti alla conoide alluvionale pleistocenica sulla cui superficie si imposta il sito di Vetricella. Si tratta infatti di sedimenti molto addensati, grossolani che necessitano per lo scavo di strumenti adatti allo scopo e di una precisa progettazione in fase di scavo per gestire i materiali di risulta che sono stati distribuiti e/o recuperati nell’area del sito. La quantità di manodopera è senz’altro decisiva per la realizzazione del fossato ma anche un coordinamento e una direzione dei lavori ingegneristicamente avanzata. La caratteristica principale del fossato è la sua asimmetria con la presenza di un gradino nel versante interno, permettendo di avere una rampa meno acclive. Tale sistemazione era funzionale all’accesso all’interno del fossato per l’approvvigionamento idrico (per attività domestiche e/o produttive) durante i periodi in cui il livello dell’invaso era basso e circoscritto alla porzione centrale più profonda (si stima che il volume d’acqua durante questi periodi fosse di ca. 581 m³). La presenza di facies sedimentarie associabili ad ambienti deposizionali tipici di acque ferme o di bassa energia supporta questa ipotesi. Inoltre, è possibile ipotizzare che la necessità di predisporre una rampa fosse per agevolare le operazioni di manutenzione e pulitura (dragaggi), come evidenziato dai riempimenti antropici basali presenti nella sezione S7DW. Nelle sezioni S1DE e S4DN la presenza di argini costruiti al limite del gradino (rispettivamente un muretto in pietra ed un argine in ghiaia) sono evidenze di opere di sistemazione postume alla realizzazione del fossato. L’analisi stratigrafica ha difatti evidenziato come questi arginamenti siano stati realizzati quando la porzione centrale del fossato fosse già, o prossima ad essere, completamente riempita. Dunque, è probabile che la funzione di queste opere fosse quella di 30 Risultati preliminari dalla ricerca geoarcheologica nel fossato intermedio di Vetricella (Scarlino, GRosseto) canalizzare l’acqua verso la porzione interna del fossato; ciò è particolarmente apprezzabile nella sezione S4DN dove si osservano delle lenti argillo-siltose e sabbiose in appoggio all’argine. La presenza di facies di riempimento antropici, d’altro canto, provenienti sia dai settori esterni che interni del fossato indicano come nel quest’ultimo fosse stato utilizzato anche come zona di scarico materiale, probabilmente relazionabile alle fasi di uso delle superfici prospicienti al fossato stesso. Nella sezione S2DE, ad esempio, i riempimenti antropici basali sono caratterizzati da abbondanti elementi archeologici relativi ad attività domestiche. Ciò suggerisce che il fossato, perlomeno localmente, avesse una funzione secondaria come scarico rifiuti. Tuttavia, non è chiaro al momento se questa fase ‘precoce’ di riempimento fosse o non fosse in relazione alla presenza d’acqua nel fossato. Le facies antropiche sono inoltre associate a lavori di manutenzione e sistemazione, solitamente successive alle prime fasi di riempimento naturale e confinate nelle porzioni laterali lungo i versanti. Ciò lascia indurre la volontà di diminuire progressivamente la sezione del fossato per favorire l’accesso alla risorsa idrica e/o opere di sistemazione per la manutenzione dei versanti del fossato stesso. Le facies naturali, inoltre, mostrano deboli evidenze di pedogenesi (formazione di suolo) di breve durata con omogeneizzazione del sedimento ad opera di apparati radicali e fauna edafica, che indicano fasi cicliche di secca. È quindi possibile ipotizzare che il livello dell’invaso subisse oscillazi- oni importanti, probabilmente stagionali o legate a drenaggi intenzionali, benché per quest’ultima ipotesi non sono state osservate evidenze dirette. Per quanto riguarda l’apporto di acque al fossato le analisi effettuate da remoto non hanno evidenziato la presenza di canalizzazioni o collettori realizzati ad hoc che convogliassero le acque nel fossato. Il Fiume Pecora è localizzato ad una quota inferiore, pertanto la possibilità che esistesse un canale allacciante con il corso d’acqua non sembra essere verosimile. Tuttavia, l’analisi geomorfologica ha evidenziato come il sito di Vetricella sia ubicato all’interno di un sistema di piccole vallecole che solcano la superficie della conoide alluvionale pleistocenica che immerge verso sud e che ospitavano il drenaggio superficiale, caratterizzato da piccoli fossi di erosione concentrata. Il sito di Vetricella si trova in una porzione leggermente rialzata, posta tra due di queste vallecole e quindi aveva due linee di drenaggio ‘naturali’ principali, una posta ad Ovest e una ad Est. Date le caratteristiche di facies del riempimento del fossato intermedio, l’ipotesi più plausibile è che le acque di riempimento del fossato provenissero da questi sistemi di drenaggio superficiale che erano soggetti a stagionalità, la stessa che si riconosce dall’analisi dei riempimenti. È quindi plausibile che la quantità di acqua presente nel fossato fosse dipendente principalmente dalle variazioni stagionali e dagli eventi meteorici, sia come deflusso diretto (quantità di acqua piovana che finisce direttamente nel fossato) sia come deflusso superficiale (quantità di acqua piovana proveniente dal ruscellamento superficiale delle aree circostanti). 31 Alexander Agostini* THE METAL FINDS FROM THE SITE OF VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM THE STUDY OF AN EARLY MEDIEVAL ASSEMBLAGE INTRODUCTION means towards a better understanding of artefact function and use within well-defined stratigraphic contexts. All the material was progressively numbered and registered; photographic documentation followed. The finds are currently stored in a low humidity environment in order to stabilize active corrosion processes. Artefact recording in a purposefully built relational database noted basic identification type accompanied by measurements, including weight, full object description and contextual details. Recommendations for specific archaeometric analyses, conservation treatment as well as graphic illustration was considered and, when deemed necessary, noted in the database spreadsheet. For the purposes of analysis, the repertoire has been divided into nine groups broadly defined by original artefact function; knives were treated as a group in their own right due to the difficulty in assigning an exclusive use to individual specimens. Category subdivision is as follows: The present paper is a preliminary report on research conducted on the assemblage of metal finds from excavations at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) since 2005 and within the current ERC nEU-Med project program. The material constitutes an exceptional number of artefacts, mainly in iron, as well as copper alloy and lead, related to the period ranging from the 9th to the 13th centuries AD, also including evidence of in-situ smith-working. Vetricella is located in the south-west part of Tuscany, strategically positioned between the ore-rich hinterland and the Tyrrhenian coast and characterized by an exceptional planimetric layout, marking it as a unicum in the region’s Early Medieval landscape. The purpose of the following contribution is to present the first results of this work although, due to the ongoing study of the metalwork, the currently illustrated finds constitute only an exemplary sample of the full complement of material recovered. Selection criteria have focused both on chronologically referable material and unstratified finds that can provide evidence of the activities taking place within or in the vicinity of the three-ringed enclosure, drawing attention to some of the issues arising from the site’s material culture. Results have highlighted the role metal, and iron in particular, played in the economic strategies adopted in an Early Medieval administrative centre in relation to a territorial district marked by a wealth of natural resources and set against the historical backdrop of the Carolingian and Ottonian world. – Horse equipment and riding gear – Weapons – Knives – Structural ironwork and fittings – Locks and keys – Fishing tackle – Personal wear – Bar iron and smithing debris – Tools and implements A first comparative survey was carried out for the site’s geographic area of reference along with other Medieval centres not only across the centre-north of the Italian peninsula, but also central and northern Europe so as to provide an initial chronological and functional characterization of the assemblage. METHODOLOGY Few of the metal finds excavated at Vetricella were recovered from stratified and phased contexts. The vast majority were located in secondary deposits or topsoil levels, the latter due to recent ploughing with heavy tracked field machinery that ripped through the archaeological layers, pulling large quantities of deposits towards the surface. Finds from stratigraphic contexts were geo-referenced by way of total station readings at the moment of recovery (fig. 1) 1. Non-stratified objects were logged spatially into a meter-square grid (10×10 m) over the site (fig. 2). The current development of a GIS system related to geo-referenced materials is designed to identify the presence of ‘artefact clusters’, thus providing a ASSEMBLAGE COMPOSITION To date, the metalwork assemblage recovered from Vetricella consists of 1.660 fragments, corresponding to a total of 1.574 individual forms. The majority of these objects are in iron, 1.498 items, that is 95% of the total, whereas finds in copper alloy and lead are significantly fewer, respectively 45 (3%) and 31 (2%) (fig. 3); full group weight amounted to ca. 18 kilos. As is often the case with this class of material, fragmentation was particularly high and object preservation, especially in the case of iron finds, at times poor. Identified artefacts correspond to 53% of the total (828 objects) whereas presently non-identified finds * Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università di Siena (agostini87@hotmail.it). 1 It must be noted that this form of documentation was systematically carried out during the 2016 campaign at the start of the nEU-Med project. 33 fig. 1 – Vectorial map of the site of Vetricella with metal finds distribution. Black dots indicate finds that were geo-referenced by way of total station readings while red dots objects assigned to stratigraphic contexts documented prior to the 2016 campaign (GIS elaboration by Fabrizio Falchi). fig. 2 – Vectorial map of the site of Vetricella with square-referenced metal finds. The material was located via a random probability distribution system (GIS elaboration by Fabrizio Falchi). The metal finds from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, GRosseto) fig. 3 – Ratios of ferrous to non-ferrous individual finds. fig. 4 – Ratios of identified to non-identified individual finds. cluding three unadorned earrings – one still in place within an earthen burial and related to a young female individual 2 – two finger rings and two small triangular belt fittings. SPATIAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION A preliminary spatial overview has shown that of the full assemblage 778 objects (49%) can be assigned to stratigraphic units, whereas 393 artefacts (24%) relate either to a grid or sector reference, the remainder being stray finds, totaling 403 objects (25%). Although the find distribution by excavation sector shows significant variations per area, these discrepancies are attributable to a number of factors, including the degree of work carried out in a single sector and the type of features that were investigated. However, a summary quantification by area (fig. 6) was carried out showing that sector III, corresponding to the south-eastern area of the site, yielded the most metalwork, followed by sector IV; northern sectors I and II produced the least number. Future volumetric calculation of the earthen levels removed during excavation work might allow to ascertain whether these numbers actually derive from discrepancies in the archaeological record or rather the volume of deposit excavated in each area. While almost half of the assemblage was recorded from stratigraphic units, chronological distribution following the currently established periodization (figs. 7-8) indicates that 71% of these finds (551 objects) were recovered in Period VII levels, corresponding to modern-day agricultural activities, and were therefore not sealed in chronologically valid deposits. Finds attributed to period V (37 objects) and VI (49 objects), featuring ratios respectively of 5% and 6%, can be traced back either to the site’s phase of spoliation and subsequent abandonment or to layers in direct contact with plough surface deposits and therefore more likely to be compromised. Of the remaining assemblage a large part (14%) can be ascribed to Period IV – Phases 1 and 2 (113 objects), whereas very little metalwork was recorded from layers relating to Vetricella’s first three phases – Periods I, II and III – showing numbers below 2%. fig. 5 – Preliminary quantification of the Vetricella metalwork assemblage according to original object function and expressed as percentages. total 47% (746 objects) (fig. 4). Category breakdown of identified objects (fig. 5) highlights the predominance of equestrian equipment (478 objects – 58%). The vast majority of the objects under this heading are horseshoeing nails and horseshoes, accompanied in lessening order by spurs, buckles and harness gear; a single curry comb was also recorded. Nails, staples and hinge-pivots (140 objects – 17%) follow, grouped under the heading of structural ironworks and fittings. The third most representative group in the assemblage involves a wide category encompassing tools and implements (80 objects – 10%) used for processes such as leathercraft, smithing and textile-working. Among these can be included: augers, flat-headed punches, tanged punches, awls, fibre-processing spikes, possible lead whorls, shears, toothed stretchers, pick-axes and a single lead flywheel; only two fragmentary sickles attest to agricultural-related practices. Remaining categories all feature ratios of between 1% and 4%, the largest being elements connected to secondary smithing (35 objects – 4%) such as ingots, billets and semi-finished artefacts, alongside an assortment of different sized knives (35 objects – 4%). These are followed by sliding locks and a heterogeneous collection of keys (31 objects – 4%). Several lead net or line-sinkers bear witness to fishing activities (8 objects – 1%). Weaponry is limited to few typologically diverse arrowheads and one fragmentary winged spear-head (8 objects – 1%). There is very little pertaining to items of personal wear (13 objects – 1%), in- 2 From the south-eastern portion burial area, a plain and unadorned copper-alloy earring (SF 368) was recovered within burial US 1259 (SK25) and located on the right condylar mandible, leaving oxidation traces on the skeletal remains (personal communication provided by Dr. Serena Viva). 35 A. Agostini fig. 6 – Find repartition by excavation sector. fig. 7 – Summary quantification of metal finds by period. Individual object count includes identified and non-identified material. the settlement of Rougiers, in south-eastern France, buckles of this type have also been associated with harnessing and horse gear, and are continuously attested between the 13th and first half of the 14th century (Démians D’Archimbaud 1980, p. 484, fig. 461, nn. 8-13); other examples identified as harness straps or bridle mounts are documented from the castrum of Andone in Angoulême and dated to the turn of the millennium (Bourgeois 2009, pp. 234-235, fig. 3.60, nn. 1637 and 1640). Earlier finds related to the first half of the 9th century are documented at San Vincenzo al Volturno in Southern Italy, from the monastery workshops (Mitchell 2011, p. 227, fig. 7.18, nn. 2.3-2.4). Numerous specimens of this type, interpreted either as belt fasteners or horse barding, have been found in Tuscany at Rocca San Silvestro, as well as Donoratico, Montemassi, Castel di Pietra and Scarlino, all from stratigraphic deposits dating from the late 13th to the early 15th century (Belli 2005, type 2a, 2a-bis, 3a). Of the two presently illustrated finds from Vetricella, SF 186 was located in the north-western part of the site within the gradual breakdown levels (US 978) attributed to the small earthen risings on both sides of the innermost ditch during the last phase of Period III, whereas SF 156 is from an accumulated deposit (US 860) dated to the site’s abandonment occurring between the mid-12th and first half of the 13th century. These have been grouped here as horsing gear on the basis of find association, although alternative functions as items of personal wear cannot be excluded. fig. 8 – Summary quantification of metal finds by period expressed in percentages. CATALOGUE OF SELECTED OBJECTS The present catalogue features select metalwork finds ordered according to original function 3. Discussion treats the illustrated material on a chronological and functional basis, presenting a first account of the analyzed material. Horse equipment and riding gear Harness buckles An all-purpose type, D-shaped buckles are common finds in sites between the 9th and 10th centuries although the form is not significantly characteristic, appearing also in laterdate Medieval contexts. They are frequently documented in Viking Age Scandinavian graves as part of either bridles or riding equipment, usually with spurs or stirrup fittings. Examples come from the Hedeby ship burial and from Thumby-Bienebek (Thorvildsen 1957, p. 60, fig. 44, nn. 582 and 487, p. 72, fig. 59, n. 611; Müller-Wille 1987, taf. 75, Kammergrab 37 A, Fundkomplex 6, 2 Planum VII, Fund K 17). They are found in both rural and urban contexts of the period in England, at Thetford, York, Goltho and Winchester (Goodall 1984, p. 98, fig. 137, nn. 236 and 240; Ottaway 1992, p. 683; Beresford 1987, p. 182, fig. 159, nn. 135-139; Biddle 1990, pp. 526-527, fig. 136, n. 1267, fig. 137, n. 1287), as well as in Scandinavia at the fortified site of Trelleborg (Norlund 1948, tav. XXXV, nn. 1-3). In 3 SF 186 (tab. I) Wrought iron buckle with lowered D-shaped frame and still-preserved pin wrapped around the strap bar. Dimensions: max. dim. 66.5×33.5 mm; pin length 44.6 mm Weight: 37.3 g Context: sector I, US 978 (2017) Period III (first half 10th c.), phase B, act. 74 Material: iron SF 156 (tab. I) Wrought iron buckle with D-shaped frame and still-preserved pin wrapped around the strap bar. Dimensions: max. dim. 66.8×48.6 mm; pin length 53.1 mm Weight: 40.4 g Context: sector II, square H8-I8, US 860 (2017) Period V (mid-12th-first half 13th c.), phase A, act. 285 Material: iron Spurs Fourteen prick spurs, thirteen in iron and a single specimen in copper alloy, were recorded, four from phased Photos by the author, image processing: www.thosetwo.it 36 The metal finds from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, GRosseto) contexts. The earliest type is constituted by a single fragmentary copper alloy spur (SF 178) of late 6th-early 7th century Lombard type (Maurina 2016, p. 511, fig. 640, n. 4 and relative bibliographical references; Incitti 1995, p. 228, fig. 10, nn. 1-2). The find, in all probability residual, was part of an earthen filling including charcoal and burnt pottery sherds, set inside a partially excavated post-hole lodging and attributable to 12th-13th century structural features in perishable material (US 1106). Of the thirteen remaining spurs twelve, featuring straight or very slightly curved arms with long necks terminating in large-sized goads, can be associated to type II, varieties 1 and 2 ac, according to Hilczerowna (Hilczerowna 1956, pp. 34-47, map 2, tab. III-IIIc.d.-IV-IVc.d.) and corresponding to groups A and B, in combination with prick types b, g and i, elaborated by Norbert Goßler (Goßler 1998, pp. 506-510, Abb. 6a-6b). Among these a fully preserved iron prick spur (SF 599) was recovered from a post-hole filling (USS 1483, 1488) related to an early 11th century perishable material structure located in the south-western part of the site, apparently deliberately set against the inner side of the cut, alongside a key and what has been possibly interpreted as a hammered-out iron blank. The find, featuring horizontal D-shaped arms with a long neck terminating in a pyramidal goad, might be identified as a type developing from Carolingian models in the first half of the 9th century, taking on the present form by the late 10th-early 11th century, and not attested beyond the end of the 11th century; examples appear outside of Germany, mainly in France and Südtirol (Goßler 1998, pp. 529-530; for France pyramidal and by-pyramidal specimens were recorded at the site of Charavines on the shores of lake Paladru and dated to the turn of the millennium, Colardelle, Verdel 1993, p. 214, fig. 148, nn. 1-7), but also in the north-western Slavic territories between the rivers Elbe and Oder, reaching Scandinavia and the other Slavic areas when the type is already in decline (Kind 2001, pp. 304-306, Abb. 2). In Italy an analogous spur was located in the vicinity of the Medieval settlement of Nogara, to the south of Verona (Saggioro et al. 2001, pp. 487-488, fig. 10). Possibly contemporary to SF 599 or slightly later in date is another prick spur (SFM 809), a sporadic find located in the western portion of the site (Square E9). While lacking terminal shanks, the object is characterized by horizontal ogival-shaped arms, a straight rhomboidal neck and a large ridged goad with what appears to be a hexagonal section. A similar specimen is documented at the fortified motte settlement of Haus Meer near Dusseldorf (Janssen, Knörzer 1971, p. 104, bild 51, n. 8; Janssen, Janssen 1999, p. 71, Abb. 48, n. 3, tafel 35, n. 11); copper alloy examples were recorded at Katzenelnbogen in the Rhineland-Palatinate district (Goßler 1998, pp. 522-524), as well as in Austria (Pichler 1996, p. 794, Abb. 831) and the Netherlands (Hulst 1986, p. 155, n. 16, Abb. 9:16). Accordingly, the type can be dated either to between the late 10th-early 12th centuries (Goßler 1998, p. 525) or from the mid-11th to the mid-12th centuries (Kind 2001, pp. 309-315). flaring trapezoidal collar; the collar-end portion features a semi-circular indentation for the fitting of the goad. A broken rectangular terminal is visible on the opposite side, the remains of what was once a slot for the leather to pass through vertically. Dimensions: max. preserved length 100.7 mm; max. collar width 11.3 mm Weight: 20.6 g Context: sector III, US 1003 (2017) Period VI (mid-12th-mid-13th c.), phase A, act. 290 Material: copper alloy SF 599 (tab. I) Fully preserved iron prick spur constituted by horizontal D-shaped arms, long circular-sectioned neck – featuring a 10°-20° inclination – widening towards the pyramidal goad and supported by a short collar stem. Terminals are preserved, but presently impossible to read. Dimensions: overall length 154.6 mm; max. width 94.0 mm; neck length 66.1 mm (including the 18.6 mm goad) Weight: 93.7 g Context: sector IV, US 1483/1488 (2018) Period IV-Phase 4/2 (first half 11th c.), phase B, act. 207 Material: iron SFM 809 (tab. I) Fragmentary iron prick spur constituted by horizontal ogival-shaped arms, one broken off at mid-point, the other in close proximity to the neck. This last is straight and short with a rhomboidal section that widens towards the large, possibly hexagonally-sectioned goad, composed by arched ridges converging to the tip. Dimensions: max. preserved length 76.7 mm; neck length 57.2 mm (including the 25.8 mm goad) Weight: 30.2 g Context: square E9, US 0 (2018) Period VII (20th c.) Material: iron Rein shackles Rein shackles such as these acted as link pieces between the bit and the reins, set on either side of the horse’s mouth. SF 641 was documented from an early 11th century occupation layer (US 1517) in the southern area of the site, related to structures in perishable material with considerable deposits of pottery sherds, animal bones and other metal finds; SF 371 was unstratified. Currently known examples in Italy remain limited to three specimens from the San Vincenzo al Volturno workshops, dated to the second half of the 9th century (Mitchell 2011, pp. 230-231, nn. 2.13-2.15, figs. 7.20-7.21). A fourth rein-shackle featuring the same design and part of an elaborately decorated silver inlaid bridle set was found in the Garden Court at the north end of the monastery (Mitchell 2001, pp. 393-406). Both finds recorded at Vetricella are fragmentary, being broken at midpoint. The missing section might have featured a rivet-plate or corresponding rectangular strap-ring, as in the case of the San Vincenzo finds. As noted by Mitchell, 9th century rein shackles of this type are recorded in the far north of Germany in the Schleswig-Holstein area, on the river Saane in Canton Bern, modern Switzerland and in numerous sites in Greater Moravia corresponding to present-day Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary (Mitchell 2001, p. 398 and relative bibliographical references). Far more common is the variant characterized by a circular ring in place of the rivet-plate, linked directly to the snaffle-ring on the end of the horse bit. The type has been found in 7th-century graves at Niederstotzingen and Sontheim/Brenz in the vicinity of Schretzheim (Paulsen 1967, plate 93, figs. 25 and 48), as well SF 178 (tab. I) Fragmentary copper alloy prick spur of which only a single arm is preserved with central high-relief notch and rectangular-sectioned 37 A. Agostini as in the later-dating Viking cemeteries of Thumby-Bienebek in Schleswig and at Birka in south-western Sweden (MüllerWille 1987, Taf. 75, Kammergrab 37, 5.6 Planum I-IV, Fund E 13-14-15; Arbman 1940-43, taf. 26, n. 1, grab 708) 4. same regional area and chronological period in accordance to research tradition and scholarly background (compare Gaitzsch 2005, p. 129 with notes 1184, 1185). Alternative functions as scrapers for processing hides in leatherworking activities (Pető 1973, p. 72; Rebe et al. 2014, pp. 210-211, fig. 150, n. 6 although the authors list other possible uses for such tools), toothed weft beaters, tools that are generally associated with two-beam vertical looms for the weaving of heavy tapestries and rugs (Pásztókai-Szeőke 2011), or as raclettes employed in bakery (Rolland 2006, p. 425), have also been suggested. SF 371 (tab. I) Fragmentary iron rein-shackle with a long-shanked rectangular strapring; the opposite section is broken off. Dimensions: overall length 62.8 mm; strap ring 39.6×27.5 mm (interior aperture 29.2×0.88 mm); shank 33.2×1.06 mm; >< 0.36 mm Weight: 27.5 g Context: unstratified (2017) Material: iron SF 204 (tab. I) An elongated large-sized rectangular iron blade with straight back and edge, featuring a slim and fragmentary rectangular-sectioned tang set at a 90° angle in the back middle. Dimensions: blade length 224.0 mm; blade width 46.3 mm; max. blade >< 0.77 mm; max. tang width 19.8 mm; max. tang >< 0.62 mm Weight: 444.8 g Context: sector I, square I9, US 874 (2017) Period IV-Phase 4/2 (first half 11th c.), phase D, act. 226 Material: iron SF 641 (tab. I) Fragmentary small-sized iron rein-shackle with a short shank and rectangular strap-ring; the opposite section is broken off. Dimensions: overall length 49.6 mm; strap ring 29.0×19.6 mm; shank 29.1×12.8 mm Weight: 18.1 g Context: sector IV, US 1517 (2018) Period IV-Phase 4/2 (first half 11th c.), phase B, act. 209 Material: iron Curry comb The tool in question, located from an early 11th century occupation layer (US 874) in the western portion of the site, possibly associated to a small area where metalworking activities were carried out, features an elongated rectangular blade with a fragmentary tang set at a right angle on the blade’s longer back edge. Identified in some cases as a marra, an agricultural implement combining the function of a rake and hoe, a more generally accepted interpretation sees these tools as curry combs for horse grooming. Curry combs featuring short serrated teeth along one of the longer edges and tang set in a perishable material handle, are widely attested in rural settlements, military sites and burial contexts across the Danube area and dating to the 4th century AD (Pásztókai-Szeőke 2011, pp. 3-4 and relative bibliographical references). Parallels are found outside the region, dated between the 3rd and 7th centuries AD (Henning 1987, taf. 54, nn. 1-5). Later 9th-11th century examples are known from Viking-Age burials in Schleswig and Sweden associated with riding gear (Müller-Wille 1987, taf. 81, kammergrab 37 A, 3 planum VIII, fund G 9; Nylén, Schönbäck 1994, p. 108, fig. 89), from Russia (Kirpichnikov 1986, p. 115, nn. 7-8), present-day Bulgaria (Borisov 1989, p. 130, fig. 154 a-c, type II) and France (Pelletier, Poguet 2008, p. 9, fig. 10; Bourgeois 2009, p. 155, fig. 3.20, n. 237; Colardelle, Verdel 1993, fig. 148, n. 15, fig. 237, nn. 6-7; Rolland 2006, pp. 424-425, fig. 204, n. 96; Rebe et al. 2014, p. 85, fig. 45, nn. 20-21, p. 116, fig. 79, n. 6). The simple singleedged type appears to have been replaced by the end of the th th 11 -early 12 century by more complex models featuring double-edged plates bent at an angle or twisted into a semicylindrical form, with double or triple strap-handles (Clark 2004, pp. 165-168; Štular 2009, p. 207, table 4, fig. 1). However, it must be noted that the functional determination of such tools can vary strongly even between finds from the WEAPONS Winged spear-head A socket fragment featuring the partial remains of two lugs and interpreted as the lower portion of a winged spearhead 5; the find was located in a levelling layer (US 1090) on the outer eastern portion of the innermost ditch dating to the second half of the 10th century. This spear-type, known in German literature as a Flügellanzenspitze, was developed during the Carolingian time on the basis of Merovingian forerunner models, seeing continuous use possibly up until the 12th century (Legros 2015, pp. 93-96). According to a number of manuscript depictions dating between the 8th and 11th centuries, this was the main weapon of choice for men-at-arms and mounted warriors in central and western Europe, with archaeological evidences ranging from France and Germany to Scandinavia, England and the Slavic east (for a complete overview on the winged spear as well as full analysis of the Vetricella specimen see Agostini, forthcoming). Currently known examples in the peninsula are limited to a fully preserved unstratified spear found in the Volturno river near the homonymous monastery (Mitchell 2011, pp. 233-235, fig. 7.24, cat. 2.36); another example is recorded from the Gorga Collection (Ricci 2001, pp. 549-550, IV.10.45). SF 167 (fig. 9) Truncated socket with fragmentary upper portion and hollow hexagonal base. A single rectangular-shaped lug is set at an oblique angle to the socket; possible traces of another lug are still visible on the opposite side. Dimensions: length 61.7 mm; lower portion ø 29.1 mm; upper portion ø 18.9 mm; single lug overall size 0.58×0.74 mm Weight: 74.3 g Context: sector II, US 1090 (2017) Period IV-Phase 4/1 (second half 10th c.), phase C, activity 129 Material: iron 4 Other examples, tentatively interpreted as harness elements or strap holders to be fixed on wood, are recorded at Andone, Blois and Colletière (Bourgeois 2009, pp. 188-190, fig. 3.37, nn. 1016-1018 et 1022; Aubourg, Josset 2003, p. 185, fig. 16, n. 87; Colardelle, Verdel 1993, pp. 218-219, fig. 151, nn. 10-11). 5 Recent radiographic analysis of select metal finds carried out at the Centro Diagnostico Omega (Mesagne, Brindisi) confirmed initial autoptic identification of the socket. 38 The metal finds from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, GRosseto) tab. I – Horsing equipment: iron curry comb SF 204; iron harness buckles SF 156 and SF 186; iron spurs SF 599 and SFM 809; single preserved copper alloy spur arm SF 178; iron rein shackles SF 371 and SF 641. Knives for specialized functions (Ottaway 1992, p. 583; see also the conclusive remarks in Ottaway 2013, pp. 135-136). In southern Tuscany knives are widely attested in rural sites, where a significant number are documented from across the Colline Metallifere, as well as from other Medieval fortified contexts in northern Italy, France and Switzerland (Belli 2005; Librenti, Cavallari 2014, pp. 204-208, fig. 8, nn. 1-9, fig. 9, nn. 10-17; Bourgeois 2009, pp. 133-142, fig. 3.8, nn. 76-118, fig. 3.9, nn. 119-138; Colardelle, Verdel 1993, p. 204, fig. 141, nn. 1-16; Maurina 2016, pp. 540-544, fig. 654, nn. 1-14, fig. 655, nn. 1-21; Martinelli 2008, pp. 282-286, figs. 10-11). Of the two large-sized knife blades illustrated below, SF 198 was recovered from the gradual infill levels of the innermost ditch. One of these features a small combustion point (US 1129=1361) with extensive presence of charcoal remains and thermally altered surfaces (US 1137). Two coins attributed to the Emperor Otto II (973-983), recovered between At least 35 knives and blade fragments have been recorded over the course of the excavations, mostly from plough-soil levels, although several specimens were found in stratified contexts ranging from the first half of the 10th to the mid13th century. All of the fully preserved knives recovered from Vetricella lack perforated and riveted scale-tangs while a number of blades are bent, broken or show traces of sharpening or wear along the cutting edge. The evidence seems in line with studies conducted in Britain, where scale-tang knives did not become common until the 13th and 14th century (Tremlett, Coutts 2001, p. 366). Knife function was probably related as much to a blade’s size and proportions as to its shape, even though it has been demonstrated that the majority of knives would have been employed for a variety of domestic and craft activities, being ultimately multi-purpose tools, although there are exceptions that might have served 39 A. Agostini examples found at York, in both Anglo-Scandinavian and later Medieval contexts, and Flixborough, associated with other leatherworking equipment (Mould et al. 2003, p. 3238, fig. 1574, nn. 2722-2726, fig. 1575, nn. 11513-11522; Ottaway 2009, p. 279, fig. 8.1, nn. 2481 and 2489). SF 470 (tab. II) An awl with slim arms tapering towards the points with a rectangular cross section; tips are fragmentary. In the centre there is a widened and flattened panel, one face of which is slightly concave. Dimensions: max. length 59.1 mm; max. width 0.76 mm; max. >< 0.30 mm Weight: 5.6 g Context: unstratified (2017) Material: iron fig. 9 – Iron spear-head socket SF 167. SFM 683 (tab. II) A small-sized awl with rectangular cross sections tapering towards the points, one of which appears rounded. Central flattened panel. Dimensions: max. length 55.8 mm; max. width 0.57 mm; max. >< 0.28 mm Weight: 4.0 g Context: square E8, US 0 (2018) Period VII (20th c.) Material: iron the interface surface of layer US 1361 and the new deposit US 1318 to which they are allocated, offer a valid terminus post quem chronological reference. SF 923 can be associated with the abandonment of the working levels on the rubble surface, the last surface (US 568=212) in direct contact with successive modern agricultural activities. Fiche-à-bélière An iron object composed of a fragmentary shank terminating in a curved flattened loop (SF 320) was recovered from the massive floor levelling (US 495) that covered the central area of the site, formed by progressive infills occurring between the end of the 9th and the early 10th centuries. Items such as these, known in French literature as fiche-à-bélière and characterized by a long quadrangular or circular shank, often twisted, terminating in a single curved ring at one end, are documented from the Merovingian necropolis of Lavoye and Audun-le-Tiche in the north-east of France, as well as at Triviers in Champagne, discovered in male individual adolescent and adult graves, dated between the 6th and 7th centuries (Joffroy 1974, pp. 30-32, fig. 13; Simmer 1988, pp. 111-112, tomb 69, pp. 41-42, tav. X; Faider Feytmans 1970, pp. 102-103, tav. 51, nn. 527-534). Similar finds have been recorded in the village of Villiers-le-Sec in the Paris region, from contexts dated from the second half of the 7th to the 8th century, and variously interpreted as piercing/boring tools, fire strikers or as implements used in the manufacture of wicker objects (Cuisinier, Guadagnin 1988, pp. 296-297, cat. 312-315); 24 examples were recorded at the rural Merovingian settlement of Develier-Courtételle in present-day Switzerland and dated to the 7th century (Friedli, Senn 2007, p. 91, fig. 124, nn. 1-16). In Italy, chronologically analogous examples from funerary contexts are recorded at Testona in Piedmont, Romans d’Isonzo, and Povegliano Veronese as well as at Meizza in Slovenia (Von Hessen 1971, p. 38, tav. 48, nn. 663-666; AA.VV. 1989, pp. 45-46, tav. III, n. C2; La Rocca 1989, p. 130, tomba 1, tav. XXX, n. 7; Torcellan 1986, p. 72, tomba 109, tav. 25, n. 1). Similar objects also appear in contemporary settlements across the peninsula at S. Antonino di Perti in Liguria, Mombello di Monferrato and at Sant’Andrea di Loppio (De Vingo et al. 2001, pp. 572-573, tav. 86, nn. 1-4; Giostra 2007, p. 82, fig. 51.5-6; Maurina 2016, p. 545, fig. 656, nn. 11-14). SF 198 (tab. II) A fully preserved knife with horizontal blade back curving towards the point. The cutting edge appears to be irregular, with traces of wear in the lower portion. Short whittle tang. Dimension: full length 239.9 mm; max. blade width 18.21 mm; max. blade >< 0.63 mm; tang length 38.0 mm; tang max. width 0.101 mm; tang max. >< 0.54 mm Weight: 51.3 g Context: sector III-IV, US 1129 (2017) Period IV-Phase 4/1 (second half 10th c.), phase C, act. 122 Material: iron SF 923 (tab. II) An almost fully preserved knife with horizontal blade back, sloping at a 20° angle towards the tip; the tip end is fragmentary. The cutting edge is curved with traces of wear on the lower portion. Short whittle tang. Dimension: full length 205.5 mm; max. blade width 14.1 mm; max. blade >< 0.23 mm; tang length 26.4 mm; tang max. width 0.84 mm; tang max. >< 0.30 mm Weight: 36.2 g Context: sector I, US 212 (2017) Period VI (mid-12th-mid-13th c.), phase B, act. 294 Material: iron TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS Awls Seven objects have been identified as leatherworking awls, all unstratified or from topsoil levels. These are characterized by two tapering pointed arms, one serving as a tang possibly set in a wooden handle that could be reversed in case of breakage, and by a central feature between the arms, a simple flattened or quadrangular expansion, possibly to prevent the handle from slipping (Ottaway, Rogers 2002, pp. 2728-2730). Objects such as these are frequently attested in both rural and urban Early Medieval settlements. Flattened rectangular awls come from the late 10th-early 11th century castrum of Andone (Bourgeois 2009, p. 146, fig. 3.14, nn. 210-214) while later examples are documented from the village of Rougiers (Démians D’Archimbaud 1980, p. 462, fig. 442, nn. 28-29). Parallels can also be drawn with 40 The metal finds from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, GRosseto) tab. II – Tools, implements and knives: iron knives SF 198 and SF 923; toothed iron stretcher SF 307; iron awls SF 683 and SF 470; iron fiche-à-bélière SF 320. chronologically contemporary to the finds from Sant’Agata, and presently located in the storage facilities of the archaeological volunteer groups from Medicina and Castel San Pietro Terme (Librenti, Cavallari 2014, pp. 198-199, fig. 3, nn. 16-18). Two specimens emerged during excavations conducted in the building complex known as ‘Mattoni Rossi’ in the eastern part of Genova and dated, from their deposit levels, to the 8th-9th centuries (Torre 1996, p. 206, nn. 4.284.29). Analogous examples interpreted as spindle whorls have been documented at the comital castrum of Andone while others have been recorded at the Isle-Bouzon (Gers) in the south-west of France (Bourgeois 2009, p. 132, fig. 3.6, nn. 64-65; Lassure 1988, pp. 470-472, fig. 409, nn. 6, 7, 9). Another wheel of this type can tentatively be identified from the excavations conducted in the southern portion of the Forum of Luni, stratigraphically dated between the 6th and first half of the 7th century (Frova 1973, p. 558, CM 148, tav. 136.8). A more elaborately designed lead wheel was documented from the Castle of Tremona in Canton Ticino and interpreted by the authors as a Gallo-Roman ex voto (Martinelli 2008, p. 311, fig. 27). SF 320 (tab. II) Small tool characterized by a broken rectangular-sectioned shank terminating in a ribbon-like loop that tapers slightly towards the point. Dimensions: max. length 45.2 mm; max. loop width 10.7 mm Weight: 8.40 g Context: sector II, US 495 (2017) Period II (mid-9th-early 10th c.), phase A, act. 43 Material: iron Flywheel A single unstratified lead object (SFM 817), characterized by an outer ring connected to a central perforated cylinder hub by four spokes. Initially this was interpreted as a spindle whorl for the spinning of textiles, but might instead be identified as one of numerous lead wheels dated to the 9th-10th centuries and documented across north-western Germany. These have been tentatively recognized as flywheels for pump drills employed in the working of antler and bone (Kind 2011; Eggenstein 2008). It is worth noting the remarkable distribution pattern of these lead objects, regardless of their functional interpretation. Most are in fact attested in central places with significant economic and political influence such as palatia, monasteries, emporia and fortified centres, while few examples were recorded in rural village sites (Kind 2011, pp. 94-101, fig. 12). Three lead wheels of this type are documented at the site of Sant’Agata Bolognese in northern Italy and dated to the 10th-11th centuries.; other currently unpublished examples come from the Castle of Treforcia, SFM 817 (fig. 10) A circular lead wheel with four short radiating spokes linking the outer ring to a central perforated hub. The object appears to be crudely made, missing a part of the outer portion and featuring residual casting marks. Three small raised dots are visible on both sides, set vertically on the end of each spoke. 41 A. Agostini Dimension: max. ø 25.8 mm; spoke max. width 0.43 mm; hub width 11.1 mm Weight: 24.3 g Context: square E7-E8-F7, unstratified (2018) Material: lead alloy Stretchers Closely connected to the presence of horizontal looms, stretchers were originally composed of two sliding horizontal wooden bars linked by a ring with toothed iron elements fitted at the ends of the bars. Inserted into the woven fabric, the teeth would maintain the cloth in tension during the different phases of the weaving process (Reuterce Velasco 1987, p. 71). Loom stretchers were first identified as such at the sites of Conimbriga, Vascos and Serpa in Portugal and Spain, in contexts dating from the 5th to the 11th century (Cardon 1999, pp. 404-406, notes 49, 51, 52). A possible 11th-century specimen was recovered from the settlement of Balhorn near Paderborn in Germany, while examples are attested in Switzerland at the castle-sites of Alt-Lägern and Tremona, dated to between the 10th and 12th centuries (Windler 2008, pp. 208-209; Martinelli 2008, pp. 328329). A single stretcher has also been found in the 11th-century phase of the villa Saint-Pierre 1 at Eyguières, in the south of France (Pelletier, Poguet 2008, p. 15, fig. 23). Nine such items have been recorded at Vetricella; all have rectangular blades, some of which flare towards the edge, with a quadrangular or sub-quadrangular hollow fitting consisting of two flattened strips generally folded one across the other. Eight fragmentary specimens were recovered in plough-level deposits and a single fully preserved example (SF 307) was found in an occupation surface (US 921) in an area possibly used for smithing activities in the western portion of the site and dating to the first half of the 11th century. fig. 10 – Lead flywheel SFM 817. the 8th-9th century (Hall, Whyman 1986). Fully preserved mechanisms were also found on Anglo-Scandinavian coffins from York Minster (Kjølbye-Biddle 1995, p. 506, fig. 176, burial 105, p. 508, fig. 178, burial 94). Medieval examples of these bolts are numerous, and while their use on doors is implied by the size of specimens, there are cases of chest locks with bolts of the kind under discussion. Examples have been documented in 9th-11th century settlements in France (Aubourg, Josset 2003, p. 177, fig. 6, nn. 9-12; Bourgeois 2009, p. 174, fig. 3.30, n. 463; Serdon-Provost 2016, p. 149, fig. 3.70, n. 64), where the type is recorded until the 14th century (Legros 2015, pp. 43-57, fig. 27, n. 472, fig. 30, n. 474, fig. 34, nn. 473 and 475; Démians D’Archimbaud 1980, p. 472, fig. 448, nn. 9-17), and in England (Goodall 1984, p. 92, fig. 131, nn. 174-177; Ottaway 1992, p. 659, fig. 281, nn. 3598, 3600, 3601, 3604). A single lock of this type was recovered at San Vincenzo al Volturno from a mixed deposit level (Tremlett, Coutts 2001, p. 318, fig. 13:25). Other examples are known from sites in Slovenia (Štular 2009, p. 205, tab. 2, nn. 12-13) and Austria (Pollak 2005, p. 681, taf. 7, nn. 62-68) dated between the 8th and 16th centuries. SF 307 (tab. II) A fully preserved small-sized object characterized by a rectangular outwardly-flaring blade and sub-quadrangular hollow fitting composed of two flattened strips folded and hammered over one another. The blade, set at an oblique angle to the fitting, has three teeth along its edge, two at either side and a single one in the centre. Dimension: overall length 77.3 mm; fitting size 16.4×14.0 mm (fitting interior 0.91×0.72 mm); max. blade width 20.0 mm; blade >< 0.23 mm Weight: 21.9 g Context: sector I, US 921 (2017) Period IV-Phase 4/2 (first half 11th c.), phase D, act. 226 Material: iron SF 220 (tab. III) A long thick strip, rectangular in section and roughly rectangular in profile which narrows slightly towards each end. Two centrally positioned protrusions, one sub-triangular shaped, the other fragmentary, are positioned on one side with an angular indentation on the opposing side. One of the narrowing ends is bent. Dimensions: overall length 11.4 mm; width max. 0.91 – min. 0.61 mm; >< 0.26 mm; single preserved protrusion length 11.0 mm; single preserved protrusion width 0.48 mm; 0.46 mm apart Weight: 22.1 g Context: square E10, US 844 (2017) Period IV-Phase 4/2 (first half 11th c.), phase D, act. 844 Material: iron LOCKS AND KEYS Locks Seven sliding lock bolts have been documented at Vetricella, two of which were found in contexts dating to the first half of the 11th century (SF 220, US 844; SF 613, US 1471). Objects such as these were originally positioned in a metal or wooden case and held in place, when closed, by a tumbler. The earliest locks employing tumblers and bolts of this type are probably late 7th or 8th century in date (for a review of this lock-type see Linlaud 2014, pp. 97-103). Complete examples with an iron lock plate, pierced to admit the key and hasp, and a bar at the back of the lock bearing the spindle, come from burial chests at Ripon, dating to SF 613 (tab. III) A long thick strip, rectangular in section and roughly rectangular in profile which narrows slightly towards one end. Two fragmentary protrusions are positioned on one side with a slight angular indentation on the opposing side. Dimensions: overall length 94.5; width max. 0.92 – min. 0.63 mm; >< 0.35 mm Weight: 13.6 g Context: sector IV, US 1471 (2018) Period IV-Phase 4/2 (first half 11th c.), phase B, act. 209 Material: iron 42 The metal finds from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, GRosseto) tab. III – Locks and keys: iron key with C-shaped ward SF 113; iron lock bolts SF 613 and SF 220. Keys Twenty-three iron keys were documented, six of which topsoil finds and seven unstratified. The remaining examples are from contexts dating between the first half of the 10th and early 11th centuries, the bulk ascribed to Period IV/II. A single fully preserved key (SF 113) was recovered from the infill deposits of the innermost ditch (US 446), possibly dating to the second half of the 10th century. This item, featuring a ward composed by a roughly C-shaped strip, bears close similarities to a key recovered at 16-22 Coppergate, York, and dated to the Anglo-Scandinavian period (Ottaway 1992, p. 670, fig. 286, n. 3620); a Late Saxon key from Norwich also features the same C-shaped ward (Margeson, Williams 1985, p. 32, fig. 28, n. 6). An analogous example, possibly slightly later in date than the Coppergate specimen, has been documented from the Castle of Mali Grad in Slovenia (Štular 2009, p. 205, tab. 2, n. 1). Two keys featuring the same ward-type and ovoid bow, one with a hollow and circular shaft, the other full and square-sectioned, come from an assemblage of metal objects recovered from the Medieval fortified settlement of Montale in Emilia-Romagna (Sogliani 1995, p. 81, fig. 59, p. 91, fig. 105). Weight: 28.8 g Context: sector II-III, US 446 (2016) Period IV-Phase 4/1 (second half 10th c.), phase C, act. 116 Material: iron PERSONAL WEAR Belt fittings The group consist of two finely wrought triangular-shaped miniature counter plates, one of which (SFM 812 6) was recovered in the south-western excavation area of sector IV, the other was unstratified (SF 101). Such elements were originally part of multiple belt fittings developing from late 6th to 7th century Lombard prototypes (Von Hessen 1971, pp. 29-31, taf. 45, nn. 433-450; 1983, pp. 24-27, figs. 8-13; Roffia 1986, pp. 53-54 and relative bibliographical references). Counter plates such as these are attested in rural and urban settlements as well as funerary contexts across the Italian peninsula; ring-dot decoration visible on SFM 812 would date the find to the type’s later phase of development (Von Hessen 1983, p. 28, tav. 13, nn. 5-6; Di Muro 1998, p. 78, fig. 4; Cavada 1992, p. 107, fig. 8, n. 10; De Marchi et al. 2004, p. 185, tav. 9, n. d). In Tuscany such fittings, known also as Trezzo type 3, dated to around AD 630, are widely documented in the hinterland of the region and along the coast (Citter 1997, pp. 192-194, notes 17-19 with related bibliography). SF 113 (tab. III) Fully preserved key with a straight hollow shaft and pear-shaped bow; the ward is a roughly C-shaped strip. Dimensions: overall length 10.6 mm; shaft ø 0.73 mm; ward length 21.7 mm; bow size 24.9×22.0 mm (inner bow size 1.02×12.7 mm) SFM 812 (fig. 11) Triangular shaped counter plate belt fitting with ring-dot decoration pattern; a pair of vertical lugs on the axis protrude from the rear face for attachment to a leather matrix. Dimensions: length 24.7 mm; max. width 16.4 mm Weight: 4.6 g Context: sector IV, unstratified (2011) Material: copper alloy fig. 11 – Copper alloy counter plate SFM 812. 6 The find underwent stabilization treatment at the conservation laboratory of the Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali of the Università di Siena. 43 A. Agostini OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS site or in the immediate vicinity, possibly in those settlement nuclei gravitating around Vetricella and documented across the plain of Scarlino (see Marasco, Briano, infra; Dallai et al. infra). Knives could either have been employed in such craft-related works or used for specialized alimentary and butchery practices (see Aniceti infra). The discovery of nine objects identified as toothed stretchers for the weaving of cloth on horizontal looms would testify to textile-working processes, evidence that is reinforced by the recording of fibre-processing spikes, shears as well as different lead and clay whorls. The identification of a heterogeneous assortment of keys and sliding lock bolts, although not uncharacteristic in both rural and urban sites during this time and in all likelihood related to features in perishable material such as doors or chest furnishings, might also in some cases be associated to funerary customs, as attested in both the early and later Medieval period (Craig-Atkins 2012) 7. Material traces of blacksmithing is provided by smithing slag, numerous flat-headed and tanged punches and a wide assortment of small iron bars, ingots and blanks, some with clear traces of hammering. Reference to archaeologically known smithing sites such as those of 6th-7th century date at Helgö in Sweden (Lamm, Lundstrom 1978), at Medieval Waltham Abbey, Flixborough (Huggins, Huggins 1973; Ottaway et al. 2009) and York (Ottaway 1992), where a similar range of artefacts have been found, suggest that the latter group of finds should be identified as iron used or discarded during the smithing process. Objects such as these might have been castoff during the early stages of production, resulting from the unfinished manufacture of the bar itself or derived from the breaking-up and reworking of redundant objects for recycling purposes though the lack of diagnostic features makes it difficult to determine the final product for which the bar iron, blank or scrap would have been destined. The presence at Vetricella of broken or evidently used objects, few of which were in fully operational condition, could point to parallel strategies of artefact reuse rather than plain discard or loss (Pleiner 2006, pp. 160-161), relating the material, to some extent, with the collection, storage and subsequent recycling of scrap iron. The recording of a fully preserved prick spur, a key and a possible hammered-out blank, set in the side of a post-hole related to a structure attributed to Period IV-Phase 4/2, might be indicative in this sense although the social and symbolic implications associated with the hoarding of Medieval iron assemblages will require a more in-depth analysis, something that is beyond the scope of the present study (Curta 2011; Gabor, Ottaway 2009; see also the recently published case of the spur from Equilo in Gelichi 2019). Likewise, the parallel importing of iron billets for the production of equipment destined for local use or to be circulated as surplus produce, indicative of a more The preliminary study of the metal finds documented at the site of Vetricella over the course of excavation activities carried out between 2005 and 2018 has revealed a total of 1.574 individual forms, of which 828 have been currently identified. These consist mostly of iron artefacts (95% of the whole assemblage) with small numbers of objects in copperalloy and lead. Few of the finds were located in primary depositions or in stratified contexts, the majority being found in plough-surface deposits compromised by modern agricultural activities. Material from dated contexts seems to relate mostly to the site’s late 10th-early 11th century phase (Period IV, Phases 1 and 2), generally coinciding with chronologies that can be attributed to a number of artefacts on stylistic and comparative grounds. Only a handful of iron and copper alloy artefacts such as the fiche-à-bélière, Lombard-type counter plates and spur, can be ascribed to earlier occupation phases or appear as residuals in more recent deposit levels. The assemblage, in itself quite homogenous, is comprised for the most part by an exceptional quantity of riding tackle, mostly horse-shoes and horseshoeing nails, but also prick spurs and harness gear. While a preliminary comparative assessment of these objects has shown that close parallels can be traced back to examples for the most part attested in north-central Europe, particularly from the Franco-Germanic regions and possibly reflecting a wide range of contacts with this area – even though it is as yet unclear whether these are imported products or rather the result of local smith-work following circulating models – it is the unusually high number of typologically related spurs, constituting in all probability the largest group to be documented across the Italian peninsula from an Early Medieval rural context, that find few equivalents north of the Alps. Medieval spurs are in fact, for the most, part recorded in military or aristocratic centres where mounted individuals holding a privileged economic, judicial and social status can be expected (see for example the large assemblage of spurs from the comital site of Andone in, Bourgeois 2009, pp. 211-222). Nevertheless, while the recording on-site of spurs does not necessarily attest to the exclusive presence of aristocratic persons seeing that the same equipment might very well have been used by public officials or armed retinues (Goßler 1998, pp. 487-493, Karte 1 and 2), examples of spurs ascribable to this precise time-period and documented in significant numbers from fortified rural centres remain scarce (see Colardelle, Verdel 1993 for the case of Charavines in France and Janssen, Knörzer 1971; Janssen, Janssen 1999 for Haus Meer in Germany). Although further reflections on the social as well as the possible economic implications tied-in to the presence of such objects are best left to future discussion, it must be noted that the current evidence related to the existence of armed riders at Vetricella, for the most part reflected in the extensively documented horse equipment as well as in the anthropological record (see Viva infra), might shed light on the persons directly tasked with the site’s management and defense. Horse tackle is followed by a variety of tools associated with practices such as leather, bone and woodwork, finds that bear witness to a number of activities taking place on 7 A fragmentary key (SFM 663) was located in the filling (US 2048) of a north-south oriented burial (Act. 150, US 2052 deposition) between squares I89, attributed to Period IV – Phase 4/1. Carbon dating analysis on an osteological sample of the individual (SK 41), shown to be an adult female (see Viva infra), have given the following absolute chronology results: 1σ – 68.2% probability (68.2%) 970-1019 cal AD; 2σ – 95.4% probability (81%) 943-1024 cal AD; (14.4%) 897-925 cal AD. The presence of keys in funerary contexts is attested from both the early and later Anglo-Saxon Age as well as the later Medieval period (Lucy 2000, p. 45; Gilchrist, Sloane 2005, p. 178). 44 The metal finds from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, GRosseto) complex ‘ironworking landscape’, must also be considered (see Bianchi; Fiore infra). A conservation program, with a view to preserving selected objects for future musealization, will be accompanied by metallographic analyses of specific iron artefact groups in light of the currently available body of data provided by the extensive corpus of metallographic work conducted on finds from Early Medieval Europe (see for example Larreina Garcĺa, Quirós Castillo 2018; Blakelock 2016). This will set the groundwork for an initial assessment of the techniques adopted by blacksmiths in the fashioning of bladed tools and equipment also characterizing the material properties of the iron employed. As to this last, future research aimed at attempting to trace the origin of the ore used for the manufacture of these objects along with other metal finds from chronologically contemporary contexts throughout the centre-north of the Italian peninsula and referable to holdings directly managed by central authorities or drawn into the possessions of significant political figures, might shed further light on the role played by Vetricella as an administrative centre for the management of local resources as well as a nodal point in wider-ranging transactions (Marasco 2018, p. 78; Bianchi, Collavini 2018, pp. 157-158; see Bianchi, Fiore, infra). Citter C. 1997, I corredi funebri nella Toscana longobarda nel quadro delle vicende storico-archeologiche del popolamento, in L. Paroli (a cura di), L’Italia centro-settentrionale in età longobarda, Firenze, pp. 185-211. Clark J., 1995, The medieval horse and its equipment: c. 1150-c. 1450, London. Colardelle M., Verdel E., 1993, Les habitats du lac de Paladru (Isère) dans leur environnement. La formation d’un terroir au XIe siècle, Documents d’archéologie française 40, Paris. Cuisinier J., Guadagnin R., 1988, Un village au temps de Charlemagne: moines et paysans de l’abbaye de Saint-Denis du VIIe siècle à l’an mil, Musée National des Arts et Traditions Populaires, 29 novembre 1988-30 avril 1989, Catalogue d’exposition, Paris. Craig-Atkins E., 2012, Chest burial: A middle Anglo-Saxon funerary rite from northern England, «Oxford Journal of Archaeology», 31(3), pp. 317-337. Curta F., 2011, New Remarks on Early Medieval Hoards of Iron Implements and Weapons, in J. Machácek, S. Ungerman (Hrgst.) Frühgeschictliche Zentralorte in Mitteleuropa/International Konferenz und Kolleg der Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung zum 50. Jahrestag des Beginns Archäologischer Ausgrabungen in Pohansko bei Breclav, 5-9.10.2009, Breclav, Tschechische Republik, Bonn, pp. 309-332. Démians D’Archimbaud G., 1980, Les Fouilles de Rougiers (Var): contribution à l’archéologie de l’habitat rural médiéval en pays méditerranéen, Paris. De Marchi M.P., 1997, Calvisano e la necropoli d’ambito longobardo in località Santi di Sopra. La pianura tra Oglio, Mella e Chiese nell’altomedioevo, in L. Paroli (a cura di), L’Italia centro-settentrionale in età longobarda, Firenze, pp. 377-411. De Marchi M.P. 1988, Il territorio bergamasco: ritrovamenti dell’ottocento alla prima metà del novecento, in M.P. De Marchi, S. Cini (a cura di), I reperti alto medievali nel Civico museo archeologico, Bergamo, pp. 13-116. De Marchi M.P., Mariotti V., Miazzo L., 2004, La necropoli longobarda di Arsago Seprio, «Archeologia Medievale», XXXI, pp. 101-168. De Vingo et al. 2001 = De Vingo P., Fossati A., Murialdo G., Vicino G., Gli strumenti per la produzione del fuoco, in T. Mannoni, G. Murialdo (a cura di), S. Antonino: un insediamento bizantino nella Liguria bizantina, Bordighera, pp. 571-574. Di Muro A., 1998, Tra Longobardi e Normanni. Lo scavo di Salerno, in S. Patitucci Uggeri (a cura di), Scavi medievali in Italia: 19941995, Atti della Prima Conferenza Italiana di Archeologia Medievale (Cassino 1995), Roma, pp. 75-84. Eggenstein G., 2008, Rädchen aus Blei – rätselhaft und selten, «Archäologie in Ostwestfalen» 10, pp. 46-52. Faider Feytmans G., 1970, Les nécropoles mérovingiennes, in Les Collections d’archéologie régionale du Musée de Mariemont, Morlauwelz, pp. 39-141. Friedli V., Senn M., 2007, Le mobilier en fer, in L. Eschenlohr (ed.), Develier-Courtételle: un habitat rural mérovingien, 2: métallurgie du fer et mobilier métallique, Office de la Culture/Société d’archéologie jurassienne, «Cahiers d’archéologie jurassienne», 14, pp. 75-113. Frova A., 1973, Scavi di Luni. Relazione preliminare delle campagne di scavo 1970-1971, Roma. 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Fasc. 11: Textile Production at 16-22 Coppergate, London. Windler R., 2008, Mittelalterliche Webstühle und Weberwerkstätten – Archäologische Befunde und Funde, in W. Melzer (ed.), Archäologie und mittelalterliches Handwerk – eine Standortbestimmung, Soest, pp. 201-216. 47 Italian abstract I REPERTI IN METALLO DAL SITO DI VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO). RISULTATI PRELIMINARI DALLO STUDIO DI UN REPERTORIO ALTOMEDIEVALE Il complesso di manufatti metallici documentati nel corso delle attività di scavo condotte presso il sito di Vetricella (Scarlino, GR) a partire dal 2005 e successivamente tra il 2016 e 2018 con l’avvio del progetto nEU-Med, ha restituito un totale di 1.660 frammenti pari a 1.574 oggetti provenienti da contesti di vita, abbandono e rimaneggiamento. Il dato è stato fortemente condizionato dall’impatto delle moderne attività agricole che hanno intaccato ampie porzioni del deposito stratigrafico, portando ad assegnare una particolare attenzione al materiale recuperato nei livelli di coltivo, particolarmente significativo in connessione con gli ultimi strati di frequentazione del sito. Dei 1.574 reperti esaminati è stato possibile identificare solamente il 53% (pari a 828 oggetti) mentre per i restanti 746 oggetti – pari al 47% del totale – non si è potuto, ad ora, fornire una precisa identificazione. Il repertorio è composto quasi esclusivamente da oggetti in ferro (1.498 – 95% del totale) a fronte di minime percentuali in lega di rame e piombo, rispettivamente 45 (3%) e 31 (2%) oggetti. Una preliminare ripartizione spaziale ha mostrato come, dell’intero assemblaggio, 778 reperti (49%) sono riconducibili al deposito stratigrafico vero e proprio mentre 393 oggetti (24%) possono essere associati alla griglia di suddivisione del sito oppure al settore di scavo; i restanti 403 manufatti (25%) sono da considerare sporadici. La ripartizione diacronica, seguendo la periodizzazione attualmente elaborata, indica come il 71% dei materiali provenienti da contesti stratigrafici (551 oggetti) sono attribuibili al Periodo VII, fase riferibile ai livelli di superfice compromessi dai moderni interventi agricoli. Pochi oggetti si possono ricondurre alle prime fasi di vita del sito – Periodi I, II, III – mostrando cifre al di sotto del 2%, mentre più numeroso è il dato che emerge per tutto il Periodo IV – fasi I e II (113 oggetti – 14%). Il materiale documentato nei livelli cronologicamente ascrivibili ai Periodi V (37 oggetti) e VI (49 oggetti), con percentuali rispettivamente del 5% e del 6%, può essere associato alle fasi di spoliazione e abbandono dell’area oppure ai livelli in diretto contatto con le arature di superfice e dunque più facilmente compromessi. Per agevolare una visione d’insieme il repertorio identificato è stato suddiviso in nove categorie funzionali d’origine, indicative del possibile campo di applicazione dell’oggetto. Un preliminare spoglio bibliografico ha permesso di offrire una prima lettura del repertorio in chiave cronologica e comparativa. L’osservazione dei gruppi funzionali rileva una significativa presenza di manufatti connessi alla sfera equestre (478 oggetti – 58%), dato particolarmente elevato visto il considerevole numero di chiodi da ferratura che vanno a costituire la quasi totalità della categoria. Questa è composta da elementi da ferratura, finimenti quali fibbie, fibbiette frammentarie ed un oggetto massiccio forse riconoscibile come uno strigile impiegato nella cura del cavallo. Notevole il numero di speroni a punta fissa, gruppo che include tredici esemplari in ferro, in larga parte databili tra la fine del X e l’XI secolo in base a seriazioni crono-tipologiche elaborate da esemplari documentati nell’area transalpina ed afferenti in particolar modo al territorio Franco-Germanico; si registra anche un singolo sperone frammentario in lega di rame riferibile a modelli di matrice longobarda. Consistente è il numero di oggetti associabili ad operazioni di tipo manuale oppure alla sussistenza quotidiana e legati ad attività tessili, di fucinatura, di lavorazione del pellame, dell’osso e del legno (80 oggetti – 10%). Tra questi si possono elencare: trapani, lesine, punteruoli ad innesto, punteruoli a corpo centrale ispessito, bulini, cunei, un oggetto possibilmente interpretabile come un volano per trapano ad arco, punte da cardatura, cesoie e tempiali dentellati; pochi sono gli strumenti agricoli o legati alla lavorazione della terra. Le rimanenti categorie mostrano tutte percentuali tra l’1% ed il 4%. Tra le più rappresentative si possono annoverare gli elementi connessi alla lavorazione secondaria del ferro (35 oggetti – 4%), categoria composta da un insieme eterogeneo di oggetti classificabili come semilavorati che prendono la forma di parallelepipedi di piccole e medie dimensioni. La presenza a Vetricella di utensili rotti o con evidenti tracce d’uso assieme a prodotti semilavorati potrebbe alludere alla pratica, spesso attestata nelle officine dello stesso periodo, del riciclo di manufatti defunzionalizzati. Suggestivo, in tal senso, il ritrovamento di uno sperone interamente conservato, una chiave di grandi dimensioni e quello che è stato interpretato come un semilavorato in fase di fucinatura, localizzati all’interno di una buca di palo nel margine sud-occidentale dell’area di scavo e forse riconducibili al loro deposito ed eventuale riuso. Numerosi sono anche i coltelli di piccole e grandi dimensioni, interi e frammentari (35 oggetti – 4%), strumentario forse funzionale alle pratiche alimentari e di abbattimento. Si registrano anche chiavistelli e chiavi (31 oggetti – 4%), quest’ultime spesso frammentarie e di diversa forma e fattura, con ogni probabilità riconducibili ad elementi strutturali o di suppellettile sebbene non sia da escludere una loro presenza in connessione anche con l’ambito funerario, come testimoniato dal rinvenimento di una chiave all’interno di una sepoltura terragna. Pochi sono gli oggetti legati alla sfera bellica o venatoria (8 oggetti – 1%). Tra questi si possono annoverare diverse punte di freccia assieme a quella che è stata riconosciuta come la base frammentaria di una lancia ad alette, modello scarsamente documentato in area peninsulare ma che conosce un’ampia diffusione nel centro-nord dell’Europa durante l’epoca Carolingia ed Ottoniana. Da evidenziare la quasi totale assenza nel repertorio di elementi legati all’abbigliamento della persona (13 oggetti – 1%). Tra questi si possono annoverare tre semplici 48 I reperti in metallo dal sito di Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) orecchini di piccole dimensioni – uno ancora in posto all’interno di una sepoltura e associato ad un giovane individuo di sesso femminile – due anelli digitali e una coppia di elementi decorativi da cintura multipla longobarda, cronologicamente collocabili tra la fine del VI e gli inizi del VII secolo. Il repertorio metallico documentato a Vetricella si presenta dunque come fortemente connotato da elementi legati alla sfera equestre, evidenziando anche la possibile esistenza di diverse attività artigianali condotte in situ o nell’immediato circondario. Il materiale è in larga parte riconducibile alle fasi centrali di vita del sito (Periodo IV – fase I e II), un dato generalmente rilevato nelle cronologie attribuibili a determinati oggetti su base stilistica e comparativa, trovando anche precisi riscontri nell’areale transalpino; solo un ridotto numero di oggetti può essere attribuito alle prime fasi di occupazione dell’area. Non è tuttavia chiaro se la presenza di questi oggetti può essere associata all’esistenza di direttrici preferenziali che legavano il centro-nord della Penisola con le regioni FrancoGermaniche, determinate dalle congiunture storiche del periodo di riferimento, oppure è il risultato di ambienti tecnici locali impegnati nella produzione di manufatti adottando modelli desunti dall’area nord europea. L’elevato numero di speroni datati tra la fine del X e l’XI secolo, ad ora forse il più consistente nucleo proveniente dalla Penisola e ascrivibile a questo periodo, assieme al campione antropologico fornito dall’area cimiteriale, potrebbe comunque offrire spunti di riflessione in merito alle figure preposte all’amministrazione e difesa del sito. La presenza di utensili rotti o con evidenti tracce d’uso, assieme a diversi semilavorati, testimonierebbe lo svolgimento di attività di forgiatura secondaria possibilmente mediante il riciclo di strumenti danneggiati, una prassi non fuori dal comune nel settore. Ciò non porta comunque ad escludere un parallelo apporto esterno di prodotti semilavorati finalizzati alla produzione di oggetti destinati ad uso locale ma forse anche esportati come eccedenza produttiva. Un futuro programma di ricerca volto ad individuare i bacini di approvvigionamento del minerale ferrifero impiegato nella forgiatura degli oggetti rinvenuti presso Vetricella, ma anche dei manufatti metallici documentati da siti coevi nel centro-nord della Penisola e riconducibili a beni direttamente gestiti dal potere regio oppure confluiti nei patrimoni di importanti soggetti politici, contribuirebbe a definire con maggior chiarezza il ruolo di Vetricella non solo quale nucleo centrale o appendice specializzata di un’unità amministrativa impegnata nello sfruttamento e la gestione di risorse locali ma anche come punto nodale in una più vasta rete di scambi. 49 Arianna Briano* SINGLE FIRED GLAZED CER AMICS AND COLATURE ROSSE FROM THE SITE OF VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): TYPOLOGICAL STUDY AND FIRST THERMOLUMINESCENCE ANALYSIS (TL) 1. INTRODUCTION Within the technological classes, a number of types have been identified and are indicated with Arabic numerals, distinguishable on the basis of their mixture, morphological features and decoration. The study of the fabrics has been carried out in a preliminary 1 and autoptic manner using an optical microscope (tab. 1), according to criteria meant to minimize observation subjectivity, determining the type on account of a fractured surface while keeping in mind the following aspects: The site of Vetricella (fig. 1) between 2016 and 2018 has provided a total of ca. 37.000 ceramic potsherds. Among these different ceramic classes were recorded, mainly ascribable to coarse and fine wares (Russo, infra). This contribution will focus instead on the glazed and painted wares. This report is divided in two parts: first the quantitative data will be described, whereas in the second part the qualitative aspects of the artefacts will be considered. Some preliminary observations will be put forward as to the possible contribution these finds offer to our understanding of ceramics and pottery production in Italy in the Early Middle Ages. Preliminary finds recording took place during the different excavation campaigns, with a division of the artefacts in chronological order according to their position in the stratigraphic sequence. The residuality index is in general quite high due to repeated ploughing activities, although it decreases significantly from periods I to III. Nonetheless, such residuality seems to be an important aspect we must consider, while waiting to understand its real extent through future material studies (Russo forthcoming). The quantification according to stratigraphic units has been carried out on the basis of both the aggregate number of potsherds and minimum number of specimens (Ceci, Santangeli Valenzani 2016). However, it has already been noted how the latter, in the event of less characterized productions, turns out to be quite unreliable and subjective (Molinari 2000, p. 56). Therefore, in the currently illustrated quantifications, the indication of the minimum number of specimens per phase might result as imprecise due to a probable overexposure of classes with a more occasional distribution within the related contexts. On such grounds I believe that the number of potsherds is ultimately the most reliable and objective form of data, therefore I shall use this in this essay. The typological analysis has given priority to technological criteria such as ceramic mixture type, coating and decoration, in our case much more significant than functional form criteria. Potsherds have all been identified as tableware according to the following definitions – inclusion presence and size (in the event of inclusions that are not macroscopically visible, the ceramic mixture has been considered as purified; when there are up to 5 inclusions with a size of less than 0.5 mm, the mixture is considered as semi-purified) (Orton et al. 1993; Munsell 2009); – porosity (a ceramic mixture has been defined as ‘compact’, when no vacuoles are macroscopically observable in the area of reference, and porous in the other cases) (Orton et al. 1993; Munsell 2009); – mixture hardness according to a redefinition of the Mohs scale in Olcese 1993; – colour (Munsell 2009); – fracture (defined as clear, with jagged edges, conchoidal, lamellar, with granular appearance) (Orton et al. 1993). 2. QUANTITATIVE DATA The total number of potsherds from the three examined classes is composed of 141 fragments, 0.38% of the total number of ceramic finds from Vetricella. The maximum number of identified forms is 116, whereas the minimum is 50, therefore a minimum percentage of the total 2. 2.1 Vetrina pesante (Forum Ware) The vetrina pesante ceramic class is represented by 13 potsherds, which are related to 12 minimum forms. They are all closed forms: in six cases they cannot be more clearly identified due to the small size of the wall sherds, while in one case the identified form is that of a small jug. These are mainly wall sherds with an average thickness of about 6 mm. The total weight is 318 gr. The analyses carried out so far on these samples are shown in the appropriate column and – colature rosse (namely, ceramic with slip-paint and slip lines) (CR) – vetrina sparsa (sparse glazed pottery) (VS) – vetrina pesante (Forum Ware) (VP) 1 Petrographic, mineralogical and chemical analyses of the fabrics are currently being carried out by the Dott.ssa Cristina Fornacelli at the Dipartimento di Scienze fisiche, della Terra e dell’ambiente as part of the author’s PhD research project. 2 This quantitative data is in line with other evidence recorded from typological and chronologically analogous sites such as S. Agata Bolognese, showing an incidence in the single fired glazed ceramics of 0.97% from the total number of fragments (Sbarra 2014, p. 174). * Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università di Siena (arianna_briano@yahoo.it). 51 A. Briano fig. 1 – General map of the site of Vetricella at the end of the 2018 excavation campaign. are related to the petrographic and mineralogical reading of the fabric via thin section and the observation, conducted with the use of a scanning electron microscope, of glaze composition 3. Only in one case was the sample sent for thermoluminescence dating (sample D2695) 4. We selected this potsherd, while aware that it came from a compromised context caused by modern ploughing, as it represents the only wall fragment with an applied decoration typically attributed to Roman production Forum ware and therefore featuring a clear chronology of reference (tab. 2). 2.3 Colature/Bande di ingobbio (Slip lines) The ceramic class of slip-paint lines consists of a total of 83 fragments related to 69 maximum forms and 18 minimum forms. In this case we are dealing mainly with closed forms, often unidentifiable due to the existence of the sole wall fragments; whenever shape identification is possible these consist mainly of small jugs. Average thickness is 0.6 mm; total weight is 2.245 gr. Only on a single sample, both petrographic and chemical analyses were carried out (also LA-ICP-MS and pXRF) (tab. 4). 2.2 Vetrina sparsa (Sparse Glazed pottery) 3. QUALITATIVE DATA The vetrina sparsa ceramic class is represented by 45 fragments which are related to 34 maximum forms and 20 minimum forms. These are all closed forms, mainly identifiable as jars and a number of smaller forms such as jugs. Ceramic form fragments have preserved a good number of diagnostic parts, including rims, handles and bases, not to mention the more common walls. These last present an average thickness of about 0.56 mm and total weight of 1.194 gr. Mineralogical/petrographic analyses on the mixtures and chemical analysis on the glazes have been carried out on 6 samples, while one sample was sent for thermoluminescence dating (sample D2696) (tab. 3). 3.1 Vetrina Pesante (Forum Ware) The fragments of vetrina pesante can be divided into two sub-groups. Starting from shared characteristics, these consist mostly of wall fragments, except for a shoulder sherd that can be attributed to closed forms. The vitrified coating covers completely only the external/primary surfaces. Only in two cases, most likely not local products, there is a partial coating on the internal/secondary surfaces (shape IDE 278; shape IDE 283); in two other wall fragments some small drops are visible on the internal/secondary surfaces (shape IDE 262, shape IDE 267). The colour of the glaze varies from a deep olive green to a light yellow, especially in cases where the surface appears deteriorated with bubbles and areas of devitrification (shape IDE 259; shape IDE 550). Wall thickness (about 1/2 mm) See note 1. Analyses carried out by the Dott.ssa Emanuela Sibilia at the archaeometry laboratory of the Dipartimento di Scienze dei Materiali dell’Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca. 3 4 52 Single fired glazed ceramics and colature rosse from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) Fabric Section Number 1 indented Types quartz; calcite Inclusions Size fine Proportions 30.0% 1A indented quartz; calcite medium 25% 2 irregular quartz; calcite; pink inclusion fine 15% 2A irregular quartz; calcite; biotite medium 15% 2B indented quartz; calcite fine 3% 3 irregular quartz; calcite very fine 10.0% 4 clear quartz; calcite medium 2% 5 clear - - - 6 regular quartz; calcite fine 5% 6A regular fine 10.0% 6B indented medium 5% 6C regular fine 5% 7 irregular 7A clear 8 irregular 9 indented quartz; calcite; limestone quartz; calcite; limestone quartz; calcite; biotite; diaspore quartz; calcite; biotite; diaspore; chamotte quartz; calcite quartz; calcite; biotite; lamellar mica Porosity Color little pores 5YR 4/6 yellowish red 2.5YR 6/2 light brownish medium elongated pores gray; 2.5YR 5/1 gray; 5YR 7/6 reddish yellow 5YR 3/1 very dark gray; 5YR medium pores 5/4 reddish brown GLEY1 4/N dark gray; 7.5 YR little pores 7/4 pink 10YR 6/3 pale brown; 2.5Y 4/1 medium pores dark gray little pores 5R 6/1 reddish gray 5YR 8/4 pink; 5YR 6/6 little elongated pores reddish yellow little pores 5YR 6/4 light reddish brown 7.5 YR 6/6 reddish yellow; little pores GLEY 1 5/N gray 7.5 YR 7/4 pink; GLEY 1 5/N little pores gray 5YR 5/6 yellowish red; GLEY1 big pores 4/N dark gray 7.5 YR 7/6 reddish yellow; little elongated pores GLEY 1 6/10Y greenish gray Hardness supple (Mosh 1-2) supple (Mosh 1-2) supple (Mosh 1-2) hard (Mosh 3-4) hard (Mosh 3-4) supple (Mosh 1-2) supple (Mosh 1-2) supple (Mosh 1-2) little (Mosh 3-4) hard (Mosh 3-4) hard (Mosh 3-4) hard (Mosh 3-4) fine 15% medium pores 2.5Y 6/6 light red hard (Mosh 3-4) very fine 2% little pores 5YR 5/6 yellowish red hard (Mosh 3-4) very fine 15% little and medium pores 2.5YR 6/8 light red supple (Mosh 1-2) quartz; calcite; biotite medium 15% little pores 10 irregular calcite; mica; diaspore very fine 10.0% little pores 10A irregular medium 25% little elongated pores 11 irregular very fine 30.0% little pores Gley1 2.5/1 black supple (Mosh 1-2) 11A irregular quartz; calcite quartz; calcite; lamellar mica quartz; calcite 5YR 7/8 reddish yellow; 7.5YR 4/4 brown 2.5Y 3/1 dark reddish gray; 2.5YR 5/8 red 5R 4/6 yellowish red very fine 3% medium pores hard (Mosh 3-4) 12 clear biotite very fine 1% little pores 13 clear quartz; calcite; biotite fine 3% medium pores supple (Mosh 1-2) 13A clear fine 2% little elongated pores 14 irregular 14A regular 15 indented 16 regular 17 18 18A 19 19A 20 quartz; calcite; chamotte quartz; calcite; biotite quartz; calcite; biotite; mica quartz; calcite; biotite; mica calcite quartz; calcite; biotite; mica indented quartz; calcite; biotite irregular quartz; calcite irregular calcite irregular quartz; calcite; diaspore quartz; calcite; biotite; irregolare chamotte clear fine 5% medium pores medium 7% little and medium pores 2.5Y 5/3 light olive brown supple (Mosh 1-2) fine 10.0% little pores 7.5 YR 5/4 brown supple (Mosh 1-2) very fine 1% little elongated pores 2.5YR 6/6 reddish yellow; 2.5YR 5/6 red hard (Mosh 3-4) medium 3% little pores 2.5YR 6/6 light red hard (Mosh 3-4) medium medium fine very fine 40.0% 50.0% 40.0% 40.0% big pores little pores little pores little pores fine 3% regular quartz; biotite very fine 3% quartz; calcite; biotite fine 10.0% 21 indented regular irregular 24 irregular 25 irregular 26 irregular quartz; calcite very fine calcite, biotite; diaspore very fine quartz; calcite; biotite; fine diaspore quartz; calcite; pink medium inclusion calcite; mica; chamotte hard (Mosh 3-4) supple (Mosh 1-2) 10YR 3/1 very dark gray GLEY 2 4/5PB dark bluish gray 7.5 YR 7/3 pink; GLEY 1 6/N gray 7.5 YR 8/4 pink; 5YR 6/6 reddish yellow 5Y 4/1 dark gray 20A 22 23 supple (Mosh 1-2) fine 7% 3% 7% 50.0% 20.0% 7.5 YR 5/6 strong brown 2.5YR 5/4 reddish brown GLEY1 4/N dark gray 2.5YR 5/1 reddish gray 10YR 8/3 very pale brown; medium elongated pores 10YR 6/3 pale brown WHITE PAGE 10YR 8/2 very little pores pale brown; 8/N white 5YR 6/6 reddish yellow; little and big pores 2.5YR 5/8 red; 10YR 6/1 gray little elongated pores 2.5Y 3/1 very dark gray little pores 2.5YR 5/8 red 7.5 YR 6/6 reddish yellow; medium pores GLEY 1 3/N very dark gray 5Y 4/6 yellowish red; 2.5Y big pores 6/1 gray 5YR 6/4 light reddish brown; little elongated pores 2.5Y 6/2 light brownish gray tab. 1 – Table with description of the ceramic mixtures. 53 hard (Mosh 3-4) hard (Mosh 3-4) hard (Mosh 3-4) supple (Mosh 1-2) supple (Mosh 1-2) hard (Mosh 3-4) hard (Mosh 3-4) hard (Mosh 3-4) supple (Mosh 1-2) supple (Mosh 1-2) supple (Mosh 1-2) supple (Mosh 1-2) hard (Mosh 3-4) supple (Mosh 1-2) supple (Mosh 1-2) A. Briano SU 0 255 446 496 550 837 907 937 1318 1490 SU 0 118 212 215 257 300 491 496 837 860 907 1038 1133 1138 1172 1264 1317 1530 1535 2001 2002 2041 4001 4002 IDE 348 278 262 259 261 267 330 349 350 173 168 283 Shape closed closed closed closed closed closed closed closed closed closed closed closed Part wall wall wall/handle wall wall wall wall wall wall wall bottom shoulder Fabric 13 – – 13A 13 20 16 13A 13A 13A 17 – Fragments 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 MNI Thickness Weight 1 0.7/0.8 0.12 1 0.5/0.7 0.17 1 0.7/0.8 0.14 1 0.6/0.7 0.13 1 0.5/0.6 0.6 1 0.7/0.8 0.3 1 0.5/0.6 0.6 1 0.3/0.4 0.16 1 0.7/0.9 0.18 1 0.7/0.8 0.18 1 0.5/0.7 0.2 1 0.4/0.5 0.4 Analysis – OM/SEM. sample 32; TL – OM/SEM. sample 29 OM/SEM. sample 31 OM/SEM. sample 37B – – – – – – IDE 163 260 263 264 266 277 279 269 171 273 280 165 271 268 167 175 170 174 166 172 197 169 351 176 284 285 281 292 282 286 287 Shape Part Fabric Fragments MNI Thickness Weight Analysis unrecognisable wall 23 3 2 0.5/0.8 0.16 – jar handle 13a 1 1 0.7/1.1 0.39 OM/SEM. sample 30 jar rim 23 1 1 0.6/0.7 0.3 OM/SEM. sample 33 jar rim 17 1 1 0.4 0.2 OM/SEM. sample 34 jar rim 13a 1 1 0.6/0.7 0.3 OM/SEM. sample 36 jar wall 23 2 1 0.7 0.6 – jug bottom 7A 1 1 0.6 0.26 – jar rim 23 1 1 0.7 0.4 OM/SEM. sample 38 jar rim 23 1 1 0.6 0.4 – jar rim 8 1 1 0.8 0.4 OM/SEM. sample 42 unrecognisable wall 7A 1 1 0.4/0.5 0.4 – jar handle 13a 1 1 1/1.1 0.2 – unrecognisable wall 20 1 1 0.7/0.9 0.24 OM/SEM. sample 40 jar wall 23 1 1 0.6/0.8 0.54 OM/SEM. sample 37A unrecognisable bottom 8 1 1 0.7/0.8 0.2 – jar wall/handle 13a 5 3 0.5/0.7 0.24 – jar rim/wall 23 2 1 0.4/0.5 0.11 – unrecognisable wall 13a 1 1 0.7/0.8 0.2 – jar handle 23 1 1 1.3/1.9 0.4 – jar rim 13a 1 1 0.6/0.7 0.4 – jar handle 23 1 1 0.7/1.1 0.22 – unrecognisable shoulder 7a 1 1 0.5/0.6 0.8 – unrecognisable shoulder 13 1 1 0.5/0.6 0.14 – unrecognisable wall 23 1 1 0.6/0.7 0.6 – jar shoulder 23 1 1 0.4/0.6 0.8 – jug handle 13 1 1 0.8/1.0 0.2 – jar rim/wall/bottom 23 7 1 0.4/0.8 160 TL jar rim 13a 1 1 0.5/0.7 0.12 – jar shoulder 6 1 1 0.5/0.8 0.6 – unrecognisable wall 23 1 1 0.6/0.7 0.8 – jar rim 23 1 1 0.6/0.8 0.8 – tab. 2 – Summary table of the analyzed ceramic fragments belonging to the class of vetrina pesante. tab. 3 – Summary table of the analyzed ceramic fragments of vetrina sparsa. and the homogeneous density of the glaze both contribute in identifying the fragments as belonging to the “glazed ware” class. Two wall fragments (shape IDE 278, shape IDE 283) can be identified as small jugs or small pots (fig. 2a). Lastly, only in one case (shape 262), apart from the vitrified coating, is a decoration present consisting of two applied petals. This feature, along with the different ceramic composition, that, even macroscopically, appeared to be gray with small white inclusions and therefore quite different from local products, would suggest a non-local production, perhaps from Latium if not Rome itself (fig. 2b). 3.2 Vetrina Sparsa (Sparse Glazed pottery) fig. 2 – a. Small-sized form bottom; b. Wall decorated with applied petals. From a qualitative point of view, the vetrina sparsa fragments present a high variability and remarkable difference in both ceramic composition and related vitrified coating. As to the glazes, I would like to highlight some common and recurring features, before stressing their differences. Analogies can surely be noted in specific characteristics of the class itself that is always associated with closed forms such as jars and medium sized jugs, except in one case (IDE 170) where the 54 Single fired glazed ceramics and colature rosse from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) SU 0 112 118 180 196 215 495 550 636 816 840 844 890 1174 1221 1264 1270 1307 1386 1490 1500 1530 2001 2033A 2033B 2041 2048 3006 3007 4002 4007 IDE 164 275 276 318 319 320 321 338 328 339 337 356 334 335 324 326 340 341 288 289 333 329 327 200 198 199 290 354 – 322 298 299 300 301 352 353 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 291 293 294 297 295 296 Shape jar jar jar unrecognisable unrecognisable pot unrecognisable jar jar unrecognisable unrecognisable amphora unrecognisable jar unrecognisable unrecognisable jar unrecognisable jar jar jar amphora jar jar unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable jar jar unrecognisable jar jar unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable jar unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable jar jar jar unrecognisable 311 jar 312 313 314 347 317 325 346 315 316 unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable unrecognisable Part wall/handle wall handle wall wall rim wall shoulder handle wall wall handle wall handle wall wall/bottom rim/bottom wall wall neck neck handle rim rim wall wall wall handle shoulder wall wall rim wall wall wall wall wall wall wall wall wall shoulder wall rim wall wall wall handle wall/handle neck wall shoulder/ handle wall wall wall wall bottom wall wall wall wall Fabric 17 5 6 13A 4 6A 13 5 16 7A 5 6 13 16 5 4 7A 5 5 6B 15 4 5 5 6c 20 5 6 6 13 5 13 4 15 16 4 5 17 5 5 5 6B 5 13 13 5 4 13A 4 15 15 Fragments 2 3 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 1 1 1 3 1 3 1 1 MNI 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 2 1 1 Thickness 0.4/1.2 0.5/0.6 0.7/1.2 0.4/0.5 0.6/0.7 0.4/0.5 0.4/0.5 0.4/0.5 1.1/1.6 0.5/0.7 0.5 1.1/1.5 0.4/0.5 0.8/0.9 0.6/0.8 0.5/0.6 0.6/1.00 0.4/0.5 0.5/0.7 0.4/0.5 0.4/0.5 1/1.4 0.5/0.6 0.6 1.00 0.7 0.4/0.5 0.7/0.8 0.6/0.7 0.4/0.5 0.6/0.7 0.6/0.7 0.5 0.7 0.5/0.7 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.4/0.7 0.4/0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4/0.5 0.6/1.0 0.4/1.3 0.6/0.7 0.5/0.6 Weight 0.14 0.16 0.16 0.8 0.12 0.15 0.5 0.6 0.46 0.14 0.4 0.118 0.6 0.6 0.16 0.28 0.24 0.2 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.92 128 70 0.1 0.12 0.6 0.12 0.34 0.8 0.22 0.12 0.6 0.4 0.22 0.16 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.8 0.6 0.14 0.1 0.8 0.4 0.16 0.6 0.48 0.32 0.8 Analysis – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – OM/SEM; ICP; XRF – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 6B 2 2 0.13 0.16 – 5 5 5 5 16 13 16 16 13 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.4 0.4/0.6 0.5/0.6 0.5/0.6 0.5/0.7 0.5 0.6/0.7 0.6/0.7 0.6/0.7 0.4 0.16 0.8 0.4 0.15 0.3 0.18 0.22 0.8 – – – – – – – – – form seems to be of very small size. Jugs are single-handled with a trefoil mouth (IDE 281; 170; 171; 266; 263) and only in one case features a round mouth (IDE 264); they present a flat base made on a wheel. Glaze slips are often associated tab. 4 – Summary table of the analyzed ceramic fragments of colature rosse. with sinusoidal patterns engraved on the ceramic body; the most recurring colours are in tones of yellow and olive green. The coating, according to the nature of the class itself, is always partial and uneven (fig. 3). 55 A. Briano fig. 3 – Ceramic fragments with incised sinusoidal decoration and glaze lines. fig. 4 – Ceramic fragments with slip lines. As to differences, it must be noted that some glazes have darker tones featuring in five cases shades of brown (see IDE: 227, 269, 273, 292, 282), appearing as almost black in one case (IDE 165). Since these shades have also a greater density and opacity a better assessment has to be carried out in order to verify if these can be traced back to furnace conditions or different mixture types. Many sherds also possess deteriorated glazes due to loss of gloss. In this case differences could be related to deposition conditions (see IDE 287; 286; 292; 285; 284; 175; 268; 280; 212; 279; 264) while on the other hand, the presence of surface blistering in some cases may refer to furnace conditions and therefore to manufacturing flaws (see IDE 287; 281; 351; 271; 165; 263; 268). As to some fragments, further microscopic observations of the presumed traces of glaze will be necessary in order to ascertain its nature (IDE 264; 280). these result from irregular lines, except in four cases where thicker and regularly obliquely running lines are visible, appearing as brushstrokes (IDE 297; 327; 329) or points (IDE 354). Lastly, the lines in almost all the examined sherds are perpendicular to the axis of the vessel; only in four cases they appear as parallel to the lines produced by the potter’s wheel (IDE 289; 303; 310; 316) (fig. 4). 4. FINAL REMARKS In order to draw some conclusive observations, I would like to focus on the quantitative data, make a number of short qualitative remarks and finally propose some thoughts on chronological attribution: From a quantitative point of view, if we had to base our conclusions exclusively on the number of minimum forms calculated on rims, bases and handles, the number of specimens would be modest: 12 forms of vetrina pesante (Forum Ware), 20 forms of vetrina sparsa pottery, 18 forms of colature rosse. On the other hand, if we consider also wall sherds (as evidence of their presence in different stratigraphy levels and with different features), then the number of maximum forms would clearly increase: 13 forms of vetrina pesante; 34 forms of vetrina sparsa; 69 forms of colature rosse (fig. 5). Though aware that such quantities 5 are but a small part of the overall ceramic assemblage, these numbers are nonetheless significant, as these ceramic classes can be associated with specific trading channels and areas of distribution, destined to supply these goods to middle-high social classes (Molinari 2003, pp. 519-528; Cantini 2005, pp. 177-191). From a qualitative perspective, we can note the almost exclusive presence of closed forms functioning as table-ware and storage vessels. All the containers, mostly single-handled jugs, are of medium and small sizes. Furthermore, there is a clear difference and lack of homogeneity when it comes to ceramic fabrics and surface treatments, suggesting different supply centres and/or workshops providing the site of Vetricella with these items. 3.3 Colature di ingobbio (Slip lines) Potsherds belonging to this ceramic class are characterized by the presence of slip paint traces on the primary surface of the finds. As with the previous classes, we are confronted only with closed forms, principally storage jars, or small flat-bottomed jugs. Rims (IDE 320; 340; 327; 200; 299; 309) may be both rounded and slightly everted, or simply indistinct from the body having a rolled edge very similar to the “band” rim type. As to the slip decorations, we have observed a prevalence of the colour red rather than the brown that appears only in 14 of 36 analyzed cases (IDE 334; 335; 326; 340; 333; 198; 354; 322; 301; 352; 309; 310; 311; 316). Such slips are made of iron oxide producing shades ranging from red to brown. Therefore, a deeper analysis might contribute in determining whether this is the result of technological differences or variations attributable to different chronological contexts. Furthermore, in some cases the slip covering is highly diluted and its traces are quite faint (IDE 325; 293; 291; 308; 301; 355; 199; 333; 341). When examining other finds, these traces appear as blobs or irregular stains making the attribution to this ceramic class uncertain. It is almost impossible to associate the decorations on these wares with a regular and distinctive motif as in most cases 5 56 See note 2. Single fired glazed ceramics and colature rosse from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) fig. 5a-c – Tables and graphs featuring counts of the different class forms (a. Vetrina pesante; b. Vetrina sparsa; c. Colature rosse) from the different phases at Vetricella. From a chronological perspective, certain details need to be clarified. As to the vetrina pesante and vetrina sparsa classes, according to currently published data, we have to place the inception of vetrina pesante towards the end of the 8th century whereas vetrina sparsa is attested from the 9th, but with a period of more widespread distribution in Tuscan contexts from the end of the 9th through to about AD 1100 (Bonifay, Paroli, Picon 1986, p. 91; Paroli 1992; Sannazaro 1994, p. 244; Dadà 2011, p. 394). On this basis, we can see that at the site of Vetricella the total number of minimum forms based on vetrina pesante and vetrina sparsa in phase constitute 33% of the total (with 67% of residuality in the remaining stratigraphy levels) (fig. 5a-5b). However, the results obtained via thermoluminiscence analysis show a date for the Forum Ware wall sherd (sample D2696), namely AD 820±60, therefore second quarter of the 9th century and in line with published data. The trefoil potsherd jug rim in vetrina sparsa (sample D2696) provides instead a date of AD 785±55, thus the second half of the 8th century, demonstrating an earlier chronology, not only as to the Forum Ware but also to the currently known data of this ceramic class in Tuscany, the sole exception being the recent finds (single-fired glazes) from the castle of Donoratico and the Rocca di Campiglia Marittima (Briano, Sibilia 2018; Bianchi, Briano, Sibilia in print) Datazioni Termoluminescenza Sample Description CSN 2016 q.H 9-10 glazed D2695 wall with applications CSN 2018 US 2001(II) sparse D2696 glazed rim Average Datation (d. C.) Error (years) 820 60 785 55 805 35 tab. 5 – Table with the results of the samples analyzed via thermoluminescence analysis. (tab. 5). As to the red or brown slip painted ceramics, when considering the currently published data, their chronological attribution appears as uncertain, given that a production of this kind is recorded throughout the Middle Ages in Central Italy with significantly different chronologies that must not be confused with one another (for instance, “bande rosse” and “colature rosse” in Cantini 2005, pp. 177-191). The Crypta Balbi contexts suggest an Early Medieval production dating to the 8th century and a Late Middle Age production dated between the late 12th and 14th centuries (Ricci 1990). In Pisa the Early Medieval production lasts up until the 9th century, while the Late Medieval forms begin in the second half of the 10th century and were produced until the 12th century (Abela 2000). In Siena (Santa Maria della Scala), “bande rosse” feature a chronology between the 7th-8th and 57 A. Briano fig. 6 – Table of the single-fired glazed ceramic forms with colature rosse found at Vetricella. 12th centuries (Cantini 2005, pp. 192-193); on the other hand, at San Genesio this production is uninterrupted from the 7th to the 11th centuries (Cantini 2009, p. 67; Cantini 2010). At Populonia red slip lined pottery is mainly attested between the end of the 8th and 12th century (Dadà 2011). On the basis of such evidence it is not possible to place the Vetricella fragments in a well-defined chronology, however, if we decide to rely on contexts recorded in the periods between the end of the 8th and beginning of the 11th century, we can see that the minimum number of attested forms are twice the number (12 MNI over 6 MNI residual ones) if compared to residual forms from later dating contexts (fig. 5c). Therefore, if we attempt to follow a wider ranging train of thought that includes both glazed and red slip-painted classes, setting them according to their respective stratigraphic positions in the site, at least three phenomena can be noted (fig. 6). First of all, period VII (20th century) is the one with the highest number of finds that appear as residual and altered due to their stratigraphic position (fig. 7a-b). Secondly, when considering minimum forms instead of single potsherd numbers, 58 Single fired glazed ceramics and colature rosse from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) fig. 7 – a. Count with fragment percentages from the different periods at the site; b. Count with form percentages from the different periods at the site. Cantini F., 2010, Circolazione, produzione e consumo di vasellame ceramico e anfore nel medio Valdarno tra IV e VII secolo: nuovi dati da San Genesio (San Miniato, Pisa) e Firenze, in S. Menchelli et al. (a cura di), Late Roman Coarse Ware, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry Comparison between western and eastern Mediterranean, Oxford, pp. 353-362. Ceci M., Santangeli Valenzani R., 2016, La ceramica nello scavo archeologico. Analisi, quantificazione e interpretazione, Roma. Dadà M., 2011, Populonia medievale: ceramica e pietra ollare dagli scavi dell’Acropoli, «Archeologia Medievale», XXXVIII, pp. 387-408. Molinari A., 2000, Ceramica, in R. Francovich, D. Manacorda (a cura di), Dizionario di Archeologia, Roma-Bari, pp. 53-61. Molinari A., 2003, La ceramica medievale in Italia ed il suo possibile utilizzo per lo studio della storia economica, «Archeologia Medievale», XXX, pp. 519-528. Munsell 2009, Soil color charts, Grand Rapids. Olcese G., 1993, Le ceramiche comuni di Albintimilium. Indagine archeologica e archeometrica sui materiali dell’area del Cardine, Quaderni del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti, Firenze. Orton C., Tyres P., Vince A., 1993, Pottery in Archaeology, Cambridge. Paroli L., 1992, La ceramica invetriata tardo-antica e medievale in Italia, Atti del Seminario (Certosa di Pontignano, 23-24 febbraio 1990), Firenze. Ricci M., 1990, Ceramica dipinta in rosso, in L. Saguì, L. Paroli (a cura di), L’esedra della Crypta Balbi nel Medioevo (XI-XV secolo), Firenze, pp. 308-313. Sannazaro M., 1994, La ceramica invetriata tra età romana e medioevo, in S. Lusuardi Siena (a cura di), Ad mensam. Manufatti d’uso da contesti archeologici fra tarda antichità e Medioevo, Udine, pp. 229-261. Sbarra F., 2014, I materiali ceramici: la ceramica grezza e la ceramica invetriata, in S. Gelichi, M. Librenti, M. Marchesini (a cura di), Un villaggio nella Pianura. Ricerche archeologiche in un insediamento medievale del territorio di Sant’Agata Bolognese, Firenze, pp. 146-178. the period that has undergone most changes is period III (second half 10th century), with a shift from 25% (fig. 7a) to 12% (fig. 7b). Finally, the earliest periods that date from mid-8th to midth 9 century, maintain the same number of finds in phase or still in use, thus testifying to the significant presence of these classes in primary occupation phases at Vetricella. Such an observation is supported by the thermoluminescence results, which clearly confirm how single fired glazed materials are perfectly attributable to this period of the site’s long history (fig. 7a-b). BIBLIOGR APHY Abela E., 2000, Ceramica dipinta a bande rosse (DR), in S. Bruni, E. Abela, G. Berti (a cura di), Ricerche di archeologia medievale a Pisa. 1. Piazza dei Cavalieri la campagna di scavo 1993, Firenze, pp. 119-122. Bonifay M., Paroli L., Picon M., 1986, Ceramiche a vetrina pesante scoperte a Roma e Marsiglia: risultati delle prime analisi chimico-fisiche, «Archeologia Medievale», XIII, pp. 79-95. Bianchi G., Briano A., Sibilia E., c.s., nEU-Med Project: the results from Thermoluminescence (TL) analysis on Sparse Glazed ware from Southern Tuscany, in AIECM3, Atene. Briano A., Sibilia E., 2018, Progetto nEU-Med. Nuove analisi archeologiche e archeometriche sulla ceramica a vetrina sparsa dal castello di Donoratico (LI): i risultati della Termoluminescenza (TL), «Archeologia Medievale», XLV, pp. 357-366. Cantini F., 2005, Archeologia urbana a Siena. L’area dell’Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala prima dell’Ospedale. Altomedioevo, Firenze. Cantini F., 2009, Produzione, circolazione e consumo del vasellame decorato con ingobbio rosso in Toscana tra I-II e XIII secolo, in E. De Minicis (a cura di), Le ceramiche di Roma e del Lazio in età medievale e moderna, VI, Atti del Convegno (Segni, 6-7 maggio 2004), Roma, pp. 59-79. 59 Italian abstract CER AMICHE INVETRIATE IN MONOCOTTUR A E COLATURE ROSSE DAL SITO DELLA VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): STUDIO TIPOLOGICO E PRIME ANALISI DI TERMOLUMINESCENZA Questo contributo prende in esame i frammenti ceramici con coperture vetrificate o ad ingobbio provenienti dal sito della Vetricella ed è suddiviso in una prima parte in cui verranno esposti i dati quantitativi ed una seconda che si focalizzerà sugli aspetti qualitativi dei reperti a nostra disposizione. L’analisi tipologica ha privilegiato i criteri tecnologici quali il tipo dell’impasto, il rivestimento e le decorazioni. Le classi ceramiche analizzate sono quelle con colature e bande di ingobbio di colore rosso e quelle invetriate in monocottura che comprendono la vetrina pesante e la vetrina sparsa. Su alcuni manufatti sono state effettuate anche delle analisi archeometriche che riguardano la lettura petrografica e mineralogica dell’impasto con sezione sottile e l’osservazione al microscopio ottico a scansione della composizione delle vetrine e di datazione assoluta tramite termoluminescenza. I dati che emergono riconducono ad una totalità di manufatti ceramici ascrivibili a forme chiuse, nello specifico brocche o boccali da mensa e da dispensa di medie e piccole dimensioni, che presentano però una discreta variabilità e difformità sia dal punto di vista degli impasti che da quello delle coperture vetrificate e ad ingobbio. Dal punto di vista quantitativo pur lavorando su classi ceramiche con quantità ridotte rispetto al totale dei frammenti acromi, costituiscono una importante e significativa presenza nelle fasi di vita centrali del sito della Vetricella. 60 Luisa Russo* THE COARSE, FINE AND SELEZIONATA WARES FROM THE SITE OF VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): A COMPAR ATIVE ANALYSIS OF TWO CONTEXTS 1. INTRODUCTION fracture hardness (Olcese 1993, p. 165; Orton, Tyres, Vince 1993, pp. 136-139; 238-240). When considering the above-mentioned characteristics, it is possible to recognize forms that by tradition and technology belong to a specific functional class but that also possess completely different fabrics: this explains the reason why the same vessel type may have had different functional uses. Regarding find quantification, counting has followed according to these criteria: for minimal forms, only diagnostic parts, including rims, handles and bottoms have been evaluated, while deliberately excluding the walls that are included in the calculation of total potsherds and their related weight. An exception has been made for wall sherds or shoulder sherds featuring sinusoidal decorations or a handle attachment; in this case, these have been considered as single units, due to the presence of the above-mentioned aesthetic and morphological characteristics. Furthermore, it is also important to take into account the highly fragmented nature characterizing the excavation material, which has restricted the reconstruction of shapes or, more simply, hindered the identification of reliable attributions. For this paper, two contexts have been chosen thanks to their high level of preservation and because these are considered to be good examples of the important depositional dynamics in relation to the site’s history. These illustrate, more clearly than other contexts, the characteristics of a ceramic assemblage in use at a royal site during the 9th and 10th centuries. These deposits are associated with the tower, the structure located at the centre of the three enclosing ditches, and the infill of the innermost ditch (see Marasco, Briano infra). During the three nEU-Med excavations at Vetricella, about 37.376 potsherds have been recovered (14.660 potsherds were recovered in 2016, 12.718 in 2017 and 9.998 during the 2018 campaign). The focus of this contribution are the ceramic classes without surface treatment, divided into coarse, fine and selezionata wares, based on the refinement of the texture 1. Ceramics with glaze or clay slip coating have been deliberately excluded because already discussed in the previous contribution (see Briano infra). To begin with all the potsherds were counted individually and divided into identified classes. A further cataloguing was carried out based on the diagnosis of each fragment, distinguishing if possible, rims, handles, bottoms and walls. In terms of numbers, the division into classes has allowed to estimate the significant quantity of potsherds belonging to selezionata ware (19.068 fragments, 52%), a constant observed during the three years of investigation. By contrast, the amount of coarse and fine wares is significant when compared to the other existing classes (respectively 9.738 fragments, 26% and 8.074 fragments, 22%) but considerably lower than the selezionata ware. While waiting for the results of specific petrographic analyses 2, the creation of fabric reference samples was carried out autoptically and according to established criteria during the cataloging phase based upon the macroscopic observations of ceramics. Criteria include: colour (Munsell 2009), presence, size and distribution of clasts/inclusions in the mould, their nature (sharp edges = artificial production, rounded edges = natural), presence and orientation of porous cavities and 2. STUDY CONTEXTS 2.1 Tower * Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università di Siena (luisarus87@gmail.com). 1 I would like to underline the preliminary nature of the data presented in this contribution, bearing in mind that a detailed morphological catalogue is currently underway for a doctoral research thesis conducted by the author and titled: “Ceramica grezza, depurata e semidepurata: produzione, funzione e circolazione in un sito della Toscana sud-occidentale. Dal caso di Vetricella al contesto delle Colline Metallifere (secc. VIII-XI)”. 2 A number of ceramic samples from the Colline Metallifere and the associated coastal area have already been analyzed using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy analysis (SEM-EDS) as well as thin sections, as part of a thesis by D. Intermite, Georisorse e produzioni locali nell’Altomedioevo. Analisi archeometrica su reperti ceramici provenienti dalle Colline Metallifere, A.A. 2017/2018, Relatore: Prof.ssa G. Bianchi (DSSBC), Controrelatori: Prof. A. Donati (DBCF) e Prof. M. Giamello (DSFTA). As to the site of Vetricella, five ceramic samples were selected, one of which was a coarse ware pot (plate 2, c; fig. 5, a) from the bottommost level of the ditch (SU 530). A significant portion of these finds will be presented in another paper (Fornacelli et al.), whereas other samples are still being studied. Stratigraphic sequences inside the tower (fig. 1, a) are dated from the first half of the 9th to the mid 10th centuries. These sequences represent the oldest living activities within the building, which had continual use up until late 11th century (see Marasco, Briano infra). Two layers of surface levelling (contexts 194 and 196, excavated in 2016), that refer to the latest use of this space, partially cover what are supposed to be the oldest activity levels within the building. These layers were removed in two different moments (two square layers in 2016 and another two in 2018). As to the finds recovered from these layers, the high level of fragmentation, as already reported above, has made it difficult, if not quite impossible, to recompose most of the forms. 61 L. RUSSO fig. 1 – Location on the general excavation map of the two contexts selected for the study of the ceramic material. Counts of the potsherds, based on the previously illustrated method, have shown a total of 1.332 fragments, weighing about 786 gr.; minimum estimated forms total 195 specimens (fig. 2). The most representative ceramic class is the coarse ware (758 fragments, 57%), the most clearly identifiable forms are pots (47%), testelli (2%), and a significant quantity of generic “closed forms” (6%). On the other hand, “closed forms” (21%) are prevalent both in selezionata (375 fragments, 28%) and fine wares (199 fragments, corresponding to 15% of the total, of these 14% were “closed forms”). A more precise classification of these pieces is difficult considering the high level of fragmentation, small size of potsherds and lack of characteristic elements that could be used to define specific forms. Pots made with coarse fabrics are almost all small-sized, with a rim diameter that only in one case extends to 16 cm; average dimensions range from 9 to 12 cm, with a few cases being 5-6 cm (probably for individual food consumption, Grassi 2010, p. 15). Generally, these vessels have short necks with “>” shape and completely flat or slightly outwardly curving and indistinctly shaped rims; others have rounded and thickened rims. In some specimens there is the typical fitting for the lid, used when boiling food (Grassi 2010, pp. 15-16). Among the coarse ware closed forms there are at least 7 specimens of small jugs or small pitchers, 3 of which have a 6-8 cm rim diameter and small ribbon handles complanar to the rim (fig. 3, a; plate 1, c, h), most likely used to heat foodstuffs (Grassi 2010, p. 16). There are six open forms of the above-mentioned lids, the dimensions of which are compatible with both small pots and larger vessels. Some of these are present in the bowl-lid type, with the outer surface and rim decorated with small and parallel grooved incisions; these match with a specimen found in Southern Tuscany and dated to the mid 9th century thanks to thermoluminescence analysis (Vaccaro 2011, plate CVIII, n. 4 Type 1, 855±55, Casa Andreoni) (plate 1, d, f ). As to the testelli, it is often not possible to calculate their size due to the small portions of preserved rims or bottoms. However, these are easily recognizable, even if only by the bottom central sherd, thanks to a significant and constant thickness of the walls (about 2 cm) that are generally short in length. In any case, the diameter of the few measurable rims ranges from 22 to 26 cm. The selezionata ware (375 fragments, 28%) tend to possess a rather limited variety of shapes. These consist mainly of closed forms, small pitchers or jugs, with shaped rims featuring a variously pointed band below the edge 3 (fig. 3, b; plate 1, e) decorated in some cases with sinusoidal lines on the walls and shoulders, and, probably some bottles with a diameter of less than 6 cm. One of them in particular has a rounded and slightly outward – curving rim measuring 3 cm, 3 This can be found also in a slightly larger dimensional variant, with a rim diameter of about 10 cm, among the colature rosse types, namely the first one to the left (fig. 5, P.3, and fig. 3, top left) mentioned in the contribution by Briano, in addition to those in fine ware described later on and recorded in levels within the tower. 62 fig. 2 – Relative quantification of the minimum number of recognized forms identified in the tower levels. plate 1 – Summary plate of the ceramic material recorded in the internal levels of the tower. The plate presents a division corresponding to the four sectors in which the excavation is divided as well as a horizontal repartition that represents the relative stratigraphy of the SU in each sector. L. RUSSO fig. 3 – Some elements of the material culture characteristic of the stratigraphies in the central edifice. with an expanded neck below and a convex shoulder with multiple sinusoidal grooves, that in all likelihood continued along the wall (plate 1, i). This vessel has good parallels with a closed tableware form belonging to older tradition (Olcese 1993, p. 278, n. 283) 4. Among the open tableware forms of this period, a number of bowls have been found with multiple sinusoidal grooves on the inner surface rim characterized in almost all the specimens by a squared and slightly thickened cross-section (plate 1, b, g). In addition, in this case we are dealing with a form that was locally widespread at this time (Grassi 2010, p. 189, fig. 23, unit 3). Fine ware pottery occurs with the least number of recorded fragments (199 fragments, 15%): some jugs possess a shaped rim with horizontal and pointed band, a diameter of about 8 cm (similar to the above-mentioned selezionata ware) (fig. 3, c; plate 1, j), and again associated with small sized bottles. It is worth noting the presence of a single closed form specimen in this class (probably a storage pot or jug, fig. 3, d; plate 1, a), with a circular mouth, rim band and single sinusoidal decoration engraved on the external surface. It is difficult to determine its profile as the body portion is completely missing. However, taking account of the preserved short portion of neck, immediately below the rim, it seems to curve outwards, suggesting a globular-shaped body. One cannot exclude that this find is residual from an earlier phase, dating to the 8th-9th centuries (see Marasco, Briano infra) 5. The predominance of coarse ware pottery in this context should be in itself significant evidence, indicating that it was almost certainly a domestic environment. It is a classic assemblage related to cooking activities, mainly composed of pots, lids, bowls/lids, and jugs to heat liquid food. On the other hand, closed form walls (pitchers/jugs) and the bowls with raised rims, with sinusoidal decoration, seem to suggest a certain aesthetic care for tableware accoutrements. The presence or absence of certain finds in the tower, for example “small amphorae”, can help in providing a “relative” chronological distinction among the occupation levels of the building: such storage amphorae belong to the selezionata ware and are clearly recognizable by their handles, usually of the ribbon type, placed on the vessel shoulder (Briano et al. 2018). “Small amphorae” seem to be more widespread in the following period (from the mid-late 10th century): in fact, only two potsherds of this form have been found, one in surface level US 215 and the other in US 194 that obliterated it. However, the number of connections, even if negligible, amongst the material from the stratigraphic sequence of the central building (for example contexts 1490-215, 215upper level-194, 215-3007) and the general formal homogeneity of the finds leads us to plausibly imagine that this deposit was formed in a coherent, short time frame. 2.2 Inner ditch A survey has been carried out to investigate a small portion of the inner ditch (fig. 1, b) characterized by a width of 6.5 m and a depth of about 2.5 m. During excavation, all the preserved sequences from the moment in which the ditch was made, dating to the mid-9th century until its final obliteration around the mid-10th century, were examined (see Marasco, Briano infra). The total amount of currently recorded potsherds in this context is equal to 465 fragments, with a weight of about 11.280 gr and attributable to about 218 minimal forms. It is still possible to note the prevalence of coarse wares (207 fragments, 44%) and of the pot type (29%); nonetheless the difference with selezionata ware is not relevant in terms of minimal forms: 110 in coarse ware and 85 in selezionata ware type (fig. 4). Reference should be made also to a tableware set dating to the 5 -7 /8 centuries (Olcese 1993, plate 18). This form can be compared with materials that are considered as characteristic of the late Roman deposits of Albintimilium (Lamboglia 1979, p. 155, fig. 89, n. 155). 5 This form in particular seems to recall an older tradition, considering the rim type and the hypothetical profile. It is worth mentioning a coarse ware pot V.3.8, in De Luca 2001, pp. 572-573, dated to the 7th century AD from the Forum of Nerva in Rome, with a rim typical of 5th century (Olcese 1993, n. 195, pp. 250-251), without decoration whereas the globular body features is characteristic of the 7th century AD. Other pots in a coarse ware with a band rim from Florence, in Cantini 2007, p. 268, tab. 5, 2.6.15 (second half 7th century AD) and from Siena, the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, in Cantini 2005, p. 140, tab. 27, n. 5.48 (end of 5th-mid 6th century AD). It is interesting to mention another comparison with a small pitcher in colature rosse found in Siena and dated to first half of 7th century AD (Cantini 2009, p. 68, fig. 6, n. 24). A fine ware jug with the same rim shape is also recorded at the site of Podere Serratone, in Southern Tuscany and dated to the Early Middle Ages (Vaccaro 2011, plate CIII, n. 14 Type 2). 4 th th th 64 The coarse, fine and selezionata wares from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) fig. 4 – Relative quantification of the minimum number of forms present in the stratigraphies of the innermost ditch. From the relative sequence (plate 2) one can note how the lower levels, adjacent to the ditch bottom, either feature very little material (only 5 fragments corresponding to the same number of minimal forms found in US 532), or in some cases, are totally sterile. The pots, although larger than those found in the tower, have analogous characteristics: notably a short neck, in some specimens with a noticeable “>” shape, the slightly everted rim, indistinct and either well rounded or flat. Also in this context, as in the tower, some pots possess a slight lodging for the lid. Forms with such features are mainly located in the lower levels but also occur in upper layers. Testelli (12%) look like small bowls with walls that reach a medium height and a shaped profile, thinning out in the central portion. Many of these show smoothing marks (probably made using a cloth) visible on the inner surface. These characteristics are mainly related to specimens found in US 530, one of the bottommost layers of the ditch (plate 2, d; fig. 5, b). Of the selezionata ware examples (194 fragments, 42%), few forms have been recorded, mainly of the closed type, with ribbon handles featuring a slightly shaped section. On the other hand, the fine ware assemblage (64 fragments, 14%) consists of only one noticeable small rim, probably part of a bottle, similar in terms of type and size to the other specimens described in the tower occupation levels. The only two examples of Roman tradition wares have been found (plate 2, e) in this lower stratigraphic level (US 530). fig. 5 – Two of the most common forms present in the lower ditch levels: a pot with short everted rim and narrow neck, and a testello characterized by a regular thickness and inclination of the bottom and walls with smoothing of the internal surface. 65 L. RUSSO plate 2 – Summary plate of the ceramic material present in the innermost ditch infill, from the oldest (bottom) to the most recent (top). 66 The coarse, fine and selezionata wares from the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) The layers recorded immediately above (US 457=456) seem to maintain the general prevalence of coarse ware, registered also in the levels within the tower, with an increase in form variety compared to the previous deposit. In addition to the pots with short and accentuated neck and everted rims (generally older) and others with an elongated neck and a gentler profile (ascribed to a relatively later dating), there are also jugs, with single possibly ribbon-shaped handle. Among the open forms, testelli seem to be more crudely made, with medium-high walls and a significant thickness. In addition, although numerically few in number, there are some lids of various sizes, sometimes also with sinusoidal decorations on the external surfaces (plate 2, a). In these layers a significant increase in selezionata ware can be noted; there seems to be a constant majority of closed forms, including jars, jugs and pitchers, not always easily identifiable, of medium-large size. Furthermore, there are also some potsherds in these levels belonging to the “small amphorae” form (plate 2, b). With an increase in typological variety the ceramic assemblage seems also to change: not only purely domestic wares, but also storage vessels predominate in the sequences nearer to the mid 10th century, immediately before the ditch was definitively obliterated (see Marasco, Briano and Bianchi infra). Although some of these characteristics are also visible on the specimens found in the ditch (for example, coarse ware with incised grooves or sinusoidal decorations), the evidence that seems to significantly emerge from this second analyzed context is surely the greater incidence of selezionata ware forms in the infilling layers along with the appearance in the latest infilling levels of storage vessels, the so called “small amphorae”, that have been recorded in considerable numbers across the site 6. If in the tower context, the domestic set has been predominant since the beginning of 9th century, a functional change occurs by the end of 10th century in the ceramics as well as in the site itself, with a far greater emphasis upon storage. BIBLIOGR APHY Briano et al. 2018 = Briano A., Fornacelli C., Ponta E., Russo L., Pottery circulation and wares in the rural world: the Colline Metallifere ad south-eastern Tuscany in the Early Medieval period, in G. Bianchi, R. Hodges (eds.), Origins of a new economic union (7th12th centuries). Preliminary results of the nEU-Med project: October 2015-March 2017, Firenze, pp. 101-121, 199-205. Cantini F., 2005, Archeologia urbana a Siena. L’area dell’Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala prima dell’Ospedale. Altomedioevo, Firenze. Cantini F., 2007, Ceramica e pietra ollare, in F. Cantini, C. Cianferoni, R. Francovich, E. Scampoli (a cura di), Firenze prima degli Uffizi, Firenze, pp. 183-286. Cantini F., 2009, Produzione, circolazione e consumo del vasellame decorato con ingobbio rosso in Toscana tra I-II e XIII secolo, in E. De Minicis (a cura di), Le ceramiche di Roma e del Lazio in età medievale e moderna VI, Atti del Convegno (Segni, 6-7 maggio 2004), Roma, pp. 59-79. De Luca I., 2001, Un deposito di fine VII-inizi VIII secolo dal Foro di Nerva, in M.S. Arena, P. Delogu, L. Paroli, M. Ricci, L. Saguì, L. Vendittelli (a cura di), Roma dall’antichità al medioevo. Archeologia e Storia. Nel Museo Nazionale Romano di Crypta Balbi, Milano, pp. 571-577. Grassi F., 2010, La ceramica, l’alimentazione, l’artigianato e le vie di commercio tra VIII e XIV secolo. Il caso della Toscana meridionale, Oxford. Intermite D., 2017/2018, Georisorse e produzioni locali nell’Altomedioevo. Analisi archeometrica su reperti ceramici provenienti dalle Colline Metallifere, Tesi di Laurea Magistrale, Università degli Studi di Siena. Lamboglia N., 1979, Gli scavi di Albintimilium e la cronologia della ceramica romana. Parte Prima. Campagne di scavo 1938-1940, Bordighera. Marasco L. (a cura di), 2018, Investigations at Vetricella: new archaeological findings in anthropic and natural landscape, in G. Bianchi, R. Hodges (eds.), Origins of a new economic union (7th12th centuries). Preliminary results of the nEU-Med project: October 2015-March 2017, Firenze, pp. 57-80/183-195. Munsell 2009, Soil-color chart, Grand Rapids. Olcese G., 1993, Le ceramiche comuni di Albintimilium. Indagine archeologia e archeometrica sui materiali dell’area del Cardine, Quaderni del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti, Firenze. Orton C., Tyres P., Vince A., 1993, Pottery in Archaeology, Cambridge. Pecci A., 2009, Analisi funzionale della ceramica e alimentazione medievale, «Archeologia Medievale», XXXVI, pp. 21-42. Vaccaro E., 2011, Sites and Pots: Settlement and Economy in Southern Tuscany (AD 300-900), Oxford. 3. GENER AL CONSIDER ATIONS In the site, there is a remarkable, but not homogenous fragmentation of the ceramic finds. The size of the potsherds found in the ditch infill are frequently larger than those found in the central tower levels. This certainly depends on the nature of the deposits: obliteration levels in the first case and floor levels in the second (see Marasco, Briano infra). However, the stratigraphic formation processes in these contexts does affect the study of the finds, especially when it comes to quantification, as already mentioned. Nevertheless, it is possible to make a number of other observations. In the tower levels a mainly a domestic set of common forms was found, functionally suited to everyday life. These mostly consist of pots for cooking, with morphological features that reflect the general characteristics found in other contemporary forms across southern Tuscany. A number of these pots as well as some lids and bowl-lids, are present with small and parallel grooved incised decorations on the main body. This aesthetic care is already widely attested in southern Tuscany mainly in the 10th century (Grassi 2010, p. 15). Therefore, in this specific case it is possible to attribute them to a slightly earlier date and the decorations present on these functional artefacts constitute indicative evidence as to the quality of ceramic production. This aspect becomes more evident with vessels of selezionata and fine wares. There are bowls with sinusoidal decoration on the rim, small jugs with variously shaped rims, produced with the same features such as the colature rosse. Such wares are generally considered as “luxury goods” while bottles are less widespread and having sometimes features typical of a clearly older tradition. 6 Up to the present day, about 204 potsherds attributable to the “small amphorae” type have been recovered from the site. 67 Italian abstract LA CER AMICA ACROMA GREZZA, DEPUR ATA E SEMIDEPUR ATA DALL’INSEDIAMENTO DI VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): DUE CONTESTI A CONFRONTO Il presente testo intende proporre una visione generale del corredo ceramico privo di rivestimento (ceramica acroma grezza, semidepurata e depurata) proveniente dal sito di Vetricella nel periodo compreso tra la prima metà del IX e la fine del X secolo. Per restituire tale immagine, sono stati scelti in particolare due contesti, ritenuti significativi sia rispetto alle dinamiche generali del sito, che per la loro stessa natura: si tratta dell’edificio turriforme centrale e del riempimento del fossato più interno. Entrambi questi depositi presentano una stratigrafia coerente e ben conservata, e offrono la possibilità di collocare i reperti ceramici studiati entro cronologie piuttosto sicure. In particolare: – Della torre sono stati esaminati i manufatti provenienti dai due livelli di calpestio interni, cronologicamente afferenti all’arco cronologico compreso tra la prima metà del IX e metà X secolo. – Lo studio ha evidenziato il carattere prettamente domestico del corredo. La classe predominante è l’acroma grezza, nelle forme soprattutto di olle e testi. – Le olle, di piccole e medie dimensioni, presentano colli brevi e gole marcatamente accentuate, orli brevi, non troppo estroflessi e poco variamente sagomati, in alcuni casi provvisti di alloggio per il coperchio. Oltre a olle e testi, erano funzionali in cucina anche piccole brocche per riscaldare gli alimenti, alcuni coperchi e catini-coperchi. – Le caratteristiche sopra descritte sembrano ben allinearsi con le tendenze generali già registrate per la Toscana meridionale nelle medesime cronologie. – Segue l’acroma grezza la ceramica semidepurata, e in ultimo la depurata, entrambe con forme destinante soprattutto alla mensa. – Le forme pertinenti a queste classi riportano caratteristiche formali riscontrate anche nelle forme della classe a colature rosse, considerata un “bene di lusso” (es. orli sagomati con cordonatura a spigolo appuntito), decorazioni sinusoidali e richiami a tipologie formali tipiche di una tradizione più antica, probabile espressione di una residualità di vita anteriore al periodo di interesse dei nostri contesti (IX-X secolo). – Il fossato interno è stato esaminato nell’interezza delle sue stratigrafie di riempimento, dal più antico al più recente, per le stesse cronologie circa della torre (metà IX-metà X secolo). – È possibile notare anche in questo caso la predominanza della ceramica acroma grezza, che tuttavia, inverte il rapporto con la classe della semidepurata a mano a mano che vengono raggiunti i livelli più recenti. – All’incremento del numero di frammenti di semidepurata è associato anche un aumento del numero delle forme deputate allo stoccaggio. – Nei livelli più tardi del riempimento del fossato, così come nelle stratigrafie di obliterazione della torre, compaiono dei frammenti attribuibili alla forma delle “anforette”, finora invece assenti. – Parallelamente al cambiamento nel corredo ceramico, prima a carattere domestico poi maggiormente da dispensa, si evidenzia anche una sostanziale trasformazione nella natura del sito, che diventa luogo principalmente di stoccaggio. 68 Letizia Castelli* GLASS ARTEFACTS FROM THE SITE OF VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO) Glass artefacts found at the site of Vetricella comprise 168 fragments. Identification was not possible for 50 of these 1. 118 of the 168 sherds have been analysed, of which 83 different forms and 4 semi-finished fragments have been identified. The identified glass fragments have been divided into seven different forms (1. Cups/Small Cups, 2. Beakers, 3. Goblets, 4. Lamps, 5. Ampoules/vials, 6. Bottles, 7. Gaming pieces). Two types were identified for the cups, goblets and lamps while five types for the beakers. In addition, a number of glass sherds have been identified as semi-finished products (8. Semi-finished products). 1988, pp. 78, 25; Briano 2011-12, p. 201; Arena et al. 2001, p. 584, V.4.76-79; Di Muro et al. 2003, p. 406. Date: 10th-13th century. Number of sherds: 16 Number of forms: 13 2. Beakers (plate III) Beakers generally represent the most common form in archaeological contexts. Five different types of beakers have been identified at Vetricella, as described below. – Beaker-type 1: a traditional type of beaker with tapering footless or flat bottom, vertical or slightly concave wall, thin rim, generally green or transparent (Stiaffini 1994, p. 210, plate 5, 4). This is a typical form documented from Late Antiquity (n. 106 Catalogue Isings 1957, pp. 126-127). – Beaker-type 2: beaker with a red striped decoration melted into the base. The decoration recalls “basket shaped” cups/beakers from the Early Middle Ages, but the form appears to be more similar to traditional beakers than cups (Stiaffini 1994, p. 212, plate 5, 9; Arena et al. 2001, p. 311, II 3.347a). – Beaker-type 3: beaker with white or ochre threaded decoration set under the rim. These sherds might originate from goblet/beaker cups with short stems and disk-shaped base dating to the Early Medieval period. The type has been found in 6th and 7th century contexts (Mendera 2007, p. 567). – Beaker-type 4: beaker with mould-cast decoration (not applied) characterized by two weaved white threads. This fragment has been compared with finds recorded during the excavations at Santa Giulia, Brescia (Uboldi 1999, p. 297) as well as examples documented at San Vincenzo al Volturno (Mitchell, Hansen, Coutts 2001, tome I, p. 243, n. 340, tome II, p. 243, fig. 7:105). This decoration type became widespread after the 4th century and continues to be recorded on sherds dating to the 8th century, such as those found at the Crypta Balbi (Arena et al. 2001, p. 583). – Beaker type 5: beaker with ring-shaped base and hollow curb. There are several variations for this beaker type. The small size of the foot fragment does not allow for a clear chronological date. The ring base (with full or empty curb) is a feature belonging to Roman glass vessels (form 109, Catalogue Isings 1957, pp. 136-138). 1. CATALOGUE 1. Cups/Small cups (plates I, III) Cups/Small cups generally presenting a hemispherical open form, with a vertical rim and thickened, rounded edge; two different types have been identified in this group: – Cup type 1: open form in green colour or colourless, thin rim; almost all sherds feature an applied decoration (Isings 1957, p. 127, n. 106b). – Cup type 2: bright blue cups (rims or walls) with applied decoration in matt white colour. (Foy et al. 2017, p. 155; Simon-Hiernard, Gratuze 2011, pp. 69-73; Baumgartner, Krueger 1988, pp. 78, 25; Briano 20112012, p. 201; Arena et al. 2001, p. 584, V.4.76-79; Di Muro et al. 2003, p. 4069) (see below). 1.1 Cups/Small cups type 1 Description: hemispherical open forms, with a thin vertical rim. Decoration: white or brown thread decoration. Colour: light green, colourless. Bibliographical references: ISINGS 1957, p. 127, n. 106b Date: 4th century Number of sherds: 13 Number of forms: 12 1.2 Cups/Small cups type 2 Description: blue cups with hemispherical shape. Decoration: white, brown, or red thread decoration applied to the glass mould. Colour: Blue, white and brown/red. Bibliographical references: Foy et al. 2017, p. 155; SimonHiernard, Gratuze 2011, pp. 69-73; Baumgartner, Krueger 2.1 Beaker type 1 Description: traditional type of beaker, with tapering footless or flat bottom; vertical wall or slightly concave; thin rim, generally green or transparent. Decoration: none Colour: green, colourless. Bibliographical references: Stiaffini 1994, p. 210, plate 5, 4, n. 106 Catalogue ISINGS 1957, pp. 126-127. * Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università di Siena (letiziamaria.castelli@gmail.com). 1 This essay is based upon the analysis of glass from Vetricella for a doctoral dissertation entitled “Reperti vitrei di X-XI secolo dal sito di Castellina (loc. Vetricella, Scarlino, GR)”. 69 L. Castelli plate 1 – Lamp type 2 and Cup type 2, Blue Glass. plate 2 – Goblet type 1 and 2. 70 GLASS ARTEFACTS FROM THE SITE OF VETRICELLA (Scarlino, Grosseto) plate 3 – Cup type 1, Bottle, Ampoule, Lamp type 1 and Beaker type 1. Date: 7th century onwards. Number of sherds: 28 Number of forms: 18 2.2 Beaker – type 2 Description: beaker decorated with red stripes and melted base. Decoration: red stripe decoration cast into the glass mould. Colour: colourless, red. Bibliographical references: Stiaffini 1994, p. 212, plate 5, 9; Arena et al. 2001, p. 311, II 3.347a. Date: Early Middle Ages. Number of sherds: 7 Number of forms: 5 2.3 Beaker type 3 Description: beaker with truncated conical shape and decorated white or ochre threads applied below the rim. Decoration: white or ochre decoration. Colour: colourless, white, ochre. Bibliographical references: Mendera 2007, p. 567. Date: 6th-7th century Number of sherds: 3 Number of forms: 3 2.4 Beaker type 4 Description: beaker with a decoration cast into the mould (not applied) of two weaved white threads. Decoration: weaved white threads. Colour: colourless, white. Bibliographical references: Uboldi 1999, p. 297; Mitchell, Hansen, Coutts 2001, tome I, p. 243 n. 340, tome II p. 243 fig. 7:105; Arena et al. 2001, p. 583. Date: 4th century. Number of sherds: 1 Number of forms: 1 2.5 Beaker type 5 Description: beaker with ring base and empty curb. Decoration: none. Colour: colourless. Bibliographical references: Isings 1957, pp. 136-138, forma 109. Date: 4th century. Number of sherds: 1 Number of forms: 1 3. Goblets (plate II) A goblet form consisting of two different sections: the upper section forming a cup and the lower one composed of stem and base. The goblets have been divided into two types: -Goblet type 1: long (up to 9 cm) and flat stem, with a node connecting the cup and stem made by casting (see infra). Sherds such as these can be identified as small stems typical of Early Medieval goblets. This goblet has a wide cup, a disk shaped base and short stem; it has been identified with form number 111 in Isings’ catalogue, distributed across Europe after the 4th century AD and produced until at least the 10th century (Arena et al. 2001, p. 579; Mendera 2007, p. 567; Mitchell, Hansen, Coutts 2001, tome I, pp. 231-233, type 1, tome II, p. 236, fig. 7:64-7:65). – Goblet type 2: it differs from type 1 as it is characterized by a twisted stem. 3.1 Goblet type 1 Description: hemispherical shaped cup, smooth and long stem, with a node between the stem and cup. Decoration: thread applied on the cup neck. Colour: colourless, light green. Bibliographical references: Arena et al. 2001, p. 582-3; Stiaffini 2014, p. 243; Mendera, Galgani 2005, p. 224, plate I, n. 18; Mendera 2007, p. 566, plate III, n. 16; Coscarella 1992, pp. 150-162, fig. 75, n. 6; Uboldi 1999, p. 295, plate CXXXV, nn. 10-16; Foy 2015, p. 62; Cini 1990, pp. 496-499, n. 549; Mitchell, Hansen, Coutts 2001, tome I, pp. 231-233, type 1, tome II, p. 236, fig. 7:64-7:65. Date: 10th-13th century Number of sherds: 5 Number of forms: 5 71 L. Castelli 3.2 Goblet type 2 Description: hemispherical cup, with long twisted stem, and a connection node between the stem and cup. Decoration: threads applied to the cup neck. Colour: colourless, light green. Bibliographical references: Arena et al. 2001, p. 582-3; Stiaffini 2014, p. 243; Mendera, Galgani 2005, p. 224, plate I, n. 18; Mendera 2007, p. 566, plate III, n. 16; Coscarella 1992, pp. 150-162, fig. 75, n. 6; Uboldi 1999, p. 295, plate CXXXV, nn. 10-16; Foy 2015, p. 62; Cini 1990, pp. 496-499, n. 549. Date: 10th-13th century Number of sherds: 21 Number of forms: 15 Dating: 11th-12th century. Number of sherds: 4 Number of forms: 3 6. Bottles (plate III) The bottle is distinguishable for the size of its concave bottom, with a larger diameter when compared to the beakers; long and thin neck. Two bottle sherds have been found both with concave bottoms. Their thickness and diameter (although only fragments) shows they belong to a type that was common in the Early Middle Ages and derives from a model that has seen use since the 4th century (Stiaffini 1994, p. 221). 6.1 Bottles Description: globular body, concave bottom, long cylindrical neck. Decoration: none. Colour: colourless, light green. Bibliographical references: Stiaffini 1994, p. 211. Date: Early Medieval. Number of sherds: 2 Number of forms: 2 4. Lamps (plates II, III) Lamps are a type of furnishing used to provide lighting (also in funerary contexts), as often attested in late antiquity (Stiaffini 1994, p. 208) Vetricella lamps occur in two types. – Lamp-type 1: classic lamp type, existing since the 4th century AD. These consist of a globular or truncated conical body, with a flat bottom and small handles attached to the rim. The colour is usually green (Stiaffini 1994, pp. 208-210, plate 5, n. 3; Arena et al. 2001, p. 316, II 372-84; Mitchell, Hansen, Coutts 2001, tome II pp. 227-228, fig. 7:7, 7:12). – Lamp type 2: dark blue lamps with matt white decorations (Foy et al. 2017, p. 155) (see below). 7. Gaming pieces This category includes small circular finds with concave bottom, identified as gaming pieces. They are often made of different materials such as ceramic or bone, rather than glass. The five sherds recorded at Vetricella all match and compose a single gaming piece in blue glass. Comparisons are recorded in Rome, dated to the late 6th-7th century (Arena et al. 2001, p. 418 II 4.979); in Florence from excavations conducted in via de Castellani, in contexts dated to the mid-5th-first half 6th century; (Mendera 2007, p. 580); at the site of Santa Giulia in Brescia (Uboldi 1999, p. 303, plate cxxx n. 13). 7.1 Gaming pieces Description: circular shape, concave bottom, 2 cm diameter. Decoration: none Colour: blue. Bibliographical references: Arena et al. 2001, p. 418, II 4.979; Uboldi 1999, p. 303, plate cxxx n. 13; Mendera 2007, p. 580. Date: 6th century. Number of sherds: 5 Number of forms: 1 4.1 Lamp type 1 Description: globular or truncated conical body, flat bottom and small handles attached to the rim. Decoration: none. Colour: light green. Bibliographical references: Stiaffini 1994, pp. 208-210, plate 5, n. 3; Arena et al. 2001, p. 316, II 372-84; Mitchell, Hansen, Coutts 2001, tome II pp. 227-228, fig. 7:7, 7:12. Date: 4th century onwards. Number of sherds: 5 Number of forms: 2 4.2 Lamp type 2 Description: blue lamp with flared rim marked with a matt white thread on the neck ring, truncated conical body and handle created by the application of a white thread. Decoration: applied white threads. Colour: blue, white. Bibliographical references: Foy et al. 2017, p. 155. Date: 10th-13th century Number of sherds: 3 Number of forms: 1 8. Semi-finished products Sherds featuring dents created with a sharp tool and without any exact shape. Possibly indicative of production activities. 2. DETAILED STUDY OF SPECIFIC CATEGORIES: BLUE GLASS CUPS, LAMPS AND GOBLETS 5. Ampoules/vials (toiletry bottles) (plate III) This category includes sherds that might belong to ampoules, featuring a bottom with a maximum diameter of 3, 5 cm; sherds of a shoulder or lip. Wall sherds with an extremely thin diameter, suggesting the shape of a toilet bottle with a long body. Both categories are prevalent from Late Antiquity up until the 9th-12th century (Uboldi 2002, p. 27, fig. 1, nn. 1-3). Blue glass fragments The atypical colour of blue glass sherds 2 has made it possible to assume that they are uncommon products, since almost all other artefacts are either light green or colourless. Careful analysis has allowed to associate them with two different forms: cups and lamps. 5.1 Ampoules/vials Description: ampoules: globular body, footless bottom with maximum diameter of 3.5 cm, lip and handles. Vials: long body with, very small diameter. Decoration: none. Colour: colourless, light green. Bibliographical references: Uboldi 2002, p. 27, fig. 1, nn. 1-3. 2 Glass sherds of the same color but of different shape, were found in the excavations of San Vincenzo al Volturno and dated to the 9th century (Mitchell, Hansen, Coutts 2001, tomo II pp. 227-228, fig. 7:7, 7:12). 72 GLASS ARTEFACTS FROM THE SITE OF VETRICELLA (Scarlino, Grosseto) fig. 4 – Cup from San Savin sur Gartempe (Foy et al. 2017). fig. 1 – Lamp and Cup of Blue Glass. fig. 5 – Lamp from Digne, Notre Dame du Bourg (Foy et al. 2017). fig. 2 – Goblets type 1 and 2. fig. 3 – Cup type 1, Bottle, Ampoule, Lamp type 1 and Beaker type 1. The Vetricella sherds could be traced back to cups made with thin transparent glass in cobalt blue colour, with a thread decoration and small opaque white bosses. In some cases, the decoration consists of thin red or brown threads applied inside the glass mould. The vessel was blown while the decoration is cast (fig. 1). Sherds recorded during excavation belong to a lamp type with flared rim marked with by matt white thread on the neck ring, a truncated conical body and a handle created by the application of a white thread for hanging (fig. 2). This last distinctive morphological element has permitted to identify this as a lamp rather than a cup (Foy et al. 2017, p. 155). fig. 6 – Goblets, Domus from Forum of Nerva (Arena 2001). It has been possible to compare these cup and lamp finds with others documented in three Italian sites as well as in French, Austrian, Swiss and German contexts. In France, comparison has been possible with lamps and also with an undamaged cup from the main altar of the Benedictine abbey of Saint Savin-sur-Gartempe (Vienne) in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France (fig. 4) (Simon-Hiernard, Gratuze 2011, pp. 69-73). Lamp sherds with similar characteristics to the Vetricella fragments have been discovered 73 L. Castelli at Notre Dame du Bourg cathedral in Digne les-Bains (fig. 5), from a stratigraphic context dated between the end of the 9th and 13th century (Foy et al. 2017, pp. 156, fig. 2). In Notre Dame Abbey in Nevers (Bourgogne region), sherds of blue glass cups have been recovered from a context dating to the 10th-beginning of 11th century. Similar finds have been made at Boves (in Haute de France), from the excavation of a motte-and-bailey dated to the 11th century. At the church of Saint Cesaire in Arles (Provence), from the excavations of a Carolingian Age Medieval convent, in the collegiate church of Saint-Amè of Douai (in Haute de France), a large number of blue glass sherds have been found in different forms: cups, lamps and bottles (Simon-Hiernard, Gratuze 2011, p. 71, fig. 3). In the Carolingian emporium of Dorestad (Netherlands) blue glass was found in 9th-century contexts (Baumgartner, Krueger 1988, pp. 78, 25). As to Germany, examples occur at the emporium in Haïtabu (Busdorf, Schleswig-Holstein) (Baumgartner, Krueger 1988, pp. 78, 27), and Baldenstein castle (Gammertingen, Baden-Wurtemberg), built in the 9th century and abandoned in the 12th century (Baumgartner, Krueger 1988, pp. 7780). Sherds in blue glass were found in the chapel of Horst castle in Gelsenkirche (Westphalia), dating back to the 11th12th centuries and comparable with the Vetricella fragments although in this case they are part of a bottle and not a cup. (Simon-Hiernard, Gratuze 2011, p. 72). In Austria sherds of blue cups have been discovered in church of Sainte-Justine at Assling (East Tyrol), occupied from the second half of the 9th to the 12th century (SimonHiernard, Gratuze 2011, p. 72). In Switzerland, comparison has been possible with finds from Altenberg Castle in Féllisdorf in the Béle-Campagne canton (Baumgartner, Krueger 1988, pp. 77-80). In Italy this particular type of glass find has been recorded only from three sites: in the Sanctuary of San Michele at Olevano sul Tusciano (Salerno) (Di Muro et al. 2003, p. 406); in Rome from the excavation of a domus solarata at the Forum of Nerva (Arena et al. 2001, p. 584 V.4.76-79); at the site of San Niccolò in Montieri (Grosseto) (Briano 2011-12, p. 201). The dating of the sherds discovered in the Sanctuary of San Michele belong to the later 10th or early 11th centuries, exactly the same chronology attributed to the finds from the domus solarata in the Forum of Nerva. San Niccolò at Montieri is a significant ecclesiastical site characterized by a church featuring six apses and excavated by the University of Siena in the past decade. Blue glass sherds dated between the 9th and 11th century have been found in stratified contexts; some of these decorated with applied white threads, comparable to the Vetricella specimens. comparisons, it must be assumed that the cup was not broad in shape (fig. 3). This kind of goblet has been discovered at other sites in Italy: at Sant’Agata Bolognese, where ten goblets with twisted stems, similar to those from Vetricella, are dated to the 11th12th century (Stiaffini 2014, p. 243). A goblet fragment stem was recorded at hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena and identified as belonging to the goblet class possessing a flat and solid stem from 10th-13th-century levels (Mendera, Galgani 2005, p. 224 plate I, n. 18). Also in Florence, from excavations in via De Castellani, several goblets were found among the glass sherds, most of them belong to the Isings’ 111 Early Medieval goblet type, whereas a goblet with spirally twisted stem is similar to the Vetricella specimens. This case dates to the 10th-12th centuries (Mendera 2007, p. 566, plate III, n. 16). From the excavations of the Pieve di San Giorgio in Argenta in the province of Ferrara, several goblets have been recognized: some of these are Isings’ 111 type, some with twisted stem, and dated to the 9th-13th centuries according to stratigraphic and morphological basis (Coscarella 1992, pp. 150-162, fig. 75, n. 6). Several glass sherds have been found at Santa Giulia: many of them are classified as Isings’ 111 type goblets dating to the 10th century. There are also Early Medieval spirally twisted stems (Uboldi 1999, p. 295, plate CXXXV, nn. 10-16). Many glass vessels have been recorded in the Crypta Balbi during excavations of the Esedra: among these are some flat stemmed goblets with connecting node. These were dated to the end of 12th-beginning of 13th century (Cini 1990, p. 496-99, n. 549). The only currently known transalpine comparison is with finds from Ruscino (Perpignan, Languedoc): from this site, goblets with flat or twisted stems have been found in one piece or fragments and yet the stem height is lower than the Italian type. These sherds are dated to the 8th century (Foy 2015, p. 62). 3. CONCLUSIONS Many of the glass artefacts recorded from the site of Vetricella can be identified as tableware, consisting of beakers, cups, goblets and bottles, although their number is not significant. There are instead other forms connected with possible liturgical activities, such as lamps, ampoules/vials and also the blue glass cups that may well have been used, on the basis of the comparative analysis, as reliquaries or during the Eucharistic rite. Although the total number of forms is not high when compared with finds from other Medieval sites an anomaly is offered by the exceptional number of goblets, an unusual evidence in the peninsula where goblets are usually found in quite limited numbers. The only exception is represented by the Forum of Nerva, where however a production structure has been hypothesized (Arena et al. 2001, pp. 580-583). A similar number at Vetricella, furthermore set in a quite homogenous chronological frame, corresponding to the phase dated to the second half of the 10th-beginning 11th century, is not surprising if seen as possible tableware used by royal emissaries that from time to time used the central tower structure as a place of residence (see Bianchi, infra). Goblets 20 goblet stem sherds were found during the excavations. By comparison with similar fragments (fig. 6) (Arena et al. 2001, p. 582-3), it is assumed that these are goblets with a cup made from blown glass, with a cast stem and foot and then applied. The length of the stems found at Vetricella varies from 2 to 9 cm, with a knob in some cases, and a disc-shaped or ellipsoidal node connecting the cup and stem. The discshaped base presents a diameter of about 5 cm. Based upon 74 GLASS ARTEFACTS FROM THE SITE OF VETRICELLA (Scarlino, Grosseto) BIBLIOGR APHY Isings C., 1957, Roman glass from dated finds, Groningen Djakarta, Wolters. Marazzi F., 2009, Il ciclo della produzione vetraria a San Vincenzo al Volturno nel IX secolo. Riflessioni da una rilettura dei dati archeologici, in J. Brun, Artisanats Antiques d’Italie Et De Gaule. Mélanges Offerts à Maria Cristina Buonaiuto, Napoli, pp. 211-223. Mendera M., 2007, Materiale vitreo, in F. Cantini, C. Cianferoni, R. Francovich, E. 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Bianchi G., Hodges R. (eds.), 2018, Origins of a new economic union (7th-12th centuries. Preliminary results of the nEU-Med project: October 2015-March 2017), Firenze. Briano A., 2011-12, La canonica di San Niccolò a Montieri (GR): i reperti mobili provenienti dal complesso ecclesiastico medievale (XI-XIII secolo), Tesi di laurea magistrale, Università degli Studi di Siena. Cini S. 1985a, Vetri, in D. Manacorda (a cura di), Archeologia urbana a Roma: il progetto Crypta Balbi. 3. Il giardino del Conservatorio di S. Caterina della Rosa, Firenze, pp. 537-560. Cini S. 1990, Vetri, in L. Saguì, L. Paroli (a cura di), Archeologia urbana a Roma: il progetto della Crypta Balbi. 5. L’esedra della Crypta Balbi nel Medioevo (XI-XV secolo), Firenze, pp. 493-511. Coscarella A., 1992, I vetri, in S. Gelichi (a cura di), Storia e archeologia di una pieve medievale: San Giorgio d’Argenta, Firenze, pp. 150-167. Dell’Acqua F., 1997, Nota sui reperti vitrei del Monastero di San Vincenzo al Volturno e della Capella Palatina di Arechi II a Salerno, «Rassegna Storica Salernitana», 27, pp. 243-257. Di Muro et al. 2003 = Di Muro A., La Manna F., Mastrangelo M., Saporito P., Whitehouse D., Luce dalla grotta: primi risultati delle indagini archeologiche presso il santuario di San Michele ad Olevano sul Tusciano, in R. Fiorillo, P. Peduto (a cura di), III Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Medievale (Salerno 2003), Firenze, pp. 393-410. Foy D., 2015, A propos de quelques verreries des VIII-X siecles du midi de la France, «Bullettin du l’Association Française pour l’Archéologie du Verre», 2015, pp. 61-66. Foy et al. 2017 = Foy D., Gratuze B., Heijmans M., Roussel-Ode J., Bleus et blancs: Verres de la fin de l’époque carolingienne en Provence, «Journal of Glass Studies», 59, pp. 153-169. 75 Italian abstract I VETRI DAL SITO DI VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO) I reperti vitrei provenienti dal sito di Vetricella ammontano a 168 frammenti, 50 dei quali per non è stato possibile l’identificazione 3. Dei 168 frammenti ne sono pertanto stati analizzati 118, all’interno dei quali sono state riconosciute 83 forme diverse e 4 frammenti di semilavorati. I reperti in vetro individuati, sono stati divisi in sette distinte forme (1. Coppe/Coppette, 2. Bicchiere, 3. Calici, 4. Lampade, 5. Ampolle/Fiale, 6. Bottiglie, 7. Pedina). Per le Coppe, i Calici e le Lampade sono state individuate due tipologie per ciascuna forma; mentre per i Bicchieri sono state individuate 5 tipologie differenti. Oltre a queste forme sono stati individuati alcuni frammenti vitrei identificati come semilavorati (8. Semilavorati). 1. Coppe/Coppette (tavv. I, III) Tipo 1: forma aperta, con bordo sottile, di colore verde o incolore (Isings 1957, p. 127, n. 106b). Tipo 2: a questo tipo appartengono le coppe di colore blu intenso con decorazioni applicate di color bianco opaco (Foy et al. 2017, p. 155; Simon-Hiernard, Gratuze 2011, pp. 69-73; Baumgartner, Krueger 1988, pp. 78, 25; Briano 2011-12, p. 201; Arena et al. 2001, p. 584 V.4.76-79, Di Muro et al. 2003, p. 4069). 2. Bicchieri (tav. III) Tipo 1: bicchiere di tipo tradizionale con un fondo apodo rientrante o piatto (Stiaffini 1994, p. 210 tav. 5, 4). Tipo 2: bicchiere con decorazione a striature rosse fuse nella massa di fondo (Stiaffini 1994, p. 212, tav. 5, 9; Arena et al. 2001, p. 311, II 3.347a). Tipo 3: bicchiere con decorazione applicata a filamenti bianchi o ocra. (Mendera 2007, p. 567). Tipo 4: bicchiere con una decorazione fusa con la matrice di due filamenti bianchi intrecciati (Uboldi 1999, p. 297, Arena et al. 2001, p. 583; Mitchell, Hansen, Coutts 2001, tomo I, p. 243 n. 340, tomo II p. 243 fig. 7:105). Tipo 5: bicchiere con piede ad anello e cordolo vuoto (forma 109, catalogo Isings 1957, pp. 136-138). 3. Calici (tav. II) Tipo 1: caratterizzato da uno stelo molto lungo (fino a 9 cm) liscio, con un nodo realizzato mediante colatura che connette la coppa allo stelo. (Arena et al. 2001, p.579, Mendera 2007 p. 567; Mitchell, Hansen, Coutts 2001, tomo I pp. 231-233 type 1, tomo II p. 236, fig. 7:64-7:65). Tipo 2: con stelo tortile. 4. Lampade (tavv. II-III) Tipo 1: costituite da un corpo troncoconico o globulare, fondo piatto e piccole anse applicate al bordo (Stiaffini 1994, pp. 208-210, tav. 5, n. 3; Arena et al. 2001, p. 316, II372-84; Mitchell, Hansen, Coutts 2001, tomo II pp. 227-228, fig.7:7, 7:12). Tipo 2: di colore blu scuro con decorazione applicata bianco opaco (Foy et al. 2017, p. 155). 5. Ampolle/fiale (tav. III) Corpo globulare, beccuccio e anse (Uboldi 2002, p. 27, fig. 1, n. 1-3). 6. Bottiglie (tav. III) Corpo globulare, fondo concavo, collo cilindrico (Stiaffini 1994, p.221). 7. Pedina I reperti rinvenuti possono essere confrontati con rinvenimenti a: Roma (Arena et al. 2001, p. 418 II 4.979); a Firenze (Mendera 2007, p. 580) e a Brescia (Uboldi 1999, p. 303, tav. CXXX n. 13). 8. Semilavorati Si tratta di frammenti che presentano ammaccature create intenzionalmente con uno strumento tagliente (Arena et al 2001, p. 418 II 4.979; Uboldi 1999, p. 303, tav. CXXX n. 13; Mendera 2007, p.580). Reperti in vetro blu La colorazione così particolare dei frammenti in vetro blu 4 in contrasto con altri reperti, che spaziano da un colore verde chiaro a frammenti totalmente incolore, ha subito fatto ipotizzare che si trattassero di frammenti non comuni. Un’attenta analisi dei frammenti in vetro blu e una ricerca bibliografica, ha permesso di rapportarli a due differenti forme: coppe e lampade. I frammenti di Vetricella sono riconducibili a coppe costituite da vetro sottile di color blu cobalto, decorato con filamenti e piccole bugne applicati di colore bianco opaco, oppure decorato con filamenti sottili in bruno o rosso posti all’interno della matrice vitrea (fig. 1). La tipologia di lampada a cui appartengono i frammenti trovati nello scavo ha un bordo svasato evidenziato da un filamento bianco opaco messo alla base del collo, il corpo tronco conico e l’ansa, funzionale alla sospensione, creata mediante l’applique di un filamento bianco (fig. 2) (Foy et al. 2017, p. 155.). Confronti puntuali con questi reperti appartenenti sia a coppe, sia a lampade sono stati ritrovati in contesti francesi, austriaci, svizzeri, tedeschi e solamente in tre siti italiani. Calici Si tratta di calici con coppa soffiata al volo, con stelo e piede realizzati mediante colatura e aggiunti in seguito (Arena et al. 2001, pp. 582-583). Gli steli rinvenuti a Vetricella hanno 3 L’analisi dei reperti vitrei è stata oggetto di una Tesi di Specializzazione dalla scrivente dal titolo “Reperti vitrei di X-XI secolo dal sito di Castellina (loc. Vetricella, Scarlino, GR)” a.a. 2017/2018, relatore Prof. Guido Vannini, Correlatore Prof.ssa Giovanna Bianchi, discussa presso l’Università degli Studi di Firenze. 4 Frammenti vitrei della stressa colorazione, seppur non corrispondenti alla forma sono stati rinvenuti negli scavi di San Vincenzo al Volturno, datati IX secolo (Mitchell, Hansen, Coutts 2001, tomo I p. 272, tomo II p. 381, plate 7:3, 7:4). 76 I vetri dal sito di Vetricella (Scarlino, GRosseto) Se, in confronto con quanto rinvenuto in altri siti medievali, il numero delle forme totali, non è così alto, il dato più interessante riguarda però l’alto numero di calici. Questo a eccezione del contesto del foro di Nerva per il quale però si è ipotizzata la presenza di una struttura produttiva (Arena et al 2001, pp. 580-583). Una simile quantità a Vetricella, peraltro rapportabile a una datazione piuttosto omogenea corrispondente alla fase di seconda metà X-inizi XI secolo, non stupisce se letta nell’ottica del corredo da mensa utilizzato dai vari emissari regi che, forse saltuariamente, vivevano nella grande torre al centro del sito (vedi Bianchi infra). una lunghezza variabile tra 2 e 9 cm, e in alcuni casi i calici sono provvisti di un “nodo” a disco o ellissoidale, che collega la coppa allo stelo (fig. 3). Questa tipologia di calice è stata rinvenuta in altri siti scavati nella penisola. Conclusioni Riassumendo quanto scritto nei precedenti paragrafi, molti dei reperti vitrei recuperati nello scavo appartengono a forme per la mensa. Sono altresì presenti forme collegabili a possibili attività liturgiche, come ad esempio le coppe in vetro blu. 77 Bernard Gratuze* THE BLUE AND BLUISH GREEN GLASS SHERDS, DECOR ATED WITH OPAQUE WHITE GLASS STR ANDS, DISCOVERED AT VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): ANALYTICAL STUDY 1. INTRODUCTION a site not far from Vetricella (Briano 2010-2011; Bianchi et al. 2014). The relief pattern present on the Vetricella glass sherds is a new particularity of the Italian specimens. More recently, the study of this type of Medieval glassware has been revived, with a particular focus on the Saint Savin vase, by Dominique Simon Hiernard (Simon-Hiernard, Gratuze 2011), and a campaign of analysis of the pieces found at different sites located in France (Foy et al. 2017; Pactat, Bully, Gratuze 2014) and at Haithabu in Germany (Steppuhn 1998; Pactat, Gratuze forthcoming). The context of discovery of Vetricella glasses during the Ottonian period corresponds to a particular episode during which important changes occurred in glass manufacturing processes in Europe and in the Mediterranean Basin. This phenomenon stems directly from a progressive decline of the production of raw natron glass in the NearEast (Whitehouse 2002; Phelps et al. 2016; Schibille et al. 2019). Due to the lack of natron glass (both raw and recycled glass), similar solutions, based on the use of a vegetal fusing agent, were progressively adopted by the glass-makers both in the Eastern and Western regions of the Mediterranean world. During the 9th century, in Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, soda-lime glass made from halophytic plant ash becomes the prevailing type of glass (Whitehouse 2002), before becoming by the 12th century the dominant glass type throughout the Mediterranean. In Western and Continental Europe, potash-lime glass made from forest plant ash developed from the end of the 8th century (Van Wersch et al. 2015; Velde 2009; Wedepohl, Winkelmann, Hartmann 1997). The main flux was no longer soda, but wood ash, a variable mix of potash and lime with high magnesia, phosphorus and manganese (Wedepohl, Simon 2010). These kinds of glasses (forest glasses) become the prevailing production in continental Europe at the end of the 10th century. However, natron glass seems to have been still used until the end of the 12th century for specific production purposes such as the cobalt blue vessels decorated with white opaque glass strands and pellets, such as the vase from Saint Savin and related objects or certain cobalt blue stained glass used in cathedrals and monasteries (Brill 1999, Foy 2001, SimonHiernard, Gratuze 2011; Sterpenich, Libourel 1997). The compositions of the blue and white glass sherds recovered at Vetricella will be discussed, according to the evolution of glass manufacturing process of that period, and will be compared with those originating from France and Germany. The chemical composition (tab. 1) of twelve glass fragments unearthed at Vetricella (fig. 1) was determined using LA-ICP-MS (laser ablation-inductively coupled plasmamass spectrometry) at the IRAMAT Centre Ernest-Babelon laboratory in Orléans (UMR 5060, CNRS-Univ. Orleans). All of the fragments have a dark blue tint, among them, one is decorated with opaque white glass strands, another with an opaque white glass pellet and four with some red glass trails. A sort of diamond pattern in relief is visible on all the samples which were probably blown in a mould. From a typological point of view and in the light of recent archaeological discoveries made in Europe, these pieces can be compared to a type of blue and white glass vessels first presented some thirty years ago in the major exhibition “Phoenix aus Sand und Asche. Glas des Mittelalters” (Baumgartner, Krueger 1988). Subsequently, the publication of the catalogue of the exhibition “Canossa 1077. Erschütterung der Welt. Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur am Aufgang der Romanik” (Stiegemann, Wemhoff 2006), confirmed the relative abundance of these objects in the Alpine and northern regions of Europe. In France, the exceptional discovery of the Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe reliquary vase (Simon-Hiernard 2001) was one of the first evidences of the presence of this type of glass in western Europe. Their distribution has been considerably extended, as since several other discoveries have been made in Mediterranean regions (South of France and Italy, Foy et al. 2017). In Italy, these objects could be represented by the fragmented vase from an early 11th century context at the Grotta di San Michele at Olevano sul Tusciano (Whitehouse 2003). This green glass vase has a decoration of white glass pellets applied in two rows, above a rolled white net. We can also include, in this series, the two glass fragments discovered in Rome, in the contexts of the abandonment of the domus of the forum of Nerva, and dated from the 11th-12th centuries (Del Vecchio 2001). These fragments, one cobalt blue, the other bright green, have an opaque white decoration applied in a zigzag pattern. However, two of these three Italian specimens differ from all the other specimens of that group in their green colouring. Similar bluish green samples decorated with opaque white glass strands, still unpublished, have been recently unearthed at the Canonica San Niccolò (Montieri, Grosseto) * IRAMAT-CEB, CNRS/Université d’Orléans, France (gratuze@cnrsorleans.fr). 79 B. Gratuze fig. 1 – Sampled glass finds. 2. ANALYTICAL METHODS This method requires no sample preparation and is particularly well adapted to composite or decorated glass objects (Gratuze 2014, 2016). The glass objects are placed inside an ablation cell, where a micro-sample, invisible to the naked eye (diameter < 100 micrometres), is extracted by the laser beam. This sampled material is then carried to the plasma torch of the mass spectrometer by an argon/ helium gas flow (1 l/min Ar + 0.65 l/min He) where it is dissociated and ionised by the high temperature of the plasma (8000°C). The different glass constituents are separated according to their mass/charge ratios by the double focussing mass spectrometer and quantified by the electronic detector (secondary electrons multiplier or Faraday cup according to the ion beam intensities). The excimer laser was operated at 5mJ with a repetition rate of 10 Hz. The beam diameter was adjusted from 60 μm for white glass to 80 μm for blue and red glass to avoid The instrumentation employed in these analyses consists of a Resonetics M50E excimer laser working at 193 nm coupled with a Thermo Fisher Scientific ELEMENT XR mass spectrometer. This mass spectrometer offers the advantage of being equipped with a three stage detector: a dual mode (counting and analogue modes) secondary electron multiplier (SEM) with a linear dynamic range of over nine orders of magnitude, associated with a single Faraday collector which allows an increase of the linear dynamic range by additional three orders of magnitude. This feature is particularly important for laser ablation analysis as dilution of the sample is impossible compared to ICP-MS with liquid sample introduction. For glass, it is therefore possible to analyse major, minor, and trace elements in a single run regardless of their concentrations and their isotopic abundance. 80 The blue and bluish green glass sherds, decorated with opaque white glass strands, discovered at Vetricella Blue % oxyde Na2O MgO Al2O3 SiO2 P2O5 Cl K2O CaO MnO Fe2O3 Sb2O3 PbO Ppm oxide Li2O B2O3 TiO2 V2O5 Cr2O3 CoO NiO CuO ZnO GaO As2O3 Rb2O SrO Y2O3 ZrO2 Nb2O3 SnO2 Cs2O BaO La2O3 CeO2 PrO2 Nd2O3 Sm2O3 Eu2O3 Gd2O3 Tb2O3 Dy2O3 Ho2O3 Er2O3 Tm2O3 Yb2O3 Lu2O3 HfO2 Ta2O3 Bi ThO2 UO2 Av. co b 16.3% 0.61% 2.41% 67.9% 0.12% 0.81% 0.68% 6.86% 0.46% 1.01% 1.67% 0.35% St.d. (46) 11.4 548 815 27.2 18.1 639 41.6 4209 117 5.67 59.6 19.9 487 7.90 66.6 2.01 234 0.36 244 7.72 13.7 1.72 6.88 1.38 0.37 1.25 0.20 1.18 0.24 0.67 0.09 0.65 0.09 1.45 0.11 0.42 1.32 1.12 1.6 0.2% 0.02% 0.06% 0.2% 0.006% 0.081% 0.05% 0.17% 0.01% 0.034% 0.08% 0.02% 12 32 1.1 2.6 25 1.2 172 31 0.18 4.5 6.0 13 0.25 2.5 0.08 13 0.17 13 0.35 0.6 0.07 0.26 0.06 0.02 0.06 0.01 0.05 0.01 0.03 0.004 0.03 0.005 0.05 0.01 0.03 0.09 0.07 Red Min. 15.9% 0.58% 2.31% 67.5% 0.12% 0.59% 0.61% 6.61% 0.43% 0.95% 1.39% 0.30% Max. 16.7% 0.67% 2.65% 68.4% 0.14% 0.97% 0.77% 7.26% 0.51% 1.13% 1.81% 0.40% Av. red 15.8% 0.73% 2.69% 66.0% 0.15% 0.74% 0.77% 7.03% 0.62% 2.73% 1.19% 0.44% St.d. (8) 7.97 519 763 25.6 6.01 528 37.8 3854 90.0 5.39 48.6 13.5 464 7.29 62.3 1.88 212 0.21 228 7.24 12.9 1.63 6.48 1.27 0.31 1.10 0.18 1.04 0.21 0.62 0.08 0.60 0.08 1.32 0.10 0.33 1.21 1.06 15.2 577 927 31.2 21.6 697 43.9 5013 257 6.10 70.1 31.1 517 8.48 72.3 2.27 272 1.05 290 9.03 16.2 2.01 7.85 1.56 0.41 1.43 0.23 1.33 0.26 0.72 0.10 0.72 0.11 1.57 0.12 0.49 1.75 1.58 12.8 508 1195 39.5 27.3 666 36.2 5423 107 6.52 42.1 31.7 508 9.32 99.5 2.77 1907 0.98 320 10.2 17.7 2.21 8.69 1.67 0.44 1.48 0.23 1.42 0.29 0.80 0.11 0.76 0.12 2.16 0.15 0.40 2.04 1.20 1.6 0.1% 0.03% 0.12% 0.9% 0.004% 0.02% 0.02% 0.18% 0.05% 0.83% 0.18% 0.05% 11 69 3.0 2.8 38 2.4 942 8 0.36 6.7 0.9 17 0.52 19.4 0.16 1139 0.15 17 0.6 0.9 0.13 0.52 0.13 0.05 0.16 0.02 0.09 0.02 0.05 0.01 0.08 0.01 0.48 0.01 0.03 0.24 0.06 White Min. 15.5% 0.69% 2.55% 64.6% 0.15% 0.70% 0.72% 6.70% 0.54% 1.56% 0.83% 0.36% Max. 15.9% 0.77% 2.93% 67.5% 0.16% 0.78% 0.79% 7.27% 0.68% 4.29% 1.38% 0.49% Av. wht 16.4% 0.83% 2.51% 68.3% 0.11% 0.78% 0.75% 6.82% 0.43% 0.77% 1.77% 0.27% St.d. (9) 10.5 491 1056 33.6 22.0 628 31.1 4235 92.9 5.94 28.7 30.0 477 8.57 81.8 2.45 685 0.68 287 9.13 15.9 1.99 7.76 1.51 0.38 1.19 0.21 1.27 0.26 0.73 0.10 0.63 0.10 1.63 0.13 0.34 1.66 1.12 15.3 521 1287 42.9 30.3 741 38.7 7218 121 6.96 50.4 32.5 538 10.0 145 2.96 4255 1.16 346 10.9 18.9 2.38 9.41 1.90 0.49 1.68 0.26 1.56 0.31 0.88 0.13 0.85 0.13 3.26 0.17 0.43 2.41 1.28 15.9 548 931 30.7 22.1 29.1 12.8 566 77.7 4.58 76.1 28.7 492 8.26 72.5 2.26 147 2.38 251 8.97 16.2 2.03 7.69 1.51 0.40 1.34 0.21 1.25 0.26 0.70 0.10 0.65 0.10 1.57 0.12 0.32 1.66 1.18 5.9 0.3% 0.04% 0.24% 0.4% 0.02% 0.03% 0.04% 0.17% 0.11% 0.20% 0.28% 0.21% 24 208 6.8 5.8 8.2 3.35 330 12.2 0.59 17.2 3.4 7 0.83 12.7 0.43 133 2.90 36 1.79 3.3 0.36 1.29 0.22 0.05 0.18 0.03 0.12 0.03 0.07 0.01 0.07 0.01 0.24 0.02 0.10 0.44 0.02 Min. 15.9% 0.77% 2.23% 67.7% 0.08% 0.73% 0.71% 6.54% 0.31% 0.53% 1.15% 0.11% Max. 16.7% 0.91% 2.94% 69.0% 0.15% 0.83% 0.82% 7.19% 0.64% 1.06% 2.04% 0.71% 11.6 511 741 22.8 10.5 18.7 8.31 277 65.3 3.66 51.6 24.0 482 7.33 61.2 1.86 42.8 0.33 212 7.46 13.2 1.67 6.40 1.27 0.34 1.12 0.18 1.07 0.22 0.63 0.09 0.56 0.09 1.32 0.10 0.22 1.26 1.15 30.0 594 1365 43.7 29.6 41.4 17.8 1206 104 5.53 99.2 33.9 508 9.80 97.6 3.10 442 9.51 319 12.7 23.4 2.67 10.3 1.97 0.49 1.68 0.26 1.45 0.30 0.82 0.11 0.80 0.11 2.03 0.16 0.50 2.53 1.23 tab. 1 – Major and minor oxides concentrations measured for the cobalt blue, red and white opaque glasses from Vetricella. Mean compositions (Av.), associated standard deviation (St.d.) and maximum and minimum values are given in weight percent for the main oxides (Na2O to PbO) and in parts per million (ppm for other elements Li2O to UO2, 1 ppm = 0.0001%). 81 B. Gratuze %oxyde Na2O MgO Al2O3 SiO2 P2O5 Cl K2O CaO MnO Fe2O3 Sb2O3 PbO Ppmoxide Li2O B2O3 TiO2 V2O5 Cr2O3 CoO NiO CuO ZnO GaO As2O3 Rb2O SrO Y2O3 ZrO2 Nb2O3 SnO2 Cs2O BaO La2O3 CeO2 PrO2 Nd2O3 Sm2O3 Eu2O3 Gd2O3 Tb2O3 Dy2O3 Ho2O3 Er2O3 Tm2O3 Yb2O3 Lu2O3 HfO2 Ta2O3 Bi ThO2 UO2 French and German blue glass St.d.(33) Min. Max. Av. 0.8% 15.7% 13.6% 17.4% 0.04% 0.63% 0.54% 0.72% 0.18% 2.52% 2.19% 3.33% 0.6% 67.9% 66.5% 69.1% 0.05% 0.14% 0.10% 0.40% 0.11% 0.79% 0.48% 1.00% 0.19% 0.76% 0.44% 1.33% 0.63% 7.24% 6.37% 8.86% 0.08% 0.48% 0.19% 0.70% 0.13% 1.08% 0.88% 1.45% 0.32% 1.66% 1.01% 2.45% 0.17% 0.39% 0.12% 1.10% 10.3 473 918 27.7 26.3 644 35.5 2952 90.1 5.16 51.2 19.7 504 7.63 72.3 2.19 201 0.37 244 7.95 14.9 1.75 7.31 1.46 0.36 1.23 0.20 1.24 0.25 0.69 0.10 0.69 0.10 1.61 0.12 0.40 1.41 1.08 2.8 42 153 3.3 34.6 155 7.24 1392 23.0 0.43 7.9 9.8 47 0.69 10.5 0.25 108 0.32 60 0.70 1.4 0.16 0.55 0.12 0.06 0.23 0.02 0.09 0.03 0.07 0.01 0.07 0.01 0.22 0.02 0.15 0.17 0.12 5.73 415 693 21.0 345 19.12 1410 45.6 4.44 34.6 8.5 381 5.65 53.8 1.52 84.3 0.13 6.12 11.4 1.33 5.62 1.15 0.25 0.88 0.16 1.04 0.17 0.52 0.06 0.54 0.06 1.26 0.09 1.02 0.83 19.0 637 1493 37.1 170 1026 51.6 6445 163 6.31 70.0 48.5 604 8.83 111 2.70 537 1.96 419 9.02 18.0 2.06 8.18 1.70 0.48 1.88 0.26 1.42 0.30 0.83 0.14 0.81 0.14 2.29 0.17 0.77 1.70 1.34 French and German white glass St.d.(28) Av. Min. Max. 1.0% 15.4% 13.8% 17.5% 0.38% 1.35% 0.85% 2.09% 0.32% 2.50% 1.89% 3.35% 1.3% 66.9% 64.4% 68.7% 0.02% 0.09% 0.07% 0.17% 0.17% 0.70% 0.45% 1.14% 0.22% 0.84% 0.53% 1.52% 0.73% 7.09% 5.90% 8.62% 0.08% 0.22% 0.10% 0.39% 0.18% 0.68% 0.48% 1.13% 1.06% 3.63% 2.05% 6.65% 0.31% 0.26% 0.051% 1.32% 13.1 495 893 22.5 31.0 11.8 9.94 305 108 3.69 138 28.2 492 7.23 67.6 2.29 239 0.61 215 8.53 15.8 1.83 7.54 1.48 0.34 1.17 0.19 1.21 0.23 0.65 0.09 0.64 0.09 1.52 0.13 0.45 1.72 1.18 5.1 42 181 4.4 30.5 8.7 5.11 217 44.0 0.51 87 14.2 53 1.13 8.9 0.46 363 0.38 29 1.63 2.8 0.31 1.27 0.25 0.07 0.25 0.03 0.18 0.04 0.09 0.01 0.10 0.02 0.22 0.04 0.35 0.54 0.16 2.84 425 701 15.9 3.87 6.37 51.1 54.1 2.79 64.4 10.7 384 5.27 52.8 1.62 22.4 0.23 161 6.45 12.2 1.39 6.19 1.19 0.19 0.61 0.16 0.95 0.18 0.53 0.05 0.47 0.07 1.26 0.07 0.24 1.19 0.95 25.8 612 1316 32.1 98.2 47.7 27.4 871 222 4.54 422 64.5 582 10.1 92.6 3.37 1699 1.82 272 12.9 23.2 2.60 11.1 2.21 0.51 1.71 0.26 1.68 0.32 0.84 0.13 0.87 0.15 2.17 0.26 1.86 3.40 1.57 CORNA St.d.(11) Av. 0.1% 13.8% 0.04% 2.57% 0.02% 0.94% 0.2% 67.0% 0.003% 0.11% 0.02% 0.18% 0.01% 2.79% 0.06% 5.67% 0.01% 1.03% 0.02% 1.11% 0.01% 1.62% 0.002% 0.062% 107 2106 7275 63.1 31.8 1703 226 11721 526 1.17 34.7 94.3 1034 0.69 53.8 0.66 1689 0.29 4532 0.40 0.30 0.03 0.14 0.03 0.09 0.32 0.01 0.05 0.01 0.02 0.005 0.03 0.01 1.10 0.12 8.54 0.33 0.20 3 62 100 0.7 2.3 29 4 162 6 0.09 0.8 1.0 12 0.06 1.1 0.02 18 0.02 72 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.004 0.04 0.10 0.002 0.004 0.001 0.003 0.002 0.004 0.002 0.04 0.01 0.30 0.01 0.01 N612 St.d.(13) Av. 0.1% 13.5% 0.0002% 0.011% 0.03% 2.06% 0.2% 72.5% 0.001% 0.012% 0.01% 0.082% 0.001% 0.0060% 0.12% 11.6% 0.0001% 0.0052% 0.0005% 0.0072% 0.0001% 0.0041% 0.0032% 0.0004% 88.7 111 68.7 67.6 54.0 44.5 47.0 45.0 44.5 44.9 42.5 35.0 90.8 48.0 50.9 43.9 43.5 43.6 41.8 44.4 46.9 44.7 40.6 42.4 42.0 40.1 43.0 39.4 43.5 40.5 40.7 44.0 41.6 41.5 35.3 30.4 42.4 41.9 2.6 3 1.1 0.8 1.5 0.8 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.7 1.3 0.5 1.8 0.7 1.1 0.6 0.5 1.1 3.5 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.5 0.6 0.9 1.2 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.2 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.9 0.5 0.9 tab. 2 – Mean compositions (Av.), associated standard deviation (St.d.) and maximum and minimum values measured for similar cobalt blue and white opaque glasses originating from Haithabu and different French sites. Values obtained for reference glass Corning A and NIST 612 analysed with the Vetricella bowl are also given. Concentrations are given in weight percent for the main oxides (Na2O to PbO) and in parts per million (ppm for other elements Li2O to UO2, 1 ppm = 0.0001%). standard glass with composition determined by Fast Neutron Activation Analysis which is used for chlorine quantification), which were run periodically to correct for potential drift. The standards are used to calculate the response coefficient (k) of each element (Gratuze 2014, 2016). The calculated values were normalised against 28Si, the internal standard, to produce a final percentage. The detection limits range from 0.1 to 0.01% for major element and from 20 to 500 ppb for other. saturation from elements such as antimony and manganese. A pre-ablation time of 20 s was set in order to eliminate the transient part of the signal which was then acquired for 27 s corresponding to 9 mass scans from lithium to uranium (the signal in count/second is measured in low resolution mode for 58 different isotopes). From one to six ablations were carried out for each colour of glass. Calibration was performed using 5 reference glass materials; NIST610, Corning B, C and D, and APL1 (an in-house 82 The blue and bluish green glass sherds, decorated with opaque white glass strands, discovered at Vetricella fig. 2 – Magnesia and potash concentrations in the red, cobalt blue and white opaque glasses from Vetricella compared with those from similar bowls from Haithabu in Germany and different French sites dated between the end of the 8th and the 10th centuries. fig. 3 – Manganese and antimony oxides concentrations in the red, cobalt blue and white opaque glasses from Vetricella compared with those of similar bowls from Haithabu in Germany and different French sites dated between the end of the 8th and the 10th centuries. fig. 4 – Magnesium and antimony oxides concentrations in the red, cobalt blue and white opaque glasses from Vetricella compared with those of similar bowls from Haithabu in Germany and different French sites dated between the end of the 8th and the 10th centuries. 83 B. Gratuze fig. 5 – Cobalt and zinc oxides concentrations in the red and cobalt blue glasses from Vetricella compared with those of similar bowls from Haithabu in Germany and different French sites dated between the end of the 8th and the 10th centuries. fig. 6 – Cobalt oxide concentrations versus cobalt/nickel ratios in the red and cobalt blue glasses from Vetricella compared with those of similar bowls from Haithabu in Germany and different French sites dated between the end of the 8th and the 10th centuries. fig. 7 – Lime and potash concentrations for all the glasses from Vetricella compared with those of similar bowls from Haithabu in Germany and different French sites dated between the end of the 8th and the 10th centuries. 84 The blue and bluish green glass sherds, decorated with opaque white glass strands, discovered at Vetricella fig. 8 – Cobalt and copper oxides concentrations in the red and cobalt blue glasses from Vetricella compared with those of similar bowls from Haithabu in Germany and different French sites dated between the end of the 8th and the 10th centuries. In order to validate the obtained concentration results, glass reference standards Corning A and Nist 612 were regularly analysed as unknown samples throughout all the analytical sequence. The average values obtained during the analysis for these glasses are presented in the table of results and agree within 5 to 10% with the certified ones (tab. 2). In the blue glass, cobalt seems to be only associated with antimony as it is sometimes observed in natron glasses dating from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. This combination however reflects more the reuse of ancient glass containing both of these elements than a real association linked to the use of a specific variety of ore. In fact, this absence of a typical chemical association between cobalt and any other elements is commonly found in nearly all the natron glasses produced during Antiquity (Gratuze et al. 1992; Gratuze, Pactat, Schibille 2018). If the function of cobalt as a colouring agent for vitreous materials is long established, recent studies have shown that some major changes in the chemical composition of cobalt colourants occurred during the Late Antiquity and the Early Medieval period (Gratuze, Pactat, Schibille 2018). The evolution of the elemental signature of this colourant highlights its potential to reveal glass supply networks and makes it possible to develop chronological models for glass consumption in the ancient world during the first millennium AD. Using mostly correlations between cobalt, nickel and zinc, two major changes in the chemical make-up of cobalt colourants during the late antique and early medieval periods were identified. Before the end 4th century, Roman cobalt blue glasses show a relatively constant composition characterised by a high CoO/NiO ratio (CoO/NiO > 24). This cobalt colourant seems to consist mainly of a mixture of iron, cobalt and copper oxides. At some time between the late 4th and the beginning of the 6th centuries, the CoO/ NiO ratios experience a drastic decrease best illustrated by 6th- to 7th-centuries Levantine I glasses with very low CoO/ NiO ratios (2.2 < CoO/NiO < 5.1). However, continuous recycling of ancient glass resulted in the persistence of earlier cobalt types throughout the first millennium AD. In the course of the second half of the 8th century AD, a new type of cobalt appeared in the eastern Mediterranean. This cobalt compound has elevated levels of zinc and low nickel content and is characteristic of Islamic (Abbasid and Fatimid) glass production, particularly in combination with Islamic soda plant ash glass produced between the 9th and the 11th centuries AD. 3. RESULTS Chemical compositional results are given in tab. 1. They show that red, dark blue and white glasses are soda-lime glass, with soda (Na2O, 16.6 wt.%) as the primary flux. Low potash, magnesia, and phosphorus contents (fig. 2) indicate that a mineral source such as natron was probably used for the soda flux (K2O, 0.68 wt.%; MgO, 0.66 wt.%; P2O5, 0.12 wt.%). The dark blue glass owes its colour to the presence of cobalt oxide (CoO 0.064 wt.%; CuO 0.42 wt.%). The red trails are due to the presence of tiny metallic copper crystals (CuO 0.54 wt.%), iron oxide was probably used to help the reduction and crystallization of copper (Fe2O3 2.73 wt.% in red glass compared to 1.01% in blue glass and 0.77 wt.% in white glass). Other metallic oxides such as those of manganese (MnO 0.31-0.68 wt.%), tin (SnO2, 0.0043-0.43 wt.%) and lead (PbO 0.11-0.71 wt.%), which are present at relatively high level, were probably incorporated into the glass with the different colouring compounds. Their presence, especially for the two latter oxides, can also originate from recycling practices. High levels of antimony (figs. 3 and 4) are present in all the different coloured glasses (Sb2O3 1.15-2.04 wt.% in white glass, 1.39-1.81 wt.% for the cobalt blue glass and 0.83-1.38 for the red glass). The white glass is opacified with an antimony compound, probably calcium antimonate (CaSb2O6 or Ca2Sb2O7). This glass also contains a higher content of magnesia (fig. 4) than the blue glass (MgO 0.77-0.91 wt.% for the white glass compared to 0.58-0.67 wt.% for the blue glass and 0.69-0.77 wt.% for the red glasses). This particular feature has already been described for some Roman-period white glasses used for the production of mosaic glass vessels (Nenna, Gratuze 2009). 85 B. Gratuze According to the relationships observed between cobalt, nickel and zinc, in the glasses from Vetricella, it appears that their cobalt colourant is principly similar to the one identified in Roman cobalt blue glasses made in late Antiquity. It is characterised by the absence of zinc (fig. 5), which appears to be mostly correlated with copper, and by a high CoO/NiO ratio (CoO/NiO = 19.8, fig. 6). This ratio is not as high as the one found for the glass produced before the end of the 4th century, but not as low as the new type of cobalt which characterizes Levantine 1 glass. It corresponds probably to a mixing of both type of cobalt with a large proportion of ancient cobalt. This range of values is often found in Viking period beads (Sode, Gratuze, Lankton forthcoming) and is thought to illustrate the recycling of ancient and Late Antique glass (Freestone 2015) for both mosaic tessera production and glass bead-making. A relative heterogeneity of composition is observed for the cobalt blue glasses, e.g. according to their lime and potash contents ( fig. 7), these glasses could be split into two subgroups containing respectively K2O 0.61-0.67 wt.%/CaO 6.61-6.91 wt.% and K2O 0.70-0.77 wt.% and CaO 6.68-7.26 wt.%). However, according to the different measurements carried out on the same pieces, eight of the thirteen belong to both subgroups (e.g. for S 02, K2O varies from 0.63 to 0.76 wt.% and CaO from 6.71 to 7.07 wt.%), only five fragments have a fairly homogeneous composition and remain in only one of the subgroups. These heterogeneities probably reflect an imperfect mixture of glasses of different compositions. They could provide additional evidence that these glasses come from the late recycling of ancient glasses of various compositions. The hypothesis of a mixture of coloured tesserae (due to the presence of antimony) and colourless glass (due to the presence of both manganese and antimony) cannot be ruled out. If we now compare the compositions of the glass sherds from Vetricella with the compositions of similar vessels originating from Haithabu (Germany) and different French archaeological sites (tab. 2) dated also from the 10th and 11th century (Digneles-Bains, Arles, Fenouillet and Vaison-la-Romaine, Foy et al. 2017/Baume-les-Messieurs, Pactat, Bully, Gratuze 2014/ Saint Savin, Gratuze, Soulier, Barrandon 1997/Nevers, Amiens, Douai, Limoges and Rouen, unpublished data), we observe that all the cobalt blue and white glasses share similar compositional characteristics (for both major, minor and trace elements, figs. 2 to 8). The cobalt colourants used for the French and German vessels, have similar contents of copper and zinc (figs. 5 and 8) and the same range of CoO/NiO ratio: 19.6 for Haithabu and 18.0 for the French objects (fig. 6). However, it should be noted that the white opaque glasses from Vetricella seem to contain a lower amount of opacifiers (figs. 3 and 4), than the French and German glasses (Sb2O3 1.15 to 2.04 wt.% for Vetricella, 2.04 to 4.60 wt.% for the French objects and 2.5 to 6.65 wt.% for Haithabu). Although the white opaque glasses of the French and German objects present a broader variability than the cobalt blue glasses of the same vessels, the lower contents of antimony in the glass from Vetricella probably shows that glass makers who have produced these objects made a greater dilution of their white tesserae to produce their white glass or that they used a batch of white tesserae containing less calcium antimonate. 4. CONCLUSION We can therefore conclude that the raw glass used to make the glasses from Vetricella as well as those recovered at Haithabu and at several French sites (Saint-Savin’s bowl type) share the same geographical origin which is probably the Near East, somewhere between the Levantine coast and Egypt. As mentioned above, the production of natron glass ended in the Near East towards the end of the 8th century where it was replaced by coastal plant ash glasses. Due to the large number of these finds, dated from the end of the 10th and the 11th centuries, we may wonder how such a large amount of natron glass was still available to glass makers. It is noticeable that this type of glass was not only used to make this type of vessels but was also used for the production of cobalt blue glass window panes originating from different French cathedrals (Brill 1999; Sterpenich, Libourel 1997) dated from the 11th and 12th centuries. According to their tin concentrations, which remain low (0.021 to 0.027 wt.% for the cobalt blue glass and 0.0043 to 0.044 wt.% for the white glass), these glasses do not seem to originate from an intense recycling practice. It seems that a large amount of fairly pure raw cobalt blue and opaque white glass had thus become available at the end of the 10th century somewhere in Western Europe. The origin of that glass (recycling of glass windows or the discovery of an ancient stock of raw material, recycling of mosaic tesserae on a large scale) is still subject to debate but is explained in the following two passages of Theophilus’ text (Dodwell 1961): «In the ancient buildings of pagans, various kinds of glass are found in the mosaic work – white, black, green, yellow, blue, red, and purple. They are not transparent but opaque like marble, and are like little square stones. From these, enamels are made in gold, silver and copper, of which we shall speak fully in their place». and a little further on: «One also comes across various small vessels of the same colours, which the French – who are most skilled in this work – collect. The blue, they melt in their kilns, adding to it a little clear and white glass, and make from it precious sheets of blue glass, which are very useful for windows. The purple and the green they also make use of in a similar way’. BIBLIOGR APHY Baumgartner E., Krueger I., 1988, Phoenix Aus Sand Und Asche. Glas Des Mittelalters. München, Klinkhardt and Biermann, pp. 77-80. Briano A., 2010-2011, La Canonica di San Niccolò a Montieri (GR): i reperti mobili provenienti dal complesso ecclesiastico medievale (XI-XIII secolo), Master’s degree thesis, University of Siena. Bianchi et al. 2014 = Bianchi G., Mitchell J., Agresti J., Osticioli J., Siano S., Turbanti Memmi I., Pacini A., La fibula di Montieri (GR). Indagini archeologiche alla Canonica di S. Niccolò e la scoperta di un gioiello medievale, «Prospettiva», fasc. 155-156 luglio-ottobre, pp. 100-113. Brill R.H., 1999, Chemical analyses of early glasses. Volume 2, tables of analyses, Corning Museum of Glass, New-York. Del Vecchio F., 2001, La domus del Foro di Nerva. Le fasi di abbandono e di riuso (XI-XII secolo), in M.S. Arena, P. Delogu, L. Paroli, M. Ricci, L. Sagui, L. Vanditelli, Roma dall’Antichità al Medioevo, Archeologiae Storia nel Museo Nazionale Romano Crypta Balbi, Milano, pp. 580-585, and pp. 583-584, n. V.4.76-79 et fig. V.4.19-88. 86 The blue and bluish green glass sherds, decorated with opaque white glass strands, discovered at Vetricella Dodwell C.R., 1961, Translation and edition of Theophilus De Diversis Artibus, Book II, XII, “The various colours of opaque glass”, New York, pp. 44-45. Foy D., 2001, Le verre médiéval et son artisanat en France méditerranéenne, Paris. Foy et al. 2017 = Foy D., Gratuze B., Heijmans M., Roussel-Ode, J., Bleu et blanc: Verres de la fin de l’époque carolingienne en Provence, «Journal of Glass Studies», 59, pp. 153-169. Freestone I.C., 2015, The recycling and reuse of Roman glass: analytical approaches, «Journal of Glass Studies», 57, pp. 29-40. Gratuze B., 2014, Application de la spectrométrie de masse à plasma avec prélèvement par ablation laser (LA-ICP-MS) à l’étude des recettes de fabrication et de la circulation des verres anciens, in P. Dillmann, L. Bellot-Gurlet, Circulation des matériaux et des objets dans les sociétés anciennes, Archives Contemporaines, Paris, pp. 259-291. Gratuze B., 2016, Application to vitreous materials, in L. Dussubieux, M. Golitko, B. Gratuze, Recent Advances in Laser Ablation ICPMS in Archaeology, Natural Sciences in Archaeology, Berlin-Heidelberg pp. 137-139. Gratuze B., Pactat I., Schibille N., 2018. Changes in the Signature of Cobalt Colorants in Late Antique and Early Islamic Glass Production, «Minerals, MDPI», 8 (6), https://doi.org/10.3390/min8060225. Gratuze B., Soulier I., Barrandon, J.-N., 1997, L’analyse chimique, un outil au service de l’histoire du verre, «Verre», 1, pp. 9-20. Gratuze et al. 1992 = Gratuze B., Soulier I., Barrandon J.-N., Foy D., De l’origine du cobalt dans les verres, «Revue d’Archéométrie», 16, pp. 97-108. Nenna M.-D., Gratuze B., 2009, Étude diachronique des compositions de verres employés dans les vases mosaïqués antiques: résultats préliminaires, Annales du 17e Congrès de l’AIHV, Antwerp 2006, AIHV, pp. 199-205. Pactat I., Bully S., Gratuze B., 2014, La verrerie médiévale issue de la fouille du chœur de l’ancienne abbatiale Saint-Pierre de Baumeles-Messieurs (Jura), «Bulletin de l’Association Française pour l’Archéologie du Verre», pp. 124-129. Pactat I., Gratuze B., forthcoming, The bowl glass sherds of Saint-Savin’s type discovered at Haithabu: analytical study, in V. Hilberg, Late Viking period Hedeby. Phelps et al. 2016 = Phelps M., Freestone I.C., Gorin-Rosen Y., Gratuze B., Natron glass production and supply in the late antique and early medieval Near East: The effect of the Byzantine-Islamic transition, «Journal of Archaeological Science», 75, pp. 57-71. Schibille et al. 2019 = Schibille N., Gratuze B., Ollivier E., Blondeau E., Chronology of early Islamic glass compositions from Egypt, «Journal of Archaeological Science», 104, pp. 10-18. Simon-Hiernard D., 2001, Le Vase de Saint-Savin: Un exceptionnel verre médiéval au Musée Sainte-Croix de Poitiers, «Revue du Louvre et des Musées de France», 1 (février 2001), pp. 68-75. Simon-Hiernard D., Gratuze B., 2011, Le vase de Saint-Savin en Poitou et les verres médiévaux bleu-cobalt à décors blancs, «Bulletin de l’Association Française pour l’Archéologie du Verre», pp. 69-73. Sode T., Gratuze B., Lankton J., forthcoming, The glass beads of Ribe, evidence of local glass bead making and long-distance trade, in S. Messal, Glass as a trade commodity in the Early Middle Ages – Cologne and the European North (Workshop, 20.-22. March 2018 in Ribe). Steppuhn P., 1998, Die Glasfunde von Haithabu, Berichte uber die Ausgrabungen in Haithabu, v. 32, Neumünster, pp. 61-62. Sterpenich J., Libourel G., 1997, Les vitraux médiévaux: caractérisation physico-chimique de l’altération, «Techne», 6, pp. 70-84. Stiegemann C. Wemhoff M., 2006, Canossa 1077: Erschütterung Der Welt: Geschichte, Kunst Und Kultur am Aufgang Der Romanik. Paderborn. Van Wersch et al. 2015 = Van Wersch L., Loisel C., Mathis F., Strivay D., Bully S., Analyses of Early Medieval stained glass from the monastery of Baume-les-Messieurs (Jura, France), «Archaeometry», 58, pp. 930-948. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ arcm.12207/full Velde B., 2009, Composition des vitraux en France du VIIIe au XIIe siècle: de la soude à la potasse, in S. Balcon-Berry, F. Perrot, Ch. Sapin, Vitrail, verre et archéologie entre le Ve et le XIIe siècle. Actes de la table ronde tenue à Auxerre les 15-16 juin 2006, CTHS, Paris, pp. 21-26. Wedepohl K.H., Simon K., 2010, The chemical composition of medieval wood ash glass from Central Europe, «Chemie der Erde», 70, pp. 89-97. Wedepohl K.H., Winkelmann W., Hartmann G., 1997, Glasfunde aus der karolingischen Pfalz in Paderborn und die frühe HolzascheGlasherstellung, «Ausgrabungen und Funde in Westfalen-Lippe», 9/A, pp. 41-53. Whitehouse D., 2002, The Transition from Natron to Plant Ash in the Levant, «Journal of Glass Studies», 44, pp. 193-196. Whitehouse D., 2003, A Fragmentary Glass Cup from the Grotta di San Michele at Olevano sul Tusciano, in A. Di Muro, F. La Manna, M. Mastrangelo, P. Saporeto, D. Whitehouse, Luce dalla grotta: Primi risultati delle indagini archeologiche presso il santuario di San Michele ad Olevano sul Tusciano», in P. Peduto, R. Fiorillo (a cura di), III Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Medievale (Salerno, 2-5 ottobre 2003), Firenze, p. 406. 87 Italian abstract I FR AMMENTI DI VETRO BLU E VERDE BLUASTRO, DECOR ATI CON FILI DI VETRO BIANCO OPACO, SCOPERTI A VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): STUDIO ANALITICO Importanti cambiamenti hanno caratterizzato il processo produttivo del vetro a partire dalla fine dell’VIII secolo. Questo fenomeno scaturisce direttamente da un declino progressivo della produzione di vetro grezzo ottenuto dal natron nel Vicino Oriente. Infatti, a partire dal IX sec. in avanti, nel Mediterraneo orientale e nella Mesopotamia, il vetro siliceo (sodo-calcico) ottenuto dalla cenere/combustione di piante alofite, diventa il tipo di vetro principale, fino a diventare la tipologia dominante in tutto il Mediterraneo nel XII secolo. Di recente, un numero sempre maggiore di analisi condotte su vetri dell’Europa Occidentale, risalenti al periodo della transizione, hanno rivelato la presenza di un’ampia gamma di composizioni differenti. Questa diversità sembra riflettere l’uso di materie prime locali, che hanno consentito ai vetrai di fronteggiare la mancanza di vetro ottenuto con il natron (sia vetro grezzo, sia riciclato). Eppure, il vetro ottenuto dal natron sembra essere in uso fino alla fine del XII secolo per produzioni specifiche come il vasellame in vetro blu cobalto decorato con vetro bianco opaco nella forma di strisce e punti, come per il vaso reliquario dell’abbazia di Saint Savin sur Gartempe. Da un punto di vista tipologico, i frammenti di vetro blu scuro decorato con fili e sferette di vetro bianco opaco, riferibili ad una coppa, di recente venuti alla luce nel sito della Vetricella, sembrano rapportarli a quel gruppo di oggetti in vetro rinvenuti trenta anni fa. In Italia questi oggetti sono rappresentati dal vaso rinvenuto frammentario a Grotta di San Michele a Olevano sul Tusciano in un contesto databile agli inizi dell’XI sec. e da due frammenti di vetro rinvenuti a Roma nel contesto di abbandono della domus del Forum di Nerva, anch’essi databili all’XI-XII secolo. Tuttavia, questi ultimi due esemplari differiscono dalla tipologia cui sono iscritti per il loro colore verde. Il disegno a rilievo e le strisce di vetro rosso che compaiono sui frammenti vitrei del sito della Vetricella sembrano essere una nuova peculiarità fra gli esemplari tipologici italiani. Lo studio di questo vasellame è stato di recente rilanciato con particolare attenzione al vaso-reliquario di Saint Savin attraverso una nuova campagna di analisi dei pezzi rinvenuti in vari siti francesi ed a Haithabu in Germania effettuata al Centro Ernest Babelon di Iramat (CNRS, Francia). È in questa cornice che si inserisce lo studio della coppa dal sito della Vetricella. I risultati ottenuti hanno mostrato che sia i vetri blu scuro sia quelli bianchi sono vetri del tipo sodico-calcio, caratterizzati da un basso contenuto di potassio, magnesio e fosforo; tutto ciò sta ad indicare l’uso di un fondente di origine minerale, come il natron, per la soda. Il vetro blu scuro deve la propria colorazione ad un pigmento cobalto simile a quello usato nei vetri blu cobalto prodotti nella Tarda Antichità. Il vetro bianco è reso opaco con un composto dell’antimonio, con tutta probabilità antimoniato di calcio. Esso contiene maggiori livelli di ossido di magnesio rispetto al vetro blu, una caratteristica già descritta per alcuni vetri bianchi di epoca classica usati nella produzione di vasellame in vetro mosaico. Un confronto fra la composizione dei vetri provenienti dal sito della Vetricella e quelli di medesima tipologia rinvenuti a Haithabu e in vari altri siti francesi ha mostrato che tutti questi vetri condividono caratteristiche di composizione simile, sia per elementi maggiori sia minori sia per gli elementi in traccia. Queste composizioni testimoniano la pratica del riciclo del vetro di epoca classica e tardo antica messa in atto in Europa così come descritto dal monaco Teofilo per i secoli XI e XII. 88 Alessia Rovelli* THE COINS FROM THE EXCAVATIONS OF VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO). NOTES ON THE PAVESE ISSUES OF BERENGAR I 18-20) and denari of Conrad II of Franconia (nos. 22-25) were recorded from plough-soil deposits or, in any case, from layers that had undergone considerable disturbance due to agricultural activities. A different situation can be observed for a Pavese denaro of Otto I and Otto II (no. 13) in a far better state of conservation, recovered from occupation levels in which traces of activities linked to metallurgical practices were identified. This group also includes a denaro struck by Otto I and Otto II, but at the mint of Lucca (no. 14), as well as two Pavese denari of Otto II (nos. 16-17) recorded from a context inside the tower, alongside fragments of stemmed glass chalices and fine-ware ceramics 2. The nature of the stratigraphy admittedly makes it difficult to clearly understand the manner in which this nucleus of denari was lost or possibly concealed, yet if this nucleus had been in part originated by the dispersal of a hoard (as the number of finds would suggest), this might find plausible comparisons with coeval Tuscan hoards 3. Nonetheless, this collection is noteworthy for the evidence it offers on the circulation of Pavese denari and the still unresolved matters of classification 4. We will therefore focus on these, in order to explain the reasons that suggest considering as presently undetermined the mint of the examples nos. 5-7, even though the hypothesis that these were minted in Pavia appears as the most plausible. Likewise, some uncertainty remains about the chronology, especially for our examples nos. 8-10. As to the mint itself, it is known that the Corpus Nummorum Italicorum (hereafter CNI), probably overstressing a number of notions put forward by Camillo Brambilla, ascribed to the sole mint of Milan all the coins bearing christiana religio with a tetrastyle temple attributable (following past criteria) to Italian mints 5. It is to Philip The 25 coins recovered over the course of excavations conducted between 2005 and 2018 at the site of Vetricella can be divided in two well-defined groups according to chronology and numerical consistency. Four specimens belong to the first group and can be traced to the Roman period, when the whole area was occupied by a significant number of villas and farm settlements (nos. 1-4). The oldest example is a worn republican as, followed by two similarly worn bronze coins dating to the 2nd century AD; the latest specimen is a fragment attributed to the Emperor Diocletian. In three cases we are dealing with examples recovered from the excavation area during mechanical earth removal. The dupondius of Antoninus Pius (no. 2) was recorded from an 11th-century deposit made up of levelling layers used to raise the earthen surface within the central tower. The second group comprises twenty-one silver denari dating to between the reigns of Berengar I and Conrad II which are chronologically consistent with the main phases of the fortified site 1. I will only briefly touch upon the manner in which the specimens were recovered, an issue that will be illustrated and described further by Lorenzo Marasco and Cristina Cicali. It is, in fact, appropriate to anticipate that, although these appear to be isolated finds, in the majority of cases distributed in different deposits, it is possible to hypothesize that a number of specimens were originally part of a hoard already dispersed ab antiquo and scattered further by repeated ploughing activities that damaged the stratigraphy of the site to a considerable depth. This appears to be the case of the 6 denari of Berengar I (nos. 5-10) found in three different US of the same stratigraphic column (US 118, US 190, US 215) and all three affected by ploughing. To the same (and hypothetical) hoard might also belong the denari of Hugh and Lothar (no. 11) and Hugh the Great (no. 21), both found in US 118 (the latter dated to a phase following 1030-1170). Further supporting the hypothesis that we are dealing, at least in part, with an originally unitary nucleus are examples no. 7 and no. 10, which were found soldered to one another by way of oxidation, as well as strikingly close to coins no. 8 and no. 9. Likewise, the second example of Hugh and Lothar II (no. 12) along with a number of ottolini (nos. 2 This association of materials recalls the context where a number of ottolini were found in the fortified site of Pellio (CO), see Arslan, Caimi, Uboldi 2000, pp. 144-153. 3 For the ‘Galli Tassi’ hoard found at Lucca see Saccocci 2001-2002 [2004], pp. 167-204 (Arslan 2005, no. 7725); for the ‘Toscana 1766’ hoard see Ciampoltrini, Abela, Bianchini 2001-2002 [2004], pp. 151-162; Degasperi 2003; Vanni, Arslan 2006-2008 (Arslan 2005, no. 7505); for the hoard from Aulla, San Caprasio (MS), see Arslan 2006 (Arslan 2005, no. 7583); for the one from ‘Bagnoro-Campo della Giostra’ see Vanni, Arslan 2006-2008 (Arslan 2005, no. 7585). 4 Recent updates on the classification of denari coined during the 10th century in the Kingdom of Italy in MEC, 12, passim; Saccocci 2009, pp. 139147; Saccocci, Conventi 2013, pp. 81-93; Gianazza 2013; Saccocci 2015; Gianazza, Van Herwijnen 2016, pp. 55-70. 5 Brambilla 1883, p. 96; CNI, IV, 471: «Following Lothar, there were Louis II (855-875), Charles the Bald (875-877) and Charles the Fat (879-888). These four sovereigns seem not to have struck coins at Pavia, as we do not know * Dipartimento di Studi linguistico-letterari, storico-flosofici e giuridici, Università della Tuscia – Viterbo (rovelli@unitus.it). 1 We correct here the provisional reading, preceding conservation work, anticipated in Marasco 2013, p. 61 where the finding of Lucchese denari, dating to the 12th century, is mentioned. For a comment on the metallographic analyses carried out on these specimens, in particular the ottolini, see Benvenuti et al. 2018, pp. 135-146. 89 a. Rovelli Grierson that we owe the first attempt to distinguish, thanks to a number of epigraphic or orthographic details the denari issued by the two mints of Milan and Pavia, already identifiable on some denari of Louis II and his successor Charles the Bald. According to Grierson, the denari with the unbarred A, a sort of barred D for B, the S often becoming I and the correct writing of RELIGIO might be traced to the mint at Pavia. The denari minted in Milan would instead appear to be characterized by a regularly barred A, by the letter H heading the sovereign’s name (for example HCAROLVS, HCARLEMANNVS), by the incorrect writing of RELIGIO that becomes REIICIO (or analogous formulas). The cross would not be patent, the arms terminating in a point or with indentations. These distinctive elements would appear to be confirmed by there being repeated on large-module denari of Arnulf or Arnulf and Berengar where the name of the mint is indicated, and by denari of Berengar I where the inscriptions MEDI/C/OLA and PA/PIA substitute the tetrastyle temple in the reverse field 6. However, as has been noted 7, there are numerous examples of features considered as distinctive of one or the other mint that overlap, beginning from the very same denaro of Arnulf and Berengar chosen by Grierson to illustrate his hypotheses 8. This is also the case of a specimen in the name of Louis II where the unbarred A (hypothetically believed to be typical of the mint of Pavia) is connected to the inscription REIICIO (Milan) 9. An analogous case can be found in two denari of Charles the Fat 10. In examples issued by Charles the Bald, the unbarred A (Pavia) is associated with the name of the sovereign preceded by an H (Milan), coexisting with different variants of the term religio 11. The specimens from Vetricella present similar difficulties due to the recurrence of overlapping elements. In specimen no. 6 the B of Berengar is rendered with a barred D (Pavia), the As are not barred (Pavia), but the reverse reads REIIC (Milan). Therefore, in the majority of cases graphic and orthographic details do not seem to provide definitive elements making it possible to identify the mint, even though in the three explicitly Pavese specimens (nos. 8-10) the As are not barred and the Bs are rendered with a barred D. The S is instead either normal or rendered with a mark similar to an I. We can also add that the unbarred variant of the capital letter A is also commonly attested in diplomas up until the 11th century 12. Among the examined letters, only the B similar to a barred D appears as a useful clue in identifying the mint of Pavia during the reign of Berengar I as both King and Emperor. The same peculiarity is furthermore found in the Pavese denari of Berengar II and Adalbert 13. With regards to the chronology, our examples struck under Berengar all belong to issues that possess a diameter that is “normal” in size, following the temporary coinage of unusually large-module denari. These last had started to appear in northern Italian mints in some specimens dating to the end of the reign of Louis II, who died in 875, reaching the maximum width (ca. 33 mm) in a number of issues ascribed to Charles the Fat 14 (King 879-881; Emperor 881-887), to the same Berengar I, in the first phase of his reign (888-889) 15, to Guy of Spoleto 16 (King 889-891; Emperor 891-894), to the start of the reign of Lambert 17 (Emperor 894-898) and to Arnulf (King 894-896; Emperor 896-899). In the last period of Lambert’s reign, between April 896 and October 898, when the Emperor died during a hunting accident, the issuing of large denari was abruptly interrupted 18. Therefore, the denari of Berengar recorded at Vetricella, featuring a diameter of ca. 20 mm, belong to the period after October 898. However, as we shall see, it is not easy to propose a more exact chronology in the long reign of Berengar I, if we exclude the large-module denari struck during the first period, and those following his imperial election (915) with the inscription Berengarius imp. Philip Grierson proposed subdividing the denari with normal flan, dating later than February 889, in two different phases that can be summarized in the following manner: the second, fairly brief, period (898-900) would include the denari with royal title that, on the reverse, still recall the original Carolingian tetrastyle temple type with the inscription christiana religio, a type already present on the large-module denari of the first minting period 19. This series is represented at our site by examples nos. 5-7. The denari coined in the third period (not documented at Vetricella) can be divided in two groups: denari with a royal title (902915) and denari with an imperial title (915-924). In both any coins with their name and with the name of this city. Accordingly, the coins of these four emperors with the carolingian temple and with the legend XPISTIANA RELIGIO have been attributed to the mint of Milan». Moreover, Brambilla had also specified that the absence of coins explicitly attributable to Pavia would have not necessarily led to the conclusion that the mint of Pavia had been “inoperative” in the decades between the death of Lothar and the explicitly Pavese issues of Berengar I. 6 Grierson 1978, pp. 286-288; MEC, 1, pp. 252-253. 7 Rovelli 1995, pp. 76-77; Gianazza 2013, p. 6. 8 Grierson 1978, p. 288. In reality, in contrast with what is argued by the scholar, in the large-module denari ascribed to Arnulf and Berengar (CNI, V, p. 34, nos. 1-2, pl. II, n. 8) that have, on their reverse the tetrastyle temple and MEDI, the As are not barred. Gianazza 2013, although expressing perplexity at p. 6, attributes to Milan a number of examples that to the incorrect writing of religio, believed to be a characteristic of the mint of Milan, associate unbarred As (Pavia); see for example, p. 32, no. 76; p. 33, no. 77; p. 34, no. 78; p. 36, no. 80; p. 37, no. 81; in the examples nos. 83-90, struck by Berengar I, with the mint name (Milan), the As are not barred (Pavia). In many examples a barred A coexists with unbarred As. 9 CNI, V, p. 17, no. 14. 10 CNI, V, pp. 24-25, nos. 3-4. 11 CNI, V, p. 22, nos. 1-7. In MEC 1, pp. 252-253 the role of the initial aspirate appears contradictory: intended as an element of attribution to Milan in specimens of Carloman (HCarlemannus, p. 252) and, vice versa, to Pavia for the same Emperor (p. 253). I would like to thank Antonella Ghignoli for this clarification. See CNI, IV, pp. 476-477, nos. 1-7. 14 See CNI, V, pl. I, no. 26. 15 See CNI, V. pl. II, no. 5. To this same period, which appears as more likely than February or March of 894 as proposed in Brambilla 1883, p. 144, one could trace back, according to Girolamo Arnaldi, both the Pavese and Milanese large-module denari that have on the obverse the name of Arnulf and on the reverse that of Berengar, both with the title of King (Arnaldi 1967, p. 12, CNI, IV, p. 473, no. 1, pl. XXXIX, n. 21; CNI, V, p. 34, nos. 1-2, pl. II, no. 8; this hypothesis is accepted by Settia 1987, p. 84, note 12). Some examples of these series could be forgeries, but denari of this type are nonetheless present in the Briosco hoard (see Grierson 1978, p. 288, notes 4-5; for the forgeries see MEC, 1, p. 254). 16 See CNI, V, pl. I, no. 27. 17 See CNI, V, pl. II, no. 1. 18 Grierson 1978, p. 287. Comments on the possible causes of the increase in diameter of a number of monetary series (not only Early Medieval) that, however, maintain their original weight, can be found in Saccocci 1999 and Saccocci 2008, pp. 62-67. 19 MEC, 1, p. 256, Berengar I (b) Second minting period ) and p. 559, n. 1016; CNI, V, pp. 28-31, nos. 9-32 (denari indistinctly attributed to Milan). 12 13 90 The coins from the excavations of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto). Notes on the Pavese issues of Berengar I groups the Christogram substitutes the cross, whereas on the reverse the temple is substituted by the mint name in three lines (PA/PIA/CI and MEDI/C/OLA) with C and CI indicating civitas. Therefore, the different title represents the most significant element of distinction among the third period issues. The new type, that abandons the traditional one with cross featuring pellets in quadrants, and introduces the mint name, would have been adopted in 902 to celebrate the re-established dominion over the two Lombard cities of Milan and Pavia 20. However, this reading does not take into account the normal-sized denari, characterized by a typology that we might consider as transitory, as these coins maintain the traditional Carolingian tetrastyle temple type but substitute the inscription christiana religio with the mint name: in papia civitas or papia civitas and mediolanum in a more or less correct form 21. These issues are documented at Vetricella by three examples of the mint of Pavia (nos. 8-10). Observing the general evolution of the types and inscriptions that can be traced back to Berengar I, the denari with the inscription papia civitas appear to represent an intermediate phase between issues still faithful to the Carolingian tetrastyle temple type with the inscription christiana religio and those cited above, on the obverse of which the Christogram substituted the cross while, on the reverse, the mint name, divided into three lines, replaced the tetrastyle temple. As previously mentioned, the issuing of denari with Christogram and the mint name in three lines is dated by Grierson to 902, the type remaining unvaried throughout the reign of Berengar. The sole element of novelty would have been introduced in 915 when, on the occasion of the imperial coronation, imp replaces rex in the obverse inscription. The immobilisation of this last type (inscription aside) until the end of the reign of Berengar (924) and, by contrast, the rapid succession of previous types compressed into brief minting periods, raise some concerns. In particular, as rightly observed 22, the chronology proposed in MEC, 1, p. 256, for the issuing of the christiana religio/tetrastyle temple restricted to a short chronological timeframe (898-900) is not entirely convincing. A possible solution, that nonetheless remains a working hypothesis, might be to date to 902 the introduction of denari with the inscription papia civitas/tetrastyle temple as well as the analogous issues from Milan. Only later would Berengar have introduced the Christogram type. The occasion for this additional innovation might have been the decisive defeat of Louis III in 905 23. It is more difficult to advance theories on the possible repercussions on monetary typologies due to the political and military happenings of 907 when, according to some hypotheses, Berengar would have been able to oppose the manoeuvres of Hugh of Provence, intent on deposing him 24. If this were to be confirmed, both events might have offered the opportunity to be celebrated in the contemporary coinage. The research of an événementielle origin is nonetheless risky, given the troubled reign of Berengar I. One must in fact consider that an important event such as the assumption of the imperial title is almost devoid of an echo in monetary issues. It is in fact indicated through a simple change of inscription (imp instead of rex), comprehensible exclusively to users belonging to the more alphabetized élites, whereas the type, as we have seen, remained unvaried 25. The papia civitas/tetrastyle temple type might have therefore had a brief life (902-905 or 907). If this were so, it would explain the rarity of these denari noted by Brambilla and still unchallenged 26. We must furthermore consider that the type, possibly celebrative, might have also accompanied, and not substituted, the traditional denari with christiana religio/tetrastyle temple that, on the basis of the specimens present in collections, appear as more common even if attested in equal measure within our Vetricella assemblage. Considering the events and the lack of data, it has been deemed preferable to classify the specimens putting forward a possible relative chronology avoiding more detailed temporal articulations. The oldest denari, among those with a “normal” diameter, should therefore be the examples that still respect the traditional christiana religio/tetrastyle temple typology (nos. 5-7). These might be followed, or more likely, momentarily accompanied, by the denari with the inscription papia civitas/ tetrastyle temple (nos. 8-10). It seems however possible to consider the year 915 as the final limit for the issues with the tetrastyle temple. In fact, although the royal title is not always legible due to the poor state of conservation or because effectively it is not present (nos. 5-6 and no. 8), all the denari of Pavia with the imperial title documented in the CNI appear to have the Christogram on their obverse 27. The absence of a royal or imperial title in some examples (nos. 5-6) might have been an element favouring their attribution to Venice, but the letter B made as a barred D appears effectively as a distinctive feature of the mint of Pavia. Examples nos. 8-9, also lacking a title, are certainly from Pavia 28. Even without considering the three examples whose attribution to the palatine mint is probable but not certain, the Pavia mint appears to be the commonest one represented in our assemblage. Therefore, the coins from Vetricella allow us to further confirm the research conducted in recent decades, affirming the role of the denaro Pavese and its circulation in the kingdom between the 10th and 11th centuries. Our sample 25 The difficulty, in the case of Berengar I, of tracing back to precise political events the changes introduced in the inscriptions or the types is reflected also in the different, but both plausible, hypotheses of Arnaldi 1967, p. 12 (see supra, note 15) and Brambilla 1883, pp. 140-144 concerning the denari in the name of Arnulfus pius rex and Berengarius rex of Pavia and Milan. 26 Brambilla 1883, pp. 141-142. 27 CNI, IV, pp. 472-473, nos. 6-11; for Milan see Gianazza 2012, pp. 43-46, nos. 87-90. 28 Numerous examples christiana religio/tetrastyle temple type without title (King or Emperor) have been recently attributed to Venice, not only on the basis of the flans, characterized by a broad and concave border, but also for the absence of the title that would be motivated by the particular political standing of Venice (Gianazza 2013, p. 70, no. 4 and following; Gianazza, Van Herwijnen 2016, p. 61). MEC, 1, pp. 256-257 (c) Third minting period and p. 559, nos. 1017-1019. See CNI, IV, pp. 471-472, nos. 1-4; CNI, V, p. 31, no. 33. 22 Gianazza 2013, p. 32, no. 76 and successive examples. 23 Arnaldi 1967, p. 21. 24 In favor of this interpretation are Arnaldi 1967, p. 22 and Settia 1987, p. 88; doubts concerning this matter are discussed in Bougard, in print. I would like to thank François Bougard for having allowed me to publish this information ahead of his own publication. 20 21 91 a. Rovelli is similar not only to the hoards already mentioned above, but also to isolated discoveries (not only from Tuscany) among which the Pavese denari, especially the ottolini, have a role of unquestionable significance 29. An element of novelty, within a fairly well-defined general framework, can possibly be found in the chronological sphere, as to the time in which this phenomenon occurred. On these grounds, it is today plausible to hypothesize that the hegemony of Pavia over the other royal mints (Venice probably followed a different trajectory 30) began to occur already in the first half of the 10th century, quite probably with Berengar I. Limiting our discussion to the finds in presentday Tuscany, from the mint of Pavia we can list: sixty-eight denari of Hugh and Lothar II and four denari of Berengar II and Adalbert from the “Toscana 1766” hoard 31; one denaro of Berengar II and Adalbert from excavations of the Abbey of San Carpasio at Aulla (Massa-Carrara) 32, one denaro of Lothar II and that of Berengar II and Adalbert in the hoard of Bagnoro (Arezzo), Campo della Giostra 33; one denaro of Berengar II and Adalbert from Filattiera in Lunigiana (Massa-Carrara) 34; one denaro of Rodolfo and that of Hugh and Lothar II found prior to 1748 in a funerary context in Florence 35; two denari of Lothar and one of Berengar II in the hoard of the ex-Hospital Galli Tassi at Lucca 36; two denari of Berengar I and the example of Hugh and Lothar II found at San Giovanni d’Asso, pieve di Pava (Siena) 37; the denaro of Hugh and Lothar II and one of uncertain attribution (Otto? Lothar II?) from Travalle (Florence), Castellaccio 38. In Tuscany, during the 10th century, the mint of Milan, that had played a major role in the early Carolingian period 39, is for the present attested by a single specimen of Berengar I found at San Giovanni d’Asso in the excavations of the pieve of Pava 40. Even the denari minted at Lucca are to this day absent both in the archaeological contexts as well as in the hoards (as opposed to the Lucchese Lombard gold tremisses) up until the appearance of the ottolini and the coeval (and rarer) denari of Hugh the Great, whose issues occur at Vetricella in the form of a solitary specimen (cat. 21) 41. The Ottonian Age appears, therefore, as the height of the Pavese coinage when it served the role of a ‘national’ currency. The Tuscan finds, including those from the site of Vetricella, among which we can now note a significant presence of Lucchese denari minted by Conrad II, are testimony of this phenomenon, signaling, at the same time, the beginning of the rise of the mint of Lucca. CATALOGUE Roman Republic Rome, 3rd-2nd century BC AE, as Obv. Head of Janus (traces). Rev. Prow right (traces). 1) g 24,58; mm 31,30 CSN05 Q 1888 US 0 SF 702 Antoninus Pius for Faustina I Rome, 138-141. AE, dupondius Obv. […]AVG[…]. Bust of Faustina I with hair gathered on top of head. Rev. Draped Concordia standing left with patera and cornucopia. Left arm on column. S C on the left and right of the field. RIC, III, p. 160, no. 1089. 2) g 11,88; mm 27,00 CSN07 Q G10 US 113 SF 10 Uncertain Emperor Rome, 2nd century AD (?). AE, sestertius (?) Obv. Legend unreadable. Traces of bust right (?). Rev. Unreadable. 3) g 17,56; mm 28,90 CSN16 Q G10 US 0 SF 97 Diocletian Cyzicus, 294/6-299. AE, radiate fraction Obv. IMP C C VAL DIOCLETIANVS P F AVG. Radiate bust of Diocletian right. Rev. CONCORDIA MI LITVM. Diocletian standing right in military dress, receiving Victory on globe from Jupiter; K[.] above the exergue line. RIC, VI, p. 581 no. 16. 4) g 2,15; mm 22,10 CSN18 Q E9 US 0 SF 703 Berengar I Unspecified mint, Pavia (?), 898-900/902-915 (?). AR, denaro Obv. +BEREHCARIV+. Cross with pellet in each quarter (barred D for B, unbarred A). Rev. Legend unreadable. Tetrastyle temple type. See CNI, V, pp. 28-31, nos. 9-32 and for letter-forms peculiarities, CNI, IV, pp. 471-472, nos. 1-5 (but with papia civitas inscription); furthermore, see MEC, 1, p. 559, no. 1016 (Milan, 898-900). 5) g 1,53; mm 20,50 CSN09 Q G9 US 118 SF 52 Obv. +BERENGARIVI+. Cross with pellet in each quarter (barred D for B; unbarred A, final S becoming I). Rev. XRIITIANA REIIC. Tetrastyle temple type (unbarred A, S becoming I). 6) g 1,11; mm 20,70 CSN16 Q G9 US 190 SF 94 Obv. […]ERENCA…]. Cross with pellet in each quarter (unbar red A). Rev. […]ANA RE[…]. Tetrastyle temple type (unbarred A; R with triangular horizontal mark). 7) g 0,77; mm 20,00 (fragment) CSN11 Q G9 US 190 SF 152b 29 Rovelli 1995; Saccocci 2001-2002 [2004]; Degasperi 2003; Arslan 2006; Rovelli 2009, 2010; Saccocci 2013. 30 Saccocci 2001-2002 [2004], 2004; Arslan 2006; Rovelli 2010. 31 Ciampoltrini, Abela, Bianchini 2001-2002 [2004]; Saccocci 20012002 [2004]; Degasperi 2003; Arslan 2005, no. 7505. 32 Arslan 2006; Id. 2005, no. 7583. 33 Vanni, Arslan 2006, 2007, 2008; Arslan 2005, no. 7585. 34 Saccocci 2001-2002 [2004], 2010; Arslan 2005, no. 7675. 35 Vanni 2007; Arslan 2005, no. 7685. 36 Saccocci 2001-2002 [2004], p. 183; Arslan 2005, no. 7725. 37 Arslan 2005, no. 7819. 38 Tondo 1978; Arslan 2005, no. 7850. 39 Rovelli 1995, pp. 74-75. 40 Arslan 2005, no. 7819. 41 As to the denarii of Hugh the Great, an example is known from the territory of Pisa (Arslan 2005, no. 7773) and another from the area of Siena although struck at Arezzo (ibid., no. 7838). Pavia, 898-900/902-915 (?) [902-907?]. AR, denaro Obv. +BEREN[.]ARIV+. Cross with pellet in each quarter (barred D for B; unbarred A). Rev. [+]PAP[..] CIVITA[.]. Tetrastyle temple type (As scarcely readable). CNI, IV, p. 472, no. 3. 8) g 1,40; mm 21,30 CSN09 Q G9 US 215 SF 18 Obv. […]GARIVI+. Cross with pellet in each quarter (unbarred A; final S becoming I). Rev. +PAPIA CIVI[T]AS. Tetrastyle temple type (unbarred A, normal S). 9) g 1,28; mm 19,90 CSN09 Q G9 US 215 SF 19 92 The coins from the excavations of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto). Notes on the Pavese issues of Berengar I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Scale 1:1. 93 25 a. Rovelli 6 9 11 14 17 19 21 25 Enlargement scale 2:1. 94 The coins from the excavations of Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto). Notes on the Pavese issues of Berengar I Obv. +BERENCARI[..]+. Cross with pellet in each quarter (barred D for B; unbarred A). Rev. […]CIVITA[…]. Tetrastyle temple type (unbarred A). 10) g 1,27; mm 20,50 CSN11 Q G9 US 190 SF 152a Obv. +[…]RATOR. In field O/TT/O (unbarred A). Rev. […]AVGVSTVS. In field PA/PIA (unbarred As). 18) g 1,19; mm 17,70 CSN11 Q G7 US 0 SF 150 Otto III (minority) Lucca, 983-996. AR, denaro Obv. +IMPERA[TO]R. In field O/TT/O (unbarred A, Ts ligaT tured). Rev. +CIVITATE. In field LV/·/CA (unbarred As). See CNI, XI, p. 63, no. 1, pl. IV, 24 (Otto I, 962-973); Matzke 1993, p. 187 no. 2 (Otto I, 962-972); for the attribution and chronology see Saccocci 2001-2002, pp. 175-178. 19) g 0,93; mm 16,30 CSN18 Q E8 US 0 SF 659 Hugh of Arles and Lothar II Pavia, 931-947. AR, denaro Obv. […]GO LO HTARI[…]. Monogram of Hugh (unbarred A). Rev. +XPIITIAHA RE. In field PA/PIA (unbarred As). See CNI, IV, pp. 475-476 nos. 1-9; MEC, 1, p. 560, nos. 10251026, pl. 47. 11) g 1,02; mm 20,00 CSN16 Q G8 US 118 SF 104 Otto III (?) Obv. V[…]RIV. Monogram of Hugh. Rev. +XPI[…]I. In field P[A]/P[..]. 12) g 0,55; fragment CSN09 Q G9 US 194 SF 20 Pavia, 983-1002 (?). AR, denaro Obv. [+H …]. In field O/T·T/O. Rev. […]RATOR. In field PA/·/PIA (unbarred As). See CNI, IV, p. 481, no. 3, pl. 40,12; MEC, 12, p. 42 and p. 837, nos. 13-20. 20) g 1,06; mm 16,50 CSN09 Q E10 US 207 SF 24 Otto I Emperor and Otto II King Pavia, 962-967. AR, denaro Obv. […]HPERATOR. In field O/T·T/O (unbarred A). Rev. + [..]TO PIVS RE. In field PA/PIA, triangle below I, down-pointing triangle (unbarred As). See CNI, IV, p. 479 no. 4; MEC, 12, p. 834 nos. 1-2 13) g 1,16; mm 18,10 CSN16 Q H11 US 416 SF 107 Hugh II the Great, Marquis of Tuscany Lucca, 986 - c. 990. AR, denaro Obv. + M[A]RCHIO. Monogram of Hugh. Rev. + CIV[…]. LV/·/CA (unbarred A). See CNI, XI, p. 62, nos. 1-5 (Hugh I, 950-961); for the attribution to Hugh II the Great see Matzke 1993, pp. 139-140, p. 187, nos. 7-8, pl. 1, nos. 7-8, for the chronology see Saccocci 2001-2002 [2004], pp. 175-178. 21) g 1,08; mm 17,10 CSN16 Q F9 US 118 SF 109 Lucca, 962-967 (until 983?). AR, denaro Obv. +IHPERATOR. In field O/TT/O (unbarred A, Ts ligatured). Rev. + OTTO PIVS RE. In field LV/CA (unbarred A). See CNI, IV. p. 63, no. 2 (Otto II, Emperor and King); Matzke 1993, p. 188, no. 12 (Otto II/ Otto III, 973-983 /1002?); for the attribution and chronology, Saccocci 2001-2002 [2004], pp. 175-178. 14) g 1,25; mm 18,00 CSN18 Q H8 US 3048 SF 636 Conrad II Lucca, 1027-1039. AR, denaro Obv. […]MPER[…]. Monogram (two tied Ts becoming H, like in the monogram of Henry). Rev. +CH[…]DVS. In field LV/·/CA (unbarred A). See CNI, XI, p. 68, nos. 2-3; Matzke 1993, p. 188, no. 19. 22) g 1,16; mm 16,40 CSN11 Q G7 US 0 SF 151 Obv. […]IHPERAT[…]. In field O/TT/[O] (unbarred A, Ts ligatured). Rev. + OT[..]PI[..]RE. In field LV/CA (unbarred A). 15) g 0,79; mm 17,10 CSN 11 Q G7 US 301 SF 153 Obv. […]MPE[…]. Monogram (two tied Ts becoming H, like in the monogram of Henry). Rev. […]D[…]. In field LV/·/CA (unbarred A). 23) g 1,05; mm 16,30 CSN05 Q 2079 US 0 SF 704 Otto II Emperor Pavia, 973-983. AR, denaro Obv. +IMPER[A]TOR. In field O/T·T/O. Rev. […]VSTV[…]. In field PA/·/PI/[A] (unbarred A). See CNI, IV, pp. 477-478, no. 2 e no. 6 (Otto I, 962-973); for the attribution and chronology see Saccocci 2001-2002 [2004], pp. 167-204; MEC, 12, pp. 38-42 and p. 834, nos. 8-9 16) g 1,23; mm 17,60 CSN17 Q F8 US 1318 SF 235a Obv. +IMPER[A]TOR. Monogram (two tied Ts becoming H, like in the monogram of Henry). Rev. +[…]RADVS (unbarred A). In field LV/·/CA (unbarred A). 24) g 0,96; mm 16,50 CSN16 Q H9 US 550 SF 120 Obv. +IMPER[..]OR. Monogram (two tied Ts becoming H, like in the monogram of Henry). Rev. +CHVNRADVS (unbarred A, almost horizontal S). In field LV/·/CA 25) g 0,92; mm 16,80 CSN18 Q E9 US 0 SF 660 Obv. + IHPERATOR. In field O/TT/O (unbarred A). Rev. + AVGAST[..]. In field PA/PIA (unbarred As, including the one substituting V). 17) g 1,22; mm 17,70 CSN17 Q F8 US 1318 SF 235b 95 a. Rovelli BIBLIOGR APHY III – Antoninus Pius to Commodus (H. Mattingly, E.A. Sydenham),1930 VI – Diocletian to Maximinus (C. H. V. Sutherland), 1967 Rovelli A., 1995, Il denaro di Pavia nell’alto Medioevo (VIII-XI secolo), «Bollettino della Società pavese di Storia patria», pp. 71-90, ora in Rovelli 2012, n. VIII. Rovelli 2009, Patrimonium Beati Petri. Emissione e circolazione monetaria nel Lazio settentrionale (XI-XIV secolo), «Annali dell’Istituto italiano di Numismatica», 55 (2009), pp. 169-192, ora in Rovelli 2012 n. IX. Rovelli A., 2010, Nuove zecche e circolazione monetaria tra X e XIII secolo: l’esempio del Lazio e della Toscana, «Archeolgia Medievale», 38 (2010), pp. 163-170, ora in Rovelli 2012, n. X. Rovelli A., 2012, Coinage and Coin Use in Medieval Italy (Variorum Collected Studies Series CS 1023), Farnham. Saccocci A., 1999, L’aumento di diametro nelle monete: non soltanto un fatto di natura tecnica? «Numismatica e Antichità classiche. Quaderni ticinesi», 28 (1999), pp. 347-356. Saccocci A., 2001-2002 [2004], Il ripostiglio dall’area “Galli Tassi” di Lucca e la cronologia delle emissioni pavesi e lucchesi di X secolo, «Bollettino di Numismatica», 36-39 (2001-2002), pp. 167-204. Saccocci A., 2004, Il ripostiglio di monete, in G. Ciampoltrini, E. Pieri (a cura di), Archeologia a Pieve a Nievole dalla baselica sita loco Neure alla pieve romanica, Pisa, pp. 69-81. Saccocci A., 2008, Una storia senza fine: le monete di conto in Italia durante l’alto medioevo, «Annali dell’Istituto italiano di Numismatica», 54 (2008), pp. 47-85. Saccocci A., 2009, Un denaro veneziano di Ottone III imperatore (9961002) dagli scavi del monastero di Santa Maria in Valle a Cividale, «Forum Iulii», 33 (2009), pp. 139-147. Saccocci A., 2010, Le monete medievali, in C. Perassi, A, Saccocci, Le monete, in E. Giannichedda (a cura di), Filattiera-Sorano: gli insediamenti sul Dosso della Pieve e altre ricerche, Firenze, pp. 149-150. Saccocci A. 2013, Rinvenimenti monetali nella Tuscia dell’Altomedioevo: i flussi (secc. VI-X), in Monete antiche. Usi e flussi monetari in Valdera e nella Toscana nord-occidentale dall’età romana al medioevo, Bientina, pp. 21-34. Saccocci A., 2015, La Collezione di Vittorio Emanuele III. La monetazione di Verona, Bollettino di Numismatica online – Materiali, 29, Roma. Saccocci A., Conventi A., 2013, Un denaro inedito di Verona a nome di Adalberto re d’Italia (950-961), «Rivista italiana di Numismatica», 114 (2013), pp. 81-96. Settia A.A., Pavia carolingia e post carolingia, in Storia di Pavia, II, L’alto Medioevo, Milano, pp. 69-158. Spagnoli A., 1999, Un denaro anonimo veronese dai nuovi scavi nell’area nord-orientale del Foro Romano, «Annali dell’Istituto italiano di Numismatica», 46 (1999), pp. 313-323. Tondo L., 1978, Rinvenimento numismatico da Travalle, «Archeologia Medievale», XV, pp. 526-528. Vanni F.M., 2007, Ritrovamento monetale da Firenze in un manoscritto settecentesco, «Temporis Signa», 2 (2007), pp. 357-363. Vanni F.M., Arslan E.A., 2006-2008, Un ripostiglio di X secolo dal territorio aretino, «Boletín del Museo arqueológico nacional», 2425-26 (2006, 2007, 2008), pp. 135-140. Arnaldi G., 1967, Berengario I, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, 9, Roma, pp. 1-26. Arslan E.A. 2005, Repertorio dei ritrovamenti di moneta altomedievale in Italia (489-1002), Spoleto (si cita l’edizione on line, periodicamente aggiornata: www.ermannoarslan.eu). Arslan E.A. 2006, S. Caprasio di Aulla – Le monete, in E.A. Arslan et al., Indagini archeologiche nella chiesa dell’abbazia altomedievale di San Caprasio ad Aulla, «Archeologia Medievale», XXXIII, pp. 199-207. Arslan E.A, Caimi R., Uboldi M., 2000, Gli scavi nel sito fortificato di Pellio Intelvi (CO). Notizie preliminari, in G.P. Brogiolo (a cura di), II Congresso nazionale di Archeologia medievalem (Brescia 2000), Firenze, pp. 144-153. Benvenuti M. et al., 2018, Metals and coinage in Medieval Tuscany: The Colline Metallifere, in G. Bianchi, R. Hodges (eds.), Origins of a new economic union (7th-12th centuries). Preliminary results of the nEU-Med project (October 2015-March 2017), Firenze, pp. 135-146. Bougard F., c.s. Le royaume d’Italie de Louis II à Otton Ier (840-962). Histoire politique, c.s. Brambilla C. 1883, Monete di Pavia raccolte ed ordinatamente dichiarate, Pavia. Ciampoltrini, G., Abela, E., Bianchini S., 2001-2002 [2004], Lucca. Un contesto con monete del X secolo dall’area dell’ex ospedale Galli Tassi, «Bollettino di Numismatica», 36-39 (2001-2002) pp. 153-166. CNI = Corpus Nummorum Italicorum, Roma IV, Lombardia (zecche minori), 1913 V, Lombardia (Milano), 1914 XI, Toscana (zecche minori), 1929 Degasperi A., 2003, La moneta nel Medio Valdarno Inferiore: osservazioni sulla circolazione monetaria tra Lucca e Pistoia fra altro e bassomedioevo, «Archeologia Medievale», XXX, pp. 557-568. Gianazza L., 2013, La collezione di monete di Vittorio Emanuele III. La zecca di Milano. Da Ludovico II a Berengario II e Adalberto (855-961), Bollettino di Numismatica online – Materiali, 10, Roma. Gianazza L., Van Herwijnen A., 2016, Un denaro inedito a nome di Ugo di Arles “imperatore”, «Rivista italiana di Numismatica», 117 (2016), pp. 55-70. Grierson P. 1978, Un denier de l’empereur Arnoul frappé à Milan en mars 896, «Bulletin de la Société française de Numismatique», 33, 1 (janvier 1978), pp. 296-289. Marasco L., 2013, La Castellina di Scalino e le fortificazioni di terra nelle pianure costiere della Maremma settentrionale, «Archeologia Medievale», XL, pp. 57-67. Matzke M., 1993, Vom Ottolinus zum Grossus: Münzprägung in der Toscana vom 10. bis zum 13. Jahrhundert, «Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau», 72 (1993), pp. 135-199. MEC = Medieval European Coinage with the Catalogue of the Coins in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Cambridge 1 – The Early Middle Ages (5th-10th centuries) (P. Grierson, M. Blackburn), 1986 12 – Italy (I) (Northern Italy) (W.R. Day, Jr., M. Matzke, A. Saccocci), 2016. RIC = The Roman Imperial Coinage, London. 96 Italian abstract LE MONETE DALLO SCAVO DI VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO). NOTE SU DI UN ASSEMBLAGGIO DI DENARI DI BERENGARIO I DALLA ZECCA DI PAVIA Le 25 monete rinvenute nel corso delle ricerche condotte sul sito di Vetricella possono essere ripartite in due gruppi distinti per ambito cronologico e consistenza numerica. Al primo appartengono 4 bronzi di età romana, quando la zona fu interessata dall’insediamento di numerose ville e fattorie. Si tratta di esemplari recuperati nel corso della pulizia dell’area con l’ausilio di una ruspa, o in terreni di riporto. Il secondo gruppo è costituito da 21 denari d’argento databili tra il regno di Berengario I e quello di Corrado II, cronologicamente coerenti con le principali fasi di vita dell’insediamento fortificato. Pur trattandosi di rinvenimenti apparentemente isolati, non si può escludere che alcuni esemplari abbiano fatto parte di un gruzzolo disperso forse già ab antiquo ed in seguito ulteriormente smembrato dalle ripetute arature. La complessa stratigrafia del sito impedisce dunque di individuare le modalità di smarrimento, o le ragioni di un eventuale occultamento di questo nucleo di denari che, se fosse stato originato, almeno in parte, dalla dispersione di un ripostiglio (come la consistenza numerica autorizza a supporre), troverebbe plausibili confronti con i coevi tesori di area toscana. Il suo interesse rimane comunque notevole per i dati che propone sulla classificazione e la circolazione delle emissioni pavesi. Per quanto riguarda i problemi di attribuzione, le emissioni a nome di Berengario I invitano ad una rilettura, seppure provvisoria, sia delle attribuzioni codificate nel Corpus Nummorum Italicorum (in seguito CNI ), sia di alcuni dei criteri individuati da Philip Grierson per distinguere le emissioni di Pavia da quelle di Milano, alla cui zecca il CNI aveva attribuito tutti i denari carolingi, di probabile zecca italiana, con la legenda christiana religio e il tempio tetrastilo. In realtà, come già notato anche in altre sedi, sono numerosi gli esemplari in cui gli elementi ritenuti caratterizzanti dell’una o dell’altra zecca si incrociano. Altrettanto accade, naturalmente, tra gli esemplari di Vetricella. Tra gli elementi in esame, solo la B simile ad una D barrata sembra essere un indizio utile a riconoscere la zecca di Pavia. Riguardo alla cronologia, i nostri esemplari a nome di Berengario appartengono tutti ad emissioni con un diametro che ha ritrovato delle misure “normali” dopo la momentanea coniazione di tondelli larghi. Pur nella difficoltà di indicare una cronologia precisa, è possibile avanzare alcune ipotesi a parziale modifica, o integrazione, delle cronolgie proposte da Philip Grierson che non tengono in conto i denari, con modulo normale, caratterizzati da una tipologia che potremmo considerare transitoria, compresa tra quella ancora pienamente carolingia, con christiana religio/tempio tetrastilo, e quella caratterizzata dall’introduzione del cristogramma/nome della città su tre linee. I denari in questione, documentati a Vetricella da tre esemplari della zecca di Pavia (nn. 8-10 del catalogo), mantengono al centro il tipo di origine carolingia del tempio tetrastilo, ma sostituiscono la legenda christiana religio, con il nome della città emittente: in papia civitas, papia civitas, mediolanum. Una possibile occasione per l’introduzione dei nostri denari potrebbe essere individuata nel 902 (data proposta da Grierson per l’introduzione dei denari con cristogramma al diritto) per celebrare il ritrovato dominio sulle due città lombarde. Tuttavia la ricerca di una ragione di natura événementielle appare un’operazione rischiosa nel travagliato regno di Berengario I. Bisogna del resto considerare che un evento importante come l’assunzione del titolo imperiale è quasi privo di eco sulle emissioni monetarie. Considerando il succedersi degli eventi, e la scarsità di dati, si è dunque preferito classificare gli esemplari proponendo una possibile cronologia relativa, senza ulteriori scansioni. I denari più antichi, tra quelli con modulo “normale”, dovrebbero dunque essere quelli che ancora rispettano la tradizionale tipologia dei denari christiana religio/tempio tetrastilo (nn. 5-7 del catalogo). A questi potrebbero succedere, o anche affiancarsi momentaneamente, i denari con la legenda papia civitas/tempio tetrastilo (nn. 8-10). Riguardo alla circolazione monetaria, i materiali di Vetricella concorrono con le ricerche recenti ad evidenziare l’egemonia del denaro pavese nella circolazione del regno tra X e XI secolo, egemonia che sembra anticipabile già alla prima metà del X, forse con Berengario I. 97 Lorenzo Marasco*, Cristina Cicali* THE MEDIEVAL COINS FROM VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): THE STR ATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT The importance of the coin finds from Vetricella, from a purely numismatic perspective, had already stimulated, during excavation work, a specific methodological attention to the managing of finds. This in order to obtain further interpretative evidence, in addition to the qualitative study of the single finds, from the relative stratigraphic contexts. The exact registration of each find via georeferencing equipment and square-grid method carried out during fieldwork has provided useful data that can be integrated to the study of this specific class of finds from the site Vetricella (fig. 1). We have chosen, therefore, to illustrate in the following reference table and as supplement to the catalogue and numismatic analysis (see Rovelli infra) the stratigraphic evidence related to the contexts where 21 Medieval Age coins were found. The table shows aspects that we consider essential for an evaluation of the stratigraphic and circumstantial value of the find, as well as providing further support for its interpretative analysis. In the contribution focused on the stratigraphic sequence (see Marasco, Briano infra) it has already been shown how a significant part of the materials recorded at Vetricella was affected by the intense alteration suffered by most of the stratigraphic deposit, both due to the modern ploughing and to the repeated levelling activities carried out in the past 1. These issues also affect the numismatic finds. Nevertheless, in the case of this class of materials, we believe that by anchoring these finds to the stratigraphies and their formation dynamics it is possible to demonstrate a number of well-defined elements that may provide valid interpretation proposals for the * Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università di Siena (lorenzo.marasco@unisi.it; cristinacicali@yahoo.it). 1 The strategy adopted at Vetricella has seen fit to accompany the stratigraphic analysis with the systematic use of a metal detector, both during initial stages of stratigraphic examination to verify possible artefact presence and later directly on the removed earthen deposits. It is worth noting the benefits garnered from this approach for the recording of material in plough-soil levels and in support of mechanical earth removal. fig. 1 – Distribution map of all the finds recorded up until 2018 (orthophoto from UAV images – 2018 campaign). 99 L. Marasco, C. Cicali numismatic data. Their precise localization allows to hypothesize direct relations between the various coins and their possible levels of origin, even when recovered from different stratigraphies following possible alteration or ploughing damage (see distribution map and attached table). Furthermore, a part of these contexts can be identified with deposits already formed in the past and stratigraphically sealed in clearly defined periods within the sequence, permitting to assign the formation of the deposit and the coin dispersion across the site to a precise chronology. Based on these considerations and the evidence provided by the stratigraphy it appears possible to highlight, in the following table, the presence of three different formation contexts that include primary deposition levels along with topsoil alteration levels. The first is related to the central tower (composed by denari of Berengar I, Hugh and Lothar II and Hugh the Great, nn. 5-12 and 21); the second pertains to the infill levels of the innermost ditch (to which the ottolini nn. 13-20 can be related); the third refers to the external area around the tower (where we can distinguish denari of Conrad II of Franconia, nn. 22-25). In the case of the first two groupings the formation process appears largely related to the final phase of Period 4.1 or, at the most, to the beginning of Period 4.2 (last quarter of the 10th-early 11th century AD) when, from a stratigraphic standpoint, it is possible to register the site’s most significant phase of development and structural change. The last context, instead, seems to refer to a different formation on the basis of a terminus post quem chronology offered by the period in which the coins were put into circulation (AD 1027-1039), separating it from the depositional activities of those previous find groupings that by then were already buried. 100 The Medieval coins from Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): the stratigraphic context N. ID. Stratigraphic context Stratigraphic sequence position Period 6 Phase A Chronology: mid-12th-mid-13th c. AD 5 Berengar I King of Italy Unspecified mint, Pavia (?) 898-900/902-915 (?) CSN 09 Q G9 US 118 SF 52 US 118 – Tower robber trench infill. Activity referable to the last occupation phase of the site (post AD 1030-1170). The infill appears to be composed by deposits related to the stratigraphies connected to the tower’s previous occupation phase (charcoal, ceramic/pot sherds, animal bones). Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing US 190 – Second plough-soil deposit, corresponding to the lower level, localized in square G9, overlapping the southwestern corner of the tower. The deposit has been distinguished from US 0 because in direct contact with the still-preserved underlying occupation levels. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 7 Phase A Chronology: second half 20th c. AD 6 Berengar I King of Italy Unspecified mint, Pavia (?) 898-900/902-915 (?) CSN 16 Q G9 US 190 SF 94 US 190 – Second plough-soil deposit, corresponding to the lower level, localized in square G9, overlapping the southwestern corner of the tower. The deposit has been distinguished from US 0 because in direct contact with the still-preserved underlying occupation levels. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 7 Phase A Chronology: second half 20th c. AD 7 Berengar I King of Italy Unspecified mint, Pavia (?) 898-900/902-915 (?) CSN 11 Q G9 US 190 SF 152b 8 Berengar I King of Italy Pavia, 898-900/902-915 (?) [902-907?] CSN 09 Q G9 US 215 SF 18 US 215 – Floor layer within the tower, corresponding to the first occupation level of the building (Period 2), successively reused as occupation surfaces (Period 3-4.2). Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 2-4.2 Phase A-B Chronology: second half 9th-first half 11th c. AD US 215 – Floor layer within the tower, corresponding to the first occupation level of the building (Period 2), successively reused as occupation surfaces (Period 3-4.2). Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 2-4.2 Phase A-B Chronology: second half 9th-first half 11th c. AD 9 Berengar I King of Italy Pavia, 898-900/902-915 (?) [902-907?] CSN 09 Q G9 US 215 SF 19 US 190 – Second plough-soil deposit, corresponding to the lower level, localized in square G9, overlapping the southwestern corner of the tower. The deposit has been distinguished from US 0 because in direct contact with the still-preserved underlying occupation levels. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 7 Phase A Chronology: second half 20th c. AD 10 Berengar I King of Italy Pavia, 898-900/902-915 (?) [902-907?] CSN 11 Q G9 US 190 SF 152a Hugh of Arles and Lothar II Pavia, 931-947 CSN 16 Q G8 US 118 SF 104 US 118 – Tower robber trench infill. Activity referable to the last occupation phase of the site (post AD 1030-1170). The infill appears to be composed by deposits related to the stratigraphies connected to the tower’s previous occupation phase (charcoal, ceramic/pot sherds, animal bones). Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 6 Phase A Chronology: mid-12th-mid-13th c. AD 11 101 Graphic documentation (3D image or photo) L. Marasco, C. Cicali N. ID. Hugh of Arles and Lothar II Pavia, 931-947 CSN 09 Q G9 US 194 SF 20 12 Otto I Emperor and Otto II King Pavia, 962-967 CSN 16 Q H11 US 416 SF 107 US 416 – Infill/levelling layer of the innermost ditch top portion, following the spoliation of previous mortar structures. The activity is connected to the occupation phase dating to the early 11th century AD, that records in some points fire-related as well as metallurgical activities. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy not disturbed by ploughing Period 4.2 Phase E Chronology: first half 11th c. AD Otto I Emperor and Otto II King Lucca, 962-967 (until 983?) CSN 18 Q H8 US 3048 SF 636 US 3048 – Levels found on the edge of the innermost ditch, referable to discarded waste accumulated from the external area. The layer is covered by a deposit of ash and burnt materials. The context precedes the setup of the burial area, chronologically dated to the last decades of the 10th century AD. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy not disturbed by ploughing Period 4.1 Phase C Chronology: second half 10th c. AD Otto I Emperor and Otto II King Lucca, 962-967 (until 983?) CSN 11 Q G7 US 301 SF 153 US 301 – Topmost levelling surface with stones set on the outside of the innermost ditch (south side), interpreted as a drainage rubble cobbling area for surface levelling. The setting up of this layer (reemploying stones from the enclosure basement) can be dated to the beginning of 11th century AD. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 4.2 Phase C Chronology: first half 11th c. AD Otto II Emperor Pavia, 973-983 CSN 17 Q F8 US 1318 SF 235a US 1318 – Occupation or levelling layer overlapping the mortar level that covers the innermost ditch (to the south of the tower). The layer precedes the setup of the wall enclosure basement (possibly as preparation level), hypothetically assigned to the end of the 10th-early 11th century AD. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy not disturbed by ploughing Period 4.2 Phase B Chronology: first half 11th c. AD Otto II Emperor Pavia, 973-983 CSN 17 Q F8 US 1318 SF 235b US 1318 – Occupation or levelling layer overlapping the mortar level that covers the innermost ditch (to the south of the tower). The layer precedes the setup of the wall enclosure basement (possibly as preparation level), hypothetically assigned to the end of the 10th-early 11th century AD. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy not disturbed by ploughing Period 4.2 Phase B Chronology: first half 11th c. AD Otto II Emperor Pavia, 973-983 CSN 11 Q G7 US 0 SF 150 US 0 – Plough-soil level, localized in square G7, overlapping the drainage rubble cobbling set up at the beginning of 11th century AD. It was not possible to distinguish within the layer different levels due to the strong alterations caused by ploughing. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 7 Phase A Chronology: second half 20th c. AD 13 14 15 16 17 18 Stratigraphic sequence position US 194 – Earthen occupation layer inside Period 4.2 the tower featuring only small stillPhase E preserved portions. It covers in part the Chronology: previous surface US 215 (earlier occupation first half 11th c. AD level). It is preserved in direct contact with the upper plough-soil deposit. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Stratigraphic context 102 Graphic documentation (3D image or photo) The Medieval coins from Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto): the stratigraphic context N. ID. 19 Otto III (minority) Lucca, 983-996 CSN 18 Q E8 US 0 SF 659 Otto III (?) Pavia, 983-1002 (?) CSN 09 Q E10 US 207 SF 24 20 21 US 0 – Plough-soil level, localized in square G7, overlapping the drainage rubble cobbling set up at the beginning of 11th century AD. It was not possible to distinguish within the layer different levels due to the strong alterations caused by ploughing. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing US 207 – Second plough-soil deposit, corresponding to the lower level, localized in square E10, overlapping the rubble cobbling in Sector I (to the west of the tower). The level has been divided from US 0 because in direct contact with the underlying deposits. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Stratigraphic sequence position Period 7 Phase A Chronology: second half 20th c. AD US 118 – Tower robber trench infill. Activity referable to the last occupation phase of the site (post AD 1030-1170). The infill appears to be composed by deposits related to the stratigraphies connected to the tower’s previous occupation phase (charcoal, ceramic/pot sherds, animal bones). Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 6 Phase A Chronology: mid-12th-mid-13th c. AD Conrad II Lucca, 1027-1039 CSN 11 Q G7 US 0 SF 151 US 0 – Plough-soil level, localized in square G7, overlapping the drainage rubble cobbling set up at the beginning of 11th century AD. It was not possible to distinguish within the layer different levels due to the strong alterations caused by ploughing. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 7 Phase A Chronology: second half 20th c. AD Conrad II Lucca, 1027-1039 CSN 05 Q 2079 US 0 SF 704 US 0 – Cultivated surface. Find recovered during field survey and collecting of metallic material via Metal Detector, localized in square 2079 corresponding to excavation square H8 (Sector III – external to the south-east of the tower). Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 7 Phase A Chronology: second half 20th c. AD Conrad II Lucca, 1027-1039 CSN 16 Q H9 US 550 SF 120 US 550 – Accumulation deposit inside a contemporary-dating ditch carried out with mechanical equipment, probably related to agricultural activities. The characteristics of the layer appear to indicate that the ditch infill took place using the very same excavation earth. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 7 Phase A Chronology: second half 20th c. AD Conrad II Lucca, 1027-1039 CSN 18 Q E9 US 0 SF 660 US 0 – Plough-soil level, localized in square E9, overlapping the drainage rubble cobbling set up at the beginning of 11th century AD. It was not possible to distinguish within the layer different levels due to the strong alterations caused by ploughing. Stratigraphic reliability: Stratigraphy altered by ploughing Period 7 Phase A Chronology: second half 20th c. AD 23 24 103 Graphic documentation (3D image or photo) In this case it is not possible to provide stratigraphic documentation of the context seeing that find recording took place thanks to the use of a metal detector on earthen mechanical excavation levels, accumulated during the opening of Sector IV (western limit). For this find it was possible to identify only the square of reference on the basis of mechanical excavator position (see the distribution map). Period 7 Phase A Chronology: second half 20th c. AD Hugh the Great, Marquis of Tuscany Lucca, 986-c. 990 CSN 16 Q F9 US 118 SF 109 22 25 Stratigraphic context In this case it is not possible to provide stratigraphic documentation of the context because it was found recording took place thanks to the use of a metal detector on earthen mechanical excavation levels, accumulated during the opening of Sector IV (western limit). For this find it was possible to identify only the square of reference on the basis of mechanical excavator position (see the distribution map). Italian abstract LE MONETE MEDIEVALI DAL SITO DI VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): IL CONTESTO STR ATIGR AFICO A corredo del catalogo numismatico (Rovelli infra) viene presentato il quadro stratigrafico relativo ai contesti di rinvenimento delle 21 monete di età medievale, evidenziando i caratteri ritenuti essenziali per una valutazione della loro affidabilità stratigrafica e del potenziale indiziario del reperto, a supporto di una migliore analisi interpretativa. Nel contributo dedicato alla sequenza stratigrafica (Marasco, Briano infra) si è già evidenziato come buona parte delle classi di materiali rinvenuti a Vetricella risulti condizionata dalla forte alterazione della maggior parte del deposito stratigrafico, sia per effetto delle arature moderne che per ripetuti riporti e livellamenti effettuati in antico. Queste problematiche riguardano, pertanto, anche i reperti numismatici. Tuttavia, nel caso di quest’ultima classe di reperti, l’ancoraggio di dettaglio alle stratigrafie e alle dinamiche di formazione delle stesse consente di individuare alcuni caratteri ben definiti, che in qualche modo possono suggerire validi spunti per la lettura dei rinvenimenti monetali. La precisa localizzazione di questi, infatti, permette di ipotizzare delle relazioni dirette tra le varie monete e le possibili stratigrafie di origine, anche quando queste sono state recuperate in stratigrafie differenti a seguito di possibili rimaneggiamenti o degli interventi di aratura. Parte dei contesti di rimaneggiamento, inoltre, sono da indentificare con depositi formatisi già in antico e stratigraficamente sigillati in periodi ben definiti della sequenza, consentendo, quindi, di collocare anche in una cronologia precisa i relativi avvenimenti di formazione del deposito e, per quanto riguarda le monete, di dispersione all’interno del sito. Sulla base di queste considerazioni e delle indicazioni stratigrafiche risulta possibile evidenziare nella tabella allegata la presenza di tre differenti contesti di formazione, comprensivi sia di strati in giacitura primaria che di soprastanti livelli di rimaneggiamento: il primo relativo alla torre centrale (composto dai denari di Berengario I, Ugo e Lotario II e Ugo il Grande, nn. 5-12 e 21); il secondo pertinente alle stratigrafie di riempimento del fossato circolare più interno (a cui possiamo rapportare gli ottolini nn. 13-20); il terzo riferibile all’area esterna alla torre (in cui si distinguono, invece, i denari di Corrado II di Franconia, nn. 22-25). Per i primi due raggruppamenti il processo di formazione sembra perlopiù rapportabile alla fase finale del Periodo 4.1 o al massimo agli inizi del Periodo 4.2 (ultimo quarto X-inizi XI secolo), quando a livello stratigrafico si registra il momento di maggior sviluppo del sito con profondi interventi di trasformazione. L’ultimo contesto, invece, sembra da riferirsi ad una formazione differente in base al termine post quem offerto dal periodo di emissione delle monete che lo compongono (1027-1039), che quantomeno lo separa dagli eventi deposizionali di quei reperti, tra i raggruppamenti precedenti, che a quella data risultano già sepolti. 104 Serena Viva* BURIALS FROM THE CEMETERY AT VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): ANTHROPOLOGICAL, PALEODEMOGRAPHIC AND PALEOPATHOLOGICAL ANALYSES 1. INTRODUCTION The only presently recorded grave type is the earthen burial. This can be made up of a simple pit ditch (68,0%; 34/50) or feature different material elements (32,0%; 16/50) 2, in our case stones set on one (corresponding to the head or feet of the skeleton) or both short ends (at both head and feet); a number of graves also featured lengthwise stone sheeting. The presence of headstones allows us to envisage their use as support for perishable material covers, such as wooden planks, an hypothesis corroborated not only by the interpretation of the intended use of the headstone, but especially in the observation of taphonomic aspects characteristic of a decomposition in empty space. In 55,5% (20/36) of the visible cases skeletons showed traces typical of an empty space, in 44,5% (16/36) of full space. The graves with headstones had a higher correlation ratio with decompositions in an empty space (75,0%; 12/16) as compared to those without headstones (23,5%; 8/34). Of the 49 skeletons whose alignment it was possible to determine, 37 were oriented W-E 3 (75,5%), four N-S (8,2%) and eight S-N (16,3%). Therefore, in the majority of cases the canonical W-E alignment was respected. Two burial alignments set parallel to one another were mainly made up of fetal, perinatal or individuals that had in any case deceased during the first years of life. Their concentration, unregistered in any other part of the cemetery, allows us to hypothesize the presence of a quadrangular religious structure (see Marasco supra) with sub stillicidio graves, located along the perimeter walls of the structure and below the eaves. This permitted rainwater, after having absorbed the sanctity of the building by running across the roof and walls, to have fallen on the burial ground below (Bertolaccini 2000; Bruno, Tulumello 2018). Prone decubitus is registered in 93,3% of the observable cases 4 as in almost all Medieval and postMedieval Christian cemeteries (Fabbri 2001). Only three immature individuals were recorded in supine left lateral 5 or right lateral decubitus 6, a position that appears to be accidental in the burial of infants rather than ascribable to a particular ritual aspect. The burials from the cemetery at Vetricella have been analyzed following an archaeological and anthropological approach in an attempt to answer both general issues and specific questions tied-in to a distinctive archeological context, not a settlement or religious complex, but rather an administrative centre, a royal court connected to the Kings of Italy and the Ottonian Dynasty of the German Kings during the post-Carolingian period. The study was carried out with the aim of reconstructing the biological and palaeodemographic profile of a human community that, between the mid-10th and beginning of the 11th century, during a phase that sees a change in function of the royal centre of Vetricella, and the beginnings of the graveyard. Over the course of three excavation campaigns (2016-2018) a total of 52 graves were identified and documented. While taphonomic observations have made it possible to reconstruct rituals and ways of burial that would otherwise have had little or no archaeological visibility, the topographical analyses of the cemetery, on the basis of the distribution of a number of graves, confirmed the initial hypothesis of the existence of a religious structure. For the anthropological study of the skeletal remains we did not limit ourselves to the uncritical application of traditional anthropological methods, but rather endeavored to comprehend which would be the most suitable approaches to garner data as near as possible to the biological reality of the sample, comparable to other topographically and chronologically analogous contexts. Sex determination analyses were carried out along with age at death, stature in life, unspecific and functional stress markers, pathologies and traumas. Results were submitted, where possible, to statistic tests and compared to other coeval sites. 2. TAPHONOMIC AND TOPOGR APHIC ANALYSES OF THE BURIAL AREA The cemetery complex recorded during excavations carried out at Vetricella is composed exclusively of inhumation burials, a manner of interment characteristic of the Christian ritual. The burials are all individual and the skeletons mostly in primary deposition (96,2%; 50/52) except in two cases (3,8%; 2/52) where secondary deposition was documented 1. carried out on the basis of personal experience as well as previously examined case studies (Duday et al. 1990; Duday 2006; Fabbri 2001; Fabbri, Schettino, Vassallo 2006; Mallegni, Rubini 1994; Mallegni 2005; Viva 2017). 2 In two cases this was not possible to ascertain due to the state of burial conservation. 3 In the present study, when referring to burial alignment, it is understood that the first cardinal point refers to the head of the deceased and the second to the feet. 4 In seven cases the decubitus was not determinable due to the poor state of burial conservation. 5 SK16. 6 SK40, SK45. * Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali, Università degli Studi di Siena (serenaviva@hotmail.it). 1 Taphonomic observations on the anatomic connections, type of deposition, primary or secondary, type of decomposition, in full or empty space, were 105 S. Viva fig. 1 – The general plan of the Vetricella site. In green the cemetery area. 3. ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS suture obliteration (Meindl, Lovejoy 1985); remodelling of the pubic symphysis (Todd 1921; Brooks, Suchey 1990) as well as the auricular surface of the ileum (Buckberry, Chamberlain 2002). Although carried on and perfected by a number of scholars over the years, these methods continue to provide wide age gaps regardless of the conservation level of the skeletal remains. We therefore applied to the sample a radiological method on the canines that focusses upon the relations between tooth and pulp (Cameriere et al. 2007a; Cameriere et al. 2007b; Cameriere et al. 2009), based on the apposition of secondary dentine and ultimately providing much closer age gaps. The method has already been used with excellent results on both contemporary and archaeological samples (Cameriere et al. 2006; De Luca et al. 2010; 2011; Jeevan et al. 2011; Fabbri, Schettino, Vassallo 2015; Viva 2017) and recently verified on the dental sections of age-known individuals (D’Ortenzio et al. 2018). Sex determination for adults and in some cases for subadults above 15 years of age was carried out, in the presence of the pelvis, using the DSP 8 method (Murail et al. 2005). In one case, having only the greater sciatic notch and cotylosciatic measurements available, the Sauter, Privat method was employed (1955) that evaluates the cotylosciatic index. In another case, where the pelvis was badly preserved, sex 3.1 Materials and methods The anthropological study carried out on the skeletal remains from the site of Vetricella is comprised of a sample of 51 individuals related to a chronological period set between the mid-10th and mid-11th centuries AD 7. All the skeletons were metrically surveyed according to the Martin and Seller method (1962). Distribution differences were valued with the chi-square test (χ2) and statistical significance defined through probability levels of p 0.05. In order to determine the age at death in sub-adults a method was employed following the development and eruption of teeth (AlQahtani, Liversidge, Hector 2010), accompanied by another based on diaphysis length in long bones (Ferembach, Schwindezky, Stloukal 1980). For cases related to fetuses or newborns, specific methods were employed that take into account basiocciput measurement (Tocheri, Molto 2002), diaphyseal length (Tocheri et al. 2005) and the petrous part of the temporal bone length (Nagaoka, Kwakubo 2015). For sub-adults above 15 years of age a system was applied that assesses the ossification and welding stage in the epiphyses and diaphysis (Brothwell 1981). Age at death in adult individuals above 20 years of age was determined using the following methods: dental wear (Lovejoy 1985); cranial 7 14 C reference dates. 8 106 Diagnose Sexuelle Probabiliste. BURIALS FROM THE CEMETERY AT VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GRosseto) was determined using minimum long bone shaft perimeters (Safont, Malgosa, Subirà 2000; Lonoce et al. 2018). It was possible to determine the stature of 14 adult individuals; in 11 cases the anatomical method was applied (Raxter, Auerbach, Ruff 2006) whereas in three cases stature was established with Pearson’s mathematical method (1899). The choice for this last was considered to be the most reliable for these chronologies (Giannecchini, Moggi-Cecchi 2008) based on the comparison between anatomical and mathematical methods conducted on a large and coeval Medieval sample from San Genesio (San Miniato, Pisa) (Viva 2017). As to non-specific stress markers, enamel hypoplasia lines were considered (LIS), observed on the permanent canines (Goodman, Rose 1990), along with porotic hyperostosis in the form of cribra cranii and cribra orbitalia (Walker et al. 2009). In addition to an overall analysis of the functional stress indicators through the observation of enthesopathies and the sites of muscular and ligament attachment (Mariotti, Facchini, Belcastro 2004, 2007), we wanted to verify the presence of morphological and pathological alterations connected to equestrian activities (Palfi 1992; Baillif-Ducros et al. 2012; Blondiaux 1994; Molleson, Blondiaux 1994). The study of the skeletal pathologies and traumas conducted on the individuals from Vetricella has been macroscopic. While traumas (Waldron 2009; Lovell 1997; Judd 2002) and different pathologies (Ortner 2003; Aufderheide, Rodriguez-Martin 2005; Steckel et al. 2006) were documented, for the present only the most important and representative pathology recorded in our sample will be discussed: a congenital anemia. Although a complete and detailed anthropological analysis was carried out, in the present contribution only the most characteristic features in our sample will be illustrated in a preliminary account, leaving out or only briefly touching upon a number of arguments that will provide for more indepth discussion in future publications. diagram 1 – Burial area composition. tween the eighth and ninth month of pregnancy. We cannot establish whether these were pre or post-partum deaths. It is worth noting that these fetuses were buried in the common burial ground, in an area dedicated to children. Of the 15 adults recorded, age was determined in 14 cases. The use of the radiological canine method (Cameriere et al. 2009), applied in 12 cases, allowed greater precision regarding the age of each single individual, which overcomes the flattening that occurs on the 50-year threshold, typical in traditional anthropological methods (Buikstra, Konigsberg 1985). The average age at death of our complete sample is 16 years due to the incredibly high percentage of infants and sub-adults in general. In order to obtain a clearer picture of life expectancy we tried applying to the sample a demographic test proposed by Bocquet-Appel and Naji (2006) and used by Barbiera and Dalla Zuanna (2007) on data from 35 cemetery sites in the central-northern regions of the peninsula. In order to avoid the problem of younger individual underrepresentation, for the purpose of the present study, data related to both young (5-19 years) and adult individuals was examined (so as to elude the same but opposite problem in our sample, namely the high number of individuals between 0 and 5 years of age). Following Barbiera and Dalla Zuanna (2007) three criteria of inclusion were considered: total number of skeletons over 40; indeterminate age skeletons below 20%; the ratio d 10 included in an interval that seems compatible with the age of ancient regimes (10< D5-19/ D5+>30). Our sample meets the first two criteria but not the third, that is the value of d that needs to fall between 10% and 30% in order to interpret the sample, but in our case is of d=44,8% 11. Nonetheless this result shows that at the growing of the d ratio the average expectancy level regularly worsens (Bocquet-Appel, Naji 2006), making it clear that the level expressed by our sample is strongly negative in terms of life expectancy due to the high number of young individuals. We calculated the average age taking into account subadults between 5 and 19 years of age and adults. Results showed an average of 26,3 years. Otherwise the average age at death in adults alone is of 39,2 years, slightly lower than the average recorded at San Genesio during the early Middle Ages (41,4 years; Viva 2017). The average age at death in male adults is 41,5 years whereas in females 35,1 years. 3.2 Results 3.2.1 Age at death Of 51 analysed skeletons, 36 are sub-adults (70,6%) and 15 adults (29,4%). It was possible to establish the age at death of all 36 subadults. The infants (0-1 year) represent 29,4% (15/51) of all the sample (diagram 1) and 41,7% (15/36) of the sub-adult total (diagram 2). The percentage of those between 0 and 14 years of age is 58,8% (30/51), decisively higher than other data recorded in various Medieval Italian sites 9 where child percentage is placed at around 30% (Giovannini 2002; Viva 2017). Of particular interest are the skeletons of individuals of fetal age; three are recorded in the Vetricella sample, deceased between the 31st and 35th week of gestation and therefore be9 Sacca di Goito (Mantova) 27,4%; Savona 25,8%; Cavallermaggiore (Cuneo) 25,5%; La Selvicciola (Ischia di Castro, Viterbo) 21%; Aosta (6th-7th century) 33,3%; Aosta (7th-8th century) 34,9%; Mola di Monte Gelato (Mazzano Romano, Viterbo) 40% (Giovannini 2002); San Genesio (San Miniato, Pisa) (6th century) 31,8% (Viva 2017). 10 d is the relation between sub-adults (5-19 years) and all individuals (subadults and adults) over 5 years of age (5+) (d= D5-19/D5+) 11 d = D5-19/D5+ =13/29 = 44,8%. 107 S. Viva SK 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 15 16 17 19 20 21 22 23 25 26 27 28 30 31 32 33 35 36 37 38 40 43 45 46 47 49 51 US 608 773 774 775 878 881 884 929 1031 1055 1056 1079 1161 1191 1194 1219 1231 1259 1284 1288 1321 1453 1457 2004 2008 2016 2019 2023 2026 2035 2059 2065 2113 2110 2127 2147 Age at death 10,5 0-6 m 10,5 m 1,5 0-1 m 7,5 9-18 m fetus (31-32 weeks) 4 9m 1,5 1,5 6 16,5 0-1 m 4,5 2,5 17,5 2 9 6 19 0-3 m 0-1 m 1,5 fetus (34-35 weeks) fetus (34-35 weeks) 17 13 9m 16 2 1,5 14,5 4-5 m 8 Method ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) Comparison ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010) LD (TOCHERI et al. 2005) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980). BO (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2002) LD (TOCHERI et al. 2005) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980). BO (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2002) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980). BO (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2002) LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) FE (BROTHWELL 1981) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2005) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) FE (BROTHWELL 1981) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) FE (MCKERN, STEWART 1957) Comparison LP (NAGAOKA, KAWAKUBO 2015) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) LD (TOCHERI et al. 2005) LP (NAGAOKA, KAWAKUBO 2015) FE (BROTHWELL 1981) FE (BROTHWELL 1981) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980). BO (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2002) FE (BROTHWELL 1981) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) tab. 1 – Average age of each sub-adult individual and the methods used. ESD = petrous part of the temporal bone; LD = diaphysis length; BO = basiocciput; FE = epiphysis fusion; LP = petrous part of the temporal bone length. Where it is not specified the age is presented in years; m = months. diagram 2 – Ratios of individuals in the different sub-adult age groups. Although it is of little use in demographic terms due to the small number of adult individuals, we valued the ratios within each age group: 28,6% (4/14) fall into the young adult group; 50,0% (7/14) are adults in the group between 30 and 49 years of age; 21,4% (3/14) the aged adults. A cross-examination between age and sex shows that mortality variations in males and females is statistically nonsignificant (p=0,8620). SK US 1 2 4 12 14 18 29 34 39 41 42 44 48 50 52 413 498 710 1000 1032 1081 1417 2011 2030 2052 2055 2062 2120 2142 2144 Age at death ND 45,7 20 56,8 65,5 39 40,6 22,7 32,1 42,1 20 46,4 58,7 25,5 34,3 Method – RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) EF (MCKERN, STEWART 1957) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) EF (MCKERN, STEWART 1957) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) tab. 2 – Average age of each adult individual and methods used (RxC = X-ray canine; EF = epiphysis fusion). between 16 and 19 years of age). The sample is composed of 12 males (60%) and 7 females (35%) 12; the M/F ratio is therefore of 1,7/1. Of the adults nine were male and five female, whereas of the sub-adults three were male and two female. Observing the distribution of the male and female skeletons in the burial area we can exclude that there were divisions according to gender (fig. 2). 3.2.2 Sex For sex determination only 20 individuals with an age equal or above 16 years were considered. It was possible to determine the sex of 19 of these (14 adults and 5 sub-adults 12 The individual whose sex was not determined represents 5% of the sample. 108 BURIALS FROM THE CEMETERY AT VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GRosseto) fig. 2 – Distribution of males (blue), females (red) and sub-adults under 5 years (green), in the cemetery area. sex Media sd M 171,30 8,36 F 150,69 8,48 min 159,61 137,74 Max sexual dimorphism 182,27 20,61 87,9% 158,52 tab. 3 – Stature data in centimeters: M = average; sd = standard deviation, min = minimum stature, Max = maximum stature. 3.2.3 Stature Stature in life was estimated for 14 individuals; for 11 of these an anatomical method was employed (Raxter, Auerbach, Ruff 2006), whereas for three a mathematical method was adopted (Pearson 1899). The average male height is of 171,3 cm, decisively above the average documented in the Italian Medieval male sample which is of 166,9 cm. The average female height is instead of 150,7 cm, lower than the average (154,5 cm) (Giannecchini, Moggi-Cecchi 2008) (tab. 3). A direct diagram 3 – Comparison of the average male and female statures at Vetricella with that from other Medieval sites (Giannecchini, Moggi Cecchi 2008; Mongelli et al. 2008; Viva 2017). 109 S. Viva Sexual dimorphism cm % Vetricella San Genesio VI-X San Genesio X-XIII P.zza Signoria Roselle Sestino 20,6 14,1 12,3 13,3 12,6 12,0 87,9 91,6 92,7 92,0 92,5 92,7 Selvicciola Vicenne 10,8 11,9 93,5 92,9 Pava 9,3 94,5 tab. 4 – Sexual dimorphism comparison in centimeters and ratios from Vetricella with that from other Medieval sites (Giannecchini, Moggi Cecchi 2008; Mongelli et al. 2008; Viva 2017). diagram 4 – Sexual dimorphism comparison in centimeters. comparison was carried out with the average male and female statures from single Medieval sites 13. The average male stature at Vetricella (171,3 cm) is greater than in all of the reviewed sites, the female (150,7 cm) is instead lower (diagram 3). Comparison between height averages shows significant sexual dysmorphism. At Vetricella this is of 87,9%, with a difference of 20,6 cm between male and female averages (tab. 4 and diagram 4), whereas the average dimorphism between males and females during the Medieval period is of 12,0 cm (Giannecchini, Moggi Cecchi 2008). Considering the particularly high male stature average comparison was also conducted on data from Italian Lombard contexts that present particularly high statures (Bertozzo 1998). The highest male stature, equal to that of Vetricella, is registered at Sovizzo (171,3 cm) and the lowest at Erto (166,4 cm). The average Lombard stature (168,0 cm) is nonetheless lower than that featured in our sample which appears to be closer to average statures recorded in Northern Medieval Europe (Steckel 2004). diagram 5 – Percentage distribution of LIS in the age groups from 0 to 6,5 years. LIS Out of 25 individuals that preserved at least one permanent canine, 22 had at least one LIS (88,0%). From a total of 80 analysed canines (41 superior and 39 inferior), 17 did not present LIS (21,3%) and 63 presented at least one (78,7%), for a total of 145 LIS, therefore on average 2,3 LIS per canine. In graph 6 it is possible to observe LIS incidence distribution. Our results were compared with a study based on the analysis of 35 necropolises from the centre-north of the peninsula. An elevated and homogenous incidence of hypoplasia (between 70% and 90%) was noted in Roman period sites dating to between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, followed by its decline from the 5th-6th century up to the 7th and successive growth from the 8th century onwards (Barbiera, Dalla Zuanna 2007). These results could reflect the evidence recorded in our sample (88,0%), namely the recurrence of high levels of hypoplasia after the 8th century, reaching an incidence more similar to that recorded during the Roman period. Nevertheless, what distinguishes Vetricella from Roman period contexts and likens it to Medieval period parallels is the age in which hypoplasia begins to occur as well as its major incidence. During the Roman Age, hypoplasia formation peaks appear between the fourth and eighth month of age, a phenomenon tied-in to precocious weaning (Fitzgerald et al. 2006). Beginning in about the 4th century AD and for the entire early Medieval period, the higher frequency of hypoplasia is instead recorded between the ages of three and five years. Vetricella is no exception: onset is recorded at around 2,5 years and the incidence peaks at around 4 years, as documented in other early Medieval sites 14. This evidence can be interpreted by the recurring practice, referable to the early Middle Ages, of prolonged breastfeeding accompanied by a richer maternal diet (Barbiera, Dalla Zuanna 2007; Dittmann, Grupe 2000). The differences noted with the 3.2.4 Non-specific stress markers These types of indicators have potential repercussions on demographic evidence and have therefore been analysed with great attention. Enamel hypoplasia, its incidence and especially the moment in which it occurred, is of great help in understanding how children were raised in a community: it can signal the passage from maternal breast-feeding to weaning (Amoroso et al. 2014; Armelagos et al. 2009; Barbiera, Dalla Zuanna 2007; Giovannini 2002). Cribra lesions are instead generally caused by megaloblastic anemia acquired during breast-feeding and development in absence of vitamin B12 (Walker et al. 2009), therefore still a stress marker connected to child nutrition featuring scarce protein intake. 13 San Genesio (San Miniato, Pisa) (6th-10th cent. AD and 10th-13th cent. AD; Viva 2017), Piazza della Signoria (Firenze), Roselle (Grosseto), Sestino (Arezzo) (reference chronologies are not specified; Giannecchini, MoggiCecchi 2008), Pieve di Pava (Montalcino, Siena) (11th-12th century; Mongelli et al. 2008), La Selvicciola (Ischia di Castro, Viterbo) (7th century AD; Giannecchini, Moggi-Cecchi 2008), Vicenne (Campochiaro, Campobasso) (7th-8th century AD; Giannecchini, Moggi-Cecchi 2008). 14 San Genesio (San Miniato, Pisa), Formigine (Modena), Castro dei Volsci (Frosinone), Venosa (Potenza). 110 BURIALS FROM THE CEMETERY AT VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GRosseto) presence of LIS in the male and female canine samples are statistically non-significant (p=0,3185). Porotic hyperostosis Out of 22 examined orbits, 16 (72,7%) showed different degrees of cribra orbitalia (fig. 3) (Steckel et al. 2006). Out of 35 parietal bones, 17 (48,6%) showed cribra cranii (fig. 4). Out of 13 individuals with at least one orbit, 10 (76,9%) presented cribra orbitalia whereas out of 19 with at least one parietal, 10 (52,6%) were affected by cribra cranii. Of the 19 individuals that conserved at least one orbit or parietal, 12 (63,2%) were affected by a form of porotic hyperostosis; out of 12 individuals that conserved both orbits and parietals, 8 (66,7%) presented both forms of porotic hyperostosis (orbitalia and cranii) (tab. 5). Having a sample largely composed of sub-adults and considering that with aging the less acute cases of cribra can be reabsorbed (Walker 1986; Stuart-Macadam 1985; Stuart-Macadam 1987; Stuart-Macadam 1992; Grauer 1993) we initially hypothesised that the hyperostosis evidence was overestimated. For this reason we divided the result between adults (>20) and sub-adults (<19) as already done in previous works (Piontek, Kozlowski 2002; Salvadei, Ricci, Manzi 2001). The difference in the general distribution of hyperostosis traces in adults and sub-adults did not result as statistically significant (p=0,6068), therefore the incidence of hyperostosis can be considered as high in all the population. We also divided the result between males and females: the incidence of cribra orbitalia in males is at 37,5% whereas in females at 80%; the incidence of cribra cranii in males is of 54,4% and in females of 100% (all of the analyzed female parietals presented cribra). In general, of the analyzed individuals, 63,3% of the males and all of the females (100%) had porotic hyperostosis. A statistical analysis shows the difference in the incidence of cribra orbitalia (p=0,0344) and cranii (p=0,0054) as well as between the number of males and females affected by porotic hyperostosis (p=0,0358) is statistically significant. Comparing this evidence with other sites on the basis of cribra orbitalia, results show that the 72,7% of cribra orbitalia recorded at Vetricella is closer to Roman period figures (Barbiera, Dalla Zuanna 2007) and decisively higher than the Medieval ratios of 1,3% at Collegno (Bartoli, Bedini 2004) as well as the maximum percentages of 41,5% recorded at La Selvicciola (Salvadei, Ricci, Manzi 2001) 15. Porotic hyperostosis is often interpreted as an anemia linked to dietary deficiencies when encountered in the archaeological record (Walker et al. 2009); however, there are many types of anemia and diseases that can result in anemia, such as malaria, congenital anemias or various cancers, which are often left unexplored (Setzer 2014). A differential analysis between congenital and acquired forms of anemia is of fundamental importance for the study of this pathology in Mediterranean populations, considering the presence in these areas of Plasmodium falciparum and the subsequent fig. 3 – Examples of cribra orbitalia. Above: on the left SK2 (degree 3), on the right SK22 (degree 3); below: on the left SK19 (degree 3), on the right SK26 (degree 2). fig. 4 – The most serious case of cribra cranii with possible hair-on-end trabeculae (SK10). Incidence CO Incidence CC SK with CO SK with CC Adults with CO Subadults with CO Adults with CC Subadults with CC SK with porotic hyperostosis Adults with porotic hyperostosis Subadults with porotic hyperostosis N 47 62 27 34 11 16 13 21 36 14 22 n 34 35 20 22 5 15 9 13 27 10 17 % 72,3 56,5 74,1 64,7 45,5 93,8 69,2 61,9 75,0 71,4 77,3 tab. 5 – Incidence ratios of cribra orbitalia (CO) and cribra cranii (CC): N = number of observed cases; n = number of cases affected. Total percentage of individuals (SK), adults and sub-adults with CO and CC: N = number of individuals with at least one orbit or parietal; n = number of individuals with CO or CC. General analysis of the total percentage of individuals, adults and sub-adults, males and females, affected by one of the forms of porotic hyperostosis. 15 For other comparisons see: Bedini et al. 1997; Bertoldi et al. 2006; Dal Poz et al. 2001; Fornaciari, Giusiani, Vitiello 2003; Macchiarelli, Salvadei 1989; Repetto et al. 1993; Rubini 1991; Viva 2017. 111 S. Viva fig. 5 – Bilateral osteolysis of the SCM insertion (SK30). Characters observed Ovalization of the acetabulum Small trochanter medial compression Thoracic-lumbar spine arthrosis Schmörl nodes Femoral fovea osteophytes Femoral rough line entesophytes Poirier’s facet Equestrian practice M almost sure very probable less probable absent tot n 5 3 1 1 10 % 50,0 30,0 10,0 10,0 100 fig. 6 – Two examples of acetabulum ovalisation. On the left SK4, on the right SK12. Male skeletons SK2 SK4 SK12 SK14 SK18 SK29 SK30 SK44 SK50 SK52 x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x tab. 6 – Skeletal alterations connected to equestrian practice recorded from male skeletons. bilateral osteolytic (SK30) and osteophytic (SK14) lesions from sternocleidomastoid origin (SCM) (fig. 5); in one case osteolytic lesions were visible on the acromial extremities corresponding to the origin of the trapezius (SK14). The insertions of SCD, an extremely active muscle in almost all of the neck movements, may suffer lesions during the so-called “whiplash”, lesions that can be attributed as a result of riding horse activities (Holock 2007). In general, apart from SK14 and SK44 that appear as the most robust individuals in the sample, it seems that muscular effort, although continuative, was not particularly intense. tab. 7 – Equestrian practice probability in the male sample, number of individuals and their ratios. diffusion of the thalassemia gene in different areas of Italy (Ascenzi, Balistreri 1977; Salvadei, Ricci, Manzi 2001). This differential analysis will be illustrated in the paragraph concerning pathologies. 3.2.6 Traumas 18 skeletons were observed, among which 14 adults and 4 sub-adults (with an age of >15 years). Of these, 50,0% (9/18) featured at least one trauma, five were male and four female. 16 traumas were detected in total, five cranial traumas (31,3%; 5/16), eight on long bones (50,0%; 8/16) and two rib-bone fractures (12,5%; 2/16). Lastly, what can be interpreted as the consequence of a trauma is the amputation of the tibia and fibula at ankle-height (6,3%; 1/16), although it is not known if this was the result of surgery or a sharp-force trauma. Two male skeletons are polytraumatized 16. The incidence of the traumas has been calculated considering only the long bones (Lovell 1997). Out of 16 individuals, six presented fractures on the long bones (33,3%). The number of observed long bones is 228, 8 of which presented a fracture (3,5%). The most fractured bone is the fibula (6,7%), followed by the ulna (5,7%). 3.2.5 Horse riding syndrome From the musculoskeletal analysis the most interesting result that characterises the sample is the so-called horse riding syndrome. The analysis of skeletal alterations connected to horse riding syndrome has been carried out on all of the adult individuals. Not all the aspects that need to be taken into consideration have the same significance in this determination, some characteristics alone cannot define it (for example: Poirer facets; Poirier, Charpy 1911), resulting from postures not exclusively correlated to horse riding, while others might be ascribed to the advanced age of the individual (for example: arthrosis and Schmörl nodes; Weiss 2005). Therefore one of the most reliable markers was considered, namely the ovalisation of the acetabulum (fig. 6), as it is not connected to any degenerative aging phenomena (Baillif-Ducros et al. 2012; Berthon et al. 2019). For those individuals that showed this characteristic along with the rotation and compression of the small trochanter, where age does not seem to cause a positive false, equestrian practice has been considered as almost certain. Half of the male individuals (50,0%) almost surely exercised this form of activity and in a further 30% of cases this was highly probable. For the female sample we can fully exclude equestrian practice. It is interesting to note the case of two individuals characterised horse riding syndrome whose clavicles featured 16 SK18, an adult male, showed signs of a healed cranial trauma indicated by an oval depression of ca. 15,0 mm on the back portion of the left parietal as well as a healed decomposed fracture of the left femur diaphysis with a 73,0 mm overlapping of the stumps. SK44, an adult male, showed two healed cranial traumas, one on the right frontal and the other on the left parietal; healed fracture on the left rib; a healed plain fracture on the distal half of the left tibiae and fibulae. The well healed amputation of the lower right limb at the distal extremity of tibia and fibula can be ascribed to a sharp-force trauma or to a post-traumatic chirurgical intervention. 112 BURIALS FROM THE CEMETERY AT VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GRosseto) Vetricella San Genesio VI-X XI-XIII Fractured long bones Individuals with fracture JUDD ROBERTS 1999 Raunds Blackfriars 3,5 3,5 1,4 3,5 0,9 33,3 26,4 4,9 10,7-19,4 4,7-5,5 tab. 8 – Long bone fracture percentages and individuals with fractures. Comparison between Vetricella, San Genesio and two English sites, one rural the other urban. From the comparison of our dataset with other early and late Medieval sites such as San Genesio in Italy (Viva 2017) and the rural and urban sites of Raunds and Blackfriars in England (Judd, Roberts 1999), taken as case studies for the correlation of traumas within specific socio-economic contexts, Vetricella appeared nearer to percentages recorded in rural contexts (Jonsson et al. 1992). 3.2.7 Skeletal pathologies Articular pathologies were recorded in the sample (degenerative arthrosis, post traumatic arthrosis 17, a case of septic arthritis 18), vascular alterations (osteochondritis dissecans 19), infective pathologies (two cases of spondylodiscitis 20) and inflammatory pathologies (periostitis; Schmörl nodes); however, the most common affection characterizing the sample is a congenital pathology. The study of porotic hyperostosis in the forms of cribra orbitalia and cranii has been discussed in the paragraph on non-specific stress markers. The primary interpretation is related to various causes of anemia, with iron-deficiency anemia due to dietary factors thought commonly to be the cause of this condition worldwide (Aufderheide, Rodríguez-Martín 2005; Cohen 1989; Stuart-Macadam 1992). However, with the percentages recorded in our sample, the differential analyses between acquired and congenital anemia and a qualitative, as well as a quantitative, analysis of the hyperostosis, was of fundamental importance. The observation was extended also to skeleton parts other than the orbit roofs and cranial vault, with specific attention on facial bones, scapulas, ribs and long bones (in particular the distal epiphysis and diaphysis of femurs, tibiae, fibulae and the humerus proximals) in order to distinguish between acquired and congenital anemia (Hershkovitz et al. 1991; Salvadei, Ricci, Manzi 2001; Keenleyside, Panayotova 2006). A number of particularly serious cases of osteopenia diffused also on the post-cranial skeleton (fig. 7) and its high incidence, especially in the sub-adult sample, has confirmed fig. 7 – Examples of post cranial osteopenia. On the left: distal extremities of femurs. On the right: above, scapula; below, proximal extremities of femurs. fig. 8 – Frontal bone with hair-on-end trabeculae (SK 37). In the box below, radiological example from Balikar et al. 2013. that a congenital anemia affected, in more or less serious forms, all of the skeletal samples. Of the 27 individuals affected by porotic hyperostosis, 17 (63,0%) presented cortical erosions and pathologic porosities on different anatomical regions, especially on the proximal and distal extremities of the long bones (as scientifically documented thalassemia major is characterised by low bone density: Jensen et al. 1998; Vogiatzi et al. 2005). Of these ten were children, five of which deceased within two years of age; four were sub-adults between 13 and 17 years and three female adults. The presence of two cases featuring an abnormal thickness of the diploe, the so-called “hair on end” skull for its typical radiologic evidence, associated with hemolytic anemias such as sickle cell disease and thalassemia, may confirm the 17 SK52, an adult male, showed fractures on the third distal of the right ulna that had caused a degeneration in the wrist articulation and consequently in all the carpal and three metacarpal bones (2MTC, 3MTC, and 4MTC). 18 An acute form of arthritis of the right elbow articulation in SK27, a ca. 9-year-old sub-adult, that led to the destruction of the joint. Osteoarthritis of the elbow, very rare in the absence of a trauma (Waldron 2009), especially in young subjects, has led to an etiologic trauma hypothesis. However, in our case the trauma cannot be directly ascertained, but might have been followed by septic arthritis caused by immunodepression (this can be deduced by the general state of health of this individual). 19 SK27. An articular lesion characterized by the gradual detachment of the cartilage, subchondral bone necrosis and exposition of an oval area of spongy subchondral tissue with organized trabecula’s (Ortner, Putschar 1985). 20 Marginal osteolysis of the vertebrae was recorded on SK25, a sub-adult female, on L4 and L5 whereas SK41, an adult female, from T8 to T12. 113 S. Viva diagnosis of Cooley’s syndrome (Ascenzi, Balistreri 1977; Azam, Bhatti 2006) (fig. 8). It is likely that the sample included individuals suffering from malaria at the same time, but this type of diagnosis is currently obscured by the abundance of anemia signs related to congenital anemia. In the future, with the use of mass spectrometry, histology and genetic analyses will make it possible to verify this. Not only would this improve the understanding of the role of health when interpreting human behavior in the past, medical researchers and public health practitioners can benefit from data that are derived from archaeological studies (Setzer 2014). The differential analysis between metabolic and acquired anemia, considering the extremely high incidence ratio of porotic hyperostosis (72,7% of cribra orbitalia; 48,6% of cribra cranii), has led to diagnose beta thalassemia in at least 42,1% of the sample (21/51), whose homozygote form is known as Cooley’s syndrome, mainly for the presence of post cranial osteopenia (Ascenzi, Balistreri 1977; Hershkovitz et al. 1991; Salvadei, Ricci, Manzi 2001; Keenleyside, Panayotova 2006). A territory such as this, characterised by swamp areas, as demonstrated by the geologic and paleoenvironmental analyses (see Pieruccini infra), but already attested by Pliny the Younger who describes it as noxious and pestilential 21, was certainly infested by Plasmodium falciparum, transmitted by the mosquito of the Anopheles type. Seeing that the diffusion of malaria is its direct consequence (Corti 1987; Frassine 2007), it is highly probable that in the Middle Ages, hemolytic anemias, such as thalassemia and sickle-cell disease, were already diffused in this territory as in other Italian coastal areas (Ascenzi, Balistreri 1977; Salvadei, Ricci, Manzi 2001). There is in fact an extremely close connection between malaria and congenital anemia: a thalassemic subject, either homozygote or heterozygote, can with difficulty be infected by malaria compared to a healthy subject. Thalassemia, while caused by a genetic defect which would not prove advantageous in normal environmental conditions, represents a remarkable advantage in a malaria-infested environment, taking on the form of a widely diffused adaptation to environmental conditions (De Sanctis et al. 2017). Identification of thalassemia in immature subjects within skeletal samples has only recently been set into focus: distinguishing this disease in the skeletons of children within archaeological contexts is difficult due to the fact that immature individuals affected in the past by the homozygote form of thalassemia would not have survived long enough to develop the typical skeletal characteristics (Lewis 2012). The high young age mortality rate might be traced back to the more acute form of beta thalassemia (major). Probably in our sample of sub-adults and adults, including the two cases with “hair on end” skulls, more recognizable in the archeological record (Lagia, Eliopoulus, Manolis 2007), were affected by intermediate thalassemia (Balikar et al. 2013) or minor, thereby managing at least to grow beyond infancy. Another singular feature referable to our sample is the high percentage of male individuals (50%) with skeletal characteristics referable to equestrian practice, a percentage that, with due differences in social context, can be compared to those recorded in the seigneurial cemetery of the castle of Monte Croce (11th century), in which a high-status group is described (Fornaciari, Giusiani, Vitiello 2003). In our case, the recording and analysis of metal finds referable to harness gear, barding and horsing equipment (see Agostini infra) along with horse bones (see Aniceti infra), might be partly related to the presence at Vetricella of a group dedicated to equestrian activities, perhaps aimed at the breeding of horses. 4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS In the Medieval archaeological context of Vetricella a burial area was recorded, partially investigated during fieldwork carried out between 2016 and 2018, featuring a total of 52 inhumation graves ascribable to a date ranging from the mid-10th to mid-11th centuries AD. The cemetery includes single pit graves. The demographic distribution of the individuals shows that males and females shared the same spaces and while there seem to be no clear subdivisions, groupings of children can be observed aligned on two parallel rows at the centre of the cemetery, probably along the northern and southern perimeter walls of a small religious structure. This last constituted a centre of attraction for child graves, especially fetuses and infants (0-1 year), buried sub stillicidium. Age at death estimate showed the first peculiarity of the sample: the extremely high percentage of sub-adults (70,6%) and the consequently low presence of adults (29,4%). Child mortality (0-1 year) represents 29,4% of the sample. Child mortality, especially in infants, is almost always poorly represented in the archeological record where, on the contrary, such underrepresentation of these age groups is in direct contrast with the more substantial child mortality rate of the past (Barbiera, Dalla Zuanna 2007; Buckbarry 2000, Chamberlain 2006; Djurić et al. 2011; Giovannini 2001, 2002, 2010; Scott 1999; Walker, Johnson, Lambert 1988). Hypotheses concerning the archaeological invisibility of this age group differ (Scott 1999) ranging from the placing of children in exclusive/specific areas to distinct funerary treatment. In our case the high presence of child burials might depend upon the fact of having intercepted the area dedicated to them, namely the perimeter walls of the religious structure. Although unusual in archaeological contexts, our child mortality dataset might be considered as representative of the profile expected in preindustrial societies, which is estimated at between 15% and 30% (Rega 1997; Scott 1999). Nonetheless the demographic test applied to the sample shows a result that expresses a strongly negative level in terms of life expectancy (d=44,8%) conditioned by the presence of a high number of young individuals. The extremely high juvenile mortality rate (5-19 years) results in a decisively low life expectancy (Bocquet-Appel, Naji 2006). This evidence led to focus the palaeopathological study on the health conditions of immature individuals in order to understand their causes. 21 Est sane gravis et pestilens ora Tuscorum, quae per litus extenditur (Plin., Ep., v, 6, 2). 114 SK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Age Age Age method group average 413 A – 498 A 45,7 RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, 608 I 10,5 SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) 710 A 20 FE (MCKERN, STEWART 1957) 773 I 0,5 Comparison 774 I 0,8 ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010) 775 I 1,5 ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010) 878 I 0,0 LD (SCHEUER, BLACK 2000; TOCHERI, MOLTO 2005) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, 881 I 7,5 SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, 884 I 1,0 SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980). BO (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2002) 929 I 0,0 LD (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2005) 1000 A 56,8 RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, 1031 I 4,0 SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) 1032 A 65,5 RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, 1055 I 0,5 SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980). BO (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2002) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, 1056 I 1,5 SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980). BO (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2002) 1079 I 1,5 LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) 1081 A 39,0 RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, 1161 I 6,0 SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) US 20 1191 I 16,5 21 1194 I 0,0 22 1219 I 4,5 23 1231 I 2,5 24 1232 25 1259 I I – 17,5 26 1284 I 2,0 27 1288 I 9,0 FE (BROTHWELL 1981) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2005) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) – FE (BROTHWELL 1981) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) FE (MCKERN, STEWART 1957) Comparison LP (NAGAOKA, KAWAKUBO 2015) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) Sex Sex method – M – M – – – – – – M M M – – – – RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) F 2016 2019 2023 2026 2030 I I I I A 0,0 0,0 17,0 13,0 32,1 LD (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2005) LP (NAGAOKA, KAWAKUBO 2015) FE (BROTHWELL 1981) FE (BROTHWELL 1981) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980). BO (TOCHERI, MOLTO 2002) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) FE (BROTHWELL 1981); SP (TODD 1921; BROOKS, SUCHEY 1990) FE (BROTHWELL 1981) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) ESD (ALQAHTANI, LIVERSIDGE, HECTOR 2010). LD (FEREMBACH, SCHWINDEZKY, STLOUKAL 1980) RxC (CAMERIERE et al. 2009) – – F – F 46 2113 I 1,5 47 2110 I 14,5 48 2120 49 2127 50 2142 A I A 58,7 0,5 25,5 51 2147 I 8,0 52 2144 A 34,3 – – DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) – 182,27 169,01 – – PM (SAFONT, MALGOSA, SUBIRÀ 2000, LONOCE et al. 2018) 158,52 PEARSON 1899 DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) – – – – 154,92 RAXTER, AUERBACH, RUFF 2006 DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) ICS (SAUTER, PRIVAT 1955) DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) 155,62 137,74 – 181,57 – – – – – – F – M RAXTER, AUERBACH, RUFF 2006 RAXTER, AUERBACH, RUFF 2006 RAXTER, AUERBACH, RUFF 2006 – DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) 146,66 – 159,61 DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) 165,33 – M RAXTER, AUERBACH, RUFF 2006 PEARSON 1899 – – F F M M RAXTER, AUERBACH, RUFF 2006 – – – 22,7 2,0 DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) – M M – – RAXTER, AUERBACH, RUFF 2006 – – A I PM (SAFONT, MALGOSA, SUBIRÀ 2000; LONOCE et al. 2018) – – F RAXTER, AUERBACH, RUFF 2006 – – 34 2011 45 2065 – 178,13 – 1,5 0,5 DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) – I 42,1 20,0 16,0 46,4 164,29 – 33 2008 I DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) – – M PEARSON 1899 – – 6,0 A A I A – 176,19 – 40,6 17,0 0,0 0,0 2052 2055 2059 2062 DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) – I 41 42 43 44 165,33 – – – – – A I I I 40 2035 – DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) – 1417 1453 1457 2004 35 36 37 38 39 – – – 28 1321 29 30 31 32 DSP (MURAIL et al. 2005) Stature Stature method RAXTER, AUERBACH, RUFF 2006 RAXTER, AUERBACH, RUFF 2006 – RAXTER, AUERBACH, RUFF 2006 tab. 9 – The summary table shows the main biological data of the 52 skeletons found, in order of number of SK. The following are: the number of stratigraphic units (US) relative to the skeleton; the general age class, A (Adult) and I (Immature); the average age in years; the method used for age determination; the sex, male (M) or female (F); the method for sex determination; the stature in cm and the method for stature estimation. Items that cannot be determined or are not determined are marked with a line. S. Viva The male sample is also characterised by a particularly high average height, attributable to the presence of a group of males featuring statures decisively above the Medieval average, a group that appears to be well nourished and characterised by intense physical activity, at times exposed to traumas, some taking on serious forms. Sexual dimorphism is incredibly high: the average female height appears in fact as particularly low when compared to the male. A possibility may be seen in the presence of a male allogeneous group, an hypothesis that can either be confirmed or refuted via strontium and oxygen stable isotope analyses in order to define the provenance of each single individual. Health conditions in general seem to be worse in the sub-adult and adult female sample than in the male. Also in this case congenital anemia comes into play: the average low female height, notably correlated to thalassemia 22, and the higher incidence in the female sample of aspects connected to thalassemia might be explained with a higher life expectancy in the affected female individuals, allowing us to record these cases. From a number of studies conducted on present-day samples, it appears that thalassemia affects more frequently and in a more severe form males than females, considering also the prevalence of osteoporosis and osteopenia (Kyriakou et al. 2008). 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Weiss E., 2005, Schmorl’s nodes: a preliminary investigation, «Paleopathology Newsletter», 132, pp. 6-10. 118 Italian abstract LE SEPOLTURE DEL CIMITERO DI VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): INDAGINE ANTROPOLOGICA, PALEODEMOGR AFICA E PALEOPATOLOGICA Lo studio delle sepolture del cimitero di Vetricella è stato effettuato con un doppio approccio, archeologico e antropologico, con l’intento di ricostruire il profilo biologico e paleodemografico della comunità umana che, fra la metà del X e l’inizio dell’XI secolo, in una fase di trasformazione della corte regia di Vetricella, dà avvio ad un’area cimiteriale. Ad oggi sono state individuate e scavate 52 tombe. L’insieme cimiteriale è composto esclusivamente da sepolture a inumazione, modalità di seppellimento caratteristica del culto cristiano. Le sepolture sono tutte individuali e gli scheletri sono per la gran parte caratterizzati da giacitura primaria. Più approfondite osservazioni tafonomiche hanno permesso di ricostruire rituali o modi di seppellire altrimenti poco o per nulla visibili archeologicamente. Grazie all’osservazione del tipo di decomposizione degli inumati è stato possibile individuare sepolture in cui il corpo veniva originariamente deposto in spazio vuoto permettendo l’interpretazione degli elementi di testata presenti nelle tombe alla testa e/o ai piedi degli inumati, come sostegno di coperture in materiale deperibile poste al di sopra dei corpi, prima del riempimento della fossa. Questa modalità di seppellimento avrebbe permesso la decomposizione in spazio vuoto nella maggior parte dei casi osservabili. L’analisi topografica del cimitero, in particolare due allineamenti di sepolture infantili paralleli tra loro, ha confermato l’ipotesi della presenza di una struttura religiosa quadrangolare con sepolture sub stillicidio e dunque l’individuazione di un’area dedicata a feti e bambini nei primi anni di vita. Per lo studio antropologico del materiale scheletrico, non ci si è limitati all’applicazione acritica dei metodi antropologici tradizionali, ma si è cercato di comprendere quali fossero i metodi più adatti, per ricavare dati più vicini alla realtà biologica del campione, confrontabili con altri contesti topograficamente e cronologicamente vicini al nostro. Sono state eseguite determinazioni di sesso, età alla morte, statura in vita, stress aspecifici, stress funzionali, patologie e traumi. I risultati sono stati sottoposti, dove possibile, a test statistici e a confronti con siti coevi. La stima dell’età alla morte ha mostrato la prima peculiarità del campione: l’altissima percentuale di subadulti. L’alta presenza di tombe infantili può dipendere dal fatto di aver intercettato un’area dedicata e, benché sia inusuale nei contesti archeologici, il nostro dato di mortalità infantile può essere considerato rappresentativo del profilo atteso per le società preindustriali. Tuttavia un test demografico applicato al campione mostra un livello fortemente negativo in termini di sopravvivenza, determinato da una mortalità giovanile estremamente alta. Lo studio paleopatologico ha trovato le risposte a questo dato. Partendo dall’altissima incidenza di iperostosi porotica osservata nel campione, è stata effettu- ata un’analisi differenziale tra anemia metabolica e anemia acquisita, che ha portato alla diagnosi di b-talassemia, la cui forma omozigote è nota come malattia di Cooley, per buona parte degli individui, in particolar modo leggibile su subadulti e individui femminili. In un’area come questa, caratterizzata da zone paludose, come dimostrato dalle analisi geologiche e paleoambientali, quasi certamente infestate da zanzare del genere Anopheles, vettori della malaria, è altamente probabile che nel medioevo fosse già diffuso il gene della talassemia. La connessione tra malaria e anemie congenite è strettissima: l’individuo colpito, omozigote o eterozigote, è difficilmente contagiabile dalla malaria rispetto ad un soggetto sano. Le anemie congenite, pur essendo causate da un difetto genetico, che in condizioni ambientali normali risulterebbe svantaggioso, in ambiente malarico rappresenta un notevole vantaggio, un adattamento alle condizioni ambientali, finendo per diffondersi largamente. Il dato sulla mortalità infantile potrebbe essere dunque ricondotto alla più grave forma di b-talassemia (major). Probabilmente giovani e adulti con segni ben distinguibili della patologia, inclusi i due casi con cranio a spazzola, erano affetti da talassemia intermedia o minor, essendo riusciti quantomeno a superare l’infanzia. Gli altri aspetti caratterizzanti riguardano il campione scheletrico maschile. Un’alta percentuale di individui di sesso maschile mostrava caratteristiche riferibili alla pratica equestre, avendo preso in considerazione gli indicatori più attendibili, ossia l’ovalizzazione dell’acetabolo insieme alla rotazione e lo schiacciamento del piccolo trocantere. Per il campione femminile è stata esclusa del tutto l’attività equestre. Inoltre si osserva un gruppo maschile con stature decisamente al di sopra delle medie staturali medievali, che appare ben alimentato e caratterizzato da intensa attività fisica, talora esposto a traumi anche di grave entità. Il dimorfismo sessuale è altissimo: la media staturale femminile risulta infatti particolarmente bassa in rapporto a quella maschile. Un’ipotesi è quella della presenza di un gruppo maschile allogeno e potrà essere confermata o smentita dalle analisi degli isotopi stabili di stronzio e ossigeno per definire la provenienza di ogni singolo individuo. In generale le condizioni di salute sembrano essere peggiori in subadulti e femmine adulte che nei maschi. Anche in questo potrebbe entrare in gioco l’anemia congenita: la bassa media staturale, notoriamente correlata con la talassemia, e la più alta incidenza di caratteri legati alla talassemia nel campione femminile potrebbe spiegarsi con una maggiore sopravvivenza degli individui femminili colpiti, che ci permette l’osservazione di questi casi. Da alcuni studi su campioni attuali pare che la talassemia colpisca più frequentemente e in modo più grave i maschi che le femmine. Questo dato, trasposto su un campione antico, potrebbe 119 S. Viva significare che la maggior parte dei maschi con forme gravi di talassemia avessero meno speranze di superare l’infanzia. Per questo motivo forse nel campione maschile adulto troviamo soltanto individui sani o con forme particolarmente lievi di iperostosi porotica. Future analisi del Dna antico, combinate con gli isotopi di provenienza, potranno rispondere a queste domande, chiarendo anche la diffusione delle forme omozigote ed eterozigote della b-talassemia nel campione e la presenza di malaria. In conclusione, ci troviamo dinanzi ad un campione scheletrico che, grazie ad analisi approfondite, mostra caratteristiche singolari: un gruppo maschile particolarmente vigoroso, caratterizzato da alta statura e attività fisica legata alla pratica equestre; un’alta incidenza di traumi in particolare nel campione maschile; una patologia congenita, maggiormente leggibile sul campione femminile e subadulto, che permette una speranza di vita e un livello di sopravvivenza della comunità piuttosto bassi. L’approccio multidisciplinare all’interno del progetto nEU-Med, ha inoltre permesso la contestualizzazione delle analisi antropologiche e il collegamento con altre discipline, in particolare quelle paleoambientali, mostrando una grande rilevanza scientifica dello studio in corso che costituisce ad oggi un importante punto di partenza per ricerche future, volte a gettare nuova luce sulla storia e le dinamiche del popolamento della Toscana meridionale. 120 Veronica Aniceti* THE ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSES FROM VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): AN OVERVIEW OF ANIMAL EXPLOITATION AT THE SITE The recording system adopted in this study abides the principles of the diagnostic zone method outlined by Watson (1979). The recording method follows the protocol created for the faunal assemblage of West Cotton (UK) by Albarella, Davis (1994), although some aspects were adapted to fit the nature of the faunal assemblage from Vetricella. Diagnostic zones are morphologically distinctive parts present in most anatomical elements, which are defined prior to recording and are the same for all species. Each diagnostic zone is chosen according to its level of differentiability between taxa and to its potential of survival within the archaeological record (Watson 1979; Davis 1992). In this study, each specimen was recorded only when more than 50% of the diagnostic zone was present; this allowed to partly overcome fragmentation biases, with a higher control on specimen interdependence, and a mitigation of the usual underrepresentation of smaller taxa and anatomical elements. This was the case, for example, for sheep (Ovis aries) and goat (Capra hircus), whose identification was attempted on a limited set of anatomical elements according to the morphological criteria outlined by Zeder, Lapham (2010) and Zeder, Pilaar (2010). All fragments which could not be identified to species-level were more generally assigned to the sub-family of caprines. In specific circumstances, Prummel (1988) was used for separating cattle (Bos taurus) from red deer (Cervus elaphus) remains; when this was not possible, the broader category Cervus/Bos was used. Similarly, the category Ovis/Capra/ Capreolus was used when it was not feasible to identify a specimen as either caprine (sheep/goat) or roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). In the majority of cases, the wild boar (Sus scrofa, the ancestor of domestic pigs) cannot be distinguished from the pig (Sus domesticus) on the basis of morphological criteria. However, attempts to separate the two species biometrically were made by merging measurements from mandibular teeth into log ratio histograms. Micromammal bones cannot often be assigned to a species; species-level identification was only attempted on molariform teeth. In most cases, the wider categories Large rodent, Rattus/Arvicola, Small rodent, Small Murinae (mice), and Small Microtinae (voles) had to be used. The distinction between chicken (Gallus gallus) and other galliforms similar in size, such as the pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) and the helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) was only attempted on the most diagnostic elements (proximal coracoid, proximal scapula, distal humerus, ulna, proximal femur and tarsometatarsus) and relied on the atlas by Tomek, Bocheński (2009), as well as on consultation with the reference collection held at the Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali of the University of Siena. 1.2 Taxonomic identification 1.3 Quantification The identification of animal remains mainly relied on comparisons with the zooarchaeological reference collection held at the Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali of the University of Siena. The animal bone atlases by Schmid (1972) and Barone (1976) were also used. Recordable elements were identified to species-level whenever possible; however, in some cases this was not feasible and higher taxonomic ranks had to be assigned. The number of identified specimens (NISP) was used to establish the relative proportion of each taxon present at the site in the analysed periods; the NISP represents the raw count of all specimens classified as ‘countable’ (Albarella, Davis 1994). In addition, to mitigate some of the biases affecting the NISP (e.g. recovery bias, interdependence, variability in the number of bones making up the skeleton of different species; Grayson 1984; Lyman 1994), the Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) was calculated; this method uses the most frequent anatomical element for each taxon (MNE), adjusted INTRODUCTION The assemblage of animal remains from Vetricella includes 2062 recorded specimens; of these, 1564 were countable (see Methods). The contexts analysed in this study are dated to the second half of the 10th-first half of the 11th centuries AD, and to the mid-11th-mid-12th centuries AD. The earlier period will be referred to in the text as ‘Period IV’, and the later one as ‘Period V+VI’ (tab. 1). Regarding Period V+VI, the stratigraphic sequence suggests the materials are in secondary deposition; indeed, zooarchaeological results highlight strong similarities with the previous period, suggesting that all faunal remains had been originally deposited during Period IV. 1. METHODOLOGY 1.1 The recording protocol * University of Sheffield (UK) (veronica.aniceti@gmail.com). 121 V. Aniceti Chronology 9th c. AD first half of the 10th c. AD second half of the 10thc.-first half of the 11th c. AD mid-11th c.-mid-12th c. AD 20th c. AD Period Countable Non-countable Total Period II 10 10 20 Period III 8 2 10 Period IV 862 267 1129 Period V+VI 614 191 805 Period VII 70 28 98 Total 1564 498 2062 tab. 1 – Number of recorded countable and non-countable specimens by period. 1.4.5 Burning Burning evidence on animal remains was classified as burnt (black colouration covering all or most of the bone surface), singed (localised burnt areas), or calcined (white or light grey/blue colouration). by the number of such element in the skeleton (MAU, see below), as a predictor of frequencies (Lyman 1994). 1.4 Taphonomic processes 1.4.1 Surface preservation Surface modifications were analysed under a bright lamp and, when necessary, a magnifying glass was used. Surface preservation was recorded using five stages: excellent, good, medium, bad, and awful; each stage reflects specific conditions of bone preservation. Particular types of exfoliations, corrosions, concretions and/or particular polishing or deformations of the analysed animal remains were always recorded and described in detail. 1.4.6 Gnawing Gnawing marks produced by carnivores and/or rodents were systematically recorded. Pig and human gnawing are more difficult to be identified in comparison to those of carnivores and rodents; for this reason, their identification was not attempted here. 1.5 Ageing and sexing 1.4.2 Recovery bias The faunal assemblage from Vetricella was mainly handcollected; hence, it is likely to be affected by a recovery bias. In other words, large-sized remains, which are those more clearly visible by the naked eye in the archaeological record, would have been preferentially recovered. This situation would have caused an overall underrepresentation of small-sized mammals, birds, and fishes, as well as of smaller anatomical elements within each taxon. The recovery bias has been assessed by calculating the proportion of correlated suid anatomical elements of different sizes, namely tibiae and astragali, and metapodials and 1st phalanges. The smaller anatomical elements (i.e. astragali and phalanges) would have had less chances of being recovered during excavation; therefore, their proportions in relation to the larger elements provide an approximate indication of the presence and extent of a recovery bias. In this study, tooth wear stages were recorded following Wright et al. (2014) for pigs, O’Connor (1988) for cattle, and Payne (1973) for caprines. When mandibles (and, in the case of pigs, also maxillae) could not be directly attributed to a wear stage, the tables by Wright et al. (2014), Grant (1982) and Payne (1973) were consulted. Unfortunately, due to the dearth of recovered cattle and caprine mandibles for both periods, tooth ageing analyses could only be carried out for suids. The analysis of long bone epiphyseal fusion was only carried out for cattle, as for other taxa more detailed analyses are still ongoing. Fusion data were grouped into three stages (early, mid and late fusing) according to Silver (1969). Analyses of the sex ratio is here limited to suids, and relies on the proportion of male and female canines from preserved jaws and also on the morphology of their alveoli (due to recovery bias issues, loose teeth were not considered). 1.4.3 Anatomical element distribution The analysis of the distribution of anatomical elements is based on calculations of the Minimum number of Anatomical Units (MAU); these are calculated by dividing the Minim Number of anatomical Elements (MNE), which represents the minimum number of elements necessary to account for the recorded remains within each taxon, by the number of each element in an animal’s skeleton. The recording protocol used in this study considers only one or two diagnostic zones per anatomical element (Albarella, Davis 1994), thus making the calculation of the MNE rather straightforward (e.g. 10 distal humeri would produce an MNE of 10 for that anatomical unit; in turn, as there are two distal humeri in a skeleton, the MAU is in this case 5). 1.6 Biometry Bone and tooth measurements were taken after von den Driesch (1976), Payne, Bull (1988), Davis (1992), and Albarella, Payne (2005). In this paper, biometrical analyses focus exclusively on suid mandibular teeth; additional biometrical analyses on the post-cranial bones of suids and cattle are still ongoing. As not enough measurements from individual teeth (e.g. from the M3s) were available, it was decided to merge tooth measurements using the log ratio technique; this was introduced in the 1940s by Simpson (1941), and for the first time applied to archaeological material by Meadow (1981; 1999); it is nowadays the most widely used scaling index technique in zooarchaeology (Albarella 2002). The log ratio technique consists of dividing the archaeological measurements by a standard of the same measurements; these relative values are then converted into logarithms and plotted together on the same scale (Meadow 1999): 1.4.4 Butchery Butchery marks were recorded as cut marks, chop marks, and saw marks. The anatomical positions of butchery marks on the recorded faunal material were described, as these provide valuable information on animal carcass processing. Plotted value = Log10 (archaeological measurement/standard measurement) 122 The zooarchaeological analyses from Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) Vetricella Taxa Period IV Period V+VI Cattle (Bos taurus) 51 33 Caprines (sheep – Ovis aries; goat – Capra hircus) 31 12 Suids (pig – Sus domesticus; wild boar – Sus scrofa) 295 120 Equids (Equus sp.) 14 14 Cervids (red deer – Cervus elaphus; fallow deer – Dama dama) 12 11 Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) (2) (1) Felids (domestic cat – Felis catus; wild cat – Felis silvestris) 15 Canids (dog – Canis familiaris; wolf – Canis lupus) 4 2 Lagomorphs (hare – Lepus sp.; rabbit – Oryctolagus cuniculus) 5 3 Hare (Lepus sp.) (1) (2) Mustelids 4 3 European badger (Meles meles) (2) (1) Glirids 6 8 Edible dormouse (Glis glis) (3) (5) Large/medium-size rodents 100 125 Rattus sp./Arvicola sp. (67) (55) Rattus sp. (4) (12) European water vole (Arvicola terrestris) (17) (25) Small rodents 220 225 Small voles (1) (1) Small murids (22) (21) Apodemus sp. (12) (7) Insectivores 12 10 Talpa sp. (2) Crocidura sp. (11) (6) Sorex sp. (1) (2) Galliforms (Gallus/Numida/Phasianus) 39 14 Domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) (29) (10) Anatids 1 1 Passeriformes 8 2 Gruiformes 3 Wood pigeon (Columba palumbus) 1 Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis) 5 1 Barn owl (Tyto alba) 0 1 Blackbirds and starling (Turdus sp./Sturnus sp.) 6 6 Testudines (tortoises/turtles) 6 3 Amphibians 12 15 Fish 8 Molluscs (terrestrial gastropods) 4 5 Total 862 614 tab. 2 – List of all taxa recorded for Period IV and Period V+VI. Non-countable elements are not included. In case a taxon is only present with non-countable fragment(s), this is indicated with a +. differences are evident between the two periods 1. The strong similarity of results from the two quantification methods (NISP and MNI) gives us confidence about the high degree of reliability of the analyses. Equid remains were present, their incidence being slightly higher in Period V+VI (tab. 2). On the basis of morphology and size, it is likely that most of the recorded specimens belong to horse (Equus caballus); however, the potential presence of donkey (Equus asinus) and/or equid hybrids (i.e. mules, hinnies) cannot be excluded. Other potential domesticates recorded at Vetricella are dogs (Canis familiaris) and cats (Felis catus). Most of fused canid remains were quite robust; this would exclude the fox (Vulpes vulpes) as a possible identification, but not the wolf (Canis lupus). Felid remains (morphological similarities between the domestic cat (Felis catus) and the European wild cat (Felis silvestris) did not allow separating the two forms) were quite The standard values used in this research are the measurements of suid mandibular teeth from the Early Anglo-Saxon site of West Stow (Suffolk, UK) (Rizzetto forthcoming). 2. RESULTS 2.1 Species frequency: NISP and MNI Among the domestic animals, pig, cattle and domestic fowl make up the majority of NISP counts in the two periods (tab. 2). Suids (mostly Sus domesticus – see Biometry) are the most numerous of the main domestic species in both periods. Cattle (Bos taurus) is represented by ca. 15% of the total NISP in Period IV, and its frequency slightly increases in the following period (ca. 20%) (fig. 1). Caprines (Ovis aries and/or Capra hircus) are barely present (<10%) (fig. 1). On the basis of morphological criteria, most caprine remains were identified as sheep, or were generally recorded as sheep/goat; very few goats were found (i.e. 5 for Period V+VI). The MNI frequencies of the three main domesticates show a very similar trend to the NISP, and no substantial 1 The MNI for the main domesticates (cattle, caprines and suids) is in Period IV n: 33 and in Period V+VI n: 43. 123 V. Aniceti fig. 2 – Proportion of distal tibia and astragali (n:19;2), and metapodials and 1st phalanges (n:19;6) of suids recovered from archaeological contexts dated to Period IV. fig. 1 – Percentages of the Number of Identified Specimens (NISP) for the three main domesticates in Period IV (n:377) and Period V+VI (n:165). abundant in Period IV, while they are completely absent in the following period (tab. 2). Cervids are similarly represented in both periods. Due to the dearth of distinctive morphological differences, most cervid remains were identified as red deer/fallow deer (Cervus elaphus/Dama dama). Three anatomical elements were directly attributed to the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). In addition, antler fragments (non-countable elements) were also recorded for both periods; among these, one (Period IV) presented clear polishing marks on its surface, suggesting the antler had been worked/used. A few lagomorph remains were recorded; among these, some could be attributed to the hare (Lepus sp.) (tab. 2). Remains of small rodents (small Microtinae and small Muridae) and, to a lesser extent, large rodents (Rattus sp./ Arvicola sp.), mainly recorded from sieved deposits, were abundant in both periods. Small mammals from the group of insectivores, such as moles (Talpa sp.) and shrews (Crocidura sp. and Sorex sp.) were also present (tab. 2). The presence of the European badger (Meles meles), as well as of smaller-sized mustelids, is attested in both periods; the same is valid for glirids (e.g. the edible dormouse – Glis glis), whose remains are present in both Period IV and Period V+VI. Bird remains are rather common in both periods, being slightly more abundant in Period IV. Bird remains almost exclusively belong to the Gallus/Numida/Phasianus (domestic fowl/helmeted guinea fowl/pheasant) group of closely related galliforms; among these, some specimens could be directly attributed to the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) (tab. 2). fig. 3 – Distribution of the Minimum number of Animal Units (MAU) for suids in Period IV (n:150) and Period V+VI (n:56). Most represented anatomical element/s in grey. Other animal taxa present at Vetricella include amphibians and reptiles. These latter refer to turtle/tortoise remains (plastron fragments); as no diagnostic features were present, it was not possible to distinguish between terrestrial and freshwater species (tab. 2). Fishes were exclusively recorded for Period IV (tab. 2); in the majority of cases, taxonomic identification was difficult, as most fish remains are represented by caudal vertebrae. The identification and analysis of fish cranial bones is still on going. 2.2 Taphonomic alterations 2.2.1 Surface preservation Most remains from Period IV and Period V+VI (ca. 80%) show a good level of surface preservation. Other remains are 124 The zooarchaeological analyses from Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) less well preserved, and some are partly covered with concretions or present a heavily weathered surface. Such alterations are likely the consequence of the occasional flooding of the river Pecora, located few metres from the site. 2.2.2 Recovery bias It was only possible to assess the presence and extent of a recovery bias for the assemblage dated to Period IV. Astragali and 1st phalanges of suids are largely outnumbered by tibiae and metapodials, remaining far from their natural proportion of 1:1 (fig. 2). The higher frequency of suid tibiae and metapodials in proportion to astragali and 1st phalanges is likely to represent a recovery bias, which is expected to affect any hand-collected assemblage. As a result, in the following sections it must be born in mind that some analyses, such as species frequencies and body part distributions, are likely affected by a recovery bias, whereby larger taxa and larger elements are overrepresented; at the same time, it must be highlighted that a considerable number of remains belonging to large and small rodents, amphibians, small-sized birds, reptiles and fishes were recovered, thus attesting for a good level of attention paid by archaeologists during the collection of the faunal material. 2.2.3 Distribution of anatomical elements The distribution of anatomical elements could only be properly analysed for suids in both periods, as an insufficient quantity of remains from other domestic species was available. Suids – The pattern of body part representation for suids can almost entirely be explained by recovery biases and differential preservation (fig. 3). Indeed, small elements, such as phalanges, carpals and tarsals are underrepresented, if not completely absent; this result might be the consequence of the lack of systematic sieving of the archaeological deposits. The most represented body parts are mandibles, followed by scapulae; these elements are known to have better chances to survive in the archaeological record, as they present a higher bone density relative to other body parts; this consideration applies also to the distal humerus and distal tibia. Despite their preferential survival due to high bone density, the number of scapulae is remarkable. The high incidence of mandibles, along with other cranial elements such as the zygomaticus and the maxilla (these latter are especially abundant in Period IV), on the other hand, indicates the introduction and processing of whole suid carcasses at the site. fig. 4 – Vetricella, Period IV. Two suid scapulae recovered from archaeological context US 861, presenting cut and chop marks on their surfaces. marks on pig scapulae 2 (the second most abundant anatomical element at the site in both periods, see 2.2.3 Distribution of anatomical elements) (fig. 4). This evidence might suggest the production and consumption on site of cured pig shoulders. 2.2.5 Burning Most specimens presenting burning marks were very small fragments which could not be identified anatomically nor taxonomically. Overall, 17 burnt remains have been recorded for Period IV; among these, four belong to cervids. In the later period, burnt bones are rarer. The type and distribution of burning marks on the animal remains in both periods are compatible with cooking activities taking place at the site. 2.2.4 Butchery marks Ca. 35% and 15% of suid bones present butchery marks in Period IV and Period V+VI respectively. Cut marks are far better represented than chop marks; these are mostly located on the proximal and distal ends of long bones, with some marks also located on rib fragments; some chop marks were recorded on the shaft of long bones, especially along the humerus, radius and tibia. Chop marks are also present on the pelvis and on vertebrae. For both periods, the presence of specialised butchery activities is attested by the high incidence of chop and cut 2 Radiocarbon dating analyses were carried out on three butchered suid scapulae recovered from archaeological contexts US 800, US 1005 and US 1138. The scapula from US 800 was dated to AD 953-1016; that from US 1005 to AD 801-899; and that from US 1138 to AD 865-977. The analyses were carried out at the Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali, Biologiche e Farmaceutiche of the University of Campania (L. Vanvitelli) and at the LABEC (Laboratorio di tecniche nucleari per l’Ambiente e i Beni Culturali) of Florence. 125 V. Aniceti 2.2.6 Gnawing marks Gnawing marks are rather common in the assemblage from Vetricella. In both periods, ca. 20% of remains show evidence of gnawing by either carnivores (most likely dogs and cats) or rodents. Remains of the animals responsible for the gnawing, namely felids, canids, and rodents, have been recovered from the site (2.1 Species frequency: NISP and MNI). The majority of gnawed remains were suid unfused long bones. Suid bones are usually greasy and porous and, as a result, they are very attractive to scavengers. In addition, as most of the gnawed specimens belong to juvenile individuals, they would have also resulted softer and easier to be chewed on (Albarella, Davis 1994). Overall, such relatively high incidence of gnawed remains in both periods might be the result of a non-immediate disposal through burial of most of the animal waste. 2.3 Ageing and sexing The analyses of age-at-death presented here are limited to suids; these rely on mandibular wear stages, as the analyses of post-cranial bone epiphyseal fusions are still ongoing. Brief comments about the age-at-death of cattle, equids, cervids and galliforms are also made. Information about the sex of animals could be obtained for suids and cervids. fig. 5 – Suid mandibular wear stages in Period IV (n:43) and Period V+VI (n:26). Age stages follow O’Connor (1988), with N: neonatal stage added. J: juvenile; I: immature; SA: subadult; A: adult; E: elderly. Suids – In Period IV, the distribution of mandibular wear stages suggests that about 35% of suids were killed when sub-adults, presumably once they had reached their optimum weight. Fewer individuals were culled as juveniles (ca. 5%) and ca. 20% as immature individuals (before reaching onetwo years of age); the presence of particularly young pigs might attest the consumption of suckling piglets. At the same time, another ca. 40% of suids survived into adulthood; these latter may represent sows and boars kept for reproduction, as well as pigs culled for meat shortly after having reached their optimum weight 3. No substantial changes in suid culling strategies have been detected for Period V+VI (fig. 5). No neonatal mandibles were recovered, most likely as a result of taphonomic destruction; on the other hand, a considerable number of perinatal post-cranial bones were recorded for both periods (fig. 6), suggesting that pig breeding occurred at the site or in its immediate vicinity. The high incidence of mature pigs is rather intriguing and relatively ‘unusual’. Indeed, pig husbandry specifically aims at the production of meat and fat hence, usually most pigs are culled as subadults, namely as soon as they reach their optimum weight. An interpretation of this unusual pattern is proposed in the Discussions and conclusions. In both periods sows are better represented than boars (17;5 and 9;4). These results probably reflect the common practice of keeping mature sows in higher numbers for breeding purposes, while limiting the disruptive presence of too many adult males. fig. 6 – Two suid perinatal anatomical elements (humerus and tibia) from Period IV (US 445). individuals were culled before their second-third year of age (middle fusing stage), while another ca. 20% were slaughtered before reaching their third-fourth year of age (late fusing stage); ca. 60% of the individuals survived into late adulthood. Earlier culling events are attested but in very low numbers. Similar results have ben obtained for Period V+VI, at the exception of a minor incidence of cattle slaughtered before reaching their second-third year of age (middle fusing stage) (fig. 7). In sum, these patterns suggest that cattle were mainly exploited for their traction force, with some individuals raised Cattle – The reconstruction of mortality profiles for cattle relies only on post-cranial bones. In Period IV, ca. 20% of 3 Similar results have been obtained for the distribution of maxillary wear stages. 126 The zooarchaeological analyses from Vetricella (Scarlino, Grosseto) expected presence of elderly individuals. Such results might attest the almost exclusive presence of mature equids in this period. The presence of two particularly young long bones (one radius and one humerus), which potentially belong to perinatal animals, might be indicators of on-site equid breeding. In Period V+VI, a slightly higher number of equid postcranial bones are unfused, suggesting the presence of immature individuals; however, also in this case, the majority of bones belong to mature animals. All in all, adult individuals are far better represented than immature ones in both periods. Such pattern is very common for equids and indicates the use of these animals as beasts of burden; this is further confirmed by the recovery of a number of horse shoes (see Agostini, infra). Cervids – All cervid remains belong to mature individuals in both periods. A few number of antler fragments (noncountable elements), suggesting the presence of male deers, were also recorded; in two cases (Period IV) the antlers had been shed, suggesting that they had been specifically collected for craft purposes. Galliforms – In Period IV, out of 39 countable elements, eight were not fully ossified, while 31 belonged to mature individuals; among these, 29 could be directly attributed to the domestic fowl. The presence of one particularly small-sized and porous humerus is likely a natural loss and, therefore, would suggest on-site breeding. In Period V+VI, out of 14 countable anatomical elements, four were not fully ossified, while 10 belonged to adult animals; all these latter were attributed to the domestic fowl. No particularly small-sized and porous elements (i.e. immature individuals) were recorded for this period. fig. 7 – Percentage of fused bones within each fusion stage in Period IV (n:94;80;62) and in Period V+VI (90;89;67). Epiphyseal fusion stages follow Silver (1969). Early fusing stage: 12-24 months; Middle fusing stage: 24-36 months; Late fusing stage: 36-48 months. 2.4 Biometry The main aim of the biometrical analyses presented here is the investigation of the nature, domestic and/or wild, of the suid populations present in Period IV and Period V+VI at Vetricella; potential changes in the size of pig trough time are also considered. Measurements from mandibular teeth (lengths, anterior and posterior crown widths) were merged into log ratio histograms. The histograms for the two periods display a unimodal distribution and a similar range of values, thus suggesting no substantial variations in size. As teeth are less sexually dimorphic than bones (Payne, Bull 1988), the large and relatively isolated values located at the right end of the graphs in Period IV and Period V+VI are likely to represent wild boars and/or hybrids (fig. 8). Considering the distribution of values and their position relative to the standard of early medieval pigs, it seems that most of the suid remains in the assemblage belong to domestic animals, and that wild boar did not contribute substantially to the diet. fig. 8 – Log ratio histograms for mandibular tooth lengths and anterior and posterior widths for Period IV (n:165) and Period V+VI (n:38). The grey triangles indicate the logarithmic means. The standard used (black line) is the mean of measurements of pig mandibular and maxillary teeth from the Early Anglo-Saxon site of West Stow (UK) (Rizzetto forthcoming). specifically for beef production in both periods. Considering the presence, although minimal, of calves (early fusing stage) in Period IV and Period V+VI, it is reasonable to think that cows would have also been exploited for milk. 3. DISCUSSIONS Equids – Most of equid remains recovered from Period IV contexts are fused. A number of loose teeth with a rather worn occlusal surface have also been recorded, suggesting the Zooarchaeological analyses of the faunal assemblage from Vetricella have revealed the central role played by domesticates, and especially pigs, in the diet of people living at the 127 V. Aniceti site in both the analysed periods. By contrast, wild game was rarely hunted and consumed. The strong similarity of results obtained for the two periods could suggest a single phase of formation of the faunal sample, which would better date to Period IV (the chronological period of greatest expansion of the site); at the same time, this similarity could be also symptomatic of a diachronic continuity of similar husbandry practices in the two periods. The high incidence of adult suids in both periods might suggest a free-range type of pig husbandry (pannage), which might have taken place in the Turkey oak woodlands in the vicinities of the site during specific times of the year (autumn-winter). Numerous butchery marks were recorded on postcranial bones of suids; their location suggests that both primary and secondary butchery occurred on-site. The scapula is the most processed bone. The high incidence of this element and the high number of butchery marks recorded on it could suggest the consumption (and a production and trade?) of selected parts of pig carcasses as cured products. When the zooarchaeological results from Vetricella are compared with those available from medieval Italy, it seems that they only partially confirm the trends suggested by the recent work by Salvadori (2015). Indeed, if on one hand in Vetricella pig is the most represented species in the 10th-12th centuries AD, on the other caprines are not as well represented as they should according to Salvadori’s study; this contrast is more pronounced for Period V+VI (12th-13th centuries AD), when caprines should even overtake pigs. The zooarchaeological results obtained for Vetricella thus indicate a site with unique characters, which does not entirely fit with the trends so far suggested for medieval Tuscany; the faunal analyses might reflect the high-status character of the site (i.e. of a curtis regia). In addition to domestic animals, a considerable number of micro-mammals, amphibians, fishes and reptiles has also been recorded; these are useful environmental indicators, whose systematic study is still ongoing. So far, preliminary results inform us about the existence of different environments surrounding the site of Vetricella, which mainly refer to woodland areas (suggested by the recording of badger and dormouse remains), grasslands (suggested by the presence of moles and certain birds, such as the lark), and wet lowlands (suggested by the presence of water voles and amphibians). Thorough and detailed zooarchaeological comparisons of the assemblage here considered with those from other medieval sites in Tuscany are certainly desirable; these comparisons will be carried out by the author in the immediate future. The aim is to obtain a more complete and coherent picture of medieval faunal exploitation in this region in the light of previous archaeological investigations. In addition, these zooarchaeological studies will contribute to promote Tuscany and archaeological research on this region nationally and internationally, by focusing on the study of the human-animal relationship as well as of environmental issues. BIBLIOGR APHY Albarella U., 2002, ‘Size matters’: how and why biometry is still important in zooarchaeology, in K. Dobney, T. O’Connor (eds.), Bones and the man. Studies in honour of Don Brothwell, Oxford, pp. 51-62. Albarella U., Davis S., 1994, The Saxon and medieval animal bones excavated 1985-1989 from West Cotton, Northamptonshire, Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report 17/94, London. Albarella U., Payne S., 2005, Neolithic pigs from Durrington Walls, Wilthsire, England: a biometrical database, «Journal of Archaeological Science», 32, pp. 1589-599. Barone R., 1976, Anatomie comparée des animaux domestiques: ostéologie, Paris. Brain C.K., 1981, The hunters or the hunted? An introduction to African cave taphonomy, Chicago. Davis S., 1992, A rapid method for recording information about mammal bones from archaeological sites, Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report 19/92, London. Grant A., 1982, The use of tooth wear as a guide to the age of domestic ungulates, in B. Wilson, C. Grigson, S. Payne (eds.), Ageing and sexing animal bones from archaeological sites, British Archaeological Reports, Oxford, pp. 91-108. Grayson D. K., 1984, Quantitative zooarchaeology, Orlando. Lyman R.L., 1994, Vertebrate taphonomy, Cambridge. Meadow R.H., 1981, Early animal domestication in South Asia: a first report of the faunal remains from Mehrgarh, Pakistan, in H. Härtel (ed.), South Asian archaeology 1979, Berlin, pp. 143-179. Meadow R.H., 1999, The use of size index scaling techniques for research on archaeozoological collections from the Middle East, in C. Becker, H. Manhart, J. Peters, J. Schibler (eds.), Historia animalium ex ossibus, Beiträge zur Paläoanatomie, Archäologie, Ägyptologie, Ethnologie und Geschichte der Tiermedizin. Festschrift für Angela von den Driesch, Rahden, pp. 285-300. O’Connor T., 1988, Bones from the General Accident site, Tanner Row, York. Payne S., 1973, Kill-off patterns in sheep and goats: the mandibles from Aşvan Kale, «Anatolian Studies», 23, pp. 281-303. Payne S., Bull G., 1988, Components of variation in measurements of pig bones and teeth, and use of measurements to distinguish wild from domestic remains, «Archaeozoologia», 2, pp. 27-66. Prummel W., 1988, Distinguishing features on postcranial skeletal elements of cattle, Bos primigenius f. taurus, and red deer, Cervus elaphus, Schleswig-Kiel. Rizzetto M., forthcoming, Developments in animal husbandry between the Late Roman period and the Early Middle Ages: a comparative study of the evidence from Britain and the Lower Rhineland, PhD Thesis, University of Sheffield (UK). Salvadori F., 2015, Uomini e animali nel Medioevo: Ricerche archeozoologiche in Italia, tra analisi di laboratorio e censimento dell’edito, Saarbruchen. Silver I. A., 1969, The ageing of domestic animals, in D. Brothwell, E. Higgs (eds.), Science in archaeology, London, pp. 283-302. Simpson G.G., 1941, The large Pleistocene felines of North America, «American Museum novitates», 1136, pp. 1-27. Schmid E., 1972, Atlas of animal bones. For prehistorians, archaeologists and quaternary geologists, London. Tomek T., Bocheński Z.M., 2009, A key for the identification of domestic bird bones in Europe: Galliformes and Columbiformes, Crakows. von den Driesch A., 1976, A guide to the measurement of animal bones from archaeological sites, Harvard. Watson J.P.N., 1979, The estimate of the relative frequencies of mammal species: Khirokitia 1972, «Journal of Archaeological Science», 7, pp. 127-137. Wright et al. 2014 = Wright L., Viner-Daniels S., Parker Pearson M., Albarella U., Age and season of pig slaughter at Late Neolithic Durrington Walls (Wiltshire, UK) as detected through a new system for recording tooth wear, «Journal of Archaeological Science», 52, pp. 497-514. Zeder M., Lapham H.A., 2010, Assessing the reliability of criteria used to identify postcranial bones in sheep, Ovis, and goats, Capra, «Journal of Archaeological Science», 37, pp. 2887-2905. Zeder M., Pilar S.E., 2010, Assessing the reliability of criteria used to identify mandibles and mandibular teeth in sheep, Ovis, and goats, Capra, «Journal of Archaeological Science», 37, pp. 225-242. 128 Italian abstract ANALISI ZOOARCHEOLOGICHE DA VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO): UNA PANOR AMICA SULLO SFRUTTAMENTO ANIMALE NEL SITO La maggior parte del campione faunistico di Vetricella (Scarlino, Toscana meridionale) è stato recuperato da contesti archeologici databili al Periodo 4 (seconda metà X-prima metà XI secolo d.C.) e al Periodo 5+6 (metà XI-metà XII secolo d.C.). I reperti del Periodo 5 e 6, date le caratteristiche delle sequenze archeologiche, sono con tutta probabilità in giacitura secondaria. I risultati zooarcheologici presentano, infatti, forti similarità per i due gruppi cronologici analizzati, tanto da poter ipotizzare che la quasi totalità dei reperti faunistici possano appartenere al Periodo 4. La metodologia scelta per lo studio del campione faunistico di Vetricella è quella per zone diagnostiche, e segue i parametri indicati da Albarella, Davis (1994). Le zone diagnostiche sono parti morfologicamente distintive presenti nella maggior parte degli elementi anatomici, che vengono definite prima della registrazione del materiale. Ogni zona diagnostica è scelta in base al suo livello di identificabilità e di preservazione nel record archeologico. L’uso di un set specifico di zone diagnostiche valido per tutte le specie animali favorisce una selezione oggettiva del materiale registrato e mitiga problemi tafonomici e di differenza scheletrica tra le diverse specie. Il fine di questo metodo è quello di produrre un’alta quantità di informazioni utili e affidabili, evitando la registrazione e l’analisi di dati ridondanti e di poco valore informativo. I risultati archeologici circa la conservazione della superficie ossea e dello smalto dei denti rivelano che la maggior parte dei resti faunistici recuperati dal sito di Vetricella (ca. 80%) presenta un buon stato di conservazione. Il resto del materiale faunistico è caratterizzato da uno stato medio o basso di preservazione. Tale condizione è dovuta, nella maggior parte dei casi, all’azione di fattori tafonomici, quali agenti atmosferici, radici e fratture. Tra gli elementi poco ben preservati, si registra la presenza di alcuni elementi anatomici caratterizzati da una forma arrotondata, la quale potrebbe essere stata causata da agenti atmosferici o permanenza in ambiente umido (quest’ultimo, forse, il risultato di inondazioni stagionali del fiume Pecora, che scorre a pochi chilometri dal sito). La maggior parte del campione faunistico dal sito archeologico di Vetricella è stato recuperato a mano, eccezione fatta per alcuni campioni setacciati provenienti da contesti archeologici specifici (torre), non inclusi in queste analisi. L’analisi di deficit di recupero del materiale faunistico per il Periodo 4 e il Periodo 5+6 è stata effettuata calcolando la presenza di elementi ‘correlati anatomicamente’ tra loro, ma aventi dimensioni diverse. In dettaglio, è stata osservata la correlazione delle incidenze di tibie distali vs astragali e metapodiali distali vs prime falangi di suidi. Purtroppo, la mancanza di dati provenienti da altre specie animali (so- prattutto bovini) non ha permesso un confronto tra specie di piccole-medie e di grandi dimensioni; questo confronto avrebbe contribuito ulteriormente ad una valutazione del deficit di raccolta. Nei Periodi 4 e 5+6 gli astragali e le prime falangi risultano sottorappresentati relativamente alle tibie e ai metapodiali, non raggiungendo in entrambi i casi la proporzione naturale di 1:1. Di conseguenza, tali analisi suggeriscono la presenza di un deficit di raccolta del materiale faunistico per entrambi i periodi. Allo stesso tempo, l’alta presenza di resti tassonomicamente attribuiti ad animali di piccole dimensioni (ad esempio: roditori, insettivori, anfibi, passeriformi, testudini e pesci) rappresenta un dato importante, che ci informa circa un buon livello di attenzione degli archeologi durante il recupero del materiale zooarcheologico. I resti animali recuperati dal sito di Vetricella presentano un’alta percentuale di ossa caratterizzate da tracce di masticazione/rosicchiatura; nella maggior parte dei casi, tali evidenze risultano essere state prodotte da carnivori (canidi e felidi) e, in misura minore, da roditori. Tale ipotesi è ulteriormente confermata dalla registrazione di resti attribuibili a felidi, canidi e roditori in entrambi i periodi analizzati. L’alta incidenza di elementi masticati/rosicchiati potrebbe essere stata favorita da una non immediata disposizione, con conseguente non immediata sepoltura, dei rifiuti alimentari di origine animale nel sito. L’analisi della frequenza di specie identificate mostra come in entrambi i periodi i suidi siano la famiglia più rappresentata; al contrario bovini e, soprattutto, caprini sono scarsamente rappresentati. La presenza di equidi è attestata per entrambi i periodi; la maggior parte dei resti appartenenti a questa famiglia si riferisce ad individui adulti, utilizzati molto probabilmente come animali da trasporto, un risultato, questo, che trova conferma nelle analisi antropologiche dei resti umani (Viva in questo volume). La presenza di equidi molto giovani è attestata nel Periodo 5+6; tale evidenza potrebbe suggerire l’allevamento in situ di questi animali. I resti appartenenti ad animali selvatici (per la maggior parte cervidi) sono pochi; questo dato suggerisce che le attività venatorie giocavano un ruolo secondario nell’economia del sito. I dati biometrici sui denti mandibolari di suidi suggeriscono una natura prevalentemente domestica delle popolazioni presenti; al tempo stesso, un allevamento di maiali nelle strette vicinanze del sito è testimoniato per entrambi i periodi dalla presenza di resti di individui perinatali. I dati dell’età di morte dei maiali attraverso l’usura dentaria mandibolare suggeriscono una predominanza di sub-adulti e, specialmente, di adulti. L’alta incidenza di questi ultimi potrebbe indicare un basso livello di controllo sulla popolazi- 129 V. Aniceti one animale, che potrebbe essere stata allevata ad uno stato semi-brado nei boschi di cerro prossimi al sito. Tale ipotesi trova ulteriore conferma nei dati archeobotanici presentati in questo volume (Buonicontri, Rossi). La produzione di tagli carnei specifici è testimoniata dall’alta incidenza di scapole di maiale, la maggior parte caratterizzata da tracce di macellazione; questo dato potrebbe suggerire l’esistenza di pratiche specializzate di lavorazione delle carcasse animali. Per quanto riguarda il bue, i risultati delle analisi della fusione delle epifisi degli elementi post-craniali hanno indicato come la maggior parte di questi animali venisse mantenuta sino ad età adulta, al fine di sfruttarne la forza lavoro nei campi. Al tempo stesso, una piccola quantità di buoi veniva allevata specificamente per la produzione carnea. 130 Mauro Paolo Buonincontri*, Marta Rossi*, Gaetano Di Pasquale** MEDIEVAL FOREST USE AND MANAGEMENT IN SOUTHERN TYRRHENIAN TUSCANY: ARCHAEO-ANTHR ACOLOGICAL RESEARCH AT THE SITE OF VETRICELLA (SCARLINO, GROSSETO) (AD 750-1250) 1. INTRODUCTION climate, with a minimum average temperature of 3.1°C during the coldest months and an annual precipitation of 592 mm. Arable crops, vineyards and olive groves are present in the flat valley floors and/or on the gentler slopes. The Mediterranean evergreen forest, dominated by Quercus ilex L. with Arbutus unedo L., abounds on the steeper slopes of the Pecora river basin (fig. 1). Small stands of thermophilous deciduous broadleaved species, such as Q. cerris L., Q. pubescens Willd. and Fraxinus ornus L. are scarcely present, whereas the deciduous oak forest, dominated by Q. cerris L., is located only on the cooler north-western slopes of the basin (fig. 1). The analysis of charred wood remains from the archaeological contexts of Vetricella is the second step in the study of the forest vegetation history in the Pecora river valley. Previous studies (Buonincontri et al. in press; Pieruccini et al. 2018) focused on land changes, time phases, and socioeconomic driving forces involved in dynamic processes of fire clearing (involving sediment charcoal, geomorphological, radiocarbon and pollen analyses). The landscape changes in the Pecora river valley depended on the political strategies adopted by Medieval authorities, marking the establishment of a cultural landscape still characterizing the study area (Buonincontri et al. in press). The charcoal record presented in this chapter, illustrates how past composite vegetation cover was shaped, through the diachronic use of woodland resources, by the human community of Vetricella. The aims are 1) to contribute to the reconstruction of the history of deciduous and evergreen vegetation in Mediterranean bioclimatic area, 2) to detect the productive use of woodland (coppice, standard trees and grazing?), 3) to reveal the vegetation changes occurring at a local scale between AD 750 and 1250, enriching the history of Medieval forest management in Tuscany, 4) to fill the knowledge gap, left by landscape archaeology, strengthening research on the physical forest landscape. 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS The anthracological analysis of the charred wood remains from Vetricella ranges from the mid-8th (AD 750) to the mid13th century AD (AD 1250), corresponding to the long time span investigated during archaeological fieldwork activities. In accordance with the current methodology, contexts were carefully selected taking into account the origin of charred wood deposits (Chabal 1994; Chabal 1997; Théry-Parisot et al. 2010). In archaeological horizons, scattered and dispersed charcoal results from long-term accumulated fuelwood consumption, accounting for the entire – or almost the entire – supply area characteristic of a time period. Scattered charcoal, present in both occupation levels and floors, allowed to carry out a composite and diachronic characterization of the past vegetation landscape. Even in large amounts, concentrated charcoal – sampled from archaeological features such as fireplaces – represents short-term activities, revealing the presence of few species and proving inadequate for palaeoenvironmental analysis. However, concentrated charcoal can provide information on the technological and qualitative choice of wood resources for a specific activity. Of the 56 sampled Stratigraphic Units (US), 34 provided dispersed charcoal from 20 activities (tab. 1). In order to identify wood used as specific fuel for domestic and artisanal fireplaces 22 US, interpreted as fireplaces and relating to 15 activities, were sampled (tab. 2). The chronological periodization, built on the archaeological stratigraphic analysis, was strictly followed. The six cited period and the numbering used to identify the US refer to Marasco (unpublished) as well as to the stratigraphic matrix sequence. The archaeological sediments were filtered by way of a flotation machine with mesh-size sieves of 4.2 and 0.5 mm. 2. STUDY AREA: CURRENT CLIMATE AND VEGETATION The archaeological site of Vetricella is located in the valley floor of the Pecora river, on an alluvial terrace formed by the alluvial fan of the river. Set between the town of Massa Marittima to the NE and the Gulf of Follonica to the SW, the Pecora river basin is one of the natural links between the southern slopes of the Colline Metallifere (here ca 480 m asl) and the Tyrrhenian coast (fig. 1). The river is ca. 20 km long and has a catchment of about 250 km². According to the weather station of Follonica (4.34 m a.s.l., UTM 643775 E, 4753770 N, data source http://www. sir.toscana.it/), the area is characterized by a Mediterranean * Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università di Siena (mauro.buonincontri@unisi.it; rossimarta91@gmail.com). ** Dipartimento di Agraria – Università di Napoli “Federico II” (gaetano. dipasquale@unina.it). 131 M.p. Buonincontri, M. Rossi, G. Di Pasquale Period 1 Cal yr AD 750-850 2 850-900 3 900-950 4 950-1050 5 1050-1150 6 1150-1250 1 38 49 50 66 78 88 89 113 116 198 236 237 249 250 254 260 266 285 294 Activities occupation level and floor charcoal scattered across the floor occupation level and floor occupation level and floor burnt occupation layer waste discard into the inner ditch burnt occupation layer burnt occupation layer occupation level and floor waste discard into the inner ditch occupation level and floor burnt occupation layer waste discard into the inner ditch charcoal scattered across the floor burnt occupation layer charcoal scattered across the floor occupation level and floor charcoal scattered across the floor burnt occupation layer occupation level and floor US 1228 506 1500, 3007 215, 1490, 3006 826 519, 636 844 968, 1240 572 446 112, 181, 426, 459 384 132 838 376 1040, 3021, 3023 1289 1464, 1465, 1466, 1467, 1469 860 212 Charcoal 21 36 90 325 40 197 31 66 40 114 225 40 34 119 20 122 69 302 81 22 1994 tab. 1 – List of samples from Vetricella providing dispersed charcoal. Sequence of the sampled stratigraphic units (US), grouped by chronological period and activities. Period Cal yr AD 1 750-850 3 900-950 4 950-1050 5 1050-1150 6 1150-1250 17 18 71 86 99 134 168 202 230 238 243 256 264 268 290 Activities fire related activities at high temperatures fire related activities fire related activities disposal of charcoals from hearth fire related activities at high temperatures fire related metallurgical activities disposal of charcoals fire related activities fire related activities disposal of charcoals disposal of charcoals from metallurgical activities fire related activities fire related activities fire related activities fire related activities US 1314 1302 1336 450 1287, 1512 3048 1315 1137 1316 470 849, 854,856, 864 875, 973 754, 755 576, 653 1003 Charcoal 140 30 20 68 323 30 20 18 50 30 80 50 90 130 39 1118 tab. 2 – List of samples from Vetricella providing concentrated charcoal. Sequence of the sampled stratigraphic units (US), grouped by chronological period and activities. Considering the exponential trend of charred wood fragmentation, charcoal remains greater than 2 mm were preferred for the sake of a more rapid identification and statistical accuracy (Asouti, Austin 2005; Chabal 1992; Figueiral, Mosbrugger 2000). Charcoal fragments were identified using an incident light microscope working between 100x, 200x, and 500x magnification, referring both to wood atlases (Abbate Edlmann et al. 1994; Schweingruber 1990; Vernet et al. 2001) and the reference collection (Laboratory of Vegetation History and Wood Anatomy, University of Naples Federico II). Taxonomic identification reached the species or genus level thanks to the fragments’ good state of preservation. Botanical nomenclature follows Pignatti (1982). In some cases, grouped taxonomic references have been used according to the anatomical type, such as Rhamnus/ Phillyrea or deciduous Quercus type. Occasionally, bad conservation or vitrification did not allow us to identify the samples or limited identification to the family level. For a good statistical outcome, dispersed charcoal remains should be 200-250 per activity. In tab. 1, these numbers were collected in activities related to periods II, III, IV and V. Taxonomic determination of concentrated charcoal was mostly limited to few tens of fragments (tab. 2). In some US and activities, the hundred was exceeded due to initial doubts concerning the correct interpretation of the archaeological context. For both dispersed (fig. 2) and concentrated charcoal (fig. 3), remains have been counted and percentage frequency of each taxon calculated on the total amount per period. 4. RESULTS The anthracological analysis involved 3112 charcoal remains related to activities dated from the mid-8th to the mid-13th century AD. Samples had good charred status, which favoured conservation and therefore determination – according to the different levels of taxonomic resolution. 132 archaeo-anthracological research at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, grosseto) (AD 750-1250) fig. 1 – Forest vegetation map of the Pecora river valley. In white, localities cited in the text; in light blue, Pecora river; in blue, main hydrography of the valley. Data sources: Regione Toscana, Vegetazione forestale, Idrografia corsi, Ortofoto 2013 (on QGIS 2.12.3-Lyon). 16 taxa were identified: Alnus, Arbutus unedo, deciduous Quercus type, Erica, Fraxinus cf. angustifolia, F. cf. ornus, Maloideae, Ostrya carpinifolia, Pinus, Quercus, Q. cf. cerris, Q. cf. ilex, Q. cf. pubescens, Rhamnus/Phillyrea, Ulmus, Prunoideae. In fig. 2 and fig. 3, Q. cf. cerris and Q. cf. pubescens are grouped in deciduous Quercus type, but the respective percentages (calculated on the total charcoal amount per period) are reported in the following section dedicated to the results per period. In order to highlight the vegetation and forest types involved during wood collection, taxa are pooled on the basis of their ecological significance: – Deciduous Quercus forest: deciduous Quercus type (with Q. cf. cerris and Q. cf. pubescens), F. cf. ornus, O. carpinifolia, Maloideae, Prunoideae; – Mediterranean evergreen forest: Q. cf. ilex, A. unedo, Erica, Rhamnus/Phillyrea, Pinus; – Floodplain/riparian forest: Ulmus, F. cf. angustifolia, Alnus. Numerical data from the scattered charcoal highlights the clear predominance of the deciduous Quercus type (60.4%), over the total chronological periods analysed, showing a strong presence of Q. cf. cerris (40.1%), determined by anatomical features such as better shaped and larger growth 133 M.p. Buonincontri, M. Rossi, G. Di Pasquale fig. 2 – Charcoal analysis diagram of dispersed charred wood remains from the archaeological site of Vetricella. Solid circles represent relative percentages of <1%. rings. This is followed by another thermophilous deciduous species, F. cf. ornus (14.6%). Excluding Ulmus (3.6%), the floodplain and riparian vegetation (<1%), as well as the Mediterranean sclerophyllous trees and shrubs (Erica with 1.9%) are scarcely represented in the anthracological record. Similarly, the analysis of charcoal related to fireplaces shows a widespread use of the deciduous Quercus type (50.3%), followed by F. cf. ornus (13%) and Ulmus (10.4%). Occasional use of Mediterranean evergreen trees and shrubs has been identified, in particular Q. cf. ilex (2.5%). and Q. cf. pubescens 6%) followed by Quercus (35.3%); concerning other deciduous taxa, F. cf. ornus amounts to 3% and O. carpinifolia doesn’t exceed 1%. Q. cf. ilex is the only recorded evergreen taxon reaching 4.2%. 4.2 Period II (AD 850-900) Analysis determined 432 dispersed charcoal remains (fig. 2). Deciduous Quercus type (52.8%) is the most recorded group (consisting of Q. cf. cerris 30.8% and Q. cf. pubescens 3.2%), followed by Quercus (32.9%). F. cf. ornus (6.5%) and Ulmus (1.6%) represent other deciduous taxa together with O. carpinofolia, Maloideae and Alnus, the latter three sporadically attested and not exceeding 1%. Regarding the evergreen vegetation, Erica is also present (3.7%), along with Q. cf. ilex, A. unedo and Pinus <1%. 4.1 Period I (AD 750-850) From this first period only 21 scattered charcoals were identified (fig. 2), failing the values indicated by the anthracological methodology (Chabal 1997). Quercus and deciduous Quercus type represent the mostly employed trees (respectively, 12 and 5 remains) followed by deciduous F. cf. ornus (4). Charcoal analysis related to concentrated fire activities involved 170 remains (fig. 3). Deciduous Quercus type is the most common group (56.9%, including Q. cf. cerris 9.6% 4.3 Period III (AD 900-950) Attributed to this period are 237 dispersed charcoals determined from long-term firewood activities (fig. 2). Of these, 70% were classified as deciduous Quercus type (including Q. cf. cerris 52.3% and Q. cf. pubescens 4.2%). Quercus 134 archaeo-anthracological research at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, grosseto) (AD 750-1250) fig. 3 – Charcoal analysis diagram of concentrated charred wood remains from the archaeological site of Vetricella. Solid circles represent relative percentages of <1%. scens (1.8%) represent the most consistent group with more than half the recorded presences (55.3%). Quercus (15.4%) and other deciduous taxa, such as F. cf. ornus (14.9%), Ulmus (6.3%) and F. cf. angustifolia (3.7%) follow. O. carpinifolia does not exceed 1%; evergreen trees and shrubs are represented by Q. cf. ilex (2.3%), Erica (1%) and Pinus (<1%). amounts to 10.1%, however other deciduous taxa are also part of the anthracological record: F. cf. ornus (8.9%), Ulmus (3.4%), Maloideae (3.4%), and F. cf. angustifolia (<1%). Of the evergreen vegetation, Erica is the most attested (2.5%) considering that Q. cf. ilex and Pinus do not exceed 1%. The analysis of charcoal from concentrated fire activities involved and determined 20 charred wood remains (fig. 3): 16 attributed to Quercus and 4 to deciduous Quercus type. 4.5 Period V (AD 1050-1150) Anthracological analysis determined 623 dispersed charcoals (fig. 2). Deciduous Quercus type is prevalent (57.5%, including Q. cf. cerris 28.6% and Q. cf. pubescens 2.1%) followed by F. cf. ornus (20.7%), Ulmus (6.9%) and Alnus (1.8%). There are also many deciduous and evergreen taxa, albeit with very low percentages, among which Maloideae (<1%), whereas evergreen vegetation is comprised by Erica (1%), Q. cf. ilex and A. unedo (<1%). The analysis of concentrated charred wood remains involved and determined 269 charcoals (fig. 3). Deciduous Quercus type is the most represented group (33.8%), consisting of Q. cf. cerris (25.7%) and Q. cf. pubescens (0.7%), 4.4 Period IV (AD 950-1050) Some 549 scattered charcoals were determined in period IV (fig. 2). Deciduous Quercus type is the most recorded taxon (63.9%), consisting of Q. cf. cerris (52.1%) and Q. cf. pubescens (2.2%), followed by F. cf. ornus (16.8%) and Ulmus (2.2%). Maloideae, F. cf. angustifolia and Alnus all have ratios below 1%. Concerning evergreen vegetation, Q. cf. ilex (1.6%) and Erica (1.1%) are recorded together with Rhamnus/Phillyrea (<1%). From fireplaces and concentrated fire activities, analysis determined 617 charred wood remains (fig. 3). Deciduous Quercus type (28.2%), Q. cf. cerris (25.3%) and Q. cf. pube- 135 M.p. Buonincontri, M. Rossi, G. Di Pasquale followed by other deciduous taxa, such as Ulmus (28.6%) and F. cf. ornus (14.5%). Alnus and Prunoideae do not exceed 1%. As to evergreen vegetation, Pinus (3.3%) and Q. cf. ilex (2.6%) are recorded together with Erica (<1%). 4.6 Period VI (AD 1150-1250) Attributed to this period are some 103 scattered charcoal remains (fig. 2). Q. cf. cerris is the most recorded deciduous taxon (64.1%) followed by deciduous Quercus type (12.6%) and F. cf. ornus (11.7%). Quercus is present (6.8%) while deciduous Maloideae does not exceed 1%. Erica (3.9%) is the only identified evergreen shrub. The analysis of charcoal from concentrated fire activities involved and determined 39 charred wood remains (fig. 3). Q. cf. cerris is prevalent (25 remains) with F. cf. ornus (9). Deciduous Quercus type (3) and Quercus (2) are also present. 5. DISCUSSION 5.1 The past vegetation forest During the 500 years of human activities taking place at Vetricella, data suggest a continuous firewood gathering from trees (deciduous Quercus type, F. cf. ornus, O. carpinifolia, Maloideae, Ulmus), taking on the form of thermophilous deciduous forests. The persistent high frequency of the deciduous Quercus type would suggest its prevalence, especially in the forest cover. This woodland was a deciduous Quercus forest, or more precisely, a Q. cerris forest. The collection of fuel-wood is usually subordinated to the principle of least effort (Asouti, Austin 2005; Chabal 1992; Chabal 1997). A human community is more likely to collect the most readily available wood in proximity to the settlement (in particular for domestic fuel). Subsequently, taxa frequencies in the anthracological record are influenced in direct proportion to the occurrence and abundance of woodland species within the environment around the archaeological site. Therefore, anthracological data suggests that Q. cerris forest would have characterized the slopes around Vetricella during that time. In the valley of the river Pecora these woods are currently located on slopes and hills between 100 and 200 m a.s.l. and at about 6 km from Vetricella, while the evergreen Mediterranean vegetation is widely distributed along the slopes near the archaeological site (approximately 3 km), dominated by Q. ilex trees and shrubs of maquis (fig. 1). According to anthracological data, the presence of Mediterranean evergreen vegetation is mainly limited to Erica (shrub), while Q. cf. ilex and A. unedo (trees) are scarcely used. This would suggest a much wider extension of the Q. cerris forest, especially in areas that today are covered by the Mediterranean evergreen forest. Modelling woodland use and past forest ecology through charcoal analysis has been extensively reviewed and discussed (Marston 2009; Shackleton, Prins 1992; Théry-Parisot, Meignen 2000). In particular, authors have stressed that the abundant presence of certain species as fuel could also originate from the properties of the woodland as well as physicochemical features. In the case of Vetricella, the prevailing use of Q. cf. cerris firewood could have been encour- fig. 4 – Charcoal analysis diagram comparing the sum of deciduous Quercus type and Quercus with F. cf. ornus and Ulmus (only dispersed charred wood remains). aged by its higher quality as a fuel rather than its proximity. However, evergreen shrubs and trees have similar or higher calorific values (Dimitrakopoulos, Panov 2001; Doat, Valette 1981; Madrigal et al. 2011; Todaro et al. 2007), therefore excluding the choice of Q. cerris on the basis of such properties. A greater extension of the deciduous Quercus forest between the Early and Late Middle Ages is also found in the pollen sequences from the nearby Lake Accesa, recording 16,000 years of forest-cover history in the southern Colline Metallifere (Drescher-Schneider et al. 2007; Vannière et al. 2008). Aside from sudden collapses and fluctuations, the pollen sequences show the dominant and uninterrupted presence of deciduous Quercus throughout the Early Middle Ages. The widespread diffusion of the deciduous Quercus forest in the central Mediterranean basin, to the detriment of evergreen Quercus, has often been considered as the result of climatic events, in particular wet periods during the Holocene’s cooler climate phases (Colombaroli et al. 2009). The presence of deciduous Quercus forest along the Tyrrhenian coast, between the lower valley of the river Cecina and the estuary of the river Ombrone, is dated to the 4th-5th century AD by way of anthracological data recovered from archaeological sites (Di Pasquale et al. 2014). This occur- 136 archaeo-anthracological research at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, grosseto) (AD 750-1250) rence falls within a dry phase recorded both in European and Mediterranean regions (Magny et al. 2013; Peyron et al. 2013) and is documented in the Colline Metallifere in the form of the deposition of lacustrine sediments in the Lake Accesa. The sedimentological analyses show that the lowest lake-level in the last 2500 years dates to the end of the Roman period (Magny et al. 2007). If we exclude favourable climatic phases, then the expansion of deciduous Quercus forest in the southern Colline Metallifere can be attributed to anthropic causes, namely the rural depopulation at the end of the Roman Empire and, more generally, the abandoning of cultivated areas (Di Pasquale et al. 2014). Deciduous Quercus has, in fact, a greater competitive potential than evergreen Quercus in the processes of spatial occupation of abandoned fields (Barbero et al. 1990; Di Pasquale, Garfì 1998). The Q. cerris forest of Vetricella can therefore be seen as the Early Medieval descendant of a forest condition spread a few centuries before. Descending from the slopes, Q. cerris could have extended its colonization to the alluvial plain, in soils that were only occasionally flooded, finding optimal conditions in deep, fertile and moist-rich earths. The tree could mix with the most typical fluvial species such as Ulmus minor Mill. and Fraxinus oxycarpa Bieb., as well as riparian trees in the form of Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertner. These forest types are still present today in Tuscany, having survived in a few areas to modern land reclamation activities (Mondino, Bernetti 1998). Considering the comparative evidence of similar woodland taxa in the anthracological record, it seems that these associations were well established during the Middle Ages. Q. cerris spread across the valley floor, limiting its range to higher grounds away from soils exposed to swamping. Considering the altimetry of the lower Pecora river valley, the human community of Vetricella could have taken advantage of available timber and fuelwood within a 2 or 3 km radius. 80% (fig. 4). Coppicing and regrowth, also associated with a wider extension of the deciduous Quercus forest, justifies the continuous and predominant exploitation of Q. cerris during the entire settlement phase of Vetricella. Nevertheless, considering the same percentages, the use of deciduous Quercus decreases progressively after AD 900, whereas the exploitation of F. cf. ornus timber increases (fig. 4). In the Colline Metallifere, F. ornus occurs typically in mixed deciduous forest covering the hills, joining forest types dominated by deciduous Quercus (Mondino, Bernetti 1998). It is a frugal and fast-growing plant, able to colonise open habitats and lightly forested areas. It thrives on poor soils while suffering the competition of other deciduous trees in richer ones. The lack of canopy cover and the decrease in litter due to coppicing greatly reduces the interception of incident radiation, heat and rainfall. The soil system can lose resilience to prolonged periods of summer drought (Tedeschi et al. 2006), rainsplash and wash-out erosion (Borrelli, Schütt 2014). Coppicing has detrimental effects on the stability of the Q. cerris forest, effects that are amplified when the site features unfavourable conditions such as shallow soils, southern exposure and steep slopes (Cutini, Benvenuti 1998). Due to its specific adaptive abilities, F. ornus is the species most favoured by these ecological changes, as well as the most competitive at the beginning and over the course of time, becoming the main accessory species in the coppice Q. cerris forest (Amorini et al. 1998; Fabbio, Amorini 2006). The notable increment at Vetricella in the presence of F. cf. ornus as a fuel from AD 950 to 1150 (fig. 4) can be attributed to the spreading of this pioneer species caused by environmental soil degradation and the growth of the coppice Q. cerris forest. In general, the 10th century AD was a period in which the exploitation of woodland resources led to detectable changes of the hilly forest habitat and where a sequence of activities took place, aimed at radically changing the site of Vetricella along with land use in the river valley. On-site changes include the building of new fortifications and a stone base for the central tower structure together with the creation of a burial area possibly related to a newfound religious edifice (see Marasco, Briano, infra). In the Pecora river valley, land use activities enhanced drainage and the clearing of flat swamplands, expanding also forest clearance on the hilly slopes in order to increase cultivable lands (Buonincontri et al. in press; Pieruccini et al. 2018). This resulted in a complex project of large-scale transformations that progressively intensified the exploitation and use of wood, increasing the consumption of the hilly forests. Between AD 1050-1150 the spread of accessory species in Q. cerris coppice is evident also from the presence of Ulmus (fig. 4). This species can be found in the Colline Metallifere between the alluvial plain, where the deep, humus-rich soils are subject to waterlogging, and the first slopes featuring welldrained soils (Mondino, Bernetti 1998). A kind of pioneer species, Ulmus is characterised by being a light-demanding and fast-growing tree, able to endure different levels of stress. Its ability to rapidly reproduce through root shoots, even at several metres distance, makes Ulmus a floodplain species resilient to cut and fire clearances in flat and swampy environments, colonising in groups the forest edges of the Pecora river valley. 5.2 The multiple productive use of Q. cerris forests: coppice, standards and grazing The anthracological record indicates that deciduous Quercus (and, in particular, Q. cf. cerris) is the predominant wood resource exploited as fuel from at least AD 850 and for the next 400 years. According to the microscopic analysis, charcoal remains showed rare evidence of decay that is characteristic of dead wood, such as fungal hyphae and deformation of cellular morphology, suggesting that the supply of fuelwood and timber at Vetricella was based on selected wood cuts. The local community would, in fact, have felled trees considered more mature and suitable for the harvesting of woodland resources. In the aftermath of the felling, the deciduous Quercus forest would have sprouted new shoots directly from the stumps or roots. The capacity of many species of trees and shrubs to resprout, thus regenerating the forest resource, is the fundamental premise of coppicing, a traditional method of woodland management. Coppicing includes periodic felling of the same stump, allowing the shoot to regrow, consequently producing large amounts of timber without the need to replant. Considering that most of the Quercus records are attributable to the taxonomic type of deciduous Quercus, merging the relative percentages shows an exclusive use of this wood, with an average of more than 137 M.p. Buonincontri, M. Rossi, G. Di Pasquale In addition to fuel supply, the demand for timber, useful in the construction of buildings, is also of significant importance, especially during the periods of structural change and renewal taking place at Vetricella. Though no preserved poles or beams were found during the excavation, their relevance and possible size are testified by the numerous building features identified in the various chronological periods (see Marasc, Briano, infra). The Q. cerris coppice could provide the necessary assortment of thin timbers, although a number of years had to pass between the cutting of each tree in order to obtain the required sizes (the so-called coppice cycle). Current surveys in Q. cerris coppice show a growth of shoots with an average 9 cm diameter and 11 m height after 35 years under natural conditions (Amorini et al. 1998). Given that Late Medieval historical sources in Tuscany suggest a coppice cycle of between 8 and 14 years (Piussi, Redon 2001), it is clear that, in order to obtain superior timber assortments, longer coppice cycles had to be carried out. However, some structures at Vetricella needed beams with much larger diameters (average 20 cm diameter), requiring more than 40 years in a modern coppice converted to high forest with the use of thinning techniques (Fabbio, Amorini 2006). In order to provide Vetricella with the necessary beam supply, coppice management clearly included the release of standard trees for the production of a larger timber assortment. The standards could take on the form of decade-old plants born from seeds or chosen from selected shoots pruned and preserved for a longer coppice cycle. This silvicultural system produced multi-storied stands consisting of a low storey evenaged coppice underwood and an uneven-aged partial upper storey of standard trees treated as high forest. The lower storey was regularly cut in order to produce small material whilst the objective of the upper storey was to produce large-sized timber. This system – usually known as compound coppice – is limited in modern silviculture (death of stumps, lower growth of shoots and reduced wood production) and subject to criticism (Bernetti, La Marca 2010; Cantiani et al. 2006; Fiorucci 2009). On the other hand, in Early Medieval coppice forests, the release of standard trees largely satisfied a diverse wood production from the requests of the present-day timber market (Zanzi Sulli, Di Pasquale 1993). The release of decade-old trees guaranteed the regrowth of forest resources in a historical period characterised by greater damage and stress to coppice woods (Piussi, Redon 2001). Factors, also linked to the economic growth and settlement expansion occurring in the 10th century AD, could have influenced the degradation of the Q. cerris coppice. Short coppice cycles, immediate farming after felling, collection of litter and dead or dry wood, as well as fires might have amplified effects on the water capacity and absorption levels, as well as reducing the chemical and physical properties of the soil (Bernetti, La Marca 2010; Borrelli, Schütt 2014; Cutini, Benvenuti 1998; Piussi, Redon 2001; Tedeschi et al. 2006). The demise of stumps and the depletion of coppice is a somewhat rare event in present-day Quercus woods (Cantiani et al. 2006), but in the Middle Ages it could have been significant. Consequently, the felling of standard trees would have released new stumps, replacing those exhausted and dead. The presence of mature standard trees guaranteed also a seed regeneration with the shedding of acorns, whose seedlings better adapt in sparse and low density coppice (Becagli et al. 2006; Piussi, Redon 2001; Zanzi Sulli, Di Pasquale 1993). Acorn production was also fundamental to the feeding of livestock. From the 9th to the beginning of the 11th century AD, zooarchaeological data suggests a free-range type of pig husbandry, the so-called pannage, occurring in the vicinity of Vetricella (Aniceti, infra). In fact, the recovery of a considerable quantity of foetal and perinatal pig remains, representing natural losses, would strongly point towards this hypothesis (Aniceti, infra). The compound coppice structures of the Q. cerris forest in the Pecora river valley, hypothetically located a few kilometres from Vetricella, were an ideal grazing environment for the breeding of pigs. Pastures, of course, would have had the effect of invalidating seed regeneration, but cattle relocation for a few years might activate regrowth (Zanzi Sulli, Di Pasquale 1993). The analysis of the pig bone remains from Vetricella (Aniceti, infra) shows that woodland pasturing analysis overlapped the periods of greater consumption of woodland resources and forest habitats. Modern surveys recognized the effects of Cinta Senese grazing (the typical Tuscan breed of pig) on the forest floor, both under forest cover and under forest cover complementary to agricultural crops. The damage to the forest ecosystem can be quantified in the loss of herbaceous and shrub layers (determining a less efficient interception of rain and enhancing its erosive action on slopes and steep soils), altering top-soil properties and digging out roots (Grifoni et al. 2007). The evidence of damage is already consistent with one animal unit/hectare, however a limited permanence, only during the fruit-bearing period (September to March), would lessen the significance of the impact of these animals. In contrast, late Medieval historical sources indicate the interdiction of grazing in Quercus woods exactly during the fruit-bearing period so as to allow the collection and accumulation of winter reserves (Piussi, Redon 2001). The same sources also show the prohibition of grazing in coppice due to the vulnerability of shoots. The interdiction was in force for the first years of the new shoots and, in any case, every year during the spring growth season or during the years of regeneration after coppicing (Piussi, Redon 2001). Like coppicing, the spread of grazing in woodlands was clearly a strong factor in the decline and parallel colonization of the Medieval forest habitat. The progressive spread of F. ornus and Ulmus in the Q. cerris forest of Vetricella could also be a consequence of the consumption of soil and wood by the grazing of pigs. Moreover, both tree species are well adapted to grow in areas disturbed by pasture thanks to their ability to germinate rapidly after cutting. Although the late Medieval historical sources may be affected by different settlement, political, and economic conditions, our recent palaeo-environmental researches are highlighting the significant importance of the mid-9th century AD in laying the grounds for the modern-day Mediterranean Tuscan landscape (Buonincontri et al. in press). From AD 850, the impact of the local human communities was influencing the regional vegetation history through fire clearance, contributing to the decline of the dominant deciduous Quercus woodland. As to the anthracological data from Vetricella, the varied use of Q. 138 archaeo-anthracological research at the site of Vetricella (Scarlino, grosseto) (AD 750-1250) cerris forest, with the presence of coppices and pastures, along with the management in compound coppices, together with stumps and standard trees, all contributed to affect fertility in the 10th century AD, eroding the natural conditions of vegetation and regeneration while selecting more frugal and pioneering tree species. The multiple productive use of Q. cerris forest, with the presence of compound coppices and pastures, together with stumps and standards, contributed to affect the fertility of woodland from the 10th century AD, eroding the natural conditions of vegetation and regeneration. To the best of our knowledge (Buonincontri et al. in press), these are the oldest evidences for Medieval woodland use influencing local vegetation history, contributing to the decline of the dominant deciduous Quercus forest, and evolving, in secondary succession, towards the current landscape dominated by the evergreen Mediterranean forest. Historical sources point to the great importance in the use of woods for pig pasture since the Lombard period (Montanari 1979), while archaeozoological data have demonstrated the crucial role of pig farming in the economy and diet of Tuscany between the 7th and 12th centuries AD (Salvadori 2019). The anthracological record of Vetricella is the first evidence regarding the capitalization of pasture in woodland, dating back to the late-Carolingian period (9th century AD) the beginning of a silvo-pastoral landscape that still today represents a tradition of great importance in central Italy. 6. CONCLUSION Anthracological analysis were carried out on 3112 charred wood remains from archaeological contexts of Vetricella, ranging from mid-8th (AD 750) to mid-13th century AD (AD 1250). In order to define a composite and diachronic characterization of the past vegetation landscape as well as to provide information on the technological and qualitative choice of timber resources for specific fire activities, analyses took into account both dispersed and concentrated charcoal. The main outcomes can be listed as follows: 1. The fuelwood record outlines the predominance of deciduous Quercus type, with strong presence of Q. cf. cerris, followed by another thermophilous deciduous trees, F. cf. ornus. The fuel supply areas were characterised by thermophilous deciduous forests, or more precisely, Q. cerris forest, typical of hilly habitats. In the past, this forest type should have been much larger and extended, especially in areas currently covered by Mediterranean evergreen forest. In fact, Q. cerris forest probably reached alluvial plain, in soils only occasionally flooded, finding optimal conditions in deep, fertile and moist-rich soils, within 2 or 3 km radius around Vetricella. This scenario is still present in Tuscany in areas that survived to land reclamation activities during the last three centuries. 2. The collection of firewood for fuel was based on the traditional method of coppice woodland management, using the vegetation capacity of sprouting new shoots from the stumps or roots after the cut. Coppice management included the release of decade-year-old standard trees for the production of larger timber assortment, useful for building activities (testified by the numerous post-holes for structures). This silvicultural system is known as compound coppice, producing multi-storied stands with low storey even-aged coppice underwood and an uneven-aged partial upper storey of standard trees treated as high forest. The anthracological record of Vetricella is probably the first archaeological evidence of this silvicultural system testified by charred wood remains. 3. The lack of canopy cover and the decrease in litter due to coppicing greatly reduced the interception of incident radiations, heat and rainfalls. Exploitation and environmental soil degradation caused the progressive contraction of deciduous Quercus from AD 900 and the spread of pioneer species resilient to cut and fire clearances, such as F. ornus and Ulmus, respectively from AD 950 and 1050. 4. The release of decade-year-old trees guaranteed the shedding of acorns, fundamental to the feeding of livestock. The compound coppice structure of Q. cerris forest in the Pecora river valley was ideal grazing environment for the breeding of pigs, occurring near Vetricella. Like coppicing, the spread of grazing in woodlands was an important factor in the decline and parallel colonization of the Medieval forest habitat. 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L’analisi dei resti lignei carbonizzati dai contesti archeologici di Vetricella rappresenta la seconda fase dello studio della storia forestale della valle del fiume Pecora. La ricerca antracologica, presentata in questo capitolo, illustra come l’antica copertura forestale sia stata plasmata, attraverso l’uso delle risorse legnose, dalla comunità umana di Vetricella. La ricerca si era imposta i seguenti obiettivi: 1) ricostruire la storia della vegetazione decidua e sempreverde in un’area bioclimatica mediterranea, 2) identificare gli usi produttivi del bosco (ceduo, matricine e pascolo?), 3) rivelare i cambiamenti vegetazionali avvenuti a scala locale tra il 750 e il 1250 d.C., arricchendo la storia della gestione forestale nel Medioevo, 4) colmare il gap di conoscenza, lasciato dall’archeologia del paesaggio, sul paesaggio fisico forestale. Il bacino del fiume Pecora, tra la città di Massa Marittima a NE e il Golfo di Follonica a SW, è uno dei collegamenti naturali tra le pendici meridionali delle Colline Metallifere e la costa tirrenica. L’area è caratterizzata da un clima mediterraneo e da vegetazione sempreverde, dominata da Quercus ilex L. con Arbutus unedo L. Piccoli popolamenti di latifoglie decidue termofile, come Q. cerris L., Q. pubescens Willd. e Fraxinus ornus L. sono scarsamente presenti, mentre il querceto deciduo, dominato da Q. cerris L., si trova solo sui versanti nord-occidentali più freschi del bacino. Seminativi, vigneti e oliveti sono presenti nel fondovalle pianeggiante e/o sui pendii più dolci. Il sito archeologico di Vetricella è localizzato nella bassa valle del fiume Pecora, su una conoide alluvionale. L’analisi antracologica dei resti di legno carbonizzato coinvolge i periodi compresi tra metà VIII secolo d.C. e metà XIII secolo d.C. I contesti archeologici studiati sono stati accuratamente selezionati tenendo conto dell’origine dei depositi del legno carbonizzato. Il carbone disperso, presente sia nei livelli di occupazione che nei battuti, è il migliore per indagare la caratterizzazione composita e diacronica del paesaggio forestale del passato. Il carbone concentrato, prelevato da contesti archeologici come focolari e punti di fuoco, rappresenta attività di breve durata, inadeguate per l’analisi paleoambientale, ma può fornire informazioni sulla scelta tecnologica e qualitativa delle risorse legnose per una specifica attività. Nel complesso sono state campionate 56 unità stratigrafiche, di cui 34 utili al recupero di carboni dispersi, mentre 22 us hanno restituito carboni concentrati. I sedimenti archeologici sono stati filtrati mediante flottazione con setacci a maglie di 4, 2 e 0,5 mm. Per una più rapida identificazione e precisione statistica sono stati preferiti i resti di carbone di dimensioni superiori a 2 mm. I frammenti di carbone sono stati identificati utilizzando un microscopio a luce riflessa con ingrandimenti compresi tra 100x, 200x e 500x. L’analisi ha coinvolto 3112 reperti antracologici. I dati quantitativi relativi al carbone disperso evidenziano la netta prevalenza del tipo Quercus decidua (60.4%), sul totale dei periodi cronologici analizzati, evidenziando una forte presenza, all’interno di questo gruppo anatomico, di Quercus cf. cerris (40.1%), determinata sulla base delle caratteristiche anatomiche individuate sugli anelli di crescita più grandi e meglio formati. Segue un’altra specie decidua termofila, Fraxinus cf. ornus (14.6%). Escludendo Ulmus (3.6%), la vegetazione delle pianure alluvionali e ripariale è scarsamente rappresentata nel record antracologico (<1%), così come gli alberi ed arbusti sclerofillici mediterranei (Erica 1.9%). Analogamente, l’analisi del carbone concentrato da punti di fuoco mostra un uso diffuso del tipo Quercus decidua (50.3%), seguito da F. cf. ornus (13%) e Ulmus (10,4%). È stato identificato l’uso occasionale di alberi sempreverdi e arbusti mediterranei, in particolare Q. cf. ilex (2,5%). Il record antracologico mostra chiaramente la predominanza del tipo Quercus decidua, evidenziando una forte presenza di Q. cf. cerris, seguito da un altro albero deciduo termofilo, F. cf. ornus. Le aree di approvvigionamento del combustibile erano dunque caratterizzate da foreste a latifoglie decidue termofile, o più precisamente, cerrete, tipiche degli habitat collinari. In passato, questo tipo di bosco doveva essere molto più ampio ed esteso, soprattutto nelle aree attualmente ricoperte dalla vegetazione mediterranea sempreverde. Infatti, la cerreta poteva raggiungere la pianura alluvionale, in terreni solo occasionalmente inondati, trovando condizioni ottimali in terreni profondi, fertili e ricchi di umidità, nel raggio di 2 o 3 km intorno a Vetricella. Questo scenario è ancora presente in Toscana in aree sopravvissute alle bonifiche degli ultimi tre secoli. La raccolta della legna da ardere si basava sul metodo tradizionale della gestione a ceduo del bosco, sfruttando la capacità vegetativa di germogliare dalle ceppaie o dalle radici dopo il taglio. La gestione del bosco ceduo prevedeva il lascito di alberi maturi decennali (matricine) per la produzione di assortimento di legname utile soprattutto per le attività edilizie (come testimoniano le tracce negative delle strutture presenti nel sito archeologico). Questo sistema selvicolturale, noto come ceduo composto, produce soprassuoli a più piani, con sottobosco di bosco coetaneo trattato a ceduo e un piano superiore disetaneo di alberi maturi trattati a fustaia. Il record antracologico di Vetricella è probabilmente la prima testimonianza archeologica di questo sistema selvicolturale testimoniata da resti di legno carbonizzato. La mancanza di canopia e la diminuzione della lettiera dovute all’attività di ceduazione ridussero notevolmente l’intercettazione della radiazione incidente, del calore e delle 141 M.p. Buonincontri, M. Rossi, G. Di Pasquale secolo d.C., erodendo le condizioni naturali di vegetazione e rigenerazione. Al meglio delle nostre conoscenze, queste sono le più antiche testimonianze dell’uso medievale del bosco che abbiano influenzato la storia della vegetazione locale, contribuendo al declino della foresta dominata dalla quercia decidua e progredendo verso l’attuale paesaggio dominato dalla sempreverde foresta mediterranea in successione secondaria. Le fonti storiche hanno evidenziato la grande importanza dell’uso dei boschi per il pascolo dei suini fin dall’età longobarda, mentre i dati archeozoologici hanno dimostrato il ruolo cruciale dell’allevamento suino nell’economia e nell’alimentazione della Toscana tra il VII e il XII secolo d.C. Il record antracologico di Vetricella è la prima testimonianza della capitalizzazione del pascolo in bosco, datando al periodo tardo-carolingio (IX secolo d.C.) l’inizio di un paesaggio silvo-pastorale che ancora oggi rappresenta una tradizione di grande importanza nell’Italia centrale. precipitazioni. Lo sfruttamento e il degrado ambientale del suolo causarono la progressiva contrazione della quercia decidua nel X secolo d.C. e la diffusione di specie pioniere più resistenti, come F. ornus e Ulmus, rispettivamente da metà X e metà XI secolo d.C. Il rilascio di matricine garantiva la produzione di frutti e lo spargimento di ghiande, fondamentali per l’alimentazione del bestiame. La struttura a ceduo composto della cerreta nella valle del fiume Pecora era l’ambiente di pascolo ideale per l’allevamento del maiale, attività ampiamente documentata nei pressi di Vetricella dai resti archeozoologici. Come il taglio ceduo, anche la diffusione del pascolo nei boschi fu un forte fattore di declino e di parallela colonizzazione dell’habitat forestale medievale. L’uso produttivo multiplo della cerreta, con la presenza di cedui e pascoli, insieme a ceppaie e matricine, contibuì a influenzare la fertilità e il rinnovo del bosco a partire dal X 142 Luisa Dallai*, Isabella Carli*, Vanessa Volpi** ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL SURVEYS IN THE PECOR A VALLEY: THE FIRST RESULTS 1. INTRODUCTION: METHODOLOGICAL CHOICES extent physical and chemical analyses could be integrated into the standard operating methods of archaeological surveys as well as into geophysical analyses (Dallai, Marasco, Volpi 2018). Another goal of this project was to determine the most significant chemical proxies that could indicate traces of anthropization in this specific context. Based on experiences and comparisons with other research work dealing with multidisciplinary experiences, our protocol fully embraced the essential guidelines adopted by the University of Sheffield in various operating contexts (for instance on the Dhaskalio-Kavos site, on the island of Keros and in Stepnoye, on the Ural Mountains; Doonan et al. in print). This approach was adjusted to the examined territory, namely the Maremma region near Grosseto, which is the focus of the nEU-Med project. At a numeric/quantitative level, the multidisciplinary survey covered an area of approx. 140 hectares, where over 2.800 pXRF measurements were taken and georeferenced with a metric GPS. As we shall see in the following paragraphs, these measurements were based on a 20 m grid system, which was narrowed down to 10 m and 5 m over two specific areas where magnetometric analyses were also performed (Dallai, Marasco, Volpi 2018), as well as trial excavations (in the areas of Podere Casetta and Fattoria Vetricella). Cross-examination of the collected data resulted in a preliminary mapping of the landscape’s geochemical features, which were examined alongside previous archaeological data and enhanced with the analysis of other sources (e.g. geographical and cadastral maps). This method proved to be an extremely valid interpretative support for the reconstruction of the historical landscape, intended as a combination of physical and anthropological/cultural aspects in constant transformation, whose identity «originates from natural, human factors and their interrelations» (as expressed in the Codice dei Beni Culturali e del Paesaggio, 2004). It is therefore clear that a well-pondered assessment of these significant sets of data is an added value for interpretative intents as well as for reconstruction, diagnosis and predictivity purposes (fig. 1). The surveys that were carried out in the Pecora and Cornia valleys in 2017 and 2018 were aimed at transferring a multidisciplinary operative approach into the typical procedures of landscape archaeology. This is the distinctive feature of the nEU-Med project, with the gathering of data in order to better understand and reconstruct the political and socio-economical transformations of the Colline Metallifere between the 7th and 12th centuries AD. The practical aspects of landscape archaeology, as we know, include the comparison and questioning of numerous sources, in addition to the use of field procedures that can be implemented further with archaeological, geomorphological and cultural-anthropological contributions (Cambi 2009, pp. 350-352). The multidisciplinary surveys that were carried out by the nEU-Med project have systematically combined field-walking with physico-chemical analyses, using an innovative method already positively tested by the Department of Historical Sciences and Cultural Heritage of the University of Siena on environments showing signs of ancient mining activities (Dallai et al 2013; Dallai et al. 2015). The operative protocol implemented in those contexts allowed researchers to identify anomalous concentrations of chemical elements that are still found in these soils today and are of historical relevance in determining traces of pre-industrial mining and metallurgical activities (e.g. Arsenic, Copper, Lead). This protocol was recently redesigned and adjusted to the coastline territory where it was going to be implemented. The survey that we are presenting is based on a sample territory surrounding the site of Vetricella. This area features a historic landscape with traces of settlements whose essential geomorphologic aspects were to some extent already known, thanks also to the systematic investigations performed in the mid-80’s and resumed at the turn of the century (Cucini 1985; Marasco 2013a; Pieruccini et al. 2018; Marasco et al. 2018). Compared to past work, the new topographical campaign was aimed at characterising the environment occupied by settlements throughout the centuries via new geo-chemical elements, as well as updating the archaeological record. In addition, the multidisciplinary analyses carried out in the Pecora Valley were a good on-site test to find out to what L.D. 2. ON-SITE STR ATEGY The X-ray fluorescence analysis integrated into the archaeological survey methods is an elemental technique based on the study of the fluorescence radiation issued by the sample under exam after being irradiated with an X-ray beam (Cesareo et al. 2006; Shackley 2011). XRF technique allows to identify * Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università di Siena (luisa.dallai@unisi.it; isabellacarli.ic@gmail.com). ** Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Chimica e Farmacia – Università di Siena (vanessa.volpi@unisi.it). 143 L. Dallai, I. Carli, V. Volpi fig. 1 – Val di Pecora: survey area with indication of measuring grids (20×20 m, and 5×5 m) and areas subjected to magnetometry. The map reports the positioning of the old road: “strada del Piano che da Follonica conduce a Scarlino on the Catasto Leopoldino del 1821 (Comunità di Scarlino). This road is indicative of the limit of the areas subjected to floodings at the time of the Catasto. Cartography: Regione Toscana, CTR 1:10.000. major chemical elements (i.e. Silicon (Si), Aluminium (Al), Iron (Fe), Potassium (K) and Calcium (Ca)) as well as a large number of secondary and trace elements (Shackley 2011; Liritzis, Zacharias 2011; Cannell 2016, p. 26). In the archaeological practice, physico-chemical analyses applied to soils and sediments have a double function: on the one hand they can allow to functionally characterize specific areas inside an archaeological site (intra-situ analyses), on the other they can be applied to medium/large-scale topographical contexts for descriptive or predictive purposes. The strategy adopted for the multidisciplinary survey in the Pecora Valley was aimed at both functions. The multidisciplinary analytical protocol set up by the nEU-Med project is a pioneering experiment with very few previous cases of application on an international scale, none of which covered an area as extensive as the one surveyed (Frahm, Doonan 2013). The portable X-ray fluorescence instruments (hand-held) are largely used in archaeology for the analysis of artefacts, but they are rarely applied to the analysis of soils and archaeological sediments during excavation and fieldwork. In our study, field analyses were carried out using a portable X-ray instrument Olympus INNOV-X Delta Premium DP6000-C equipped with a 40kV 4W X-ray tube (200mA, Rh anode) and a large-area SSD detector. Analyses were made using the “soil mode”, specifically designed for survey (environmental soil screening) and able to detect elements ranging from Phosphorus (P) to Uranium (U). The instrumental setting in “soil mode” uses the Compton normalization algorithm, which allows to detect elements up to a few ppm; both quantitative aspects (expressed in % and ppm) and spectra were evaluated following each measurement. The data obtained at the end of the measurements, each of which lasted 30 seconds, did not undergo any further treatment; this practice has been preferred over the application of additional statistical algorithms and transformations, seeing that the relevant data for diagnostic evaluation derives directly from the elemental patterns and the reliability of the latter lies essentially in the accuracy of the measurement (assured by the instrumental setting) and the amount of data acquired. For interpretative purposes it is important to 144 Archaeological and geochemical surveys in the Pecora Valley: the first results fig. 2 – Field activities: A, pXRF measurements, writing observations and georeferencing on handheld GPS. B, GIS-based mapping of a measurement grid. C, a portion of XRF datasheet integrated with GPS positioning and fieldwork observations. within virtual grids loaded onto a metric GPS. In the area of Fattoria Vetricella (UT 24, 25) – where notable geochemical anomalies were recorded – the grid size was narrowed down from 20 m to 5 m, in order to increase the number of readings and better identify both the source of contamination and its boundaries. Chemical data was finally imported into QGIS 2 to produce spatial distribution maps of the different elements in order to observe the presence of chemically enriched or depleted areas (fig. 2). observe that relative values of the chemical elements are much more relevant than absolute ones; geochemical anomalies are in fact characterized by lower or higher concentrations than the recorded mean value (Boon, Ramsey 2012). The fieldwork campaign was carried out during the months of September and October 2017, a period when the land – cultivated with wheat and in most cases already tilled – had not been fertilized. This allowed us to reduce the interference of added fertilizers when taking the readings of elements such as P (Phosphorus), N (Nitrogen), Ca (Calcium), K (Potassium) and Mg (Magnesium). The weather conditions recorded at the end of the summer and the lack of long-lasting rain made the soil consistently dry throughout the survey period (Bastos, Melquiades, Biasi 2012; Schneider et al. 2016). The texture of the soil is quite the same all over the investigated area: mainly sand and clay, with occasional gravelly horizons 1. The survey campaign delivered 2.810 measurements of 30 seconds each. Measurements were taken every 20 m and were georeferenced on site with an average 3 m approximation I.C., L.D., V.V. 3. THE PECOR A VALLEY: HISTORICAL/ENVIRONMENTAL BACKGROUND AND SETTLEMENT FEATURES WITHIN THE EX AMINED SAMPLE The portion of the lower Pecora Valley selected for diagnostic and survey activities was considered as the ideal sample for the study and reconstruction of settlement dynamics developed in the area of Vetricella and within the timeframe of the nEU-Med project (7th-12th centuries). The valley occupies the ancient meandering bed of the Pecora river, 1 Pedological features recorded in the examined territory: clay-silt soil, not gravelly, ranging from non-calcareous to moderately calcareous, from slightly to moderately saline, with bad drainage qualities (VDA1); clay-silt soil, ranging from non-gravelly to scarcely gravelly, from non-calcareous to moderately calcareous in the deeper layers, quite well drained (ACV1). As for details concerning landscape units, refer to the website of the Regione Toscana: http://www502.regione.toscana.it/geoscopio/pedologia.html, “Comune di Scarlino”. 2 On-site XRF measurements represent one of the databases of the ERC nEU-Med project. The comparative analysis of these databases with GPS coordinates, environmental and historic-archaeological observations were the result of a specially designed relational archive created by A. Bardi. 145 L. Dallai, I. Carli, V. Volpi fig. 3 – Spatial distribution of selected chemical elements Fe, Mn, As, Cu, K and Ca, throughout the area covered by the multidisciplinary survey campaign (October 2017). The colour gradation is related to the concentration of the chemical elements; in particular, the light colour indicates lower concentrations while the dark colour represents higher concentrations (discrete, non-categorized values). Minimum and maximum concentrations per element are shown in legend. The blue strokes show the network of palaeochannels identified by aerial photo. Cartography: Regione Toscana, CTR 1:10.000. which successively turned into a braided watercourse. The valley was originally criss-crossed by numerous streams and rivers (Pieruccini et al. 2018; Marasco 2013b). The investigated area lies approximately 1 km north of the left limit of the Scarlino marsh, as featured in the Catasto Leopoldino 3 (1821-24), close to what was presumably the area subject to flooding in ancient times. Its physical boundary was the road called Strada del Piano «leading from Follonica to Scarlino», visible in the Catasto but no longer existing (fig. 1). During the Middle Ages the swamp was still navigable, gradually turning wild and impracticable during the late Middle Ages and being successively reclaimed in different stages between the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries. Today only a narrow stretch 3 Land register drawn up during the rule of Pietro Leopoldo in the former Grand Duchy of Tuscany. 146 Archaeological and geochemical surveys in the Pecora Valley: the first results of marshland still survives near the estuary of the Pecora river and along the Allacciante ditch. The settlements occupying this area in Roman and Medieval Age were distributed according to the features of this peculiar landscape and the network of roads developed both inland and along the coastline. The Pecora valley was the object of archaeological surveys that, starting from the mid 80’s, brought to light a complex system of settlements witnessing a long-lasting occupation and exploitation of this area (Cucini 1985). Investigations carried out in the first years of the 21st century highlighted a dramatic reduction of settlements in the 7th century AD, followed from the 9th century AD by a «reoccupation of former settlements areas» in many of the 6th-7th century AD sites (Marasco 2013b, p. 62). In the surveyed valley sample, the site of Vetricella was identified as the core of this new settlement dynamic, around which two buffer areas showing very different features can be identified. The first, quite close to the site of Vetricella (ca. 200 m), shows traces of small settlements, with occasional evidences of production activities (ironworking). Larger and more articulated sites, in some cases associated to production activities, were found in a second area at a further distance from Vetricella (up to 800 m) (Marasco et al. 2018, p. 186). The most significant archaeological evidences in these two buffers include a village with burial ground (Podere Casetta – UT17 – the remains of which date back to the 5th-7th century AD and to the 9th-12th century AD), a farm (Fattoria Vetricella – UT24/25 – evidences dating back to the 9th-12th century AD) (fig. 1), and several other small rural settlements and off-sites. In order to better identify the type of site under investigation, geochemical diagnostic techniques were integrated with magnetometric prospections (Marasco in Dallai, Volpi Marasco 2018) and trial excavations. 4.1 Podere Altura The terrain in this portion is at a higher altitude compared to all the other areas (as testified also by the toponym “Altura”), with Podere Altura being 22 m above sea level and Vetricella 16 m. Their texture is the one typically found in alluvial fan deposits, which are also the most ancient topographical features to be found around the archaeological site of Vetricella (Pieruccini et al. 2018). In more recent ages, the alluvial fan deposit was eroded by the Pecora river to the west and by other waterways to the east. This erosion generated a number of river terraces located at a higher altitude compared to the valley, considered as ideal places for human settlements. The arcaheological site of Vetricella is in fact established on one of these river terraces. The chemical elements showing higher concentrations are Fe (average concentration of 3%) and Mn (average concentration of 1.138 mg/Kg). These values are due to the lithological constituents of sediments in the alluvial fan, mainly composed of red sandy gravel. The concentrations of Ca (2.000 mg/Kg), As (48 mg/Kg), K (1.3%), Pb (28 mg/ Kg) and Zn (57 mg/kg) don’t display anomalous values and can be associated to the typical geological background of this area. The only chemical outlier on one spot is Cu (60 mg/ Kg against the average value of 30 mg/Kg), but this can be explained by the proximity of a highway, so the contamination may have occurred in Modern Age (fig. 4A). 4.2 Casale Bruscolini The area lies to the south west of Vetricella, in a portion of land that is morphologically lower (Casale Bruscolini: 12 m asl, Vetricella: 16 m asl). The terrains are mostly composed of lacustrine and marshland sediments and deposits of land reclamation with silty clay, sand and, occasionally, gravel. At a macroscopic investigation, numerous nodules of Fe and Mn were also identified. This is one of the lowest topographical areas of the surveyed territory, where water-related dynamics must have played a key role in defining the strategies for land-use, and the natural migration of waterways, combined with flooding cycles, may have generated marshlands or areas subject to water stagnation. Aerial photos lend further support to this hypotesis, as many visible elements (highlighted in light blue color in fig. 4B) can be read as traces of ancient river beds (Marasco et al. 2018). The distribution of Ca, Fe, Mn and K seems to match the water dynamics and the different nature of the sediments. Specifically, the higher readings of Ca (3.300 mg/Kg) are found in sandy horizons, where the concentrations of Fe, Mn and K are respectively 3%, 890 mg/Kg and 1.3%. The higher values of Fe (3.3%), Mn (1.600 mg/Kg) and K (1.5%) are instead associated to clay-lime horizons, where Ca was found in a concentration of 1.800 mg/Kg. In literature, Fe and Mn are strictly connected to conditions of saturation and to the presence of water in the soil. In particular, the detection of Mn in surface horizons can be associated to the presence of organic matter, water or seasonal oscillations of the water levels within groundwater (Cuenca-García 2019). I.C. 4. DATA: ENVIRONMENTAL EVALUATIONS The geochemical dataset that was obtained at the end of the survey has proven useful both for the study of the historic landscape and for observing the environmental dynamics occurring over time: we shall start from the analysis of the latter. The numerous measurements taken resulted in diversified data allowing to classify the territory around Vetricella into 5 different areas: Podere Altura, Lo Scopaione, Casale Bruscolini, Podere Casetta and Fattoria Vetricella. Each area shows a specific geometry or pattern, given by the concentration of the chemical elements taken in consideration for our preliminary evaluation (Ca, As, K, Mn, Fe, Cu, Pb e Zn) 4. More specifically, the average readings of the investigated area for Ca, As, K, Mn and Fe were respectively: Ca 4000 mg/Kg; As 87 mg/Kg; K 1.4%; Mn 977 mg/Kg; Fe 3.2%. This set of average values is considered the «background level» (fig. 3). Based on these values, it is possible to discuss the most significant data resulting from the geochemical survey. 4 In order to facilitate data reading, we are here listing the symbols and corresponding chemical elements: Ca-Calcium, As-Arsenic, K-Potassium, MnManganese, Fe-Iron, Cu-Copper, Pb-Lead, Zn-Zinc. 147 fig. 4 – A) Pod. Altura: total values of Fe (Iron), Mn (Manganese) and Cu (Copper); B) Casale Bruscolini: total values of Fe (Iron), Mn (Manganese), K (Potassium) and Ca (Calcium). The colour gradation is related to the concentration of the chemical elements; light colour indicates lower concentrations while dark colour represents higher concentrations (discrete, non-categorized values). Minimum and maximum concentrations per element are indicated in legend. The blue strokes show the network of palaeochannels identified by aerial photo. Cartography: Regione Toscana, CTR 1:10.000. fig. 5 – A) Pod. Casetta: total values of As (Arsenic), Mn (Manganese), K (Potassium) and Ca (Calcium); B) Fattoria Vetricella: total values of Ca (Calcio), As (Arsenic) and Cu (Copper). The colour gradation is related to the concentration of the chemical elements; light colour indicates lower concentrations while dark colour represents higher concentrations (discrete, non-categorized values). Minimum and maximum concentrations per element are indicated in legend. The blue strokes show the network of palaeochannels identified by aerial photo. Cartography: Regione Toscana, CTR 1:10.000. L. Dallai, I. Carli, V. Volpi and 25, 9th-12th century) that showed traces of metalworking processes. It was therefore necessary to determine the source of As contamination and to this purpose it was decided to narrow down the pXRF measurements pace from 20 to 5 m, thus obtaining a more detailed geochemical mapping. On the basis of the new geochemical data combined with archaeological and geophysical surveys, trial excavations were carried out. In the areas with high surface concentrations of As, the excavations uncovered a large amount of fragments of calcareous tufa just below the arable layer, confirming that this was the origin of As in this area. If natural elements lie at the origin of this contamination, the presence of such elements does not appear as directly obvious. The soil of Fattoria Vetricella presents chemical characteristics that differ from those of the surrounding land; the soil here is composed of clay and lime-sandy deposits dating back to the neogenic-quaternary age, which is peculiar of environments originally hosting lakes, rivers, lagoons or lands reclaimed from marshes. The anthropogenic nature of the contamination in this case may lie not in the use of this area but rather in the actual formation of the analysed deposit itself, that could be “secondary” or artificial (fig. 9). 4.3 Podere Casetta This area is located to the south west of Vetricella, at a slightly higher altitude than the site (average altitude of Casetta: 14 m asl, Vetricella: 16 m asl). Its terrain is mainly composed of yellow lacustrine lime sands, possibly originating from mashland and reclamation (fig. 5A). The chemical element featuring the most interesting behaviour here is Ca, with the highest concentrations found in two previously noted topographical units (UT 17-18) that will be described later on. NW of these two sites, and more precisely to the east of Podere Casetta itself, the pattern of Ca, Fe, Mn, As and K overlaps the traces of an ancient river, which was identified both through aerial photos and magnetometric investigations (as we shall see further on). Consistently, the survey campaign notes describe the presence of gravel in the chemical measures performed where the waterway used to be. This evidence is clearly reflected in the chemical composition of the soil, and specifically in the high concentration of Ca, Fe, Mn and K, probably due to the mineralogical nature of the fragments composing the gravel. This certainly applies to the As element, whose concentrations show a medium value (As 90 mg/ Kg) as compared to the whole area investigated during the survey campaign, between the territory of Podere Altura – with lower values (i.e. As 55 mg/Kg) – and that of Fattoria Vetricella, where the values are instead much higher (As 148 mg/Kg). As we shall see further on, the presence of As can be related to water dynamics and to the transportation of calcareous tufa fragments (Costagliola et al. 2013). As far as the environment is concerned, the case of Podere Casetta is extremely significant, because it actually shows how the integration of different on-site survey techniques allows to locate traces of ancient human activities (see UT 17-18) reconstructing the environmental dynamics of a specific territory and contextualizing the archaeological record in the surrounding landscape. V.V. 5. GEOCHEMISTRY AND ARCHAEOLOGY: THE MARKERS OF THE PECOR A VALLEY – FIRST EVALUATIONS Along with the previously described natural phenomena, human-related activities also affect the environment, determining an enrichment in the level of some elements compared to others. P, Ca and K are diagnostic proxies “par excellence” in soils influenced by human activities, typically in archaeological environments (Oonk, Slomp, Huisman 2009). The best known of these elements is definitely P, whose amount increases in deposits of organic material such as tombs, food storaging areas and waste dumps (Sjöberg 1976; Holliday, Gartner 2007). A high diagnostic value is also attributed to Ca in its different implications. The enrichment of Ca levels can indeed be associated to deposits of building materials (limestone) or binders (mortar), but also to the presence of waste deposits (manure or food waste). To summarize, we can say that the level of Ca is directly related to the strong anthropization and exploitation of a site (Vranová, Danso Marfo, Rejšek 2015) 5. The third key element among the ones mentioned earlier is K, which may indicate the presence of areas that were used for the preparation of food (e.g. hearths), as well as areas subject to fertilization or waste dumps. The currently available literature is more cautious regarding the diagnostic value of other elements such as Cu, Pb and Zn, though a connection has been established between these elements and the presence of metalworking activities. Furthermore, the concentration of Cu, Pb and As was found 4.4 Fattoria Vetricella This area is located east of Vetricella, at an altitude that is slightly lower than the archaeological site (Fattoria Vetricella: 14 m asl, Vetricella: 16 m asl) (fig. 5B). The terrains are mostly made up of yellow lime sand containing fragments of calcareous tufa. In this specific area the survey highlighted a significant and well defined concentration of As as well as high values of Ca (average value of 10.844 mg/ Kg). The combination of these two chemical elements may suggest a pedogenic origin for this contamination, possibly connected to top-soil characteristics and in particular to the presence of calcareous tufa fragments. During the formation and precipitation of the calcareous tufa deriving from water rich in Ca and As, the arsenate ion AsO43- can actually replace the carbonate ion CO32- inside the calcite crystal lattice (CaCO3), thus determining a high amount of As. However, the recording of ceramic fragments along with the remains of metalworking activties required a more in-depth assessment of the environment. The area with higher concentration of As (from 168 to 549 mg/Kg) corresponded in fact to the perimeters of two possible medieval settlements (UT 24 5 A close correlation was also recorded between Ca-Calcium e Sr-Strontium. These two elements were used as “tracers” to identify the anthropogenic origin of soil matrices (Middleton, Price 1996). 150 Archaeological and geochemical surveys in the Pecora Valley: the first results fig. 6 – Scopaione: total values of Fe (Iron) and K (Potassium). Archaeological evidence from filedwork (black outline) and the anomaly highlighted by the IGM 1938 aerial flight (red hatching) are also indicated on the map. The colour gradation is related to the concentration of the chemical elements; light colour indicates lower concentrations while dark colour represents higher concentrations (discrete, non-categorized values). Minimum and maximum concentrations per element are indicated in legend. Cartography: Regione Toscana, CTR 1:10.000. 151 L. Dallai, I. Carli, V. Volpi fig. 7– Podere Casetta, magnetic gradient and indication of the anomalies detected. Cartography: Regione Toscana, CTR 1:10.000. fig. 8 – Fattoria Vetricella, magnetic gradient and indication of the anomalies detected. Cartography: Regione Toscana, CTR 1:10.000. 152 Archaeological and geochemical surveys in the Pecora Valley: the first results to be very significant in the area of the Colline Metallifere, where traces of production activities were found in portions of the surveyed territory 6. Based on the existing literature, we analysed the patterns of the most significant diagnostic elements, paying special attention to areas that archaeological surveys had marked-out as possible or certain settlement sites. In this case, the analysis was again carried out following the method of the “5 homogeneous areas”, taking into account previous geological data. This method allowed us to assess the increase or decrease in the amount of each element in relation to a coherent background. In addition to Fattoria Vetricella (which was accounted for in the previous paragraph), significant elements emerged for the areas of Podere Casetta and Scopaione. of these (962-1040 A.D.) confirmed the chronology of the site’s use proposed during the previous surveys (Marasco 2013b). The same surveys had also recorded the presence of osteological remains in the topsoil levels, while almost nothing was visible during the 2017 campaign. The high concentrations of Ca recorded via pXRF analyses on the superficial soil levels and corresponding to UT 17 and UT 18 can certainly be ascribed to the combination of all of these materials having been broken into pieces and scattered across the fields by farming activities (with bones and limestone in particular causing a soil enrichment in Ca). 5.2 Scopaione This area is situated west of Vetricella and is characterised by the presence of a small outcrop (15 m asl) that clearly stands out as compared to the flat surroundings. From a geological point of view, the surface soils are mainly made of sand and lime deposits. The most significant outcome of the chemical evaluation is the elemental pattern (As, Ca and mostly Fe, K) recorded on the small outcrop, along with the identification of a settlement that had already been recorded during previous topografical investigations (UT 39). These had documented the presence of a consisten scattering of pottery fragments, today no longer visible, dating back to the central centuries of the Middle Ages and interpreted as an off-site, possibly related to the site of Vetricella (Marasco 2013b). In UT 39, the concentration levels of the different elements recorded much higher values as compared to the surrounding territory. Specifically, As was found to shift from the average value of 70 mg/Kg to concentrations of up to 142 mg/Kg, whereas Ca was rising from 2.000 to 2.400 mg/Kg, K shifted from from 1% to 2.2% and Fe from 2.7 to 4.3%. Regardless of the absolute values, the greatest interest is focused on the elemental pattern. Here the increase in values draws a circular map corresponding to the surface of the original UT, and not far from there (approx. 50 m) a clear anomaly is visibile from aereal photos (IGM 7 flight of 1938, IGM-GAI flight of 1954). The matching of the UT perimeter with the high chemical soil values is significant, especially for K and Fe (fig. 6). The Fe-K correlation is highly indicative of antropization; it can be related to the presence of hearths and generic domestic activities (Middleton 2004). The data collected during investigations confirm the existance of a substantial deposit (hardly visible on the surface layers) testyfing to past human activities. The position of the deposit itself is of particular interest; its vicinity to Vetricella might allows to envisage this area as a center functionally connected to the site itself or an extension thereof, rather than an indipendent settlement. On the contrary, Pb, Zn and Cu were not found in unusual concentrations and this can possibly be related to the absence of past activities connected with metalworking. 5.1 Podere Casetta As mentioned in the previous paragraphs, multidisciplinary surveys were carried out in the locality of Casetta, including magnetometric surveys and a number of trial excavations (September 2018) (Dallai, Marasco, Volpi 2018). From a chemical point of view, soils scored high in Ca, whose concentration was significant both in areas corresponding to ancient river beds (cfr. supra) and in two separate archaeological sites (UT 17 and 18) that had been identified through previous topographical research. During multidisciplinary explorations, the archaeological deposit was hardly visible, and the significant concentrations of materials that had been pointed out back in the early 2000s were in poor condition. Only a few stones, brick and ceramic fragments and some osteological findings were visible in the first large area (UT 17 – 5.000 sqm) showing evidence of a village occupied in two different periods (6th-7th century; 9th-12th century). The second settlement was also hardly visible (UT 18), that was interpreted as a farm dating back to a period between the 1st century BC and the 5th century AD, and then again occupied between the 9th and 12th century AD (Marasco 2013b). The “chemical visibility” of these two settlements was instead very high. In the two areas the Ca concentration was constantly growing (with the average values within 1.9 and 2.4% increasing up to 3.7%), clearly tracing out a pattern that geometrically outlined the layout of the original sites. This geometrical coincidence is extremely significant from a diagnostic point of view, corresponding to a number of evidences identified thanks to the trial excavations carried out exactly where higher chemical readings and geophysical anomalies had been found (Dallai, Marasco, Volpi 2018) (fig. 10). Trial excavations have located stone concentrations, the remains of a limestone wall that had been dismantled to its foundations (UT 17, T5) and a number of burials (T2, T4), the latter partly damaged by plough soil activities. The 14C dating of one 6 Portable X-rays fluorescence analyses were used with positive results for the characterization of extraction and production areas in the Colline Metallifere: Dallai, Donati, Volpi 2018. Further applications of this technique in ancient extraction and metalworking areas were performed by Carey, Moles 2017; Becker et al. 2019. L.D. 7 IGM stands for the Italian Military Geographical Institute, GAI stands for the Italian Aircraft Unit. 153 L. Dallai, I. Carli, V. Volpi fig. 9– In-depth analysis at Fattoria Vetricella. A) As (Arsenic) values according to the analysis grid (20×20 m; B) As values according to the 5×5 m in-depth grid (discrete, non-categorized values. Minimum and maximum concentrations per element are shown in the legend). In both figures the area with the As highest concentration partially overlaps the UT 24 and 25 perimeters. C) Combined results obtained by geochemical analysis (concentration of As and Pb), magnetometry (the areas that have returned anomalies are bounded in red) and archaeological survey (in purple, indicating the number of UT). The overall visualization of data is based on Regione Toscana orthophotos, year 2016 (resource available at: http://www502.regione.toscana.it/ows_ofc/com.rt.wms.RTmap/wms?map=owsofc&. D) Test excavations planned to verify the anomalies highlighted by the chemical values of the soil. fig. 10 – Podere Casetta, elemental patterns of Ca (Calcium) according to the analysis grid of 20×20 m (discrete, non-categorized values. Minimum and maximum concentrations per element are indicated in the legend) and positioning of some of the excavation trenches mentioned in the text (T2, T4, T5); in gray the magnetometric anomalies shown in detail in fig. 7. 154 Archaeological and geochemical surveys in the Pecora Valley: the first results 7. CONCLUSIONS 6. IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF AREAS WITH HIGH POTENTIAL: MAGNETOMETRY To conclude this brief presentation of methods and data, it is useful to assess the results obtained using the XRF technique for territorial historical-archaeological investigations. As far as methods are concerned – and methods are a critical aspect of these surveys, given the fact that there have been very few cases where an extensive and systematic application of pXRF analyses was carried out by archaeological projects – the most significant methodological results can be summarised as follows: The diagnostic activities carried out in the territory of Vetricella also included a number of campaigns using magnetometric techniques in the localities of Podere Casetta and Fattoria Vetricella, for a total of 13.2 hectares. The surveys contributed to the garnering of data for the interpretation of the deposit in each respective locality. The instrument used, a Fluxgate magnetometer equipped with four sensors fitted on a trolley, belonged to ATS company (which took part in the survey along with the author). This was set up like a gradiometer and worked in continual data acquisition mode, connected in real time to a GPS RTK. Magnetometric analysis allowed to recognize anomalies of possible archaeological origin and others with certain natural origin 8. An anthropic origin may in fact be associated to four dipoles concentrations found at Podere Casetta, one of which was located at the core of UT 17 (village 5th-7th/9th12th century AD) (fig. 7a) while the other three were found SE of the first and were included in the perimeter of UT 18 (fig. 7b; hamlet/production site, 1st century BC-5th century AD). Previous geophysical surveys had identified in the area the potential traces of a building corresponding to the wall identified in excavation T5 (Marasco in Dallai, Marasco, Volpi 2018). The current investigations were instead not able to identify any clearly recognizable archaeological structure. However, this campaign brought to light the traces of ancient river beds (as mentioned in paragraph 4.3), with a clearly visible waterway featuring many bends (NW corner) and crossed, in its southern section, by a straight river bed on a morphologically lower area. Other river beds were found following a west-to-east direction, and are situated north and south of the previously mentioned waterways. A magnetic reaction comparable to the dipole concentrations of Casetta was also detected at Fattoria Vetricella, where a bundle of dipoles was identified in connection with UT 25 (farm and possible metal-working area, 9th-12th century) (fig. 8, a). In the same field, two pairs of dipoles featuring typical characteristics of hearths (fig 8, b and c) were found matching the areas of UT 24 and UT 27. The elements found in UT 27 had been interpreted as a settlement or a site for production activities, corroborated by the detection of iron slag in the topsoil levels. However, later excavations did not bring to light any further elements to support the initial hypothesis (Marasco 2013b). 1. The chemical proxies that literature identifies as indicators of anthropic impact on an intra-situ scale (P, K, Ca) can also be used for the characterization of medium-large scale territories, as long as environments with homogeneous features are selected for the assessment of elemental patterns. 2. In the case that we are presenting, thanks to the creation of a consistent measurement dataset, 5 “homogeneous” areas were identified, each characterized by a high number of measurements in order to guarantee result reliability. Based on this dataset, we analysed the behaviour of a number of chemical elements, selecting the ones that were most significant for the reconstruction of the historic landscape. This is an important first step in obtaining a closer synergy between chemistry and landscape archaeology. In addition to defining an effective method of investigation, the results obtained were also significant, specifically: 1. The detailed geochemical characterization of the soils, which allowed to delineate precise contexts (alluvial fan, sandy, clay-loamy soils) and consequently to discriminate the most favourable areas for stable settlements (in addition to Vetricella the areas of Podere Altura and Scopaione), from those more easily subjected to flooding and water flow (in particular Casale Bruscolini). As argued in the previous paragraphs, the most significant data is represented by the Fe-Mn and Ca values. The settlement distribution, recorded during previous archaeological researches and updated by the multidisciplinary survey, showed that stable sites choose more drained soils, sheltered from possible floods, while off-sites mainly match soils subject to potential flooding or less well drained (as clearly visible from the chemical values of these last, especially through the Fe/Mn ratios) (fig. 11). These geo-chemical dataset, together with the reading of aerial photos, historical maps and geognostic surveys, are extremely useful to characterize in detail the environment that encompasses the site of Vetricella, providing a clearer understanding for the reasons of specific settlement choices. 2. The correct interpretation of the considerable presence of As in the terrains near Vetricella. The geochemical dataset shows how As progressively increases moving from west to east, e.g. from Podere Altura to Fattoria Vetricella; this can be considered as clear evidence suggesting the nonanthropic origin of the contamination. Deeper geophysical analyses and excavations confirmed this hypothesis. 3. Chemical contamination as a marker of anthropized areas. The determination of structured elemental patterns (in particular for Ca, Fe and K) allowed to identify an I.C. 8 Magnetometric activities were performed by ATS within the ERC nEUMed project, and the author of this report have taken part in the operations while preparing her final dissertation. The observations that are herein summarized are a part of the final dissertation by Carli I., 2016-2017, Settlement and production activity dynamics in the territory of Vetricella (Scarlino Scalo, GR) – experimenting integrated diagnostic methods: surface surveys, geochemical prospections and geophysics (unpublished final dissertation, University of Siena, Degree Course in Archaeology, supervisor: Prof. G. Bianchi. Some preliminary considerations concerning the assessment of magnetometric data were produced by Marasco in Dallai, Marasco, Volpi, 2018. 155 L. Dallai, I. Carli, V. Volpi fig. 11 – Geochemical mapping, pedological reconstruction and overlap of settlement pattern. archaeological deposit, even though it was significantly damaged and hardly visible. Thanks to XRF analyses, it was possible to bring back to life sites, like those of Podere Casetta (UT 17-18), once identified by significant concentrations of pottery fragments, stones and bones, and today almost ‘invisible’. It was striking to note instead how the high values of Ca detected in the soil matched the perimeter of the deposit found during trial excavations, hosting both wall features and burials. The same applies to the antropized area of Scopaione, where no more than 5 fragments of pottery were found on the surface, but elemental patterns suggest a higher archaeological potential, to be evaluated with further investigations. Ultimately, this demonstrates that the integration of different analytical methods can yield further important elements for the definition of the historic landscape, even in an already carefully studied territory like the lower Pecora valley. The identification of reliable chemical proxies for the characterization of anthropic presences in this specific area and the application of the analytical protocol in other territorial contexts (for example the nearby Val di Cornia) in order to test for its reliability, is the first step towards the construction of a chemical-archaeological “legend”, so as to better tackle the study of the southern Tuscan territory. From this point of view the Val di Pecora research project can be considered as the first significant stepping stone in this direction. BIBLIOGR APHY Aston M.A., Martin M.H., Jackson A.W., 1998, The use of heavy metal soil analysis for archaeological surveying, «Chemosphere», 37(3), pp. 465-477. Bastos R.O., Melquiades F.L., Biasi G.E.V., 2012, Correction for the effect of soil moisture on in situ XRF analysis using low-energy background, «X-Ray Spectrometry», 41(5), pp. 304-307. 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Oonk et al. 2009 = Oonk S., Slomp C.P., Huisman D.J., Vriend S.P., Geochemical and mineralogical investigation of domestic archaeological soil features at the Tiel-Passewaaij site, The Netherlands, «Journal of Geochemical Exploration», 101(2), pp. 155-165. Pieruccini et al. 2018 = Pieruccini P., Buonincontri M. P., Susini D., Lubritto C., Di Pasquale G., Changing landscape in the Colline Metallifere (Southern Tuscany, Italy): early medieval palaeohidrology and land management along the Pecora river valley, in Origins of a new economic union (7th-12th centuries). Preliminary results of the nEU-Med project: October 2015-March 2017, a cura di G. Bianchi, R. Hodges, Firenze, pp. 167-169. Shackley M.S., 2011, An Introduction to X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Analysis in Archaeology, in X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) in Geoarchaeology, a cura di M.S. Shackley, New York, pp. 7-44. Sjöberg A., 1976, Phosphate Analysis of Anthropic Soils, «Journal of Field Archaeology», 3 (4), pp. 447-454. Vranová V., Danso Marfo T., Rejšek K., 2015, Soil scientific research methods used in archaeology – promising soil biochemistry: a minireview, «Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis», 63 (4), pp. 1417-1426. 157 Italian abstract RICOGNIZIONI ARCHEOLOGICHE E GEOCHIMICHE NELLA VALLE DEL PECOR A: PRIMI RISULTATI I survey multidisciplinari realizzati in val di Pecora e val di Cornia negli anni 2017 e 2018 si sono prefissi l’obiettivo di trasferire nelle procedure proprie dell’archeologia dei paesaggi l’approccio operativo multidisciplinare che è la cifra distintiva del progetto nEUMed, metodo attraverso il quale si stanno raccogliendo i dati utili alla comprensione e ricostruzione delle trasformazioni politiche e socio-economiche nelle Colline Metallifere fra VII e XII secolo. I survey hanno combinato sistematicamente il fieldwalking con le analisi chimico-fisiche (pXRF), secondo una prassi metodologicamente innovativa, già acquisita dal Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali dell’Università di Siena (Dallai et al. 2013; Dallai et al. 2015). L’indagine progettata per la val di Pecora si è concentrata sul campione territoriale circostante l’insediamento di Vetricella (Marasco et al. 2018), misurandosi con un paesaggio storico di cui erano già in parte noti i lineamenti insediativi ed alcuni aspetti geomorfologici essenziali (Pieruccini et al. 2018; Cucini 1985; Marasco 2013a) (fig. 1). Rispetto al quadro di partenza, il nostro studio si è prefisso l’obiettivo di fornire nuovi dati di natura geologica e pedologica utili a caratterizzare la cornice ambientale entro cui la maglia insediativa si era strutturata nel corso dei secoli, aggiornando contestualmente il record archeologico. Le analisi multidisciplinari hanno avuto inoltre l’obiettivo di testare sul campo il grado di integrabilità delle tecniche di analisi chimico-fisiche pXRF con le prassi operative proprie del survey archeologico e le analisi geofisiche-magnetometriche (figg. 7-8) (Dallai, Marasco, Volpi 2018), giungendo a definire quali siano i proxies chimici più significativi per riconoscere la presenza di antropizzazione in questo specifico contesto. Il lavoro sul campo ha coperto un’area di circa 140 ha, sulla quale si sono realizzate oltre 2800 misure pXRF effettuate con uno strumento portatile Olympus INNOV-X Delta Premium DP-6000-C nella modalità soil (environmental soil screening), in grado di rilevare gli elementi compresi fra il fosforo (P) e l’uranio (U) (fig. 2); le misure, georeferenziate on site con GPS palmare ed una approssimazione media di 3 m entro griglie virtuali, sono state effettuate ogni 20 m. Presso la Fattoria Vetricella (UT 24, 25), area che ha restituito delle anomalie geochimiche molto marcate (fig. 9), si è scelto di stringere la griglia di indagine da 20 m a 5 m per precisare meglio la sorgente della contaminazione e definirne i limiti. I dati chimici georeferenziati sono stati importati in QGIS 9 per realizzate mappe di distribuzione spaziale dei diversi elementi; ciò ha consentito di identificare 5 diverse aree omogenee (Podere Altura, Lo Scopaione, Casale Bruscolini, Podere Casetta e Fattoria Vetricella), ognuna caratterizzata da una specifica geometria (pattern) di concentrazione degli elementi chimici analizzati per una preliminare valutazione (Ca, As, K, Mn, Fe, Cu, Pb e Zn) 10 (fig. 3). Il territorio selezionato si posiziona in prossimità dell’antico corso sinuoso del fiume Pecora, successivamente trasformatosi in fiume a canali intrecciati, e doveva essere attraversato da una moltitudine di corsi d’acqua, oggi non più esistenti ma dei quali rimangono numerose tracce osservabili attraverso immagini fotografiche storiche (Marasco 2013b). Questa presenza di acque è particolarmente significativa per l’interpretazione dei dati geochimici raccolti in fase di indagine. Il pattern di concentrazione degli elementi diagnostici (Ca, Fe, Mn e K in particolare) rileva infatti significative differenze fra le aree depresse ed allagate, caratterizzate da sedimenti limosi ed argillosi alternati a sabbie (esemplare il caso di Casale Bruscolini, fig. 3), la conoide alluvionale individuata a NW dell’insediamento di Vetricella (area di Podere Altura, fig. 4) e le sabbie limose con presenza di tufi calcarei (area di Fattoria Vetricella (fig. 5). I campioni territoriali selezionati per l’indagine si collocano circa 1 Km a Nord del margine settentrionale della palude di Scarlino, secondo quanto indicato dal Catasto Leopoldino (1821-24). La palude, di cui attualmente si conserva solo un lembo ristretto nei pressi delle foci del fiume Pecora e del fosso Allacciante, era ancora in età medievale navigabile ma si andò progressivamente inselvatichendo a partire dal pieno basso Medioevo e fu poi bonificata in momenti diversi, fino al XX secolo; la presenza di questo elemento cruciale del paesaggio, assieme all’esistenza di un articolato sistema viario, è rispecchiata dalla distribuzione degli abitati di età romana e poi medievale. Per il Medioevo in particolare la maglia del popolamento evidenzia come, a partire dal IX secolo d.C., si assista ad una diffusa «rioccupazione degli spazi insediativi» in molte delle aree già selezionate nel VI-VII secolo (Marasco 2013b, p. 62). Nella porzione di pianura da noi analizzata, questa fase di rinnovato dinamismo insediativo vede nel sito di Vetricella il fulcro centrale attorno al quale si riconoscono due distinte fasce territoriali con caratteri piuttosto differenziati: nella prima, attestata nelle immediate vicinanze del sito (fino a 200 m di distanza), si individuano piccole unità, talora accompagnate da indicatori di produzione (siderurgici). Le unità insediative più grandi ed articolate, a volte caratterizzate da attività produttive, si localizzano invece in una seconda fascia, ad una distanza maggiore dal sito (fino ad 800 m) (Marasco et al. 2018, p. 186). Gli insediamenti più significativi nell’ambito di queste due 9 Le misure sul campo costituiscono uno dei data base del progetto ERC nEUMed. La loro correlazione con le coordinate rilevate con GPS e con le osservazioni di carattere ambientale e storico-archeologico sono il risultato della progettazione di un archivio relazionale ad hoc, realizzato da A. Bardi. 10 Per agevolare la lettura dei dati esposti si richiamano qui le corrispondenze fra simbolo ed elemento chimico: Ca-Calcio, As-Arsenico, K-Potassio, Mn-Manganese, Fe-Ferro, Cu-Rame, Pb-Piombo, Zn-Zinco. 158 Ricognizioni archeologiche e geochimiche nella valle del Pecora: primi risultati fasce comprendono un villaggio con area cimiteriale (Podere Casetta – UT17 –, attestazioni di V-VII sec. e IX-XII sec. d.C.) ed una fattoria (Fattoria Vetricella – UT24/25 –, attestazioni di IX-XII sec. d.C.) (fig. 1), oltre ad altri piccoli nuclei rurali ed off-site; essi sono stati tutti inclusi all’interno del campione di indagine. A partire dall’osservazione dei dati geochimici e della maglia del popolamento si propongono in questa sede alcune preliminari conclusioni, sia di carattere metodologico che storico. Rispetto alla metodologia, che ricordiamo essere un aspetto cruciale dell’indagine, poiché sono ad oggi pochissime le applicazioni estensive e sistematiche di analisi pXRF in ambito archeologico, le principali acquisizioni sono così sintetizzabili: 1. I proxies chimici che la letteratura individua come diagnostici di impatto antropico a scala intra-situ (P, K, Ca) possono essere utilizzati anche per la caratterizzazione di ambiti territoriali di scala medio grande, a patto che si individuino contesti omogenei su cui valutare i patterns elementali. 2. Nel caso presentato, grazie alla realizzazione di un data set di misure assolutamente consistente ed all’individuazione di 5 aree omogenee, ciascuna caratterizzata da un numero elevato di misure (garanzia dell’affidabilità dei risultati ottenuti), si è potuto analizzare il comportamento di una serie di elementi chimici sensibili, individuando i più significativi ai fini della ricostruzione del paesaggio storico; ciò rappresenta un primo passo importante per costruire un linguaggio comune fra chimica ed archeologia. Oltre ad aver definito una prassi metodologica efficace, significativi appaiono i risultati acquisiti, in particolare: 1. La caratterizzazione geochimica dei terreni consente di discriminare con nettezza la conoide alluvionale ed i successivi terrazzi fluviali, sedi privilegiate dell’insediamento (in particolare Vetricella, Podere Altura, Scopaione), dalle aree maggiormente soggette a fenomeni di allagamento e scorrimento delle acque. Queste ultime sono ben rappresentate dai valori Fe-Mn riscontrati presso Casale Bruscolini, area depressa localizzata immediatamente a SW del sito di Vetricella. L’acquisizione di questi dati, assieme alla lettura delle foto aeree, delle carte storiche ed alla realizzazione di sondaggi geognostici, risulta estremamente utile per caratterizzare il paesaggio nel quale il sito si inscrive, distinguendo efficacemente le aree asciutte da quelle stagionalmente allagabili, meno adatte all’insediamento. 2. L’incremento progressivo dei valori di As che si osserva sul campione territoriale di indagine procedendo da W ad E (ossia da Podere Altura a Fattoria Vetricella) è un indizio molto concreto dell’origine non antropica della contaminazione. Per l’area di Fattoria Vetricella gli approfondimenti geofisici e lo scavo hanno confermato in modo inequivocabile questa ipotesi. 3. I valori chimici del suolo sono un valido marcatore delle aree antropizzate anche a scala di indagine medio-grande. Il riconoscimento di patterns elementali strutturati (in particolare per gli elementi Ca, Fe e K) ha permesso l’identificazione di deposito archeologico anche in presenza di un oggettivo e drastico depauperamento della visibilità dello stesso. Così accade che le originarie aree di concentrazione di fittili ed ossa di Podere Casetta (UT 17-18), sostanzialmente invisibili, tornino chiaramente delineate in superficie proprio grazie alle analisi XRF, e che gli alti valori in Ca restituiti dal terreno corrispondano in modo stringente alla natura del deposito individuato dai saggi di scavo: murature e sepolture (fig. 10). Altrettanto può dirsi dell’area antropizzata dello Scopaione, che ha restituito non più di 5 frammenti ceramici in superficie, ma per la quale i patterns elementali suggeriscono un potenziale archeologico di notevole spessore, che proponiamo di relazionare funzionalemte al sito di Vetricella (fig. 6). Anche in un territorio ben studiato, come la bassa val di Pecora, appare dunque chiaro come dall’integrazione di diverse metodologie di indagine si possano acquisire ulteriori importanti elementi per definire meglio il paesaggio storico. Per concludere: l’individuazione di proxies chimici affidabili per la caratterizzazione della frequentazione antropica in questo specifico comprensorio e la verifica della validità degli stessi attraverso l’applicazione del metodo in altri contesti territoriali (la vicina val di Cornia ad esempio) rappresentano il primo passo per la costruzione di una “legenda” chimico-archeologica con cui affrontare al meglio lo studio del territorio della Toscana meridionale. Il caso della val di Pecora può considerarsi da questo punto di vista un primo significativo tassello. 159 Pierluigi Pieruccini*, Davide Susini** THE HOLOCENE SEDIMENTARY RECORD AND THE LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION ALONG THE COASTAL PLAINS OF THE PECOR A AND CORNIA RIVERS (SOUTHERN TUSCANY, ITALY): PRELIMINARY RESULTS AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES 1. INTRODUCTION 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS The Holocene landscape evolution of the coastal plains around Mediterranean is a key issue in order to assess the relative influence of sea-level rise (isostasy, tectonics etc.) and climate and human-induced changes on the inland landscape (Mazzini et al. 1999; Carboni et al. 2002; Rossi et al. 2011). Moreover, the assessment of the depositional environments and their changes through time and space provides important proxy data about site formation processes in the archaeological record as well as information about settlement strategies and environmental exploitation (Bini et al. 2006; Carmona González, Pérez Ballester 2011). This is the case of the coastal plains of the Pecora and Cornia rivers (fig. 1) where research activities of the ERC Project nEU-Med (Bianchi, Hodges 2018) have been focussed. The presence of early Medieval settlements in both areas raised the question of the character of the physical environments at a mid- to largescale around the sites, including the hydrography and the extent of the lagoon and related surface processes. In fact, Vetricella is located at the transition between the alluvial and the coastal plain of Pecora river basin (Marasco 2009), while Carlappiano (Dallai 2018) lies on the coastal dune belt that marks the coastline progradation during the Holocene in the Cornia basin. Based on this premise, in this paper we present the preliminary results of a coring campaign carried out in the two coastal plains (fig. 1), mostly dealing with sedimentary facies and chronology. Due to the long chronological intervals under discussion, greater effort was initially devoted to investigating the upper part of the stratigraphy and its chronology. However, the sedimentary analysis extended to the whole stratigraphy, although supported by less geochronological data. These are also the first long- record data regarding the assessment of the evolution of the Late Holocene (Meghalayan, cfr. Walker et al. 2018; IUGS 2019) physical palaeoenvironments along the northern Mediterranean, although two decades ago core analyses in the Cornia area were undertaken with an emphasis on the Last Glacial-Interglacial cycle (Amorosi et al. 2004). Further investigations regarding biological (pollen, charcoals, ostracods, foraminifera, fish etc.) and geochemical (TIC/TOC, pH, electrical conductivity, P etc.) proxies are currently ongoing. The location of the cores followed a detailed geomorphological survey and mapping (fig. 1) carried out by traditional fieldwork, high-detailed Digital Terrain Model derived by LIDAR available from the Regione Toscana Environmental Agency (http://www.regione.toscana.it/web/geoblog/-/opengeodata), classified to a 10 cm resolution and geo-referenced on historical maps. In the latter, the boundaries of the socalled lagoons and swamps of the beginning of the 19th century (Catasto Leopoldino, 1821, www502.regione.toscana. it/geoscopio/castore.html) were taken into consideration in order to fit some of the cores with the most recently preserved lagoon environments in the area. Undisturbed sediment cores were collected using a drilling machine equipped with a hydraulic piston and a 1 m-long cylindrical corer with a 101 mm-diameter cutting shoe. Drillings were performed by GAMMA GeoServizi company. Respectively, 8 and 4 cores were drilled in the Cornia and Pecora coastal plains. The depth of the cores spans between 6 and 10 m according to the type of sediments and the chronological interval under examination. The drilling system and the sedimentological characteristics allowed the recovery of about 90% of the undisturbed sediments. Cores were preliminarily studied in the field and subsequently moved to the lab at the Department of Physical Sciences, Earth and Environment, University of Siena, for cleaning and detailed description and documentation. Facies analysis took into account texture, colour, fabric and sedimentary structures, biological rests (plants, charcoal, molluscs etc.) and pedological features (organic matter, carbonates, iron, redox etc.). Selected samples (charcoal, charred material, humic matter etc.) were also collected for radiocarbon dating (Beta Analytic) and for biological proxies such as pollen (University of Modena-Reggio Emilia-Italy), ostracods (CNR, Rome-Italy), foraminifera (University of Turin-Italy) and geochemical proxies (University of Siena – Italy; Umeå University-Sweden). The obtained stratigraphic logs (fig. 2) were used for correlation and description of the chronological and spatial changes of the depositional environment and related dynamics. * Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Torino (pierluigi. pieruccini@unito.it). ** Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell’Ambiente, Università di Siena (susini.davide@gmail.com). The drainage basins of the Cornia and Pecora rivers extend from the inland Colline Metallifere to the coastal plain between Piombino to the north and Follonica to the 3. GEOGR APHIC AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL SETTING 161 P. Pieruccini, D. Susini fig. 1 – Geomorphological scheme of the two investigated areas: 1. Alluvial fan; 2. beach dune ridge; 3. artificial channel; 4. palaeochannel; 5. artificial levees; 6. cores; 7. wetlands reclaimed after XIX cent.; 8. Late Holocene alluvial plain; 9. Late Pleistocene alluvial deposits. south (fig. 1). The coastal plains are separated by the “Parco di Montioni” ridge that is the watershed between the Cornia river to the NW and the Pecora river to the SE. The Cornia river is approximately 50 km long and its drainage basin covers about 350 km sq. The proximal and medial reach of the catchment is characterised by a deep valley and steep tributaries, whilst the coastal plain opens at c. 11 km from the present-day shoreline for about 10 km in width in the distal portion. The plain is also characterised by the presence of several palaeochannels showing a shift of the channel belt from E to NW (Censini et al. 1991) after reclamation works made in the 19th century. In the coastal sector two distinct palaeo-lagoons can be observed, features that are also shown in the Catasto Leopoldino (fig. 1). The Pecora river is about 21 km long and the drainage basin covers approximately 250 km sq. The proximal part of the basin is characterised by wide karst features such as karst depressions, active and unactive karst springs, and calcareous tufa terrace systems. Most of the tributaries of Pecora river come from the right and are characterised by deep valleys although with flat terraced narrow valley bottoms. The coastal plain opens at c. 6 km from the present-day coastline and widen up to 5 km in the distal part. According to the Catasto Leopoldino, in this area an open lagoon was present only in the southeastern part, directly opening to the sea, whereas a locally densely vegetated swamp extended up to 4 km inland (Londi et al. 2007). The present-day surface hydrology of this sector is mainly related to the reclamation works during the last two centuries. Nevertheless, human induced reclamation activities during the Early Middle Ages, affecting the calcareous tufa environments in the upper reach of the Pecora valley, have also been detected (Pieruccini et al. 2018). The coastal dune belt is today poorly preserved due to the anthropic impact on the coastline. 4. RESULTS 4.1 Facies analysis The description of the sedimentary facies is reported in tab. 1. Each facies code and corresponding stratigraphical interval is also represented in fig. 2. 4.2 Chronology A total of 29 radiocarbon ages were performed on charcoal and organic matter. 21 dates were obtained from the Cornia cores and 8 from the Pecora cores. Sampling for aging was concentrated in the upper parts of the cores due to their relationships with the main goal of nEU-MED project. However, the overall chronology spans the Early Holocene up to the Late Holocene, encompassing all the described sedimentary facies except for the gravelly channels (fig. 2). The ages considered for each single core were lacking chronological inversions except for 2 refused dates, due to their exceptionally old age (Late Pleistocene) and probably related to re-working and run-off processes. The radiocarbon dates are summarized in tab. 2 where CAL ages are reported and grouped according to the chronostratigraphic interval with particular emphasis for the periods falling within the scope of the nEU-Med Project. 5. DISCUSSION The observed sedimentary successions along both coastal plains indicate a regressive trend, from lagoon to swampy and floodplain environments. The same trend is recorded along the Tyrrhenian coast to the north and to the south of the studied area, at the mouth of the main rivers (i.e. Arno, Rossi et al. 2011; Ombrone, Bellotti et al. 2004; Volturno, 162 The Holocene sedimentary record and the landscape evolution Facies Description L1 L2 L3 S1 S2 F1 F2 F3 C P Interpretation Lagoon Pale grey to dark grey clays, massive or thinly laminated with abundant brackish shells (Cerastoderma) and marine shell fragments as well as macro-charcoal fragments. Rare thin beds of fine sands and silts. Dark grey massive or bioturbated silty clays, with abundant wood and charred or poorly decomposed plant fragments. Common centimeters-thick fine sands beds. Thin to thick yellowish to pale brown well sorted sandy layers and fine gravels with abundant marine and brackish fragmented molluscs fauna, interbedded with pale grey silty and clayey beds. Swamps Grey to very dark grey massive to weakly laminated clays, rich in fibrous organic matter with abundant plants and charcoals remains. No marine or lagoon molluscs have been observed. Pale yellowish grey massive to weakly laminated and bioturbated silty clays, with common redox features and carbonates nodules, rare charcoals, no plant or molluscs remains. Floodplain Brown to pale yellowish silts, clays and sands, massive to thickly laminated, locally bioturbated. Abundant redox features, secondary Fe/Mn and carbonates precipitation. The colour changes according to the abundance of organic matter. The facies is characterised by decimetres-thick intervals with fining upward trend, from darker and sandy-silty thicker laminae to lighter, massive clays with concentration of carbonate features. Rare fine charcoal. Alternances of yellowish to pale brown thickly laminated silts and sands and massive dark clayey-silts. Common redox features. Pale grey to greyish yellow massive or weakly laminated silty clays. Abundant Fe/Mn precipitation and common red-ox features. Rare secondary carbonate precipitation. No plant remains or charcoal have been observed. Channel Channel lag made of loose poorly sorted fine- to coarse-grained angular to subrounded gravels with sandy matrix and thin sandy layers and rare silty beds. Palaeosoil Yellowish to reddish clays and silts with rare thick sandy laminae. The sedimentary structures are weakly preserved. Inner low-energy lagoon. Vegetated lagoon shores. High-energy lagoon with marine wash over. Organic dominated swamp Shallow to deep nonvegetated inner swamps Distal poorly drained alluvial plain Periodically flooded alluvial plain Flooded alluvial plain Fluvial Channel Subaerial exposure tab. 1 – Sedimentary facies and associated depositional envritonment. Amorosi et al. 2013) as well as in some lagoon systems (e.g. Orbetello, Mazzini et al. 1999). centuries AD. In this case, the floodplain environment is recorded for the 4th-6th centuries AD, thus suggesting the seaward regression of the lagoon. Towards the inland, Cornia 4 core confirmed the existence of a floodplain since the 2nd3rd centuries AD. The same environment can be observed in Cornia 5 core, the outermost core to be drilled in the main interdunal depression. This core indicates that in this very distal part of the landscape the lagoonal environment was already filled by floodplain sediments starting from the third millennium BC. Thus, both cores highlight an early onset of the subdivision of the two main lagoonal systems located to the west and to the east as shown on the Catasto Leopoldino. Fully and continuous lagoon environments are recorded only in the external sectors and below the presentday sea-level, down to 6 m. From a general viewpoint, the Cornia cores show that the extension of the lagoon during Medieval period was already similar to the 19th century AD circumstances (as in the Catasto Leopoldino). The outer area was characterized by low-energy flooded and swampy environments, whilst floodplain sedimentation was already dominant in the inner sector following the distribution of the sedimentary load of the palaeo-Cornia channels shifting within the coastal plain although concentrated in the easternmost sector (Corniaccia river). 5.1 Cornia coastal plain The cores drilled in the more distal areas from those depicting the Catasto Leopoldino lagoon boundaries (Cornia 1, 2, 6; figg. 1-2) show a continuous deposition of coarser-grained floodplain facies alternating with finer grained swampy environments up to the Middle Ages. The changing environments include also the occasional presence of gravelly channel facies depending upon the shifting of the channel belt within the coastal plain as demonstrated by the geomorphological analysis. On the other hand, the chronology of these cores is problematic due to the lack of suitable materials for dating which prevented further investigations so far (tab. 2). Cornia 8 was drilled close to the barrier beach dunes system in the easternmost part of the coastline, next to the mouth of the so-called Corniaccia river. In this case, the sedimentary succession reveals the presence of c. 3 m thick coarse-grained gravelly channel lag opening to the lagoon located to the south in the main inter-dunal depression. The chronology of the overlying low-energy floodplain facies indicates that at least since the second millennium BC this sector of the Cornia coastal plain was already emerged and not affected by lagoon sedimentation. Evidence of the lagoon environment linked to Medieval period, between the 6th and the 9th centuries AD, occurs only in Cornia 3 core, drilled at the boundary with the Catasto Leopoldino lagoon, thus indicating a limited oscillating lagoon environment in the westernmost sector of the area. This is also supported by the lagoon facies observed in Cornia 7 core, located in a similar position and dated to the 2nd-3rd 5.2 Pecora coastal plain Due to the proximity to Vetricella site, the cores were located across the landscape from an inner position (Pecora 2, alluvial plain) to a distal position (Pecora 3, 4, 5) (fig. 1). Pecora 2 is located on an almost flat alluvial fan fed by the Pecora river before its definitive artificial diversion in its present-day position, occurred at the beginning of the 19th 163 P. Pieruccini, D. Susini fig. 2 – Stratigraphical scheme of the cores with indication of the facies association and associated depositional environments. century AD (Londi et al. 2007). Moreover, strong Medieval depositional phases are also recorded (Pieruccini et al. 2018). Facies analysis (fig. 2) revealed the presence of organic dominated swamp environment from the fourth to third millennia BC (tab. 2) followed by alternating flooded alluvial plain and shallow swamps environments. Despite the lack of 14C dates for the younger sediments, part of the sedimentation may be correlated to the inland Medieval land reclamation, following sedimentation in the distal reach of the Pecora river. A similar chronology for the same sedimentary facies is recorded in Pecora 5 and 3. In Pecora 4, the outermost, the persistence of the same environment is dated to the first millennium BC. In Pecora 5 the depositional environments change toward shallower and less vegetated swamps and finally to fully floodplain environments since the 8th-7th centuries BC, possibly due to the more proximal position and the influence of runoff and fluvial depositional processes. The same trend is observable in Pecora 3 and 4 up to the 8th-9th centuries AD, thus suggesting the presence of shallow to deep non-vegetated swamps in a position proximal to Vetricella. Lagoonal facies are recognised only below the present-day sea-level and in the outermost cores, whereas in the Pecora 5 palaeosoil formation and in particular lagoonal sediments suggest this part of the landscape underwent an oscillation of the water-table with long-lasting phases of emersion. The chronology of the sedimentary facies changes indicates the progressive seaward retreat of the lagoon and fully swampy environments. 164 The Holocene sedimentary record and the landscape evolution tab. 2 – Chronological scheme. Each date are reported with the related depth and facies association in accordance to fig. 2. In the Cornia coastal area the Medieval landscape was characterised by a lagoon extension similar to that shown on the Catasto Leopoldino, although with minor oscillations along the shores. Moreover, the lagoon widens in the western sector whereas in the eastern sector it was restricted to a small area bounded by remnants of the beach barrier belts. In the same area, prevailing alluvial sedimentation indicates the presence of the main palaeo-Cornia (Corniaccia) mouth. The overall chronology and stratigraphy of the Cornia cores are consistent with the geomorphological analysis showing the shifting of the Cornia river to the west by means of a dense network of palaeochannels redistributing the sediments coming from slope erosion in the inner parts of the valley. However, the sedimentary facies indicate the presence of a 6. CONCLUSIONS In the framework of the Holocene sea-level eustatic rise, geoarchaeological analysis of the Cornia and Pecora cores reveals the surface processes and the distribution of different environments across the coastal plains during antiquity, with a major emphasis occurring in the Middle Ages. The study shows a general regressive trend of the coastal lagoonal environments indicated by the vertical stacking of swamp and alluvial deposits in the lagoonal facies. This highlights consequently the progressive reduction of the lagoon and its opening onto the sea, and the seaward progradation of swampy and floodplain environments up to the definitive emersion of the whole landscape. 165 P. Pieruccini, D. Susini Bini et al. 2006 = Bini M., Chelli A., Pappalardo M., Geomorfologia del territorio dell’antica Luni (La Spezia) per la ricostruzione del paesaggio costiero in età romana, «Atti della Società Toscana di Scienze Naturali», Serie A, 111, pp. 57-66. Carboni et al. 2002 = Carboni M.G., Bergamin L., Di Bella L., Iamundo F., Pugliese N., Palaeoecological evidences from foraminifers and ostracods on Late Quaternary sea-level changes in the Ombrone river plain (central Tyrrhenian coast, Italy), «Geobios», 35(1), pp. 40-50. Carmona González P., Pérez Ballester J., 2011, Geomorphology, geoarchaeology and ancient settlement in the Valencian Gulf (Spain), «Méditerranée», 117, pp. 61-72. Censini et al. 1991 = Censini G., Costantini A., Lazzarotto A., Maccantelli M., Mazzanti R., Sandrelli F., Tavarnelli E., Evoluzione geomorfologica della Pianura di Piombino (Toscana marittima), «Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria», 14, pp. 45-62. Dallai L., 2018, Investigations at Carlappiano: new archaeological findings in anthropic and natural landascapes, in G. Bianchi, R. Hodges (eds.), Origins of a new economic union (7 th-12 th centuries). Preliminary results of the Neu-Med Project: October 2015-March 2017, Firenze, pp. 29-55. IUGS 2019, International Chronostratigraphic Chart, http://www. stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-chart-timescale Londi et al. 2007 = Londi G., Biagini P., Campedelli T., Mini T., Tellini Florenzano G., Storia ed ecologia del Padule di Scarlino, Scarlino. Marasco L., 2009, Un castello di pianura in località Vetricella a Scarlino (Scarlino Scalo, GR): indagini preliminari e saggi di verifica, in P. Favia, G. Volpe (a cura di), V Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Medievale (Manfredonia-Foggia 2009), Firenze, pp. 326-331. Mazzini et al. 1999 = Mazzini I., Vittori E., Barbieri M., Castorina F., Anadon P., Ferrelli L., Mola M., Late Quaternary sea-level changes along the Tyrrhenian coast near Orbetello (Tuscany, central Italy): palaeoenvironmental reconstruction using ostracods, «Marine Micropaleontology», 37, pp. 289-311. Pieruccini et al. 2018 = Pieruccini P., Buonincontri M.P., Susini D., Lubritto C., Di Pasquale G., Changing landscapes in the Colline Metallifere (Southern Tuscany, Italy): Early medieval palaeohydrology and land management along the Pecora river valley, in G. Bianchi, R. Hodges (eds.), Origins of a new economic union (7 th-12 th centuries). Preliminary results of the Neu-Med Project: October 2015-March 2017, Firenze, pp. 19-27. Rossi et al. 2011 = Rossi V., Amorosi A., Sarti G., Potenza M., Influence of inherited topography from Arno coastal plain (Tuscany, Italy), «Geomorphology», 135, pp. 117-128. Walker et al. 2018 = Walker M., Head M.J., Berkelhammer M., Björck, S., Cheng H., Cwynar L., Fisher D., Gkinis V., Long H., Lowe J., Newnham R., Olander Rasmussen S., Weiss H., Formal ratification of the subdivision of the Holocene Series/Epoch (Quaternary System/Periods): two new Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSPs) and three new stages/subseries, «Episodes», 41(4), pp. 213-223. complex system of environments related to distal low-energy alluvial plain, with the co-existence of a poorly drained coastal floodplain with its changing and shifting swamps. In the Pecora valley the stratigraphic successions in the cores revealed the same regressive trend although the lagoonal sediments are recognizable only at depth and attributable to the Early-Middle Holocene. In this context, facies analysis depicts a different environment to that shown by the Catasto Leopoldino. Nevertheless, stable swampy environments lasted up until Medieval times and co-existed with the settlement at Vetricella, characterised by dense vegetation and shallow-to-deep open non-vegetated swamps. The alluvial environments provided very thin cover on top of the stratigraphic successions except for the area close to Vetricella, where deeper and stable wetlands had disappeared earlier and poorly drained floodplain environments dominated, as indicated by the recent analysis of the Pecora river palaeochannel upstream (Pieruccini et al. 2018). The stratigraphy obtained by the cores provides a unique insight into the Holocene evolution of coastal areas along the northern Mediterranean as well as the relationships that existed between Medieval settlements and their landscapes. The sediments are currently undergoing further investigations (pollen, charcoal, geochemistry, ostracoda, foraminifera and fishes) in order to assess a more detailed palaeonvironmental evolution and highlight vegetation changes, land use and climate, ecology of swamps and lagoon and palaeohydrological regimes. BIBLIOGR APHY Amorosi et al. 2004 = Amorosi A., Ricci Lucchi M., Sarti G., Vaiani S.C., Prandin S., Muti A., Late Quaternary sedimentary evolution of the Piombino alluvial plain (western Tuscany) as revealed by subsurface data, «GeoActa», 3, pp. 97-106. Amorosi et al. 2013 = Amorosi A., Molisso F., Pacifico A., Rossi V., Ruberti D.D., Sacchi M., Vigliotti M., The Holocene evolution of the Volturno River coastal plain (southern Italy), «Journal of Mediterranean Earth Sciences», Special Issue, pp. 7-11. Bellotti et al. 2004 = Bellotti P., Caputo C., Davoli L., Evangelista S., Garzanti E., Pugliese F., Valeri P., Morpho-sedimentary characteristics and Holocene evolution of the emergent part of the Ombrone River delta (southern Tuscany), «Geomorphology», 61, pp. 71-90. Bianchi G., Hodges R. (eds.), 2018, Origins of a new economic union (7th-12th centuries). Preliminary results of the nEU-Med project: October 2015-March 2017, Firenze. 166 Italian abstract IL RECORD SEDIMENTARIO OLOCENICO E L’EVOLUZIONE DEL PAESAGGIO LUNGO LE PIANURE COSTIERE DEI FIUMI PECOR A E CORNIA (TOSCANA MERIDIONALE, ITALIA): RISULTATI PRELIMINARI E PROSPETTIVE FUTURE Nelle fasi iniziali del progetto nEU-Med (ERC grant agreement No. 670792) l’attenzione della ricerca archeologica e storica si è concentrata prevalentemente su due siti archeologici: Vetricella (tratto distale della Valle del Pecora) e Carlappiano (pianura costiera della valle del Cornia) (fig.1). Carlappiano si trova lungo uno dei cordoni dunali che costituiscono il sistema di dune e marca l’avanzamento della linea di costa durante l’Olocene. Vetricella si trova sulla porzione distale di una conoide alluvionale antica (Pieruccini et al. 2018) in prossimità della transizione alla pianura costiera. La caratteristica comune ai due siti è quella di trovarsi in un ambiente prossimo a un sistema lagunare e/o palustre che caratterizzava entrambi i settori fino in tempi molto recenti (la bonifica definitiva dell’area di Scarlino è avvenuta negli anni ’50 del XX secolo, Londi et al. 2007). La presenza di aree umide in aree anche molto interne rispetto alla costa è testimoniata ulteriormente dalla cartografia del Catasto Leopoldino della prima metà del XIX secolo (Catasto Leopoldino, 1821 www502.regione.toscana.it/geoscopio/ castore.html) e da altri documenti cartografici risalenti ai secoli precedenti (Londi et al. 2007). La principale questione archeologica riguardava le caratteristiche del paesaggio all’intorno degli insediamenti medievali, ovvero presenza o meno di aree umide o lagunari che consentissero uno scambio diretto con il settore costiero, l’estensione di tali aree umide e le relazioni con i processi lungo i settori marginali e i versanti circostanti. Per indagare l’evoluzione del paesaggio fisico e biologico e determinare la successione degli eventi è stata quindi eseguita una campagna di sondaggi profondi ubicati all’interno o lungo i settori marginali dell’estensione delle aree umide riportate nel Catasto Leopoldino o in settori scelti sulla base delle indagini geomorfologiche (es. presenza di paleoalvei ecc.) (fig. 1). Lo scopo dei carotaggi è quello di integrare lo studio sedimentologico/ stratigrafico dei sedimenti con analisi sui proxies biologici, ad es. analisi vegetazionali (pollini, carboni), paleoidrologia e paleoambiente delle lagune e delle aree umide (molluschi, foraminiferi, ostracodi, pesci) e analisi geochimiche (TIC/ TOC, conducibilità elettrica, pH, fosfati ecc.). Infine, la cronologia dell’evoluzione sedimentaria dell’area è stata indagata attraverso 22 datazioni al radiocarbonio realizzate su carboni o materia organica del sedimento. In questo lavoro presentiamo i risultati preliminari delle analisi sulle stratigrafie, le principali caratteristiche di facies sedimentaria e la cronologia delle loro variazioni in relazione alle problematiche archeologiche discusse sopra. Le carote indisturbate di sedimenti sono state ottenute utilizzando un pistone idraulico con carotiere cilindrico da 101 mm di diametro. Sono state realizzate 12 carote continue (Cornia 1-8 e Pecora 2-4) lunghe da 5 a 10 m. Il sistema di perforazione e le caratteristiche dei sedimenti (prevalentemente siltoso-argillosi o siltoso-sabbiosi) hanno consentito il recupero di circa il 90% di sedimenti indisturbati (fig. 2). Le singole facies sedimentarie sono state distinte sulla base della tessitura, del colore, della presenza di strutture sedimentarie, di resti biologici (piante, carboni, macrofossili), di figure associate a precipitazione di CaCO3 e Fe/Mn, forme di ossidoriduzione e accumulo di materia organica. Sono stati quindi eseguiti i log stratigrafici dove alle caratteristiche sopradescritte vengono rappresentate anche le associazioni di facies che permettono l’individuazione dell’ambiente sedimentario principale e la profondità dei livelli datati. Le principali associazioni di facies individuate sono (tab. 1): Laguna: argille da chiare a scure, massive o debolmente laminate, bioturbate, con abbondanti molluschi salmastri e marini, sia interi sia in frammenti, foraminiferi, localmente abbondante materia organica, e locali intercalazioni sabbiose associate ad abbondanti resti di gusci di molluschi. Si possono distinguere: L1. Laguna interna a bassa energia – argille massive o sottilmente laminate con sottili livelli sabbiosi e siltosi, bioturbate con abbondante malacofauna salmastra, frammenti di molluschi marini, carboni comuni, assenza di resti vegetali. L2. Margini vegetati della laguna – argille grigio scure e nerastre, massive o bioturbate, aumento di spessore e frequenza di livelli siltosi e sabbiosi, abbondante accumulo di materia organica parzialmente decomposta, scarsa malacofauna salmastra. L3. Laguna esterna ad alta energia – sabbie medio-grossolane e ghiaie fini in livelli da spessi a sottili con abbondanti frammenti di gusci, sottili intercalazioni di argille massive chiare, assenza di resti vegetali. Palude: argille, argille siltose e silts da massive a debolmente laminate, da chiare a scure. Si possono distinguere: S1. Paludi densamente vegetate – argille grigio scure e nerastre, massive o debolmente laminate, ricche di materia organica fibrosa, con abbondanti resti vegetali e carboni. Assenza di malacofauna salmastra. S2. Paludi da poco a molto profonde non vegetate – silts e argille da chiare a grigio scure, massivi o debolmente laminati, bioturbati, abbondanti figure di ossidoriduzione, precipitazione di carbonati, scarsi carboni, assenza di resti vegetali. Pianura alluvionale: alternanze di silts, sabbie e argille con abbondanti figure di ossidoriduzione e precipitazione di Fe/Mn e carbonati. Si possono distinguere: F1. Pianura alluvionale distale poco drenata – alternanza di silts e sabbie brune e giallastre, massive o con lamine 167 P. Pieruccini, D. Susini spesse, localmente bioturbate. Sottili livelli argillosi scuri massivi. Presenza di intervalli decimetrici tipicamente fining-upward, da spesse lamine sabbioso-siltose scure a argille e silts massivi chiari con abbondante concentrazione di carbonati secondari. F2. Pianura alluvionale periodicamente sommersa – alternanza di silts e sabbie giallastre o bruno chiare, in lamine spesse, e argille siltose scure massive, presenza di comuni figure di ossidoriduzione. F3. Pianura alluvionale sommersa – argille siltose da grigio chiare a grigio giallastre, massive o debolmente laminate. Assenza di resti vegetali e carboni, abbondanti figure di precipitazione di Fe/Mn e ossidoriduzione, scarse figure di precipitazione di carbonati secondari. Canale C. Canale fluviale – alternanze spesse decine di centimetri di ghiaie da fini a grossolane subangolose e subarrotondate e sabbie da fini a grossolane con sottili livelli siltosi. Paleosuolo P. Paleosuolo – Argille e silts debolmente laminate, con rare lamine sabbiose, di colore dal giallo all’arancione tipiche di processi pedogenetici su superfici emerse esposte all’alterazione. Nel complesso, le stratigrafie (fig. 2) mostrano una generale tendenza dal basso verso l’alto alla trasformazione degli ambienti sedimentari da lagunari a palustri e infine a schiettamente continentali con l’istaurarsi di ambienti di pianura alluvionale distale interessata da fenomeni di ruscellamento o locale ristagno idrico. Questa tendenza è legata all’arrivo di sempre maggiori quantità di sedimenti da terra provenienti da diffusi fenomeni di erosione del suolo (Pieruccini et al. 2018) e, per quanto riguarda gli ultimi 2 secoli, dalle opere di bonifica per colmata del territorio (Londi et al. 2007). Nel settore inerente al Fiume Cornia le cronologie ottenute suggeriscono come gli ambienti sedimentari fossero in stretto legame con la posizione e la presenza di paleoalvei del Cornia o Corniaccia (Cornia 6, 8), mentre gli ambienti schiettamente lagunari inizino la loro contrazione già a partire dall’epoca romana. (Cornia 4, 7). Per contro, le cronologie medievali suggeriscono l’esistenza di ambienti lagunari (Cornia 3) solamente in aree molto prossime a quelle già individuate come tali nel Catasto Leopoldino, mentre nella pianura prospiciente erano già installati ambienti di pianura alluvionale distale (Cornia 6) e di stagni o paludi legati alle variazioni spaziali delle dinamiche fluviali. Nel settore inerente al Fiume Pecora, invece, le cronologie ottenute evidenziano che gli ambienti lagunari con evidenze di scambio con il mare erano localizzati in posizione più interna rispetto alla linea di costa attuale, mentre gli ambienti marginali erano caratterizzati da abbondante vegetazione. Quest’ultimi evidenziano una progressiva contrazione in favore dell’instaurarsi di ambienti di stagni da poco a molto profondi non vegetati. In riferimento alle cronologie medievali ottenute, è possibile osservare come gli ambienti schiettamente lagunari (Pecora 3, 4) fossero già localizzati verso la costa, a più di 1 km Sud/Sud-Ovest rispetto all’insediamento di Vetricella. Complessivamente, l’analisi stratigrafica delle carote ottenute ha permesso finora di ottenere una visione importante dell’evoluzione olocenica delle aree costiere del Mediterraneo settentrionale in forte relazione con gli insediamenti medievali e land use del territorio. Le indagini paleoambientali sopradescritte, già in corso, aiuteranno a delineare una visione più dettagliata degli ambienti fisici e biologici che hanno caratterizzato quest’area in epoca storica. 168 Richard Hodges* DEFINING THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF BLOCH’S FIRST FEUDAL AGE. IMPLICATIONS OF VETRICELLA PHASES I AND II FOR THE MAKING OF MEDIEVAL ITALY (8TH-9TH CENTURIES) 1. INTRODUCTION Specifically, this marks the moment when many of the monopolistic North Sea emporia disappear, when private fortified homesteads were first constructed, when post-Roman villages for the first time include clear evidence of secondary agrarian products (cf. Sherratt 1981; Hodges forthcoming) and possess evidence of managed grain production in the form of storage of grain in silos and granaries. Most significantly, it marks a moment when material culture for the first time since late antiquity reached all classes of society, and therefore was produced and consumed on a different scale to that which typified the ‘closed economy’ of the preceding 8th century. Archaeology, albeit unquantified as yet, helps us to trace the evolution of materialism in the first feudal age, especially in Italy. With this archaeological evidence at our disposal, are there grounds, we should ask, for re-thinking Brown’s text-based dismissal of feudalism as a concept (see, also, Abels 2010; Cheyette 2005; Reynolds 1994)? This 9th-century cultural and economic revolution is most evident from the nEU-Med archaeological project focussed upon the Pecora valley running from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Colline Metallifere along which lies the remarkable site of Vetricella. The materialism discovered in this project undoubtedly relates to the growing complexities that Duby and Brown (and others) refer to. It provides significant colour and detail to the shift from ‘church time’ to ‘merchant time’ as Le Goff observed, and especially to the changing role of gifts (including craft commodities) and their complex circulation within the expanding ranked spheres of accelerated social interaction in an essentially non-monetized society (Le Goff 1980). The inception of materialism marks a point of departure for the Middle Ages that shows the early to mid 9th century to be the beginnings of a period of extraordinary economic growth – and pace the contemporary texts and their interpreters (including Marc Bloch) – in no way overshadowed by the impact of the Saracen and Viking assaults. «When I once asked Monsieur Duby what difference there was between his book on the Maconnais and Ganshof ’s study of feudalism, he replied with a modest shrug of the shoulders, “Toute la difference du monde, Madame”. His own book is a testimony to his conviction that understanding the workings of medieval society necessarily involves exploring the intricate complexities of life rather than elaborating definitions and formulas designed to minimize, simplify, and, in the last analysis, obscure these complexities» (Brown 1974, p. 63). Since the Enlightenment historians and sociologists have been debating the meaning of European feudalism. Their textual sources have been those written from the 9th centuries and later. Countless Medieval historians studied these contemporary texts before Elizabeth Brown trenchantly challenged what she described as the tyranny of the concept (1974): «a construct devised in the seventeenth century and then and subsequently used by lawyers, scholars, teachers, and polemicists to refer to phenomena, generally associated more or less closely with the Middle Ages, but always and inevitably phenomena selected by the person employing the term and reflecting that particular viewer’s biases, values, and orientations» (Brown 1974, p. 1086). Not surprisingly, Brown’s critique has been often quoted. Yet there is now reason to reconsider her challenge. Forty-five years ago, in the year Archeologia Medievale was founded in Italy, Brown, dissecting the canonical interpretations of feudalism, concluded that there was no catch-all, concise definition. Instead, echoing the French historian, Georges Duby, she contended that historians needed to focus upon the intricate complexities of early Medieval life as opposed to formulaic definitions. What Brown could not know in 1974 – and we do now – is that the archaeological footprint of Marc Bloch’s so-called first feudal age demonstrates a clear break with what went before (Bloch 2004, pp. 59-68). Both north and south of the Alps, with the benefit of good chronological instruments and fifty years of modern archaeological best practice, we can detect significant socio-economic differences with the preceding early Carolingian age. The origins of European feudalism are embedded in an era without towns, money and markets. Gift exchange, barter and trading partnerships rather than monetization define Bloch’s first feudal age when tribal ethics rather than wages mattered more in defining social relations. 2. FORMULAIC DEFINITIONS Feudalism is usually defined as either a period or a regime dominated by lords, or domination by people who possess financial or social power and prestige (Abels 2010; Cheyette 2005; Brown in Bloch 2004, pp. xi-xxi). It was first discussed by Enlightenment authors and gained common currency in the 19th century. Its first mention in French was in 1823, in Italian in 1827, in English in 1839 and only late in the nineteenth century in German. Most historians tend to have three concepts in mind when using the term: * American University at Rome (r.hodges@aur.edu). 169 R. Hodges in our minds when we think of feudalism, but Ganshof offered a view that is restricted to feudo-vassalic relations, where feudalism is largely a body of institutions creating and regulating the obligations of obedience and service – mainly military service – on the part of a free man (the vassal) towards another free man (the lord), and the obligations of protection and maintenance on the part of the lord with regard to his vassal (Ganshof 1961, p. xx). Of the titans in this field it is Bloch’s work which continues, notwithstanding Brown’s deconstruction, to attract new generations of historians. In large part this is because Bloch was conscious that feudal society evolved over time as a consequence of economic, political, and social developments. This is where his work finds a firm echo in the fast developing archaeological record. To quote Abels, «He [Marc Bloch] expressed this by identifying two distinct Feudal Ages. The First Feudal Age, lasting from the collapse of the Carolingian Empire to the mid-eleventh century, was characterized by the breakdown of the central authority of the state, in part as a consequence of the Viking raids. Authority during this period devolved upon the localities. Motte-andbailey castles, man-made hills with wooden towers on top of them and enclosures created by ditches and palisades at their base, sprang up all over the western half of the Carolingian Empire. The castellans who controlled these castles were essentially politically autonomous, despite the efforts of counts and dukes to rein them in and the exalted theocratic claims made by kings and their ecclesiastical supporters. The economy was primitively agrarian; commerce took the form of a long-distance luxury trade, in which the west exchanged slaves and raw materials for silks, incense, and spices from the east» (Abels 2010, p. 1017). The problem of ‘feudalism’ begins with the origin of the term and its multiple usages. ‘Feudalism’, as we have seen, is not a Medieval term; nor as I have shown does it have a single definition. ‘Feudalism’ as a historical construct or ideal type may never have existed. Lords, retainers, and dependent tenures, however, did, and were critical elements in the governance of early Medieval polities. This is the context for reappraising the concept of feudalism in the light of the archaeological evidence which offers specific insights into the roots of Bloch’s first feudal age in which materialism is a clear defining characteristic. Put another way, the historical and sociological debates about feudalism have not been adequately discussed within the context of the revolutionary transformation by stages of European society from an assembly of tribes during the earlier 8th century practising redistribution strategies to a monetized, partially marketbased continent by the 11th century. Archaeologists have been shy of contributing to any understanding of the origins and the first feudal age. Only rarely are there opportunities to identify social relations in the archaeological record. Instead, for the most part archaeologists have concentrated upon the rise of the European economy (cf. McCormick 2001) and only recently begun to examine agrarian history in any depth. Yet the evolution of landscape archaeology since the 1970s in Europe has provided the context for defining major developments in the management of the rural economy. 1. The legal rules, rights, and obligations that governed the holding of fiefs (feuda in medieval Latin), especially in the Middle Ages. 2. A social economy in which landed lords dominated a subject peasantry from whom they demanded rents, labour services, and various other dues, and over whom they exercised justice (Adam Smith, for instance, writing in the later 18th century had this concept in mind when he referred to feudalism). 3. A form of socio-political organization dominated by a military class or estate, connected to each other by ties of lordship and honourable subordination (vassalage), and who in turn dominated a subject peasantry. Lordship gave protection, vassalage required service. This personal relationship inseparably involved a tenurial relationship as well, the vassal holding land of his lord. In all three concepts feudal domination took shape within an economy where the primary source of wealth was land and its products. It was supported by evolving religious ideas promoted by a church that was integrated into the structure of lordship (Cheyette 2005; Abels 2010). Discussion of the concept attracted social thinkers such as Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim, and has influenced generations of European historians from the later 19th century onwards. However, it was in the 20th century that feudalism found its principal historians in the form of Marc Bloch (1886-1944), François-Louis Ganshof (1895-1980), Georges Duby (1919-96) and Cinzio Violante (1921-2001). These four historians as well as their pupils, employed feudalism as a general term embracing the prevailing Medieval social, political, and economic conditions. The latter two, Duby and Violante took their bearings from Bloch’s definition of feudalism in his Feudal Society as a cornerstone of their work. Here are two of his commonly cited definitions: «A subject peasantry; widespread use of the service tenement (i.e. the fief ) instead of a salary, which was out of the question; the supremacy of a class of specialized warriors; ties of obedience and protection which bind man to man and, within the warrior class, assume the distinctive form called vassalage; fragmentation of authority-leading inevitably to disorder; and, in the midst of all this, the survival of other forms of association, family and State, of which the latter, during the second feudal age, was to acquire renewed strength» (Bloch 2004, p. 446, cf. Brown in Bloch 2004, p. xiii). «European feudalism should therefore be seen as the outcome of the violent dissolution of older societies. It would in fact be unintelligible with out the great upheaval of the Germanic invasions which, by forcibly uniting two societies originally at very different stages of development, disrupted both of them and brought to the surface a great many modes of thought and social practices of an extremely primitive character. It finally developed in the atmosphere of the last barbarian raids. It involved a far-reaching restriction of social intercourse, a circulation of money too sluggish to admit of a salaried officialdom, and a mentality attached to things tangible and local. When these conditions began to change, feudalism began to wane» (Bloch 2004, p. 443). Bloch’s definitions serve as a ‘spyhole of [an] ideal type’ (Wickham 2009, p. 13) and are often the image we have 170 Implications of Vetricella Phases I and II for the making of Medieval Italy (8th-9th centuries) Ribe, and the palatial farm of Tissø in Denmark (Shepard 1995, p. 55). The lead seals are the harbinger of much larger ‘overlapping connections’. Shortly after Theodosius’ visit to northern Europe, the Byzantine navy collaborated with their erstwhile enemies, the Venetians, in a conflict with the Saracens and, concurrently, Arab silver dirhems (along with a few Byzantine coins) began to penetrate the Baltic Sea ports as far west as Kaupang in southern Norway in significant quantities (Kilger 2008). Of course, the 840s also mark the moment when the Saracens raided Rome and, as an apparent consequence, Pope Leo IV constructed the Leonine wall, and when the Vikings increased their raids on England leading to a conquest. Without saying it, Shepard has defined a key moment in which the Mediterranean world including the Byzantine court tentatively re-engaged not only with its disparate parts but, significantly, with north-west Europe. The Byzantine archaeology of this moment should not be over-stated, as I have tried to show in the case of the possible archon’s residence at the port of Butrint, Albania, dating from this moment (Greenslade, Hodges 2019; see also Negrelli 2018). This limited revival at Butrint was a stage towards a full Byzantine re-engagement around the later 10th to early 11th centuries (cf. Molinari 2018). This revival, therefore, emphasizes the dramatic collapse of Byzantine society spanning the 200 years from the mid 7th to the mid 9th centuries. By stages, perhaps mirroring its revival in the late centuries of the millennium, the Byzantine Mediterranean was reduced by c.AD 700 to little more than a Levantine network connected to much diminished metropolises like Constantinople and Rome (Haldon 2018). All other long-distance trade in the central and western Mediterranean almost petered out during the mid to later 7th century. With this demand for inter-regional distributed goods had declined to miniscule levels. Hard as it is to envisage, Italy shared the same dramatic decline as Byzantium. Commerce between the eastern Mediterranean declined by stages in the mid to later 6th and earlier 7th century. The effective closure of the small cabotage Roman port of Portus Scabris at the mouth of the Pecora corridor, for example, is a metaphor for many Tyrrhenian and Adriatic sea ports (cf. Vaccaro 2018; cf. Hodges 2018). Inland, old Roman towns were transformed, becoming ruralized, polyfocal centres occupied by elites – aristocrats and churchmen – with limited or no urban character (Hodges 2015). In no senses were these markets or towns as in antiquity. Rather, these were seats of power and consumption, with, in time, an increasing emphasis upon transactional, cult activities. This is an archaeological definition of what Chris Wickham described as ‘cityness’ in this period (Id. 2005, p. 589). These were economic centres based upon gift-giving relations but otherwise the economy was essentially closed with varying emphases upon redistribution (cf. Tomei 2018; see Fiore infra). Demand for artisanal goods was very limited. Trading centres, while referred to in the written sources as coastal landing places, have proved hard to identify on the ground. The later 7th to 8th-century emporium at Comacchio at the mouth of the river Po is an exceptional, if comparatively small (by North Sea standards), urban trading centre Perhaps the resistance to entering into the debate about feudalism comes from the fact that landscape archaeology has focussed upon settlement patterns rather than the management of agrarian and other resources (see now Rippon, Smart, Pears 2015; Rippon 2018 with regard to Anglo-Saxon England). In this respect the nEU-Med project attempts to break new ground in Mediterranean archaeology. It has focussed on a Mediterranean fluvial corridor in the Tuscan Maremma where there have been many previous excavations of sites (villages) (cf. Francovich, Hodges 2003) but no holistic effort to contextualize the archaeology using all the tools now at our disposition. Hence, the nEU-Med project focuses on the evolution of this landscape and its economy with changing demand strategies between the 7th and 12th centuries and includes a large-scale excavation of a 9th-century fortified site associated with a documented royal fisc (see Bianchi infra). In particular, this slice of the Maremma offers the opportunity to observe and chart the materialist transformation of this quintessential Mediterranean corridor (Bianchi, Hodges 2018). The material transformations found in the Maremma project were first noted in Italy at the Beneventan and Benedictine monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno in Molise. Here the concurrent importance of gift exchange and differing forms of redistribution in an increasingly more stratified society, belongs to a larger European picture that broadly post-dates the early Carolingian era and characterizes the central decades of the 9th century, c. 820-840. Investment in agriculture formed part of the evolution of a great estate operating in an economy in which money and towns did not exist (pace Anderson 1974, p. 150 who believed that the «dynamic opposition between town and country was alone possible in the feudal mode of production»). These attributes of the new feudal economy, thanks to the granular evidence of the archaeological record, shed new light on the emergence of feudal relationships. To illustrate this key break with the immediate postclassical era, first I will briefly review the European picture, then summarize the San Vincenzo model illustrating the shift from sacred consumption to sacred production with its emphasis upon countergifts, before appraising the discoveries at Vetricella and the Pecora riverine valley. 3. STAGES TOWARDS SHEPARD’S OVERLAPPING CIRCLES «The life of the Europe of the first feudal age was not entirely self-contained» (Bloch 2004, p. 65). The Byzantinist, Jonathan Shepard, has elegantly described the re-emergence of overlapping connections between the Byzantine Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea beginning about AD 840 (Shepard 2018). Separation and ‘self-containment’ was at an end. From this point onwards the connections strengthened, so that by the later 10th-century Byzantine coins and silks, for example, occur commonly in later Viking cemeteries in Scandinavia. The 840s mark the moment when Byzantium sends an ambassador, Theodosius, to the Franks, it would appear from the distribution of his lead seals that he visited the trading towns of Haithabu and 171 R. Hodges embracing partnerships that may have connected Po valley monasteries with small, elite households around the north Adriatic sea region (cf. Negrelli 2018). The scale of the elite households themselves should not be exaggerated. Affluent late antique rural Apulian centres like Faragola and San Giusto experienced the same decline as other categories of places, though in both these liminal Beneventan cases there were primitive afterlives lasting into the 9th century (Turchiano,Volpe 2019). The temptation to see a Mediterranean mirror image of the economic revival of the (later) Merovingian Sea regions connecting the Seine, Rhine, southern English, Frisian and western Danish tribes is now known to be illusory. This comparison focusses our attention on the agrarian dynamics in these two, largely separated parts of Latin Christendom, the Mediterranean basin and the North Sea regions. Fieldwork in the later Merovingian, Anglo-Saxon and Danish regions show a clear intensification of agriculture from the early 7th century (if not a little before) (cf. Blair 2018; Rippon 2018). Rural production, managed by the elite and, in some cases the embryonic church, led to the creation of the inter-regional exchange and, in time, by c. 680/90, the planned formation of the North Sea emporia (Hodges 2012a). Demand and consumption now began to characterize all levels of society illustrated by the rise of the so-called ‘productive sites’ at liminal points in the political geography of the 8th and 9th centuries (Pestell, Ulmschneider 2003). Compare this intensification, with demand for material culture now documented on a remarkable scale (cf. Blair 2018), with the reduction of the Italian countryside after late antiquity to primitive levels. It would now appear that the reduction in Mediterranean trade by stages from the mid 6th to the later 7th centuries, in parallel with the disappearance of long-distance trading ports, is a metaphor for the remarkable collapse of its rural economy. Reduced to primitive rural circumstances comparable to the early to middle Neolithic ages, much of Italy was, by Marc Bloch’s definition of the 1920s, a closed economy (Hodges forthcoming). Rural settlement is so vestigial that its archaeological footprint is extremely hard to identify. The post-built structures of this period are modest in form and more significantly, material culture is minimal or absent. In character it could not be more different from the Mediterranean world of late antiquity or the conditions enjoyed by peer peasants in the Anglo-Saxon or Frankish realms. There is a temptation amongst archaeologists and historians to ignore the catatonic collapse of the agrarian basis of Italy as the peninsula still boasted centres of marked demand and consumption (Hodges forthcoming). Rome, the seat of the popes characterized by Chris Wickham’s term – ‘cityness’ (Id. 2005, p. 599; Hodges 2015, p. 269), possessed a palace economy with sufficient resources to erect small churches and decorate them as they had been decorated in the 7th century (e.g. Santa Maria Antiqua (Andaloro et al. 2016). Apart from Rome, snapshots of this palace culture in different forms, with its cultural roots directly or indirectly in the active Levantine networks, can be seen at Cividale, Spoleto (the Tempietto di Clitunno), and Benevento. These monumental places and their churches with their explicit references to antiquity are anything but primitive. On the contrary, this palace culture appears to have influenced the Franks, becoming an important cultural strand of the early Carolingian renaissance (Mitchell 1994, 2000). Essentially the palace culture made no apparent effort to create rural capacity even on properties such as Vetricella. Instead, this conspicuous consumption prized its connection with antiquity, using monumentality and the visual arts. Continuity in economic terms was a chimera. What changed? What was the impact of Shepard’s Byzantine revival, leading to the overlapping spheres of the world of its mid-9th-century ambassador Theodosius? The archaeology of the Italian rural economy appears to show a marked change in the mid to later 9th century, as the Mediterranean slowly revived (cf. Molinari 2018, pp. 295-297). But this slow-paced regional revival cannot be readily ascribed to Byzantine influence. On the contrary, the archaeology points the finger towards Frankish influence though not necessarily to either Frankish hegemonic influence or mercantile engagement. The agents of this change, not surprisingly, were those who occupied the palaces and monasteries of the age (cf. Untermann 2015). Italian courts and monasteries were networked to the Carolingian court (Mitchell 1994, 2000). Charlemagne’s revolutionary (cosmopolitan) government set the tone that to a greater or lesser degree led to the shift from Le Goff ’s ‘church time’ towards ‘merchant time’ (1980), a metaphor for management and the essential industrial craftsmanship and specialized production that underpinned the first feudal age (cf. Davis 2015). Demand, engineered by the (intertwined) secular and ecclesiastical entities, followed. As of the later 8th century the monkish managers of the Carolingian court pursued administrative reforms as they also championed the importance of the cult of relics at meeting places and concurrently pilgrimage (cf. Theuws, Kars 2017). The so-called Carolingian renovatio espoused not only the arts and scholarship (Panofsky 1969, p. 43), but also legislation pertaining to all aspects of the economy. These reforms known as the Admonitio Generalis began in AD 789, and as Peter Brown has pointed out, focused upon a major shake-up of the Frankish Church (Brown 2003, p. 438; cf. Davis 2015). With the subsequent reforms of coinage at the Council of Frankfurt in AD 793/4 a new direction was envisaged for the Frankish agrarian economy in which the importance of a measured currency now theoretically at least took legal priority over customary tribute (Grierson 1965, pp. 507-511; Reuter 1985; 2000). From this time, too, dates the Capitulary de Villis, a handbook on estate management with a specific emphasis upon increasing agrarian productivity (Innes 2009; see also Jarrett 2019). Analysing this handbook, the economic anthropologist, Stephen Gudeman, drawing upon the celebrated study by Georges Duby, defined a major transformation to a manorial structure dependent upon tenants, rather than slaves, paying tribute in material and labour terms to an estate centre from which, invariably, a regional redistribution economy was administered. Its apparent aim was to increase periodic exchange of regional produce transacted and taxed to a stipulated standard (Gudeman 2004, pp. 70-77; Duby 1974). 172 Implications of Vetricella Phases I and II for the making of Medieval Italy (8th-9th centuries) The reforms were almost certainly not inventing an untried blue-print for the future economy. The Carolingian court was probably adopting concepts to increase and manage agrarian production based upon existing circumstances in certain but not all Frankish and Anglo-Saxon realms. What is clear is that these reforms coincide with the acceleration of cerealization in the Carolingian world and the concurrent shift to regulate livestock management to produce secondary products (Crabtree 2010; Hodges 2012a; cf. Jarrett 2019). The archaeology of this first feudal age is now beginning to be documented in various regions north of the Alps. Investment in farms, grain silos, granaries and the faunal evidence from numerous excavations in England, France, Germany and the Low Countries show that the reforms were adopted widely in the first half of the 9th century (Crabtree 2010; Peytremann 2012). The new agrarian economy alongside the renovatio also encouraged cultural changes in dining, with wine drinking gaining in importance (Hodges 2012a; cf. Bianchi, Grassi 2012). This cultural change triggered demand for materialism. Hardly surprisingly, with these economic changes, came a new shared identity, simply manifested commonly in north-west Europe by the wearing of new brooch forms amongst other things (Deckers 2012). In time, too, as the economy evolved so did its managers with the creation of local aristocracies. The emergence of private fortified homesteads – the first castles – in the second quarter of the 9th century in the Rhineland and then in France (Noyé 2013) marks a shift from a culture anchored around conspicuous consumption in palaces and monasteries with its highly centralized tributary system towards diffused and direct oversight of regional agrarian production and its regulated taxation. Imitating ancient forms with conspicuous deployment of spolia was generally eschewed in favour of functional expressions of status and separation. Herein, lay the beginnings of the feudalism identified by Bloch and embellished by Duby and others. The archaeology of the beginnings of the first feudal age, therefore, can be summarized in tab. 1. So what happened in Italy? How was the primitive, postclassical agrarian economy brought in line with Bloch’s first feudal age? The miscellany of archaeological evidence suggests the adoption of Frankish concepts may have been important. The Church, as all the principal historians of early feudalism have noted, played a key institutional role. Whether the Church fostered a decentralization of political and economic forces, ‘a catastrophic regression’ in the words of the Marxist, Perry Anderson (1974, p. 137) has until now been appraised solely from a textual standpoint. Date 780/90 810/20 840/50 Emporia North Sea emporia second great period Cults – Late 8th century: Phase 3c enlargement of the existing monastery with a new emphasis upon monumentality and decoration. – Early 9th century: Phase 4 aggrandisement and planned reconstruction of the monastery defined by two corridors leading to a new basilica. A Beneventan proprietary monastery and a major abbot’s palace define each of the two sectors: the palace and claustrum. An emphasis upon monumentality and decoration including a large amount of Roman spolia brought from ruined urban centres such as Venafro or Isernia. An emphasis upon a dining culture using glassware and in particular goblets like those discovered in later levels at Vetricella first occurred. – c. 820: Phase 5a1: a third access to the basilica with the creation of a reconstructed atrium and the insertion of an annular crypt; the palace was also rebuilt. The third access indicates the presence of other elites besides the Beneventan royal patrons occupying the palace. The monastery had become a place of limited engagement, a place of transactions and meetings in the sense described by Frans Theuws for Maastricht (2004). – c. 840: Phase 5a2: the critical alteration in this phase was the insertion of an official’s dwelling into collective workshop alongside the basilica, with the creation of a staircase for this official leading up to the basilica – a fourth access route. No alterations were made to the buildings of the monastery including the palace from this time until it was sacked in 881 (Hodges, Leppard, Mitchell 2011b). This is interpreted as the period in which the monastery developed (i) increased craft production and demand by donors (presumably Beneventan aristocrats); (ii) its lay settlement – the borgo, and (iii) invested in creating small churches and new castelli in its terra with a view to generating local production through surplus (Hodges 2014, see also Bowes, Francis, Hodges 2006). Palaces Aristocratic sites Palaces – centres Undefended of conspicuous aristocratic centres consumption Transactional (meeting) centres established Transactional Emporia in decline centres Emporia active The only archaeological model explicitly illustrating the role of the Church in this rural revolution at present is that based upon the excavations and surveys at Beneventan and Benedictine monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno and its territory (cf. Hodges 1993, 1995, 1997; Bowes, Francis, Hodges 2006; Hodges, Leppard, Mitchell 2011a; Hodges 2014, 2018). Located on the northern frontier of the Principality of Benevento, by the 780s this community perceived itself to lie within the ideological sphere of the Carolingian court and its pursuit of Benedictine reforms. Very simply, the archaeological sequence at the site and in its territory is as follows: ? ? Private fortified castles Monasteries Monasteries as sacred consumption Monasteries introduce sacred production Zenith of sacred production Agrarian practices Industrial practices Central-place smallscale production of crafts Cereal storage Devolved estate + secondary production of craft products commodities tab. 1 – Schematic summary of the archaeology of Bloch’s first feudal age. 173 R. Hodges The San Vincenzo (archaeological) model indicates the generational shifts from (i) sacred consumption (with an emphasis upon architecture and the visual decoration, including classical motifs and literacy displayed, as in the Frankish palace culture (Untermann 2015) following the mid 8th-century Benedictine/Frankish reform of Chrodegang of Metz, to (ii) a monastery promoting sacred production and redistribution (following the reforms of Benedict of Aniane presented at the Synod of Aachen in 816 and embodied in the schematic plan of St. Gall (c. 820) (fig. 1). In this new iteration after the Synod of Aachen the emphasis was upon service to God, and enlisting the support of diverse donors to practically sustain this service. San Vincenzo as it happens, possesses a canonical illustration of this new Benedictine ethos, as Robert Deshman pointed out. Deshman detected this sublimal message promoting the importance of service in the well-preserved cycle of paintings in the crypt depicting Abbot Epyphanius, dating to the 820s (Deshman 1989). The implications of this new ethos were profound and wide-ranging for the monastery and its region. Essentially, this involved accumulating landed estates to provide for the monastic community, enabling it to focus upon holy service (cf. Wickham 1995). To secure this tributary relationship with donors of lands and other support in kind involved ramping up a previous emphasis upon gift giving to the cults at the monastery. ‘Taking, giving and consecrating’, as Georges Duby pointed out, were at the heart of this new Carolingian order (Duby 1974, pp. 48-57). We must assume this was the case also in this Benevantan monastery. In these circumstances, as has been well demonstrated at San Vincenzo al Volturno, craftsmanship assumed a new significance. After craftsmen created the new monastery of the later 8th century, their skills were re-directed to producing moveable objects and meeting a new demand from Beneventan stakeholders in the monastery. «Skilled artisans are generally judged to be “different”, Mary Helms has written (Helms 1993, p. 52), ‘distinct from ordinary people pursuing the mundane, pragmatic affairs associated with the immediate needs of daily life. Their separation from their home setting may be temporary or permanent, voluntary or involuntary, characteristic of a particular stage in their careers or characteristic of their calling in general… Whatever the reasons for or whatever the degree of their involvement with spatial distance, skilled artisans nonetheless are frequently associated with the geographically outside realm, a world which also generally carries supernatural associations of some sort» (ibid., p. 32). San Vincenzo’s monastic craftsmen after c.AD 820 were dedicated to making fine objects for gift giving. These countergifts aimed to cement a relationship with donors, who had provided land to the monastery in return for burial rights in a cemetery on Colle della Torre close to the main basilica and its cult. These countergifts, we may surmise, intended to physically create rather than impose a shared identity. This was a process of becoming part of a community with eternal values as opposed to creating hegemonic power. Materialization of observation and experience involved combining the intangible and the material – bringing a particular cast of mind out into the world of objects (Geertz 1983, p. 99; Helms 2004, p. 125). A deeper social process was also taking place. To quote Marc Bloch, «the ties thus formed – like so many chains branching out indefinitely – joined the smallest to the greatest» (Bloch 2004, p. 444). As a result of the economic importance of this gift-giving, managing the artisans now had new significance in the monastery. To monitor San Vincenzo’s donors, an official’s residence was inserted into the collective workshop (as in the schematic plan of St. Gall). The official’s role was to oversee the production of this craftsmanship, overseeing and promoting a connection to all levels of society. At no stage did money enter into this 9th-century economy. The few silver coins found in the excavations were intended for use as silver to be melted down for the production of prestige objects. Concurrently, as the monastery amassed extensive estates, it started to invest and ‘ecclesiastize’ its own immediate lands in the upper Volturno valley. Chapels, miniature versions of the monastery’s basilicas rich with craftsmanship, were stationed at appropriate points. These places were then transformed from primitive, subsistence settlements into small, productive units broadly following the agrarian reforms – the so-called correctio – promoted by the Carolingian court. One settlement, Colle Castellano, dating to the late 9th century was initially little more than a small tower about 5×5 m in dimensions (cf. Hodges 2014; see also Bowes, Francis, Hodges 2006, pp. 220-21). Its array of associated ceramics shows a consumption driven by new household demand. By these means San Vincenzo accumulated a portfolio of lands like its peer monasteries – Farfa, Monte Amiata and Monte Cassino, Nonantola (Gelichi et al. 2018) – becoming in territorial and economic terms a statelet within the Benevento realm. This new order changed society, engendering social competition for scarce resources and in time civil wars that included mercenary relations with Arab invaders to Italy. This social upheaval was both apparent and distressing to visitors to the region (in the 860s) like the Frankish pilgrim, Bernard (Halevi 1998), and until now has been largely ascribed to the Other, the presence of the Arabs. But the new emphasis upon economic relations articulated by materialism cannot be omitted from the alchemy of the impact of the first feudal age in much of the peninsula. New thinking marked the mid to later 9th century. Marc Bloch quotes an Arab proverb to explain this, born of his experiences as a soldier: «People resemble their times more than they resemble their fathers» (Bloch 1953, p. 15). In the crucible of the 9th century with its new spheres of interaction, we cannot doubt that this cultural reinvention produced a new ‘mémoire collective’ and involved some loss of the past with all its lessons. The unthinkable now became possible (Czock 2018). In this changing political and economic landscape the Abbot of San Vincenzo posed a threat to peer secular leadership. The abbot, who grandly served in the place of the Christ, played the crucial role in monastic obedience. Unlike a secular lord, the abbot worked for the benefit of those who had to obey him, rather than for his own benefit (in contrast to the feudal model), and the controlling images of the abbot’s role were pastoral rather than lordly. The abbot, unlike a 174 Implications of Vetricella Phases I and II for the making of Medieval Italy (8th-9th centuries) fig. 1 – Vetricella: its location and a general view of the excavations. fig. 2 – A model illustrating the elements of sacred consumption and sacred production in 8th- and 9th- century monasteries. 175 R. Hodges secular lord, not only had to teach what the Lord would teach, but also had to serve as a physical example for those members of the monastery who had difficulty understanding. Obedience started with the abbot obeying, rather than the abbot ordering others to obey. This emphasis upon obedience harnessed to the growing wealth amassed under his control was too much for the Bishop of Naples who in 881 sent Arab mercenaries to destroy the abbot of San Vincenzo and the means of his wider power, his collective workshop (Hodges, Leppard, Mitchell 2011b). Doubtless smaller settlements disappeared in the fury created by these new social relations occurred. Look, for example, at Santa Maria in Civita in the Biferno valley (Hodges et al. 1980) and other Beneventan liminal sites, erstwhile central places, Faragola and San Giusto (Turchiano, Volpe 2019). Pope Leo IV to construct the fortification around St. Peter’s in 847 – essentially a private fortification as opposed to an urban investment (Gibson, Ward-Perkins 1979). At the same time Pope Leo created Leopolis, supposedly a town according to the Liber Pontificalis at Centocelle, towards the northern limits of his state. Excavations and surveys of Centocelle show it to have been a heavily fortified, hilltop bastion overlooking the Tyrrhenian pilgrim route, the Via Aurelia. With two gates, the main road, however, ran directly to a new bishop’s palace, his church and baptistery. In form it resembles Carolingian royal fortified residences (cf. Noyé 2013; Renoux 2015; Untermann 2015) rather than a productive town with a grid of streets (including a central broad street), workshops and other amenities. Perhaps it was a papal notion of a town, a transformative copy of Frankish palaces like Frankfurt and perhaps Paderborn. A closer parallel in form was contemporary Roselle, a largely abandoned ancient hilltop town above Grosseto, where a bishop built a church and residence within the ruined Roman remains of a bath overlooking the Via Aurelia in southern Tuscany. In both cases, these were ritual centres with significantly large cemeteries suggesting the strategic aim of attracting transactional support to the church through after-life connection with cult, much as we have seen at San Vincenzo al Volturno after c. AD 820. Concurrent with these innovations, and the shift towards meeting transactional needs, demand based upon the pilgrimage tourism generated by the cult of relics and new culinary habits aligned to the Frankish standards in operation since the renovatio were introduced using, for example, stemmed wine glasses and decorated glazed tableware pitchers, so-called Forum ware, as well as conceivably new Mediterranean foods like sugar (cf. Molinari 2018). In sum, as at San Vincenzo, but on a far larger scale, the papal statelet began to adapt its economy away from an emphasis upon consumption towards sacred production that generated tax in kind from those working its lands. Was Centocelle overlooking the coast close to Tarquinia constructed in expectation of a revival of maritime commerce in the age of ambassador Theodosius? Elsewhere, in southern Italy, an Ionian commercial network appears to date from the mid 9th century, concurrent with an increase in trans Adriatic Sea trade around the northern Adriatic region (Hodges 2012b). But Mediterranean maritime trade along the Tyrrhenian coast in this era appears to have been minimal. Ports like Naples, Gaeta and Pisa were perhaps seasonal (i.e. non-permanent) landing places serving contingent courts (Carsana 2018; Meo 2018; cf. Rovelli 2010); their Mediterranean histories belong to subsequent centuries. This is the context for the nEU-Med project located in the enigmatic southern Tuscan march. It provides a further illustration of a sub-regional archaeological model for the first feudal age and includes within the confines of its fluvial study area the remains of a mid 9th-century fortified site. Other chapters in this volume describe in detail the archaeology. Here I wish to examine the discoveries in the context of this narrative describing the revival of the economy in this section of the Tyrrhenian coast. How are we to presently interpret the San Vincenzo model in other parts of Italy? San Vincenzo for some historians is remote, though its history indicates it played a part in the mainstream international politics of the period. Rome, by contrast, was notionally, at least, a place at the metaphorical heart of Carolingian Europe. Continuity is easily explained here. But a closer examination of the archaeological evidence shows that the metropolis of late antiquity slowly shed its urban character by the early 8th century. No longer a market-place with urban infrastructure, its coinage was primitive and dedicated to serving its own closed economy with some circulation of prestige goods including foodstuffs (Hodges 2015). That is not to say that Rome disappeared. Quite the contrary. A place of pilgrimage and meetings, this transactional centre was readily aggrandized by Popes Hadrian and Leo III, with Carolingian support, as a constellation of cult centres – a sanctuary of metropolitan proportions in an age of elite conspicuous consumption (cf. Delogu 2017; Molinari et al. 2015; Hodges forthcoming). Not surprisingly this great centre adapted swiftly to the Benedictine reforms under Benedict of Aniane with Pope Pascal I and his successors until Pope Leo IV inserting crypts into pilgrimage churches to promote an increased emphasis upon the cult of relics and engagement (Goodson 2010). Monetization, though, unlike the North Sea regions did not yet occur (Rovelli 2000, 2009, 2012; cf. Skre 2017). Concurrently from Pope Hadrian’s administration, the papacy invested in developing its estates, creating the socalled domuscultae. Santa Cornelia and the Mola di Monte Gelato, the two estate centres examined by archaeologists to date (Christie 1991; Potter, King 1997), show an emphasis principally upon the symbolic presence of the papacy in these farms, the churches and their baptismal facilities, along with their sculptural decoration, garnering more investment than that devoted to agrarian activities (cf. Hodges 2014). The diffused spread of similar sculpture from this period suggests that many new, small churches, were constructed in its territory, as sacred markers in a bid to define and possibly generate intensification of agricultural settlement. According to the Liber Pontificalis, it was the labour from these papal farms that provided the work-force that enabled 176 Implications of Vetricella Phases I and II for the making of Medieval Italy (8th-9th centuries) 4. nEU-MED AND VETRICELLA PHASES 1 AND 2 Superficially the compass-made triple V-shape ditched enclosure is reminiscent of contemporary mid-9th-century private fortifications in the Rhineland (Marasco 2018). It belongs to the same period as the fortified hilltop of Centocelle and the Leonine wall in Rome, and its compass-drawn ditches mark a significant investment in demonstrating both power and security (cf. Squatriti 2002). It also belongs to the period where managing estates occurred at San Vincenzo – the hypothesized small tower at Vetricella (see Marasco infra) inside the triple V – shaped ditches is similar to that at 9th century Colle Castellano in the terra of San Vincenzo. Finally, it belongs to a period when gift-giving became an increasingly important instrument for building and sustaining cliental relationships, as we have hypothesized at San Vincenzo al Volturno. Vetricella Phase 2 is a materially-richer settlement of a new era, its significance reinforced by the site’s subsequent 10th-and 11th-century history with its distinctive quantities of discarded materials (Phases 3, 4 and 5). The presence of numerous wine glass fragments, the distinctive character of the ceramic assemblage (principally for storage), a distinctive faunal assemblage (processed quality parts of pig) connoting the adoption of the secondary products revolution as evident in the large assemblage at the royal fisc of Anglo-Saxon Wicken Bonhunt, Essex, UK (Crabtree 2013), as well as the unusual inhumation cemetery together show that this place in the two centuries after Vetricella 2 remained special. These factors show that Vetricella, a non-place in Marc Augé’s sense without antiquity (Augé 1995; cf. Hodges 2017), became a productive and possibly a redistributive place that existed and flourished only in Marc Bloch’s first feudal age. It belongs to an era of experimentation with new demand values (cf. the so-called Anglo-Saxon 8th-century ‘productive sites’: Pestell, Ulmschneider 2003; Hodges 2012a, pp. 29-31 conceivably forerunners of ‘out-of-scale’ 10th-century productive sites, see Bianchi infra). To echo Wickham on this theme, its elite-owners evidently possessed the power to create surpluses in artisanal products and distribute these through new exchange networks with the peasantry to begin building a surplus-seeking mentality in rural production (cf. Wickham 2008). When the experimentation with engineering demand and consumption ended, this element of the new regional settlement networks was abandoned in favour of the first market towns and their dependencies encompassing the Colline Metallifere and the coastal littoral. The nEU-Med project is attempting to refine our understanding of Vetricella Phase 2 in history and in terms of the function of this place, as will be evident in other contributions to this volume. We await a fine-grained overview of the rich material culture integrated with the stratigraphic evidence. Measuring the apparent rise of materialism at this place will be important to define the importance of commodities in the first feudal age. Clearly, too, we need to examine the specific political circumstances in the Tuscan march that might have led to its construction in c. AD 850 and, then, its transformation c. AD 900/1000 (see Bianchi infra; cf. Wickham 1981, pp. 59-60; 185-86). This appears to be Teupascio, Royal Water, a fisc associated with the Tuscan kings in the later 9th century as the Emperor Louis The nEU-Med project has already demonstrated major changes that overtook this tract of the Tyrrhenian coast as it meets the Pecora fluvial corridor as of the later 7th century (Bianchi, Hodges 2018; Vaccaro 2018). The archaeology of Portus Scabris quantitatively illustrates the sharp decline in Mediterranean coastal commerce (Vaccaro 2018, fig. 4), a graphic illustration of a pattern found throughout Italy (cf. Cirelli, Diosono and Patterson 2015). All the indicators suggest the subsequent archaeological sequence in this Tyrrhenian valley up until the 11th century, while different in managerial form from the San Vincenzo model, resonates with the same or similar European characteristics of the first feudal age. Portus Scabris had been a significant Roman port handling a local demand for amphorae and tablewares from the Arno and from points southwards as well as the Eastern Mediterranean that continued to be active into the later 6th and mid to later 7th centuries (Vaccaro 2018). Thereafter, its archaeological imprint was minimal. Demand disappeared. Possibly, its role (but not its scale of distributive operations) was replaced by Vetricella Phase 1, set back inland a short distance from the eastern edge of Follonica lagoon, close to the line of the Via Aurelia. Vetricella Phase 1 appears to be an open site occupying a slight rise within the channels leading to the lagoon. The excavations suggest that it had no clear boundaries and might have covered a hectare or more. Traces of several post-built timber structures have been found, though, given the limited material culture, it is impossible to determine whether this was a permanent or seasonal settlement. The restricted range of ceramics is typical of this region (Grassi 2010; Vaccaro 2011), otherwise the only diagnostic objects are a pair of Lombard belt-fittings along with a 7th-century schlaufensporen copper alloy prick spur (see Agostini infra). The features belonging to this phase include several kilns, one of which was designed to be operated with bellows. These kilns, it would appear, indicate the presence of skilled craftmanship involved in working metal ores such as copper or lead (for possible parallels from late 7th-century Rome see: Serlorenzi, Ricci 2015, fig. 2). Certainly, Vetricella Phase 1 is no Portus Scabris redux! The archaeology, limited though it is, suggests an unstructured settlement character (with no ditches, boundaries, storage pits, etc) similar, for example, to the earliest village phases in western Tuscany. Plainly it bears no resemblance to the court culture cited above, or to the monastic culture vividly documented at San Vincenzo al Volturno. Its importance may be overstated because of the settlement that succeeded it, Vetricella Phase 2. Phase 1 might have been a seasonal landing place, where exchange occurred (a so-call type A emporium: Hodges 2012a, pp. 96-100), or simply an open coastal settlement involved in small-scale metal extraction and its export controlled as a royal fisc or monastic outstation with administered access to the services of the skilled craftsmen (see Bianchi infra). Mid to later 9th-century Vetricella Phase 2 attracted archaeological interest long before its context was known. 177 R. Hodges II re-established greater political hegemony over the Italian peninsula. Its precise purpose and its material character are plainly different from two contemporary neighbouring archaeological sites of an elite nature: the re-occupation of a small part of the Etruscan and Roman sanctuary city of Populonia and the possible (though as yet unproven) reoccupation of the Roman maritime villa at Vignale. Both these places unlike Vetricella appear to be residences that deployed ancient remains to enhance their status. In this monumental respect there is an echo of the conspicuous consumption associated with later 8th-century palaces and monasteries. There are also material as well as apparent architectural differences: the ill-defined residence at Populonia possessed significant quantities of imported pietra ollare, largely absent at Vetricella, and red-painted table-wares which again are rare at Vetricella though associated with the conspicuous consumption at Pisa (Gelichi 2017; cf. Meo 2018). As a place, in other words, in its Phase 2 grandiosity Vetricella represents an architectural departure not least because the distinctive and symbolic circular form, with its north European overtones, is unusual. Other circular fortified sites have been identified in recent fieldwork close to Roselle, in the Grosseto plain (Campana 2018, pp. 100-105; see also Bianchi infra). If these are versions of Vetricella, it may be that this imported and short-term settlement type had a specific function for a specific political episode in the Tuscan March. Vetricella has documented one key aspect of this age of experimentation. With its abundant materialism this fortified site belongs to a moment when the environment of the fluvial corridor was transformed (Pieruccini et al. 2018). Planning is a key ingredient of Vetricella 2 as at San Vincenzo in the earlier 9th-century Phase 4. Digging the equi-distant V-shaped ditches at 44, 88, and 132 Luitprand paces (Marasco 2018), it appears, was made possible by a concurrent canalisation of tracts of the Pecora river. Evidence of systematic clearance would appear to show a systematic reclamation strategy to increase food production in this corridor. This is a major discovery of the nEU-Med project, along with the pollen evidence indicating an upward spike in chestnuts and olives once the reclamation was completed during the 10th century (Pieruccini et al. 2018). In other words, the ‘imported’ settlement form coincides with new management of the fluvial corridor. Bianchi (see Bianchi infra) associates all these features with the advent of a royal authority. From this era, too, as Bianchi has also shown, excavations of new villages in the Colline Metallifere reveal the adoption in the later 9th to 10th centuries of cereal silos (Bianchi, Grassi 2012). Resembling the silos found at Miranduolo on the eastern flank of the Colline Metallifere (Valenti 2008), these surely belong not only to the moment when convertible agriculture and in particular crop rotation was re-introduced to the region but also to the moment when tributary taxation (in kind) at this local level effectively began again. Lest we forget, this age of experimentation spans an era in which (text-based) charters (presumably replacing oral versions) were first deployed to define relationships, rights and taxes of those in villages, and as, concurrently, money was first introduced in the form of the later 10th-century ot- tolini silver deniers. Incastellamento, we now know, relates to the use of texts to cement pre-existing relationships, dating back to at least the later 9th and early 10th centuries – the era of Vetricella 2 (cf. coins at the so-called productive sites in 8th-century Anglo-Saxon England: Pestell, Ulmschneider 2003; Hodges 2012a, pp. 29-31). The coins, on the other hand, appear to prepare the pathways, already well-known in other European regions, for market relationships in Italy that would take a physical form in the course of the 11th century. The context of Vetricella, its material culture and, indeed, its subsequent history suggests Vetricella Phase 2 and possibly Vetricella Phase 1 belong to two different methods for controlling exchange and also possibly production at a point where the Pecora, Via Aurelia and Follonica lagoon/Tyrrhenian Sea intersected. Once the economic system changed, as it most clearly did in the early to mid 11th century with the rise of local towns such as Massa Marittima and the growing ascendency of Pisa, Vetricella apparently no longer served a purpose. As at San Vincenzo and Rome, it suggests that imported physical concepts were employed at Vetricella to signal an overhaul of a local Tuscan cultural context. Given its notably distinctive imported but short-lived form (the equi-distant triple ditches), was it (and its possible peer sites near Roselle) a customs’ post in the southern Tuscan march? Was it a point where minerals from the Colline Metallifere or from the island of Elba were worked for the production of metals then sent to the Tuscan court for transformation into prestige goods deployed in the gift exchange cycle (similar to the economic system introduced in the 9th century at San Vincenzo) (cf. Tomei 2018)? We must be cautious about this interpretation, notwithstanding the unusual form and history of the site. So little is known about early Medieval customs’ posts as places (Middleton 2005) that any certainty for the interpretation of this enigmatic site will be controversial. In addition, unlike the excavated archon’s residence at 9th-century Mid Byzantine Butrint, where ample numbers of coins, seals and imported goods from the Salento were found (cf. Leo Imperiale 2018), nothing other than the possible small hoard from the latest moments in the area of the tower suggests an administrative engagement with the wider region has yet been discovered at Vetricella Phase 2 (Greenslade, Hodges 2019). All these questions will only be answered by more analyses of the excavated evidence. From this will derive the intricate detail that shows the first age of feudalism was a complex, Europe-wide attempt to interpret Frankish concepts through the lens of local circumstances. Interpreting the adoption of these concepts in Denmark with its powerful Viking-period inter- and intra-regional economy is one thing (cf. Skre 2017). Interpreting these concepts within Italy, a coalition of many political regions that suffered an extraordinary economic collapse yet lived within the ruins of Etruscan and Roman civilizations, is quite another thing. The nEU-Med project shows that we still know very little about feudalism other than its textual characteristics. To speak of the tyranny of the concept is to focus on a definition based on written relationships that needs re-working to take account of all aspects of the lives of peoples in this period. We have yet to grasp how this macro-economic 178 Implications of Vetricella Phases I and II for the making of Medieval Italy (8th-9th centuries) transformation affected not only social relations but also life-cycles, diet, culinary traditions, burial customs as well as construction including peasant dwellings. Most of all, the question remains as to why peasants who had lived with a primitive economy for two centuries (the so-called golden age of the peasantry) – eight to ten generations or so – accepted new social relationships and adopted new working regimes? Demand for materialism remains to be closely analysed alongside other aspects of the quotidian existence of a subsistence-based peasantry. What were the incentives to seek security from a lord in return for in-kind labour services? Lost opportunity costs were surely not simply replaced by a new era of consumerism? The new things – glass, metal and pottery – carried an understanding of those things and their traditions which had a meaning we have yet to fully intuit. Simply put, the explosion of materialism in the later 9th century and afterwards that defines this age of experimentation must be a critical component in attempting to explain widescale social change (pace Anderson 1974, p. 150 who assumes commodification had roots in antiquity). This productive revolution based initially upon the making of goods for redistributive gift exchange cycles (such as was discovered at San Vincenzo) was eventually to become the platform for an urban revolution by the 11th century. Frans Theuws in a similar transformation in the Low Countries addressed peasant circumstances as follows: «the aristocrat’s and the dwellers’ landscapes came to overlap (in the ninth century) more than they did in the seventh and early eighth century. Devroey expects that a ‘ruralization’ of the elite took place in this period. I would say that at the same time, an elitization of the rural landscape and world took place. …However strange this may sound, the local dwellers may have (happily?) cooperated in creating (new landscapes) because of perceived opportunities …in relation to their own farmsteads. [T]he transformation of the rural world in Carolingian times may not have been a one-way, top-down elite operation» (Theuws 2008, p. 220). Theuws’ observation, of course, challenges us to interpret the texts with care because the underlying presumption is that rural society was persuaded to use Max Weber’s thesis in other contexts (Weber 1978, pp. 212-216; cf. Wickham 1991, p. 191), to change their working and living practices by commodification – materialism – that is difficult to detect in the written accounts of these times. This would suggest not so much economic trickle-down in ‘Reaganomic terms’ as a social upheaval involving a revolution in all aspects of rural behaviour. One issue, at least, is now gaining clarity. Italy re-discovered its Mediterranean place only once the age of (feudal) economic experimentation was over, as of the early 11th century. How, one wonders, would Marc Bloch, a pupil of sorts of Henri Pirenne, and François-Louis Ganshof, Pirenne’s successor at the University of Ghent, have interpreted this archaeological discovery, knowing how important longdistance trade was at these times in the North and Baltic Seas? 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LO SVILUPPO DEL SITO DI VETRICELLA NEI PERIODI I E II PER UN CONTRIBUTO ALLA DEFINIZIONE DELL’ITALIA MEDIEVALE (VIII-IX SECOLO) Dall’Illuminismo in poi storici e sociologi hanno dibattuto a lungo il concetto di feudalesimo europeo, attingendo da fonti letterarie elaborate a partire dal IX sec. in poi., fino a quando Elisabeth Brown sfidò ciò che lei descriveva come: the tyranny of the concept (1974), nell’anno in cui in Italia fu fondata la rivista Archeologia Medievale. Brown, dissezionando le canoniche interpretazioni di feudalismo, concludeva che non poteva esistere una sola definizione concisa. Al contrario, richiamandosi allo storico francese George Duby, affermava che gli storici avevano il compito di rivolgere la loro attenzione sull’intrinseca complessità della vita quotidiana del primo Medioevo rispetto a definizioni formulari. Quel che Brown non poteva sapere nel 1974 – ma che noi ora sappiamo – è che l’impronta archeologica della cosiddetta prima età feudale di Marc Bloch dimostra l’esistenza di una chiara rottura con quanto avvenne nei secoli precedenti. Sia a nord che a sud delle Alpi, grazie a efficaci strumenti cronologici e a cinquant’anni di ‘buone pratiche’ archeologiche, siamo in grado di rilevare importanti differenze socio-economiche rispetto alla precedente età Carolingia. Le origini del feudalesimo europeo possono essere ricercate in un’epoca priva di città, moneta e mercati. Lo scambio di doni, il baratto e l’associazionismo commerciale, in luogo della monetizzazione, sono i caratteri che definiscono la prima età feudale di Bloch, in una fase in cui l’etica tribale aveva una maggiore importanza nella definizione delle relazioni sociali, rispetto alla ricchezza retributiva. Specificatamente, questo segna il momento in cui molti degli empori monopolistici del Mare del Nord scompaiono, nel momento in cui i primi insediamenti fortificati, vengono costruite da privati, quando i villaggi dell’epoca post-romana mostrano per la prima volta chiare tracce di prodotti agrari secondari e l’esistenza di una produzione cerealicola amministrata attraverso forme di stoccaggio di cereali all’interno di silos e granai. Ciò segna l’inizio di un periodo in cui la cultura materiale, per la prima volta a partire dalla tarda antichità, raggiunge tutte le classi sociali e pertanto viene prodotta e consumata su una scala diversa rispetto a quella tipica dell’economia chiusa caratterizzante il periodo precedente. L’archeologia, sebbene in modo non ancora del tutto quantificabile, offre un valido contributo nel disegnare l’evoluzione della cultura materiale della prima età feudale, soprattutto in Italia. Sulla base delle evidenze archeologiche di cui disponiamo, vi sono forse motivi per rimettere in discussione il rifiuto operato da Elisabeth Brown del concetto di un feudalesimo basato sulle fonti letterarie? La nascita del materialismo indica un punto di partenza per il Medioevo, evidenziando come la prima metà del IX sec. segna l’inizio di un periodo di straordinaria crescita economica, regolando il passo di testi contemporanei e dei loro interpreti (incluso Marc Bloch), senza essere in alcun modo oscurato dall’impatto delle invasioni Saracene e le incursioni Vichinghe. Che cosa accadde dunque in Italia? Come fu la primitiva economia agraria post-classica messa in linea con la prima età feudale di Bloch? Numerose evidenze archeologiche portano a ipotizzare che l’adozione di concetti propri del popolo dei Franchi possa aver giocato un ruolo fondamentale. La Chiesa, come hanno avuto modo di sottolineare i principali storici del primo feudalesimo, ha giocato un ruolo istituzionale chiave. Se la Chiesa abbia promosso o meno una decentralizzazione delle forze politiche e economiche, di fatto una “catastrofica regressione” per citare le parole dello storico marxista, Perry Anderson, questo è stato sino a ora valutato solo da un punto di vista testuale. Finora il solo modello archeologico che spiega il ruolo della Chiesa in questa rivoluzione rurale è quello basato sugli scavi e le indagini svolte nel monastero benedettino e beneventano di San Vincenzo al Volturno e nel territorio circostante. Ubicato sul confine settentrionale della Municipalità di Benevento, attorno al 780 questa comunità si percepiva come facente parte della sfera ideologica della corte carolingia e delle riforme benedettine che essa promuoveva. In sintesi, la sequenza archeologica di questo sito e del territorio limitrofo è la seguente: Tardo VIII sec.: fase 3c ampliamento del monastero esistente con nuova enfasi su elementi di tipo monumentale e decorativo. Inizio IX sec.: fase 4 espansione e ricostruzione pianificata del monastero, con due corridoi che conducono alla nuova basilica. Un monastero di proprietà beneventana e un palazzo riservato all’abate definiscono rispettivamente due settori: il palazzo e il claustrum. Si registra un’enfasi sul programma monumentale e decorativo, tra cui si possono annoverare un alto numero di reimpieghi (spolia) di opere di età romana dai centri urbani in rovina come Venafro o Isernia. Circa 820: fase 5a1: un terzo ingresso alla basilica con la creazione di un atrio ricostruito e l’inserimento di una cripta ad anello; anche il palazzo dell’abate viene ricostruito. Il terzo accesso indica la presenza di altre élites oltre ai mecenati della corte beneventana che occupavano il palazzo. Il monastero era divenuto un luogo di semi-impegno, un luogo di transazioni e incontri nel senso ben descritto da Frans Theuws per Maastricht. 182 Verso una definizione dell’archeologia della prima età feudale di Bloch C. 840: fase 5a2: la modifica principale in questa fase è stata l’inserimento di un’abitazione per un funzionario negli ambienti destinati alle botteghe lungo la basilica, con la creazione di una scala che conducesse alla basilica – in sostanza una quarta via di accesso. Non vengono fatte altre modifiche agli edifici del monastero, ivi incluso il palazzo dell’abate. Il complesso resterà inalterato da questo momento sino al momento in cui fu saccheggiato nel 881. Questo viene letto come il periodo in cui il monastero si dedica a (i) sviluppare il proprio circondario – il borgo e (ii) investire nella creazione di piccole chiese e nuovi castelli nei suoi territori (terra). Il modello (archeologico) di San Vincenzo indica uno spostamento generazionale da (i) un consumo sacro (con enfasi posta su elementi architettonici e di decorazione visiva), comprendendo ad es. motivi ed elementi letterari classici esibiti, come nella cultura di palazzo dei Franchi dove si seguiva la riforma benedettina della metà del VIII sec., con la riforma di Crodegango di Metz; sino a (ii) un monastero che promuove la produzione sacra (facendo seguito alle riforme di Benedetto di Aniane, presentate al Sinodo di Aachen nel 816 ed esemplificate nella pianta della chiesa di San Gallo (circa 820). Cambiamenti come quelli sopra descritti in contesti di cittadelle monastiche di questo periodo si possono riscontrare all’interno di un sito di élite curtensi? Questa è la cornice in cui opera il progetto nEU-Med con la sua attività di ricerca interdisciplinare nella valle del fiume Pecora,. Il progetto ha già evidenziato quali furono i principali cambiamenti che interessarono nel tardo VII sec. questo tratto di costa tirrenica legata al corridoio fluviale del fiume Pecora. Le indagini archeologiche condotte presso Portus Scabris illustrano in modo quantitativo il forte declino del commercio costiero nel Mediterraneo, rappresentando in maniera efficace un modello riscontrato in tutta la penisola. Tutti gli indicatori suggeriscono la seguente sequenza archeologica in questa valle tirrenica fino al XI sec., e anche se diversa in termini di gestione rispetto al modello di San Vincenzo, altri indicatori richiamano identiche o simili caratteristiche della prima età feudale europea. Il progetto nEU-Med si è concentrato principalmente sul sito di Vetricella, stratigraficamente ben conservato nelle sue fasi Gli scavi della Periodo 1 di Vetricella suggeriscono che il sito non avesse confini chiari, occupando un area di almeno un ettaro. Sono state documentate tracce di diverse strutture in materiale deperibile, ma, vista la scarsità di dati sulla cultura materiale, non è possibile determinare se si trattasse di un insediamento permanente o stagionale. La gamma ristretta di ceramica è tipica di questa regione, mentre i soli reperti guida sono due elementi da cintura multipla longobarda. Le caratteristiche appartenenti a questa fase includono chiare evidenze di attività metallurgiche Questi lavori sembrerebbero testimoniare la presenza di una classe di artigiani esperti, coinvolti nella lavorazione di metalli come il rame o il piombo. Il Periodo 1 di Vetricella non va inteso in alcun modo come una sostituzione o una versione su scala ridotta di Portus Scabris. L’archeologia rileva il carattere di insediamento non strutturato (senza fossati, confini, pozzi di stoccaggio, ecc.) simile per esempio alle primissime fasi dei villaggi nella Toscana occidentale. La sua importanza può essere forse sovrastimata a causa dell’insediamento che seguì, ossia Vetricella 2. L’insediamento del periodo 1 potrebbe essere stato un luogo stagionale di approdo per transazioni di tipo commerciale (il cosiddetto emporio di tipo A), oppure più semplicemente un insediamento aperto sulla costa e dedito alla lavorazione dei metalli su piccola scala, le cui attività di esportazione potevano essere controllate da una corte secolare o da un monastero che disponeva di prestazioni di artigiani. Il periodo 2 di Vetricella, che si data attorno alla metà del IX sec., ha sin da subito suscitato un interesse archeologico molto prima che il suo contesto fosse noto. La recinzione con fossati che vanno a formare tre cerchi concentrici richiamano le coeve fortificazioni Renane della metà del IX sec. I fossati, che appaiono come disegnati con il compasso, rivelano un significativo investimento per ostentare potere e sicurezza. La recinzione si colloca in un periodo in cui a San Vincenzo sorgono delle tenute abitative – l’ipotizzata piccola torre ubicata all’interno dei fossati concentrici a Vetricella potrebbe mostrare caratteristiche analoghe a quella di IX sec. di Colle Castellano, nella terra di San Vincenzo. Infine, il Periodo 2 si inserisce in un momento storico in cui l’arte di donare diventa un importante strumento per costruire e mantenere relazioni clientelari, come già documentato per San Vincenzo al Volturno. Il Periodo di Vetricella rappresenta un insediamento materialmente ricco e parte di una nuova era la cui importanza è rafforzata dalla successiva storia del sito nei secoli X e XI (Periodo 3 e 4). La presenza di numerosi frammenti di calici, il carattere distintivo del corredo ceramico (in particolare per la conservazione degli alimenti), un particolare campione di resti faunistici (lavorazione di parti di qualità del maiale) a indicare l’adozione di prodotti del settore secondario, come risulta evidente nell’ampia associazione faunistica riscontrata nel fisco regio anglosassone di Wicken Bonhunt nell’Essex, così come l’insolito cimitero a inumazione, sono tutti elementi che attestano come questo luogo nei due secoli successivi al Periodo 2 continuò a mantenere caratteristiche singolari. Questi fattori mostrano che Vetricella, un nonluogo secondo la definizione del filosofo francese Marc Augé, ossia uno spazio senza antichità, divenne un luogo identitario fiorendo solo nella prima età feudale di Marc Bloch, appartenendo a un’era di sperimentazione e nuovi valori. Quando la sperimentazione ebbe termine, questo elemento delle nuove reti insediative regionali fu abbandonato in favore di nuove sistemazioni di tipo signorile, basate sull’espansione della produzione dei villaggi, produzione che a sua volta promosse nel XII sec. le città-mercato con i loro insediamenti rurali di riferimento nelle Colline Metallifere e lungo il litorale costiero. Come a San Vincenzo, ciò porta a ipotizzare a Vetricella, un sito di probabile proprietà regia, un’importazione di modelli fiscali che appaiono come elemento di forte novità nel contesto culturale toscano. Visto il suo aspetto distintivo (triplice fossato equidistante l’uno dall’altro) ma di breve durata (Fase 2), si può forse ipotizzare che Vetricella fosse una stazione doganale e di posta (con possibili siti ‘gemelli’ 183 R. Hodges vicino a Roselle) lungo l’itinerario verso la Toscana meridionale? Fu forse un luogo dove i minerali estratti dalle Colline Metallifere venivano lavorati e inviati alla corte Toscana e trasformati in oggetti di prestigio da inserire nel ciclo dello scambio di regalie (in modo simile al sistema economico in uso a San Vincenzo nel IX sec.)? Dobbiamo essere prudenti riguardo questa interpretazione, nonostante la forma insolita del sito e la sua storia. Si conosce veramente poco delle stazioni doganali degli inizi del Medioevo in quanto luoghi, e dunque qualsiasi certezza nell’interpretazione di questo sito risulterebbe controversa. Inoltre, diversamente dalla residenza dell’Arconte nella Butrinto bizantina del IX sec., dai cui scavi sono emersi sigilli, un ampio numero di monete e altra merce di importazione dal Salento, non vi è nulla che possa a oggi suggerire nel Periodo 2 a Vetricella (metà IX secolo e inizio del X secolo) un maggiore impegno con la più ampia area tirrenica. Tutte queste domande troveranno risposta solamente con il proseguo delle analisi di quanto emerso nel corso delle attività di scavo. Da questo, sarà possibile far emergere come la prima età feudale si può leggere come un complesso tentativo su scala europea di comprendere concetti legati al popolo dei Franchi attraverso l’analisi di dinamiche locali. Interpretare l’adozione di questi modelli nella influente Danimarca d’epoca vichinga con la sua economia inter e intra regionale è un conto. Interpretare questi modelli in Italia, una coalizione di molte e diverse regioni politiche che conobbero uno straordinario declino, ma che vivevano nella cornice delle rovine delle civiltà etrusca e romana, è tutt’altro. Il progetto nEU-Med ha dimostrato l’esistenza di evidenti lacune nella nostra conoscenza del feudalesimo, se non nelle sue evidenze letterarie. Parlare della tirannia di quest’ultimo concetto consiste nel focalizzarsi su una definizione basata su relazioni scritte che però necessita di una rielaborazione per farsi carico di tutti gli aspetti legati alla vita quotidiana in questo periodo. Dobbiamo ancora comprendere come questa trasformazione ha influenzato non solo le relazioni sociali, ma anche i cicli di vita, i regimi alimentari, le tradizioni culinarie, i costumi funerari, senza dimenticare le tecniche di costruzione, tra cui anche le abitazioni contadine. Innanzitutto, resta da chiedersi perché contadini che avevano vissuto con un’economia primitiva per due secoli (la cosiddetta età dell’oro dello stato contadino) – per otto/dieci generazioni o giù di lì – finirono per accettare nuove relazioni sociali adottando nuovi regimi lavorativi? Quali furono gli incentivi che portarono a ricercare forme di protezione da soggetti signorili in cambio di prestazioni lavorative fornite in natura? I perduti costi di opportunità non furono semplicemente sostituiti da una nuova era di consumismo? Nuovi prodotti quali vetro, metalli e vasellame portavano con sé una comprensione di quelle cose e delle loro tradizioni con un significato per noi ancora da cogliere in maniera più completa. L’esplosione del materialismo nel tardo IX sec. e nei secoli successivi, su cui si fonda quest’età di sperimentazione, deve essere una componente critica nel cercare di interpretare cambiamenti sociali su vasta scala. Questa rivoluzione produttiva basata inizialmente sulla produzione di merci per il ciclo di scambi di regalie (come è stato appurato per San Vincenzo), divenne il punto di partenza per la rivoluzione urbana del XII sec. 184 Giovanna Bianchi* RURAL PUBLIC PROPERTIES FOR AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF ITALY (10TH AND 11TH CENTURIES): AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY In the text preceding this contribution, Richard Hodges has described how the history of Vetricella during the Carolingian period, with its three concentric ditches, took on the material form and a broader narrative linked to the history of that feudal society outlined by Marc Bloch with distinctive features which, compared to the Roman economic system, have been at the centre of more recent historical narratives (Wickham 2014; Devroey 2006). The very same establishment and transformation of the banal lordships has also been the topic of a wide-ranging debate among historians. Following the hypotheses and successive debates arising from the well-known mutationist theory, initially elaborated for the French area by Duby, the literature has today quite unanimously and with few exceptions taken a continuist perspective, attributing the roots of the gradual formation of the seigneurship in the second half of the 9th century, and its definitive adoption at the beginning of the 12th century (for an assessment of the subject refer to the synthesis and bibliography in Carocci 1997; Provero 2007; Fiore 2015). This has also been the view, up until recent studies, taken by Italian medievalists, that now theorize a different phenomenology in the dynamics of seigneural transformation, suggesting the end of the 11th century as a crucial moment of radical change taking place in the Kingdom of Italy and in the physiognomy of that very same seigneurship, now characterized by a new order based on three fundamental pillars: settlements between peers; settlements with subordinates; exercise of violence (Fiore 2017, pp. XI-XVIII for the most up-to-date references on the Italian and European historiographical narration,). Such a position is partially in line with the wider picture traced by Wickham that proposes the definitive twilight of Rome’s inheritance to have occurred in the 11th century, unraveling into the political and economic dynamics of Early Medieval society (Wickham 2014). Among these readings, the level of involvement or opposition between royal and aristocratic powers has been variously illustrated as part of economic dynamics founded on landed property and the so-called ‘land policy’. However, as noted in a recent contribution (Tomei 2017), many questions still remain for historians to answer on the nature as well as the characteristics of the formation and management systems of public lands, these acting as the driving force that set in motion changes tied-in to the feudal world. With regards to archaeologists, what has been their contribution in the previously illustrated issues with specific reference to the western Mediterranean area and the Kingdom of Italy in particular, a topic directly related to the nEU-Med project? Although the answers provided by archaeology have as yet never been expressed in a single systematic narrative, these however have been significant. The most recent analyses conducted on material evidence from rural contexts has shown, at least in the past ten years, the great gulf that separates the material culture of the 12th century with that of previous centuries (see the various contributions in Molinari 2010), offering a valid incentive to the hypothesis of a more rapid and radical signeural change than formerly envisaged. In his contribution Hodges has shown the role archaeology has played in identifying the socio-economic mechanisms that set the groundwork, by the mid-9th century, for the formation of the feudal seigneurship while at the same time determining the process that led to commercial stagnation in this part of the Mediterranean after late antiquity, seeing a gradual revival only by the end of the 9th century. Full development will take place from the later 10th century onwards, as clearly shown in a recently published monograph dedicated to the subject of transport vessels (Gelichi, Molinari 2018). Furthermore, analyses carried out on specific classes of materials, but also on architectural structures, have provided answers to different aspects of Early Medieval rural economy (Bianchi 2012; Santangeli Valenzani 2011) while the study of settlement contexts through excavations and survey activities has made it possible to better define settlement dynamics, starting from the well-known Tuscan model (Francovich 2008; Augenti 2016, pp. 82-184). Even so, a gap still exists in Early Medieval Italian rural contexts between the events that took place following the end of Frankish rule and the great revival of the 12th century. In the archaeological periodization the 10th and 11th centuries are often treated as a continuation of previous periods or as the starting point of later ones. This results in their being reduced inside a timeframe that, following the canonical version outlined by the written sources, begins with the breakup of the Carolingian order and directly arrives at the first tangible and experimental forms of territorial seignership, a result of that continuist view so typical of Italian historiography that has only recently been questioned. If the material evidence allows us to identify those signs that point to the mid-9th century as the starting point of this trend, for archaeologists the rural seigneurship still remains the main protagonist over * Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche e dei Beni Culturali – Università di Siena (giovanna.bianchi@unisi.it). 185 G. Bianchi the course of the following centuries. A few contributions aside, among which the recently published proceedings of an important conference (Bougard, Loré 2019), a number of fundamental questions still remain unanswered: how did public land management function? At what level did this management affect the formation processes of the rural seigneurship as well as economic growth? What are the transformation chronologies connected with the formations of the 11th and 12th century seigneurial districts? Having determined the existence of a public policy tied to land and acknowledged ‘privatized’ forms of management conducted by the consolidated rural seigneurship, there are still a number of largely unclarified processes that beg answering. I will therefore resume and focus my attention from where Hodges left off, namely on the still uncharted historical phase set between the 10th and beginning 11th century. The objective of this contribution is to formulate a number of preliminary hypotheses about the role played by central powers and the royal fisc during this chronological period, as compared to the previous century extensively discussed by Hodges (see Hodges infra), carrying out significant political changes in the management of landed possessions as well as natural and agricultural resources. At the same time, I will attempt to argue how these more incisive transformations took place within a non-conflicting relationship between the ‘State’ and the great aristocracies, and in what way this process in the Kingdom of Italy might have constituted a basis for the development of the rural seigneurship in the course of the 11th century 1. Our privileged observation point will be offered by the site of Vetricella, starting off from its material reality. logical subdivision was elaborated by Wickham in his closing remarks (Wickham 2019). In view of a great variety of these possessions that Wickham assigns to ten different categories, it appears clear that if we want to understand in greater detail how the economy of the royal properties functioned it is necessary to refer to the last two categories he identifies, both connected to one another, namely: inalienable royal properties directly administered by emissaries of the King or royal properties administered by public officials such as Counts and the Marquis. These types of public holdings represented the economic heart of the system to which Vetricella belonged. Focus on these properties poses, however, a serious issue for historians. Documentary sources referring to these holdings and their workings are in fact scarce due to the very nature of these possessions, often implying transactions that took on either ephemerally written or oral forms (Collavini 2019). While waiting for historians to establish the necessary parameters pertinent to identifying and reviewing, if indirectly, the nature and possible function of this category of royal holdings, for the time being archaeology appears to offer an effective route, providing a more in-depth grasp on the workings of these properties. The study of the material evidence from royal and march rural courts is not unknown to the field of Italian medieval archaeology (see the considerations by Bougard 1991; 2019). It is, however, a subject that has never been dealt with in a systematic manner, having also suffered from that ‘flattening’ process due to its being set in-between the studies carried out on rural villages dating to the Lombard and Carolingian periods and the birth of the first castles. Furthermore, the reduced extent of archaeological excavation has up until now provided fragmentary evidence. This has led archaeologists in some cases to observe few material differences as compared to other ‘privately owned’ curtes in the kingdom, thus justifying their ‘anonymous’ addition in the more generic settlement dynamics of the period. In this regard, the evidence garnered from analyses conducted over the last decades on a number of important curtes (fig. 1) such as Frugarolo-Orba (Bougard 1991; Bonasera, Bougard, Cortellazzo 1993), Marengo (Crosetto 2017), Fraore (Catarsi 2018), Aulla (Arslan et al. 2006) and S. Quirico in Valdarno (Cantini in Bianchi, Cantini, Collavini 2019) are emblematic. As for Tuscany, only in the recent case of San Genesio, one of the most important march properties in the Tuscia, do we possess a more extensive excavation with material evidence which has for the time being been illustrated in a limited manner while waiting for a final edition on the archaeological research (see Bianchi, Cantini, Collavini 2019). The uniqueness of Vetricella does not therefore depend on the nature of the site, but rather on the extent of its excavation, allowing the recording of a number of material aspects hitherto unknown in other research across the peninsula (fig. 2). Let us therefore summarize the new elements that significantly advance our study beyond the 2018 volume. To start with, an improved and much-needed definition of the chronology of the different phases was established (see the periodization put forward by Marasco, Briano infra). 1. VETRICELLA AND THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ROYAL AND MARCH PROPERTIES Starting where we left off last year with Simone Collavini, namely our contribution in the first nEU-Med volume, I will attempt to set in clearer focus the data currently at our disposal (Bianchi, Collavini 2018). Even then Vetricella was seen as a privileged observation point, considering that the site was identified as the centre of the royal court of Valli, located in a vast territory characterized by large public properties among which the adjoining curtis of Cornino. It has already been described and commented upon at length that both the courts of Valli and Cornino appear for the first time in the double dowry issued by King Hugh of Provence in 937 in favour of Berta and Adelaide (Vignodelli 2012). The study of the material aspects of Vetricella is therefore inevitably linked to the subject of royal properties. In the previously mentioned volume edited by Loré and Bougard, that brings together contributions mainly focused on the economic management of these forms of assets, a useful typo1 For a summary on the relationship between aristocracies and State in past and recent historiographical models also in relation to Italian research see the contribution by Fiore 2006. For a definition of rural seigneurship we refer to the meaning attributed by Cinzio Violante that indicates how such a seigneurship was strongly characterized by the exercise of powers that were previously an exclusive prerogative of public authorities’ in a specific territorial area (Violante 1991). 186 Rural public properties for an economic history of the Kingdom of Italy (10th and 11th centuries) fig. 1 – Location of sites mentioned in this article. fig. 2 – Vetricella. A. the site before the excavation; B, D. Aerial view by drone of the excavation at the end of the 2018 campaign; C. Planimetry of Period IV second half 10th c. first half 11th c. AD. 187 G. Bianchi Today we can date the foundation of the three concentric ditches to the second half of the 9th century, distinguishing the phase dated to the first half of the 10th century (Period III) from that of the second half of the 10th-beginning of the 11th century (Period IV). We are aware that in spite of the extension of the investigated area this represents only a minimal part of the site and consequently still reserves different and possibly contrasting evidence with what has been documented so far. It is however apparent that only the aforementioned phase, roughly corresponding to the Ottonian period, is the one that has provided the greatest amount of material evidence. It is in this moment, in fact, that the economic aspects already present in the life of the site increase in both quality and quantity, while undergoing a significant change in layout and various settlement dynamics. The innermost ditch was fully obliterated and shortly after partially covered by mortar thereby enlarging the surfaced area, leaving only the intermediate and outer ditch to be filled-in with water (for the geomorphologic analyses of the ditch infills see Susini, Pieruccini infra). The central tower structure was fitted with a masonry base as well as a possible external enclosure or roofing, a structure that in any case bounded a specific zone of pertinence, in turn surrounded by a wider area fenced by a wooden palisade. The increase, during this phase, in the number of ceramic fragments that can be identified as storage vessels, most of them of local production (see Russo infra), would suggest the existence of storage practices of a certain volume, partly related to agricultural resources 2. Metalworking activities conducted at the site were maintained and evidently increased with the forging of objects found in large numbers and whose recent analysis permits us to attribute them with a degree of certainty to this period (see Agostini infra). While the study has shown that a significant number of these objects were either used or broken and probably destined to be recycled through re-forging processes, the significant number of finds (several hundred pieces) is nevertheless indicative of the number of objects produced on site or in the surrounding area. A preliminary analysis of the metalworking assemblage has revealed that the majority of these objects can be associated with equestrian practices accompanied as well by knives and other tools employed in the working of wood and leather, along with other still unidentified finds. The large number of items associated with horse assemblages (especially horseshoeing nails and a significant number of spurs) might be connected to the possible breeding of horses, hypothesized in this phase (see Aniceti infra). It is interesting to note that there is little pertaining to agricultural equipment, indicative of a production aimed at the smithying of tools connected to artisanal activities, des- tined, as already speculated in the past (Bianchi, Collavini 2018) not only to this administrative centre, but also towards other royal properties at times located in areas remote from the district of the Colline Metallifere. The numerous excavations conducted in this part of the Maremma during the past decades have in fact documented iron objects in much lower percentages. We can now trace the development of the burial area to a limited time-period between the second half of the 10th century and the first decades of the 11th. The data acquired through anthropological research has defined those elements representative of a small community constituted by men, women and children (see Viva infra) possibly part of the royal centere’s personnel and as such destined to be buried in the vicinity of a structure interpreted as a small oratory of which only negative features were identified (see Marasco, Briano infra). It has, however, not been possible to determine if this group actually lived in the intermediate spaces between the outermost ditches or at a farther distance where additional archaeological research, in light of what little evidence emerged during diagnostic surveys, has not as yet been carried out. The hypotheses involving the lifestyle of these persons garnered from anthropological and archeozoological analyses traces a picture of a community dedicated to the storing of possible agricultural surplus, the raising of pigs and possibly horses in coexistence with specialized smiths that might have provided their services on a seasonal basis. Recent surveys and the limited probes conducted to the southwest of the site have revealed, during this time period, a plain supporting settlement nuclei episodically featuring their own burial areas (see Marasco, Briano infra; see Dallai, Carli, Volpi infra). Therefore, it is more and more evident that, in the course of the 10th century, the royal property of Vetricella was at the centre of a demographically complex lowland settlement network located in the vicinity of lagoon areas (for the study of the lagoons see Pieruccini, Susini infra). The passing of royal emissaries or high-ranking figures that might have occasionally occupied the tower structure is at this point supported by the discovery of horsing equipment, in particular the spurs, glass chalice fragments featuring straight or twisted stems, along with pieces of precious blue glass vessels, rarely documented across the peninsula (see Castelli and Gratuze infra) 3, rather than by ceramic finds (unlike the Carolingian period phase where a number of jugs in sparse glazed ware were documented, see Briano infra). The exceptional recovery of 21 coins minted in a period between Berengar I and Conrad II (end of the 9th-first forty years of the 11th century) further emphasizes the exceptional role this site may possibly have had for tax collection. Fiore (see Fiore infra) also suggests this site as a place where subsidiary transactions in coin may have taken place during certain periods for the sale of surplus produce, the latter possibly taking the form of objects in iron. In particular, the distribution of the Ottonian coins in areas outside the central tower where metalworking activities were carried out, at least in 2 A similar hypothesis has been backed by a preliminary analysis conducted on the surfaces of several of these containers. A number of the samples did not reveal traces of organic residue, as would occur in the case of cereal content. Furthermore, carbonized seeds were recorded in close proximity to the tower, ascribable to the immediately preceding period. A similar interpretation fits well with the chronology of the novel storage systems in relation to new forms of authority and subsequent changes in agricultural landscape (Bianchi, Collavini forthcoming). 3 With reference to the blue glass vessels, the hypothesis put forward in Castelli infra interprets these as possible oratory accoutrements. Note their distribution in the vicinity of this structure as well as their attested use as small reliquaries or lamps. 188 Rural public properties for an economic history of the Kingdom of Italy (10th and 11th centuries) this phase, might further support this hypothesis, although ultimately difficult to prove (as to the possible hypotheses tied-in to the distribution of the coins see the contribution by Rovelli and by Cicali, Marasco infra). Therefore, what characteristics documented at Vetricella find parallels in the material evidence of other royal courts? Few, if truth be told, due to the limited extent of archaeological fieldwork. All the royal and march curtes are located at strategic points along roads or waterways. Apart from this common feature the remains of a tower-structure, generically dated to the 10th century, has been recorded only in the curtis of Orba along with evidence of an enclosing wall dated to the end of the 10th century and a possible ditch. More common is evidence pertaining to religious structures: a church with three apses was documented in the very same curtis of Orba and possibly dated to the mid-9th century (Bonasera, Bougard, Cortellazzo 1993); a large church with Canonica characterized the 10th-11th century phase in the marchional/ march centre of S. Genesio (Cantini 2010); a church dated in its first phases to the 8th century with reconstruction work carried out in the Carolingian period, is present in the nearby royal curtis of S. Quirico in the Valdarno (Cantini in Bianchi, Cantini, Collavini 2019); the refurbishment of the abbey church of S. Caprasio in the curtis of Aulla, property of the Marquis of Tuscia, enriched with a new sarcophagus intended to house the relics of the saint (Arslan et al. 2006, p. 195). Another recurring element can be seen also in the traces of artisanal activities: at Marengo where significant metal casting activities have been hypothesized in this royal court even though there are no clear elements that permit dating these beyond a generic Early Medieval period; at Fraore where intensive production of iron objects, although not quantified, is dated as at Vetricella to the 10th-11th century; at San Genesio where metalworking activities and a pottery furnace, along with an olive press, are dated to the full Carolingian period therefore predating the reconstruction of the church and the Canonica mentioned above. To this group one might also add the royal curtis of Cornino a short distance from Vetricella. Here, at the site of Carlappiano, located within the court’s borders, archaeological research has brought to light traces of saltworks dated to the 12th-13th century, already possibly in use during the early Middle Ages as attested by literary sources and more ephemeral material evidence (Dallai et al. 2018; see Dallai, Carli, Volpi infra). The description of these artisanal activities does not differ substantially from those taking place in other courts set in the great private dominions of northern Italy as illustrated by the polyptychs (see Fiore infra) and treated at length by various authors for an even longer period set between the 9th and 10th centuries (in the extensive bibliography see Toubert 1997, pp. 115-252; Pasquali 2002, pp. 3-72). However, the case of Vetricella is the only excavated site that provides clear evidence of two significant aspects of these production activities (in this case the objects in iron): their volume, that appears as exceptional when compared to average manorial standards, and their specialization. Therefore, can Vetricella be seen as an exception? A unicum accidentally located in the Tuscan Maremma? As previously stated, the activities carried out at Vetricella are associ- ated with important shifts of the site’s layout. Furthermore, as described in past contributions, between the 10th and 11th centuries, the landscape surrounding the site, including the Val di Pecora, experienced substantial changes with the opening of new agricultural areas thanks to a more consistent practice of fire clearance as compared to 9th century phases (Pieruccini et al. 2018; see Buonincontri, Rossi infra). 2. BEYOND THE PUBLIC PROPERTIES, FOR A PRELIMINARY COMPAR ATIVE OVERVIEW The unclear evidence of these characteristics in other currently excavated royal properties has led us to review the results of investigations carried out in the past years across the whole Centre-North of the peninsula. This, in search of analogies from sites not identified as centres of royal properties but mostly classified as part of the first generation of 10th-century castles tied to the earliest forms of seigneural initiatives. This first screening has produced surprising evidence with the identification of over thirty sites, scarcely documented by the written sources, but whose material traces testify to uncommonly specialized forms of production or significant alterations in topography and in that of the surrounding landscape. Due to the limited extent of this contribution it will not be possible to thoroughly illustrate the currently acquired data, but only to list some of the most representative cases, postponing the discussion to future publications (fig. 1). In relation to consistent specialized forms of production, the case of a wide geographic area in the Appenines near Parma pivoted on the site of Castellare di Monte Groppallo (Piacenza) is especially indicative (Bazzini et al. 2008; Ghiretti, Giannichedda 2013). The site is located in a geological district characterized by the presence of important steatite outcrops exploited since prehistory. Archaeological excavations have located traces of workshops dating to the end of the 10th and 11th centuries. Through analytical study of the finds different stages of production in the chaîne opératoire were traced and are attested by about 37.000 objects in steatite (including finished, semi-finished and discarded products). Other workshops, distributed across the surrounding territory (ten at least have been estimated) have been associated to this centre, presumably active during the same periods and therefore increasing the already considerable production. Moving beyond the functional interpretation of the finds in steatite (interpreted as rosary beads, but more likely to be identifiable as spindle whorls) the evidence remains of an exceptional production between the end of the 10th into the 11th century, and perhaps not intended for internal consumption, but rather destined for export. To this site, supposedly associated to personages with close connections to the Count of Piacenza on whose holdings the centre was located, it is also possible to add the case of Pareto di Bardi (Giannichedda, Ghiretti, Biagini 1995). Still in the Apennines near Parma and not far from Castellaro di Groppallo, traces of one or more workshops have been identified for the production of spindle whorls in steatite (as interpreted by archaeologists). Although the num- 189 G. Bianchi ber of finds is much lower than those found at Castellare di Groppallo (about 3.000 pieces including finished and semifinished products) we nonetheless find ourselves confronted by an exceptional and surely underestimated figure keeping in mind the hypothetical presence of other workshops in the territory. Archaeological evidence permitting the definition of a precise date is much weaker here and confined for the time being from the 10th to the 12th centuries, while there is no mention of any political figure in charge of this site who might have gravitated in the vicinity of the territories of Parma and Piacenza. To have at least an element of comparison it is worth remembering that whorls in steatite never occur in large numbers (ranging from 2 to a maximum of 10 finds) in some royal properties (Orba and Vetricella) as well as in a number of sites of a contemporary political and economic relevance. Typologically the finds in steatite from Groppallo and Pareti di Bardo find direct comparison with those recorded at Nogara (Buzzo 2011), Piadena (Possenti 2005), Sant’Agata Bolognese (Nepoti 2014), Orba (Giannichedda, Ghiretti, Biagini 1995) and Vetricella. Therefore, it is plausible to hypothesize a particularly extensive, although not numerically significant, circulation of these objects well beyond their area of production. The other geographical area that presents a specialized and numerically significant production is that of the Val Chiavenna, connected to the manufacture of objects in soapstone and surely part of a territory located in the royal holdings or connected to high ranking public figures (Saggioro 2019). Tiziano Mannoni, in his classification of these objects, has already described how production of type D was distributed in the Central Alps, with an increase in this area from the 9th century and thereafter becoming predominant in the 10th century as compared to wares produced in the western Alps and typical of late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Mannoni, Pfeifer, Serneels 1987; Alberti 1997; Alberti 2014). Recent work carried out at Chiavenna and in its surrounding territory has confirmed this area of the Central Alps, located along a key route, as one of the main manufacturing centres for objects in soapstone, in particular various sized pots (Saggioro 2019). The systematic archaeological analyses conducted in recent years cannot, however, link the exact quantitative data to a production that had already started centuries before the end of the millennium; between 50 and 60 quarries have been surveyed in the comuni of Piuro and Chiavenna alone (although without offering a precise chronology of exploitation Saggioro 2019). Nonetheless, it is the large number of finds in soapstone quarried from this area and documented across sites located in the Pianura Padana (approximately 60-80% of the sites are involved in this distribution) that demonstrate the extent of production (Saggioro 2019). This appears to increase over the course of the 10th century, as indicated by the extensive evidence recorded in the archaeological levels dating to this period at sites such as Piadena, Pellio Intelvi, Milan and Sant’Agata Bolognese (Alberti 2014) where archaeometric analyses have confirmed that 70% of soapstone found on site originates from the quarries of Chiavenna (Saggioro 2019). The same widespread economic wealth of the district, testified by late 10th-century written sources is further proof as Fiore argues (see Fiore infra) of the positive production role during this period as well as its export in a wide geographic area. Layout changes on an uncommon scale are the element that brings together a number of sites in the central area of the Po Valley, a territory that constituted the core of the Kingdom and where both public holdings and properties pertaining to figures with close ties to royal policies were mostly located. Bovolone (Saggioro et al. 2004), Piadena (Brogiolo, Mancassola 2005) and the previously mentioned site near Sant’Agata Bolognese (Gelichi, Librenti, Marchesini 2014) are the most representative cases cited in this contribution as these centres, although with pre-existing, but poorly documented phases, underwent a consistent reorganization between the 10th and the beginning of the 11th centuries with the digging of ditches and the planning of inhabited areas. In the case of Sant’Agata Bolognese, a number of structures with unique features in the current architectural panorama of the peninsula were erected. These are in fact composed of an extensive lot of houses set one against the other and covering a surface of almost 45 square metres. The structures were built in wood using the technique of dormant beams with fixed-in posts known only to the area during this period and featuring elements also to be found at northern European sites (Saggioro 2010) possibly due to the presence of specialized craftsmen (Gelichi, Librenti 2010). Furthermore, different production activities were recorded on this very site, taking the form of textile manufacture (testified by a significant number of spindle whorls as compared to the figures usually recorded in other centers during this period) as well as the production of pestles (Nepoti 2014; Gelichi 2014). Likewise, significant layout changes had already been noted during this phase in two Tuscan sites near Vetricella and illustrated in the first nEU-Med volume: Donoratico and Rocca degli Alberti at Monterotondo Marittimo (Bianchi, Collavini 2018). In the case of Donoratico the recent dating of a number of finds through thermoluminescent analysis has led to exclude the substantial production of sparse glazed ware during this phase, re-dating it instead to the mid-9th century (on this note see considerations in the final paragraph). On the other hand, the radiocarbon dating of the mortar from the older tower at Donoratico connected to the site’s first stone wall enclosure today confirms a chronology that can be ascribed to the advanced 10th century 4 and not to the end of the 9th as previously hypothesized (Bianchi, Chiarelli, Crisci, Fichera, Miriello 2012). A similar chronology was confirmed also through further archaeometric analyses for the site of Rocca degli Alberti, in an analogous extensive redefinition of its structures, including cereal-storage areas. At the same time, a preliminary edition of the work carried out on the plain of Grosseto points to the 10th century as a key period during which the highest occupation peak is recorded in a site, located in the present locality of Canonica, encircled by a ditch (with a very similar layout to that of Vetricella in 4 We report the complete dating references: US 10249, radiocarbon age 1120±30 BP, cal. AD 862-994 (95.4%). The analyses were carried by the BETA Analytic Radiocarbon Dating laboratories in Miami (Florida – USA). 190 Rural public properties for an economic history of the Kingdom of Italy (10th and 11th centuries) this phase) along with a parallel apportionment of agricultural lots (Campana 2018, pp. 88-107). The presence of a tower is another feature common to these sites, often the only stone building in centres still dominated by structures in perishable materials. This element has already been noted in past contributions and interpreted as symptomatic of high-level building strategies, likening them to administrative centres of royal properties (Bianchi, Collavini 2018). In the first nEU-Med volume the definition of ‘out-ofscale’ sites was adopted for Vetricella as well as for Donoratico, Rocca degli Alberti and other centers of northern Tuscia, a definition that is indicative of uncommon characteristics that are not evident in other sites. This is especially the case in southern Tuscany, one of the most thoroughly researched geographic districts in the whole peninsula, capable of offering useful and appropriate elements of comparison. The features shared by these out-of-scale sites have already been identified and can be formulated by the following definition: centres that take on the form of hill-top or lowland public holdings, characterized by a significant planimetric layout, managed by royal officials or belonging to subjects benefitting from fiscal assets, often associated with specialized forms of production and set within an economic system ordered by royal authority. To these common elements we can also add a circumscribed chronology of reference, namely that of the second half of the 10th-beginning of the 11th century. This has been identified with greater accuracy in the cases of Vetricella, Donoratico and Rocca degli Alberti, comparing the chronology of these sites to the periodization acknowledged for those centres located in other parts of the centre-north of the peninsula and listed in the course of this preliminary review. Furthermore, in the first nEU-Med volume a number of hypotheses were formulated (now taken up again and developed further in the contribution infra by Fiore) in relation to the mechanisms of this economic system based on large rural estates and specialized production set in a network capable of directing medium or long distance exchanges, although not in properly commercial form. The review of the history as well as evidence from sites in the centre and north of the Peninsula, also supported by documentary sources (described in Fiore infra), allows us today to add these last to the Tuscan cases illustrated above, demonstrating a wider diffusion of these settlement-production centre types throughout the Kingdom of Italy. The adoption of the definition ‘out-of-scale’ originated from the need, a year ago, to confer a first definition to a form of macro material evidence never previously identified as such by the archaeological research let alone attested by the historical sources. In the future it will in all likelihood be necessary to adopt a new and less reductive definition that reflects not only the anomalous ‘scale’ of the assets and production, but also the articulated relations between the different sites in relation to a much more complex political and economic system than that currently envisaged. An element of this politicaleconomic complexity is, for example, represented by the fact that almost all of the reviewed sites can be ascribed either to royal or march inalienable properties as well as to possessions related to temporary foundations, donations or benefits directed toward high-ranking political figures in a dynamic setting in which the same bequeathed property could, at a later stage, be reabsorbed into the royal holdings. These centres ultimately constitute a group of sites mostly made up of public assets directly or indirectly administered by a central authority and fully part of the categories pointed out by Wickham (Wickham 2019). But, analogous to Rocca degli Alberti and Donoratico (but also in the first stages of study at Vetricella, Marasco 2013; Creighton 2012, pp. 94-95) and until recently, a large number of these sites was interpreted as the first display of territorial seigneurial power. The extent of the material evidence recorded in the currently defined ‘out-of-scale’ sites is nevertheless symptomatic of a mature and uniform policy of important investments that can with difficulty be related to the first concrete affirmations of territorial seigneurial status. These last, during this historical period, are still strongly tied to the urban political scene and do not as yet appear in a pervasive form in rural contexts. As a result, how can this evidence be interpreted? 3. TOWARDS A NEW INTERPRETATION OF THE MATERIAL RECORD The historical and economic scenario of the Kingdom of Italy and of the peninsula in general between the 7th and the beginning of the 9th century, as explained by Hodges in his contribution, was without a doubt quite different from that of northern Europe, albeit with exceptions, due to the significantly lower volume of trade and economic growth. Today the material evidence deriving from archaeological research is quite clear in this sense. In the Kingdom of Italy these differences also persisted into the successive phase, corresponding to the late Carolingian period. The affirmation of the manorial system did not cause more structured forms of management to take form alongside the development of large rural administrative centres as documented in northern Europe. The strong entrenchment of the high and middle level aristocracies in townships, the latter continuing to represent the main centres of political and territorial administration, led in some parts of the Kingdom, to a less pressing and incisive presence of these elites in rural settings (Cortese 2017). This would explain the almost total absence of socially distinctive elements, although problematic for archaeology to determine, in the stratigraphic deposits of rural settlements during these centuries, unlike what is clearly apparent from the end of the 11th century with the appearance of seigneural residences. In this picture an exception is made for the great royal, monastic and episcopal properties capable of initiating more complex circuits of production and exchange, mainly directed towards the rural elites of their respective territories. This is the case, treated in detail by Hodges, of the monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno. To this, going back to the Tuscan territory in the vicinity of Vetricella, we might now add the monastery of S. Pietro in Palazzuolo. This was one of the largest Early Medieval monastic institutions in Tuscany, founded in the mid-8th century by a group of aristocrats from Pisa and Lucca which evolved into a royal monastery under Frankish rule (Francovich, Bianchi 2006). If few traces still remain of the coenobium capable of illustrating a story of substantial 191 G. Bianchi transformation analogous to that outlined for San Vincenzo al Volturno, it is the production of a particular type of ceramic that draws attention to production strategies of specialized goods. Thanks to the research carried out by the nEU-Med project, the detailed study of a particular ceramic type, known as sparse glazed ware, for a long time considered to be a late 10th century product (Cantini 2011), has reassigned the dating of its production to the mid-9th century. This particular ceramic type can be seen as a commodity destined for socially distinctive dining tables, analogous to what has been hypothesized for the contemporary heavy glazed ware produced in Rome. A production centre making these vessels has been located at the site of Torre di Donoratico, the same settlement cited in the previous paragraph that became an established ‘out-ofscale’ site in the course of the 10th century and for some time considered to be a property of the monastery of S. Pietro in Palazzuolo (Briano, Sibilia 2018). This example shows the important role that monastic centres played for specific forms of production in Carolingian Tuscany as well as the attention reserved by great landowners towards landed goods that also included royal revenue. This is shown by the establishment of Vetricella with its anomalous three-ringed enclosure dating to the second half of the 9th century, regardless of the role the site played during that phase and something that will need to be defined with greater precision in future study. Recent archaeological research is moreover demonstrating, at least in Tuscany, how data revision from previous fieldwork, accompanied by new archaeometric analyses emphasizes the significant presence of those alleged traces that point to significant changes in hilltop village dynamics during the Carolingian Age. These elements had driven to ascribe a more substantial encroachment by landowners in the policies of land use and management during this period (Francovich 2008). The material evidence of granaries, representing for archaeologists the main markers of a similar process of organized surplus management on behalf of aristocracies connected to the manorial system, can today be ascribed to the 10th century rather than the previous one (Bianchi, Collavini forthcoming). The revision of the 9th-century material evidence located in these small hilltop settlements, mainly investigated in southern Tuscany, and composed of small groups of wooden structures shifts the focus from the role played by the aristocracies to the more dynamic one played by small rural communities. These communities, presumably characterized by the presence of small rural elites that are more difficult to define at an archaeological level, might today represent, compared to what has been previously hypothesized, a more dynamic, and to some extent, independent participation in the management of agricultural and forest resources, at least until the 10th century. A participation that surely benefited, in certain rural contexts, from choices offered by landowning elites, such as the extensive deforestation carried out from the beginning of the 9th century in the vicinity of Vetricella (on the subject of the emerging role of rural communities see Hodges 2012, pp. 13-15/41-66; Wickham 2014, pp. 615-616; Theuws for the significant case of areas between northern Belgium and southern Netherlands, Theuws 2008; Quirós Castillo 2019 for a recent synthesis on the rural communities in northern Spain, considered as among the most solid and compact of the Medieval West). Such a situation appears to change in the course of the 10th century when the material evidence from the site of Vetricella as well as other royal courts and those sites temporarily definable as ‘out-of-scale’ indicate, more than any literary source, how the 10th century and it’s second half in particular, was a moment of crucial change on all fronts. It is in this moment, a period that can be placed during or slightly before the full Ottonian period, in that time of the Kingdom of Italy considered as heralding changes, that various trends already partially registered in the past took on a distinct and articulated form with the marked rise of central powers. This resulted in the establishment of a more complex economic and social system with the appearance or revival of numerous rural administrative centres (presently defined as ‘out-of-scale’ sites) connected to a structured management of agricultural and natural resources as well as to specialized forms of production, often related to common as opposed to luxury goods. It is in this very phase that the presence of these centres initiated a wider range of networks for exchange throughout the Kingdom of Italy, acting in turn as subsidiary commercial points for the storage and distribution of surplus produce, as hypothesized by Fiore in his contribution. The great landowning elites were the protagonists of this abrupt change, providing archaeologists with clearer and more numerous material evidence. But among these large landowners a remarkably important role was played by the royal fisc, appearing in stark relief in that shadow area related to the 10th and earlier part of the 11th centuries in this new, revised interpretation. As Fiore (see Fiore infra) reminds us, if ‘the State’ that represented the largest among landowners did not act with a logic that differed from the other landowning elites, it is in these very rural sites, directly or indirectly connected to this management, that one can observe the most important transformations and specialized forms of production. It is therefore mainly to this player, the royal fisc, that these significant changes must be ascribed. These changes took place in a short time period, that, while imbuing rural communities with more firmly controlled management system, constituted the basis for the development of the feudal seigneurship, due also in part to a non-conflicting and mutually cooperating relationship between the ‘State’ and the great aristocracies. These great aristocracies, in light of their direct involvement in such a process, went on to assume new forms in the course of the 11th century, playing a decisive part in the power vacuum left by the central authority during the last decades of the 11th century (for the relationship between State and aristocracies in connection to rural properties and the wider European picture, see the considerations in Hodges 2012, pp. 1-19; Wickham 2009, pp. 287-414; Fiore 2006, pp. 162-169). A process that is exemplified by the abandonment of the main activities conducted at Vetricella in the first half of the 11th century and the development of different castle structures in the surrounding territory (among which Scarlino) as strongholds of the ‘renewed’ territorial seigneurships. In future it will therefore be necessary to conduct a more in-depth analysis on what has been roughly outlined in this 192 Rural public properties for an economic history of the Kingdom of Italy (10th and 11th centuries) contribution, namely the economic role played by Ottonian rule in Italy, the effectiveness of which was surely favoured by important antecedents, first during the Carolingian period and successively during the reigns of the Kings of Italy, in particular Hugh of Provence (on the role of Hugh of Provence in the reorganization of the royal rural properties see Vignodelli 2012). This is a subject that has benefited from little research in the Italian and transalpine historiography both by historians and archaeologists alike, viewing the reigns of the three Ottonian sovereigns as a backdrop for what was believed to be a more incisive role played by the aristocracies (for considerations on this subject in the German area see West 2019). The economic and political strategies adopted during this intense, but brief period, were probably capable of modifying on a larger scale than in the past, the balance between towns and rural contexts, catalyzing the rapid development of those urban centres set in that system of production and exchange managed by the central authority. This took place through rural strongpoints represented by the royal courts and what we have defined as ‘out-of-scale’ sites. In order to support the hypothesis that sees in the Ottonian period a stronger acceleration of the processes already set in motion during the Carolingian Age, with a more incisive role played by the ‘State’ in the mechanisms of economic development than previously assumed, a number of aspects will necessarily require more in-depth analysis. The nEU-Med project has, in fact, up to this point allowed us to garner an impressive volume of new data, especially from a material perspective, through which it is possible today to review past research while adopting a critical approach also towards well established historical narratives. However, the further development of newly acquired theories and models necessarily requires a solid basis as starting point. In the case of the hypotheses formulated in this contribution, further passages will be necessary for these to be improved. These should include: the continuation of site screening featuring phases between the 10th and 11th centuries with similar characteristics to those already identified; an improved focus on all aspects of production and their economic significance as well as on the nature of the production itself; a more precise identification of those networks of exchange and their relative workings; a better comprehension of the relations between city and countryside and the weight of this supposed economic system in the development of the new political and economic urban realities of the central Middle Ages; a more precise understanding of the consequences of this hypothesized interest of public power in rural contexts in the process of ‘incastellamento’ and affirmation of rural seigneurships; a more stringent comparison between the Kingdom of Italy and the south of the peninsula; a stronger comparative analysis between the Kingdom of Italy and the Germanic area in terms of material culture, transmission and circulation of knowledge. 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Wickham C., 2019, Beni pubblici: a provisional typology, in Bougard, Loré 2019, pp. 413-422. 194 Italian abstract CORTI PUBBLICHE RUR ALI PER UNA STORIA ECONOMICA DEL REGNO D’ITALIA (X E XI SECOLO): UNA RICOGNIZIONE ARCHEOLOGICA Malgrado l’archeologia medievale italiana nell’ultimo decennio abbia fornito fondamentali apporti a una serie di importanti tematiche storiche, per le campagne altomedievali della Penisola esiste ancora oggi un gap di ipotesi tra quanto avvenne tra la fine della dominazione franca e la grande ripresa del XII secolo. Nelle periodizzazioni archeologiche i secoli X ed XI sono spesso trattati come continuazione dei precedenti periodi o come inizio di quelli successivi. Il risultato è il loro schiacciamento all’interno di una storia che, seguendo quella canonicamente tracciata attraverso i documenti scritti, partendo dallo sfaldamento dell’ordinamento carolingio arriva direttamente alle prime concrete sperimentazioni di signoria territoriale. Dalla constatazione dell’esistenza di una politica della terra di tipo pubblico alla presa d’atto di una gestione ‘privatizzata’ da parte delle consolidate signorie rurali, vi è in mezzo un contesto di processi di vario tipo in parte ancora avvolto da un cono d’ombra. Il focus dell’articolo si concentra, quindi, su questo cono d’ombra che copre il periodo compreso tra X e inizio XI secolo, nel tentativo di proporre degli elementi di riflessione partendo dall’archeologia delle corti pubbliche. Le indagini archeologiche in questi contesti, di cui si ricordano i casi di Frugarolo-Orba, Marengo, Fraore, Aucia, Aulla, S. Quirico in Valdarno e San Genesio hanno evidenziato un certo numero di informazioni: presenza di una torre collegata a un fossato nel caso di Frugarolo-Orba; presenza di chiese in quasi tutti i casi; presenza diffusa di vari tipi di attività artigianali spesso di difficile definizione e cronologia. L’eccezionalità di Vetricella, non dipende, quindi, tanto dalla natura del sito, quanto dall’estensione del suo scavo, che consente di cogliere molti aspetti materiali, sinora mai evidenziati nelle altre ricerche nel resto della penisola. I contributi presenti nel volume bene illustrano le caratteristiche di un sito, centro della corte regia di Valli, tra seconda metà X e inizio XI, ovvero nel periodo con il maggior numero di evidenze materiali: riempimento del fossato interno per sfruttare maggiormente uno spazio più ampio intorno alla torre centrale ora provvista di una tettoia o di una recinzione; attività di stoccaggio in ceramiche da dispensa destinate forse a contenere cereali; produzione di migliaia di oggetti in ferro grazie all’attività in situ di forgiatura; presenza di un allevamento di maiali e di cavalli; presenza di un’area cimiteriale destinata probabilmente ai dipendenti del centro; presenza di numerose monete; aumento dei siti intorno alla stessa Vetricella al centro ora di un sistema insediativo complesso e articolato coevo a cambi del paesaggio naturale destinato, grazie a disboscamenti e incendi, a maggiori attività agricole. Rispetto alle altre corti pubbliche indagate, il caso della Vetricella è il solo, però, che ci illumina in maniera chiara su due aspetti singolari di queste produzioni (in questo caso degli oggetti in ferro): la quantità, che assume una dimensione eccezionale rispetto ai normali standard curtensi e la loro specializzazione. Nel tentativo di verificare se questo caso rappresentasse una eccezione, chi scrive ha cominciato a revisionare l’edizione di scavi di siti interpretati in maggioranza come prime sperimentazioni dei castelli signorili. Questa revisione ha consentito di individuare oltre una trentina di siti caratterizzati da produzioni specializzate fuori dal comune oppure da importanti cambi della loro topografia e dei paesaggi circostanti o da entrambe le cose. Per brevità nel contributo si portano alcuni esempi di questo insieme di siti: l’eccezionale produzione di vaghi per fuseruole nei siti di Castellare di Monte Groppallo e di Pareto di Bardi; l’impennata di produzione dei contenitori in pietra ollare proveniente da Chiavenna, distribuiti in buona parte dell’area padana e anche oltre; i consistenti cambi di assetto di Piadena, Bovolone e Sant’Agata Bolognese in quest’ultimo caso accompagnato da altre produzioni specializzate relative alla filatura e ai mortai in pietra. Tali siti per entità di intervento e cronologia sono paragonabili a quelli già evidenziati di Donoratico e Rocca degli Alberti (Bianchi, Collavini 2018) per i quali era stata adottata la definizione di siti ‘fuori scala’ per distinguerli da molti altri insediamenti dove archeologicamente tali trasformazioni, in questo arco cronologico, non sono evidenti. Oggi tale definizione può, quindi, essere adottata anche per i siti del Centro Nord dimostrando una loro diffusione in tutto il Regno Italico. L’entità delle evidenze materiali riscontrate nei siti definiti ‘fuori scala’ è comunque sintomatica di una matura e omogenea politica di importanti investimenti difficile da rapportare alle prime concrete affermazioni delle signorie territoriali, in questo momento ancora fortemente legate alla scena politica urbana e di conseguenza ancora poco presenti in maniera pervasiva nelle campagne. Come interpretare allora questi dati? La rinnovata lettura delle evidenze materiali di VIII e IX secolo, sinora individuate in molti decenni di ricerca archeologica, ci mostra che, in un contesto rurale in cui probabilmente ebbero un ruolo più rilevante di quanto sinora ipotizzato le comunità rurali, solo in alcuni casi si hanno esempi di gestione strutturata delle aziende accompagnate da produzioni specializzate di beni non comuni, in proprietà comunque rapportabili a soggetti rilevanti come enti monastici o proprietà vescovili. 195 G. Bianchi È solo nel corso del X secolo che si registra invece una vera e propria svolta. In un momento sicuramente collocabile in piena età ottoniana e forse anche poco prima, in quell’età dei re d’Italia ritenuta in genere foriera di relativi cambiamenti operati dal potere centrale, molte delle tendenze già registrabili in passato si accentuarono e si articolarono. Ciò comportò la definizione di un sistema economico ma anche sociale più complesso con la comparsa o la trasformazione di numerosi centri direzionali rurali (i cosidetti siti fuori scala) collegati a una strutturata gestione delle risorse agricole e naturali, oltre che a produzioni specializzate non espressamente destinate alle élites. È in questa fase che grazie alla nuova presenza di questi centri si attivarono scambi di ampia portata a loro volta, anche involontariamente, di carattere commerciale, nella raccolta e smercio di un maggiore surplus. I grandi proprietari terrieri sono i protagonisti di questo netto cambiamento che ha lasciato per noi archeologi più chiare e numerose tracce materiali. Ma tra questi grandi proprietari un ruolo di assoluto rilievo lo ebbe il fisco regio che in questa nuova lettura si staglia in maniera chiara in quel cono d’ombra relativo al X e parte dell’XI secolo. È, quindi, soprattutto a questo soggetto che dobbiamo collegare quei cambiamenti profondi e decisivi, rapportabili ad un ristretto arco cronologico, che, oltre ad incardinare maggiormente le comunità rurali ad un più controllato sistema di gestione, costituiranno la base per lo sviluppo anche della signoria feudale. Ciò all’interno di un rapporto non conflittuale ma di mutua cooperazione tra ‘stato’ e grandi aristocrazie che, grazie al loro diretto coinvolgimento in questi processi, nel volgere di poco tempo assunsero, nel corso dell’XI secolo, caratteri nuovi giocando un decisivo ruolo nel vuoto che lo stesso potere centrale lascerà poi negli ultimi decenni dell’anno Mille. Sarà, quindi, necessaria in futuro una più approfondita riflessione, rispetto a quanto solo accennato in questa sede, sul portato economico della dominazione ottoniana in Italia, la cui efficacia fu sicuramente favorita dagli importanti antecedenti dell’età carolingia e poi del regno di alcuni re d’Italia, in particolare Ugo di Provenza. È questo, infatti, un argomento assolutamente poco trattato nella storiografia italiana e d’oltralpe sia dagli storici delle fonti documentarie, sia dagli stessi archeologi che hanno sempre visto l’azione dei tre sovrani come sfondo a quelle che si ritenevano le azioni più incisive delle aristocrazie. La strategia politica-economica di un periodo piuttosto breve ma molto intenso, fu probabilmente in grado di modificare, maggiormente rispetto al passato, anche gli equilibri tra città e campagna, avviando un più veloce sviluppo di quei centri urbani interni al sistema di produzioni e di scambi gestito dai poteri centrali attraverso i capisaldi rurali rappresentati dalle corti pubbliche e da quelli che abbiamo definito siti fuori scala. 196 Alessio Fiore* THE KNOTS AND THE NETS: FISC, RUR AL ESTATES AND CITIES IN THE WRITTEN SOURCES (NORTHERN ITALY, C. 800-1000) 1. ECONOMIC MODELS A first preliminary element worth stressing is that for decades now according to Italian – but also international – studies on the Early Medieval economy, large estates (of fiscal or non-fiscal nature) constituted the very heart of the system and its most dynamic and best-developed sector between the 8th and 10th centuries (Toubert 1990; McCormick 2001; Vignodelli forthcoming). Therefore, if we wish to investigate the specific Carolingian-Ottonian phase, it is to the large (aristocratic, ecclesiastical, and royal) properties that we must turn first of all, in order to understand how large aristocratic/ecclesiastical estates and fiscal assets worked from a structural point of view. As already anticipated, the area I will be exploring is northern Italy in the 9th and 10th centuries: a cohesive social-political context characterised by underlying unity in its basic workings. I will be dealing first of all with the processes at play in the countryside, by particularly emphasising the role of large estates and of what Giovanna Bianchi has described as ‘out-of-scale’ sites, namely large productive sites that had their raison d’être in a complex trading system (Bianchi, Collavini 2018) 2. Secondly, I will focus on the evidence for production and trading activities in urban contexts, in an effort to grasp their peculiarities in this phase. Within this short investigation, particular attention will be paid to the issue of specialised production, which constitutes – among other things – a significant indicator of the complexity of the system. The way in which a specific society develops and organises specialised productive niches, and integrates them, constitutes a key to understanding the overall functioning of the system. Finally, in the light of the data just mentioned, and of a more detailed analysis of a specific narrative source, I will endeavour to identify possible research paths to understand the ways in which the rural and urban economies interacted within the specifically Italian context of this period. The past is a foreign land: a land with its own language, culture, society, and (obviously) economic system, which differ from those familiar to the historian examining them. Therefore, grasping the modes of functioning of an economic system of the past implies, first of all, an effort to avoid reading the present into the past, if one is to understand the peculiarities of a given system of production and trade, i.e. what we label as economic activities. Significantly, a real leap forward has been made in the study of the Late Roman economy over the last few decades, as historians have finally started grasping the fiscal way in which it functioned, which is to say the way in which commercial activities intertwined with and complemented – from a structurally subordinate position – the broad fiscal transfers managed by the Roman State (Banaji 2016). It is worth noting, moreover, that it is not enough to apply a ‘different’ label like ‘fiscal economy’, instead of those of ‘redistributive’ or ‘reciprocity-based’ economies: at times this may prove merely a handy shortcut to avoid the challenge of understanding and analysing otherness 1. Rather, it is necessary to deploy these categories as (essential yet not sufficient) heuristic tools allowing us to make sense of a specific economic system and to decipher its inner logic and mode of functioning, in order to then use this information to build models that are as sophisticated and refined as possible, and at the same time fully consistent with the available empirical data (Devroey 2003). While the development of an overall model for the Early Medieval economy is still a distant prospect, here I will endeavour to provide some initial and provisional suggestions. I will outline some possible research trajectories in relation to the specific case of production and exchange structures in northern Italy in the 9th and 10th centuries, based on research conducted on material and especially written sources. Given the limited space available, and my own field of expertise, I will be focusing mostly on written documents. In particular, I will attempt to make use of lesser-known sources, while always keeping the archaeological data in mind, for which – at any rate in relation to the specific topic under investigation – I will refer to Giovanni Bianchi’s contribution to this volume (see Bianchi infra). 2. RUR AL NETWORKS In the next few pages I will discuss rural productive specialization, mainly focusing on non-agrarian sites, which are particularly useful for exploring the relation between production and exchanges. As is widely known, the sources which best describe the structure of large rural estates are the polyptychs pertaining to certain northern-Italian churches (generally * Dipartimento di Studi Storici, Università di Torino (alessio.fiore@ unito.it). 1 As regards the categories ‘market’, ‘reciprocity’ and ‘redistribution’, I cannot but refer to Polanyi 1944. 2 The (sometime problematic) notion of ‘productive sites’ is discussed in Hodges 2012, pp. 29-31. 197 A. Fiore fig. 1 – Location of sites mentioned in this article. episcopal or monastic ones). These documents have elicited particular interest in recent decades as they provide a more or less complete description of the patrimony of an institution, for management purposes (Andreolli, Montanari 1983). Polyptychs – usually dating to the 10th century, in the case of Italy – show that, despite the clear predominance of cereal cultivation (and, to a lesser extent, vineyards), Italian churches also tended to promote more specialised forms of production. We thus find specialised cultivations, such as olive trees on the Garda and Como lakes, or hemp and cheese in the Apennines, as well as – beyond the agricultural and pastoral sphere – salt mines in Emilia, and the extraction and processing of iron in northern Lombardy (Pasquali 1979, pp. 72-73, p. 92; Castagnetti 1979, p. 128). This focus on specialised production, moreover, is confirmed by other, more specific sources, which are especially valuable when it comes to the royal fisc. In describing the monastic curtis of Cannobio, on the northern shore of Lake Maggiore, the Chronicon of Novalesa – a source from early 11th-century Piedmont – records the wide-scale felling of trees in the great forests in the mountains surrounding the lake, along with the production of coal, and the gathering of bundles of resinous firewood (Alessio 1982, p. 284). Even more interestingly, the author mentions the fact that the ancient mos (custom) of aulic serfs (i.e. serfs of the royal fisc) still survived. Indeed, this centre had belonged to the fiscus up until the mid-10th century, when it had passed under the control of the monastery through the mediation of palatine count Samson 3. According to the author of the Chronicon, what distinguishes the local mos is precisely the specialised, non-agricultural production ensured by the local workforce. This is an important detail that has not yet been fully appreciated by historians: what I have just described is a site of production that survived in what had become a different context, cut off from the network in relation to which it had originally been conceived; a genuine fossil that strikes the chronicler as noteworthy precisely on account of its peculiarity. A charter issued to the monastery of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro, in Pavia, by king Hugh in 929 also mentions wide-scale logging, this time in the Valle d’Intelvi, near Como. In this case too we are dealing with originally royal sites that had fallen under the control of a monastery (Schiaparelli 1923, n. 20). Another form of specialised production is the smelting of iron. Here I will focus on a major smelting centre, the royal curtis of Darfo, in Valcamonica, which was still active in the mid-11th century (Menant 1987). As we know from a charter by Henry III, workmen at Darfo used to process iron ore from the nearby Val di Scalve, whose inhabitants were free to trade the iron they extracted in exchange for 3 See also the link between the status of servi and another specialized production (olive trees) in a former royal estate (Limonta), on the shores of Lake Como, in the late ninth century; on this Balzaretti 1994. 198 The Knots and the Nets: Fisc, Rural Estates and Cities in the Written Sources (Northern Italy, c. 800-1000) an annual payment of 1,000 pounds of iron to the royal curtis in Valcamonica. This is a considerable quantity of iron, which would have been enough to manufacture around 400 swords a year. Furthermore, Darfo must have received even more iron ore, given that various other mines were active in the area during this period (Menant 1987; Cucini Tizzoni 1999) 4. Finally, we know that in Vachiavenna (especially at Chiavenna and Piuro) there were major soapstone quarries (presumably the stone was extracted and then exported throughout northern Italy). Pier Damiani mentions this as a traditional activity in the area in a 1064 letter. We do not know who owned the quarries, although it is reasonable to assume that up until the late 10th century they were the king’s property (Reindel 1988, n. 106). What we do know is that already by the late 10th century this activity had contributed to ensuring a significant degree of prosperity in the local economy, attested by the relatively dynamic character of the local market, by the high cost of real estate compared to minor Lombard centres in the same period, and by the monetary resources of the inhabitants of Chiavenna (CDL, nos. 743; 863, 888, 899). And this is not to mention the numerous other quarrying and/or craftsmanship sites whose existence (or specialisation) is only known through archaeological data that further broaden and refine the picture provided by the written sources (Bianchi 2020). All in all, the available data undoubtedly suggest that the countryside was dominated by cereal cultivation (and wine-growing), particularly in flat areas and in the foothills, although several important sites specialised in the extraction of raw materials and niche crops such as olives, as well as logging, carpentry, and specialised forms of craftsmanship such as the manufacture of soapstone objects or silverware. Moreover, the few texts just discussed already reveal two significant elements: first of all, the close connection between the royal fisc and specialised production sites and, secondly, the fact that from the mid-11th century onwards only some of these sites were still in the sovereign’s hands, while many others had been acquired by other social actors. It is plausible, therefore, that in the mid-10th century the degree of royal control over specialised sites was particularly significant and that these production hubs were part of a well-structured network. Indeed, one notes a tendency towards the diversification of production, the mutual integration of different specialised sites and, finally, the redistribution of production across the various nodes in the network. This no doubt reflects that tendency towards self-sufficiency which constitutes one of the defining features of the elite of this period, in particular as regards the crown: in addition to being by far the greatest landowner, the central power pursued self-sufficiency in the most explicit way, for both material and ideological reasons, as clearly illustrated by well-known texts such as Charlemagne’s capitular De villis or Hincmar of Reims’ De ordine palatii (Rösener 2003). 3. URBAN CONTEXTS While I have focused on the countryside so far, it is necessary now to change our vantage point and consider the urban context. It is necessary to understand the structural role played by cities, in our specific context, from an economic perspective. Clearly, this is a very different role from that recorded from the 12th century onwards: in our period urban centres were important nodes in the network, yet not essential ones, as was to become the case at a later stage. As we have seen, some circuits completely bypassed cities, as in the case of those centred on great royal monasteries such as Nonantola, Novalesa, and Bobbio, which were at the top of major patrimonial and productive nets, and – plausibly – the analogous ones connected to the rural ‘central places’ of great aristocratic families such as the Aleramics, Anscarids or Guidi, even though these remain in the shadows (Toubert 1983) 5. Cities were the seats of fiscal curtes controlled by royal representatives (counts or margraves) and received produce and other goods from the countryside, as in the cases of Pisa and Lucca in Tuscany, or Turin and Vercelli in Piedmont. But cities also hosted important monasteries, which constituted points of reference for major rural patrimonies, as in the case of Santa Giulia in Brescia, San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro in Pavia, and, at a lower level, San Tommaso in Reggio (Tomei 2018). Moreover, cities also tended to be episcopal sees and the local bishops were often prominent landowners in their dioceses, particularly in those cases where they replaced public officials as public power holders, also inheriting their economic functions, as in Vercelli and Cremona. Cities were thus the final destination for goods produced elsewhere, as sites of consumption as well as of accumulation and redistribution. Still, it should be said that the tendency of cities to serve as linchpins of the economic system is revealed not just by the presence of weekly markets, with a strictly local appeal, but also by the presence of annual fairs – each running for several days – in certain centres in the Po Valley, such as Vercelli and Piacenza, especially from the late 9th century onwards (Settia 1993). Evidently, these fairs were designed not just to facilitate trade between the city and the surrounding countryside, as in the case of weekly markets, but also to enable trade between different cities (or between cities and more distant rural areas). Therefore, they must be interpreted as further evidence of the complexity of the economic system. If we instead shift our attention to the role of cities and sites of production, we find that the written sources (as well as the archaeological record) offer scant information about productive activities in this period. We are thus forced to make the most of the little data available, not least through a cautious use of the regressive method. I will start from Pavia, which served as the capital of the kingdom throughout the 10th century. A major centre from a demographic perspective, it was also a place that the authorities had to visit periodically for political reasons, thereby increasing local demand, and hence the trading 4 The weight of each sword has been estimated to be 1.2 kg on the basis of coeval artefacts from Viking graves in northern Europe: see Peirce 2002. 5 On the Anscarids, the rural burial site of Settimo Vittone, in northwestern Piedmont, awaits a better investigation; see Bertolotto, Scalva 2001. 199 A. Fiore and production networks. With regard to craftsmanship – as well as other economic activities – in cities in the 10th century, one is bound to refer to the Honorantie Civitatis Papiae. This text, drafted in the early 11th century for ‘vindicatory’ and memorial purposes, probably describes a particular context in the 940s and 950s (Brühl, Violante 1982). What clearly emerges is the existence of certain specialised professions and productions: some professions are characterised by the presence of local magistri, and pay (often hefty) taxes to the camera regis (royal treasury). The list doesn’t seem to be a celebrative one but rather a real one, characterized as it is by striking absences such as smiths and, to a lesser extent, weavers, and can therefore be used as a reliable guide to the economy of Pavia. It is evident that the groups listed were large enough and/or made a significant enough impact on the local economic fabric to be specifically mentioned in the text. Two of these groups are of the sort one would expect to find: moneyers – as the capital of the kingdom, Pavia, had a major mint, just like Milan, which is also mentioned in the same text – and merchants. The latter were of course very active at the local level, as they strove to meet demands in what must have been the main centre for the consumption of luxury goods within the kingdom of Italy, owing to the city’s role as capital. Besides, precisely for this reason, Pavia was also the centre where wealthy transalpine travellers making their way down into Italy would stop to purchase luxury goods, as attested by the Frankish chronicler Notker the Stammerer (McCormick 2001, p. 633). What is more surprising, instead, is the presence of fishermen and tanners – the latter with at least twelve workshops – and, apparently just below these, saponarii (i.e. soap-makers) and ferrymen. Soap-making and tanning might seem connected (both require animal fat and hides). This is hardly surprising within a context where the consumption of animal protein must have been particularly high owing to the concentration of lay and ecclesiastical aristocrats, ensuring a steady flow of the kind of meat by-products suited to such industries. Much the same can probably be said with regard to the fishermen, who obviously needed to cater to the aristocrats’ needs during the extensive periods of the year in which the consumption of meat (and dairy) was forbidden for religious reasons. The presence of ferrymen must instead be connected to the merchants’ activities. Naturally, there must also have been other artisans (such as bakers), but their impact must have been more limited, as they are not mentioned in the text. Also notable is the lack of smiths, a prominent group in nearby Milan and in other Lombard cities. From the 10th century onwards, the smiths recorded in Milan (and in nearby areas, especially Brianza) were wealthy individuals who purchased arable land, housing plots, and houses, proving that they had considerable money to invest. What we have here are the first traces of the centrality of iron-working that was to be a hallmark of Milan (and of nearby Brescia) throughout the Middle Ages, owing to the presence of iron ore in nearby Alpine mines (Violante 1953, pp. 58-61). The first evidence of the specialised production of weapons that was to characterise Milan in the later Middle Ages can be traced back to the 11th century, whereas the most visible artisans at the local level after smiths are minters, who are also mentioned in the Honorantiae. In Ravenna too, as in Pavia, fishermen would appear to have played a prominent role in our period – something that can be easily explained on the basis of the ecological context. This is evident from a document from 943 recording the existence of a fishermen’s schola (association) in Ravenna (Spreti 1820, p. 7). Furthermore, it cannot be ruled out that the presence of cheap salt in the area made it possible to salt fish and export it a considerable distance away along the Po river. This would explain why fishermen appear to be so important at the local level already in the 10th century: in all likelihood, this fishing activity was not designed to meet local demands, but rather catered to a much wider consumer base. I will now move beyond the context of northern Italy in order to discuss the case of Florence, albeit in connection with the Po Valley. An important document from 895 attests to the fact that the urban nunnery of San Michele Arcangelo – a Tuscan dependency of the abbey of Nonantola in Emilia – which had six nuns along with a priest to serve mass and fulfil other liturgical duties, was supported by four small farming curtes and their appurtenances in the environs of the city. In addition, physically annexed to the monastery was a workshop in which no less than twelve female slaves (ancillae) wove linen and wool from Nonantolan estates in Emilia, to produce cloths (Tiraboschi 1785, n. 54). This is a significant text, not least because it is the first to clearly describe a centre for textile production in Florence. However, one also wonders why the abbot of Nonantola may have wished to send the nunnery twelve slaves, along with annual consignments of linen and wool for them to weave, all the way from across the Apennines. The only possible answer is that the nuns in Florence had a particular expertise as regards the weaving of textiles: what – on the basis of later developments – might be described as Florentine ‘knowhow’ 6. Likewise, Paolo Tomei has traced the beginnings of silk production in Lucca back to the 10th century, two centuries before the conventional date (Tomei forthcoming). While prudence is advisable, it is significant that already in the years between the late 9th and the early 10th century the two Tuscan cities are known to have been centres for the manufacture of the kind of textiles that are only clearly evidenced in the 13th century. What we appear to be dealing with is a long-term specialised production that stands as a counterpart to Milanese iron-smithing. Indeed, on the basis of these examples it seems plausible that some of the specialised urban productions we find in the high and Late Middle Ages might actually be of much earlier origin. The way in which northern Italy operated perhaps best emerges by contrast to Rome, which Chris Wickham has recently been able to investigate in considerable detail thanks to the remarkable density of the local sources (Wickham 2014, pp. 111-180). Rome appears to offer an alternative model, where artisan activities were concentrated within the city walls and the vast majority of landowners were urban ones. We find here a very close integration between city and 6 An additional, if weaker, piece of evidence is the fact that, again in Florence, each year the small nunnery of Sant’Andrea donated a woollen garb to the royal palatium, as attested by a document from 852; see Manarini 2016, pp. 43-44. 200 The Knots and the Nets: Fisc, Rural Estates and Cities in the Written Sources (Northern Italy, c. 800-1000) countryside, and a distinction between the two at a functional level that is absent in northern Italy in this period. Except as regards a limited range of luxury goods, Rome was essentially self-sufficient in terms of production and craftsmanship, and entertained a largely exclusive relationship with its rural hinterland, obtaining agricultural produce from it while in turn supplying it with artisanal goods. Northern Italian cities functioned in a different way: they were specialised centres – although sometimes specialising in more than one sector – and plausibly interacted with one another, developing relations of interdependence or competition. They operated within a context in which the countryside continued to play an important role in terms of economic demand as well as production, including artisanal production. drew upon it a few years ago, but I believe its potential has not yet fully been tapped into (Settia 1993). The text dates from roughly 1040, but describes a far earlier situation. The author, no longer a young man, states that he has no direct memory of this situation, but knows about it from the most elderly monks – even though they too may not have direct memory of it (Alessio 1982, pp. 100-101). While the author seeks to project the system he is describing into a remote Lombard past, for the sake of legitimacy, the situation can plausibly be traced back to the mid-10th century, i.e. to a society that still operated according to largely ‘Carolingian’ parameters, economically but also in other respects, and which indeed embodies (at any rate for the specific context of northern Italy) the stage of highest development of that particular economic model (Toubert 1990). What the chronicle is describing, then, is a system that was no longer in place at the time in which the author was writing. It shows how men in the 11th century perceived the Carolingian/Ottonian past, which is what makes this document such a valuable source: for it is close to the facts it is describing, yet no longer immersed in that context, which had changed; hence, the author no longer perceives it as something that has been ‘naturalised’, but rather views it critically, precisely by virtue of his distance from the object he is describing. As the text is very short, it is worth providing an English translation of it, before highlighting certain elements: It is said that back then, as was customary at the time, there was a cart of carved wood, wonderful to behold, on which nothing was ever put except a tall pole […]. At the top of it – as reported by people who saw it or heard it described by those who had seen it – hung a small bell that made a shrill sound. In the curtes and villages in Italy that belonged to the monastery [of Novalesa] and were closest to it, the ministri of the monks would store wheat and wine at the right season. And when the time came to transfer these goods to the monastery, this cart with the above-mentioned pole, and the skilla [i.e. bell], would be despatched to those villages, where many other carts would be gathered, usually a hundred or so but at times even 150 – for this is how many were required to transport the wheat and wine to the monastery. This dominicalis cart was only despatched to let the powerful know that these were carts from the monastery [of Novalesa]. Thus no duke, margrave, count, lord, viscount, or villicus would dare forcibly seize anything from those carts. Not only that, but it is said that at the annual fairs that used to be held in Italy [foros Italiae] at the time, no one dared to start bargaining until the merchants saw the cart with the skilla arrive (Alessio 1982, pp. 100-103). What this text illustrates, then, is the flow of produce from local production sites (in the countryside) to a rural centre of accumulation, the monastery of Novalesa, located quite a distance away. The produce in question consists of common goods like wheat and grain, which makes the text even more interesting, precisely because it does not describe specialities but basic products. This circulation of goods was not commercial in nature, but rather consisted in a process of redistribution within an extensive property that was fragmented and scattered 4. TOWARDS AN ECONOMIC MODEL The question to be addressed, therefore, is what to make of the heterogeneous data pertaining to the countryside and cities, so as to reconstruct their overall meaning. What we find are specialised productions (both in cities and in the countryside) and chiefly rural networks; we also find close economic links between cities and the countryside, albeit not in the form typical of later centuries. The Florentine textile workshop did not merely process raw material from the countryside, but was owned by a rural institution towards which it channelled off at least part of its textile production and, no doubt, the profit accrued from this activity: an example that illustrates the complexity of the context in this period. We do not yet find, then, the kind of focus on urban centres that was to become a hallmark of Italy, but rather a picture at once more balanced and more complicated. Productive specialisation clearly indicates that goods (iron objects from northern Lombardy, soap and leather from Pavia, fish from Ravenna, soapstone from Valchiavenna, Emilian linen and salt, and Florentine textiles) were circulating within the context of northern Italy. This is further confirmed by some archaeological data, given that specialisation in itself reveals a complex and interconnected system, albeit on a much smaller scale than in the 13th century. To argue that the economic system of 10th century northern Italy was inert compared to that of the 13th century is correct, yet somewhat reductive; the problem is not primarily quantitative but qualitative (Wickham 2017). It is a matter of understanding what kind of economic model this is: what logic governed the production and circulation of goods in this specific society? An attempt to answer this question implies the construction of a genuine model, something that falls beyond the scope of this short essay. However, it is possible to outline the problem by identifying some paths of enquiry in this direction; and this is precisely the aim of the next pages. In order to try and develop an effective model, it is essential in my view to understand how men in the 10th century perceived economic processes – and they apparently had very little interest in such processes, unlike ourselves. One important exception to this (apparent) disinterest is a passage from the Novalesa chronicle, a Piedmontese source from the mid-11th century which I have already mentioned. Aldo Settia 201 A. Fiore geographically and spatially. However, at the same time, the accumulation/redistribution of these goods also gave rise (in an apparently secondary yet still significant way) to purely commercial, market transactions, presumably in urban (or suburban) contexts such as fairs (Settia 1993). In addition, the price of commodities in such contexts was determined precisely by the number of monastic carts: their number (and the amount of goods they carried) had a significant impact on prices at the fairs. The non-commercial circulation of goods among rural sites also implies commercial transactions, in relation to which urban centres would have played a significant role, as obviously they represented the main market for agricultural surplus at the time. In this respect, the skilla text provides a window through which to catch a glimpse – however hazy – of how the economy worked in the 10th century. From a more general standpoint, this source, when duly integrated with the other data we have, promises to disclose new research trajectories, or to enable us to approach more traditional paths of enquiry from a fresh perspective. Here I will only outline some of the most promising trajectories, which ought to be developed and mutually integrated in view of the creation of an effective model for the economic system under discussion. First of all, the text illustrates a circulation of goods that occurred in a primarily non-commercial way at different, interconnected levels: from a curtis to a primary collection centre (such as a palace or monastery); from one curtis to another; and, at a lower level, from an isolated mansus to a curtis. This economy was systematically based on the integration of sites of production that were scattered (at the micro as well as macro level, in a fractal way) but brought together under the same property. However, at the same time, merely through its occurrence, this internal circulation of goods activated and promoted purely commercial transactions. The fragmented system of large estates thus engendered (redistributive and commercial) trade, thereby ensuring a degree of dynamism – the general inertness of the system notwithstanding. This ensured the development and reproduction of niches of specialisation. Self-sufficiency was a major aspiration, which contributed to lending structure to the economy (particularly as regards the kingdom). It actually gave rise to trade within each network of properties (be it a royal one or not), as well as between the various networks, in an effort to supply goods that could not be produced locally. No doubt, this system involved not just aristocratic and ecclesiastical authorities, but also royal power, which was the largest landowner, and the one with the highest drive towards self-sufficiency. The text from Novalesa also alludes to the role played by cities, and especially their fairs, confirming the role traditionally played by urban centres as trading hubs and especially as privileged venues for commercial transactions, which made it possible to integrate specialised forms of production, including rural ones 7. While ‘out-of-scale’ sites were created and functioned for the most part according to principles other than market logic, their surplus would appear to have been put on the market (as in the case of any amount of wheat or wine exceeding the monks’ consumption in the skilla text). This would explain the discovery of a considerable number of coins on ‘out-of-scale’ sites. People needed purely commercial trade in order to have the money to purchase goods produced outside their own domus and/or reciprocity circuits, as well as to sell off any surplus. It also helps explain why in certain areas, such as northern Italy, very little coinage is found in the archaeological record: this was essentially a redistributive economy (Rovelli 2009). By contrast, the presence of coins on both public and aristocratic ‘out-of-scale’ sites might be seen to reflect ‘market’ transactions that played a subsidiary role with respect to the kind of production/trade chiefly conceived and managed according to the logic of reciprocity. Indeed, it may be hypothesised that envoys from a ‘central place’ (e.g. a large rural palatium) would periodically visit production centres in order to collect products on behalf of the fisc (or of a major landowner), as must have been the case with ironware in Vetricella or salt in the area of the Val Trebbia, which was controlled by the Nonantola monastery. Plausibly, the same intermediaries would have taken the opportunity to purchase – either privately or on behalf of other commercial actors – supplementary objects (in addition to those collected for the census), to be sold at fairs or urban and rural markets, so as to reap a profit. Moreover, it would be worth reflecting on the seasonality/ punctuality of such models, meaning the fact that the market fully manifested at specific moments and in specific places (although the same applies to redistribution and reciprocity), whereas in other contexts it played a secondary (or practically non-existent) role. For instance, fairs were dominated by the market, whereas aristocratic assemblies were marked by the reciprocal exchange of gifts among the participants. Likewise, upon their return from military expeditions, victorious leaders would redistribute the booty among the participants, and their clients and supporters (Reuter 1985). Of course, these are only three among many other possible examples, designed to account for a problem that still needs to be addressed and brought into focus through the appropriate intellectual tools. The society of the Carolingian and Ottonian ages was far more fluid than our own. Consequently, specific organisational contexts significantly influenced the social structure, shaping it in each context, along with the peculiar kind of economy connected to it. This problem has chiefly been investigated by anthropologists and historians of prehistory, but still needs to be systematically explored in relation to our specific context (Graeber, Wengrow 2015) 8. One last crucial point is the role played by the central authorities within this system. As already noted, the kingdom, compared to other actors, was in much greater need of selfsufficiency, from both a material and ideological standpoint. By virtue of its very mode of functioning, the kingdom could not depend on anyone (ideally, at least) if it was to fully exercise its role, without any limitations. The central authorities thus strove to exercise direct control over agri- 7 What also suggests a context of this sort is the imposition of corveés, consisting in the transportation of agricultural produce in the Exarchate of Ravenna: see Mancassola 2008. 8 I am currently working on an article on this topic entitled Shifting Frameworks. 202 The Knots and the Nets: Fisc, Rural Estates and Cities in the Written Sources (Northern Italy, c. 800-1000) cultural production, mining activities, and artisanal centres, as illustrated by the available written and material sources. What this means is that the kingdom promoted the circulation of goods essentially in view of their redistribution: it had them conveyed from minor production centres to large fiscal ones, and then often from the latter to the palace, where the king and his court resided – and this also applies, on a smaller scale, to great officials. Alternatively, the goods would be circulated through those places where aristocratic assemblies were periodically held. In such contexts, the king would receive gifts from the assembled noblemen, and in turn bestow some gifts on them, thereby establishing or consolidating social relations (Innes 2009). In the Late Roman world, the linchpin of the whole trading system had been the State, which had created and maintained the great networks for the production and circulation of goods (Wilson, Bowman 2017). In the Carolingian/Ottonian world, the ‘State’ appears to have played a different and ultimately far more limited role: the State was important, but it was not the crucial element on which the whole system hinged. While the State was certainly the greatest of the great (aristocratic and ecclesiastical) landowners, ultimately it did not act with a different logic, but only on a wider scale, owing to the greater possibilities it enjoyed. This element might explain why the crisis of central power in the regnum Italiae over the course of the 11th century did not entail a systemic economic crisis comparable – taking differences of scale into account – to the late antique crisis explored in Chris Wickham’s Framing the Early Middle Ages. Rather, it entailed a period of less intense difficulty that could more easily be absorbed (with the right adjustments) by a generally more flexible and resilient system (Wickham 2005). What would appear to have deteriorated and broken down is only one form of productive relations and trade; no doubt the main one, yet not one on which the whole system depended. The other forms would appear to have survived and restructured themselves, with cities gaining an increasingly prominent role in parallel to this process. In the early 11th century, large estates (especially fiscal ones) in northern Italy started losing their coherence, not least because of the civil wars triggered by Arduin’s attempt to seize the throne and, more generally, because of a tendency to establish more local power structures (leading great landowners to lose control over more outlying areas of production). Within this scenario, with the likely exception of Friuli (as well as Tuscany), the system of production and trade was restructured on the basis of cities, especially ones that had already emerged as important economic centres in the past 9. This new context, marked by a significant degree of political breakdown, would seem to have released productive forces that were already present in our period, when to some extent they were constricted by the weight of the very structure of great landed estates, including both royal and non-royal ones. The transformation of the context instead had a negative impact on the structural influence of Pavia, whose leading economic role was connected to its political centrality within the royal system and which – for reasons that still remain unclear – never succeeded in restructuring itself quickly enough to take advantage of the new economic flows. The period between the late 9th and early 10th century in northern Italy was marked by a general inertness of the economic system, at any rate compared to the high Middle Ages. However, it preserved a certain degree of complexity, which made it possible to effectively integrate different spaces and contexts by promoting forms of specialised production at the local level, and – to some extent – laying the foundations for subsequent developments. As already anticipated, these are only some possible research trajectories, which ought to be fully pursued and mutually integrated in order to develop a new model capable of making sense of a historical picture that has radically changed compared to only a few decades ago – not to mention the period in which great interpretative economic models were last developed. The growing amount of new archaeological data has not only increased the overall quantity of available information, but has also redefined a number of assumptions, thereby allowing us to reinterpret conventional written sources. In this respect, written documents still have much to offer historians, not least in view of the development of an overall interpretation, for which the time now seems ripe. BIBLIOGR APHY Alessio G.C. (ed.), 1982, Cronaca di Novalesa, Torino. Andreolli B., Montanari M., 1983, L’azienda curtense in Italia. Proprietà della terra e lavoro contadino nei secoli VIII-XI, Bologna. Balzaretti R., 1994, The Monastery of Sant’Ambrogio and Dispute Settlement in Early Medieval Milan, «Early Medieval Europe», 3, pp. 1-18. Banaji J., 2016, The economic trajectories of late antiquity, in J. Banaji, Exploring the Economy of Late Antiquity: Selected Essays, Cambridge, pp. 61-87. Bertolotto G., Scalva G., 2001, La pieve di San Lorenzo ed il battistero di San Giovanni Battista, Torino. Bianchi G., Collavini S.M., 2018, Public estates and economic strategies in Early Medieval Tuscany: toward a new interpretation, in R. Hodges, G. Bianchi (eds.), Origins of a new economic union: preliminary results of the nEU-Med project: October 2015-March 2017, Firenze, pp. 147-162. Brühl C., Violante C., 1983, Die “Honorantiae Civitatis Papiae”, Transkription, Edition, Kommentar, Wien. Cammarosano P., 2001, Storia dell’Italia medievale: dal VI all’XI secolo, Roma-Bari. Castagnetti A. (ed.), 1979, S. Colombano di Bobbio, in Inventari altomedievali di terre, coloni e redditi, edited by A. Castagnetti, M. Luzzati, G. Pasquali, A. Vasina, Roma, pp. 119-192. CDL = Codex diplomaticus Langobardiae, III, Torino 1873. Devroey P., 2003, Économie rurale et société dans l’Europe franque (VIe-IXe siècles), Paris. Hodges R., 2012, Dark Age Economics: a new audit, London. Graeber D., Wengrow D., 2015, Farewell to the “Childhood of Man”: ritual, seasonality, and the origins of inequality, «Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute», 21/3, pp. 597-619. Innes M., 2009, Framing the Carolingian Economy, «Journal of Agrarian Change», 9, pp. 42-58. Mancassola N., 2008, L’azienda curtense tra Langobardia e Romania. Rapporti di lavoro e patti colonici dall’età carolingia al Mille, Bologna. Manarini E., 2016, I due volti del potere. Una parentela atipica di ufficiali e signori nel regno italico, Milano. 9 On the political aspects of this transformation, see Cammarosano 2001, pp. 226-270. 203 A. Fiore McCormick M., 2001, Origins of the European Economy: Communications and Commerce AD 300-900, Cambridge. Menant F., 1987, Pour une histoire médiévale de l’entreprise minière en Lombardie, «Ànnales E.S.C» no. 4, pp. 779-796. Pasquali G. (ed.), 1979, S. Giulia di Brescia, in A. Castagnetti, M. Luzzati, G. Pasquali, A. Vasina (a cura di), Inventari altomedievali di terre, coloni e redditi, Roma, pp. 41-94. Peirce G., 2002, Swords of the Viking Age, Woodbridge. Polanyi K., 1944, The Great Transformation, New York. Reindel K., 1989, Die Briefe des Petrus Damiani, vol. 3, MGH, Die Briefe des Deutschen Kaiserzeit, München. Reuter T., 1985. Plunder and Tribute in the Carolingian Empire, «Transactions of the Royal Historical Society», 5th series, 35, pp. 75-94. Rösener W., 2003, Königshof und Herrschaftsraum: Norm und Praxis der Hof- und Reichsverwaltung im Karolingerreich, in Uomo e spazio nell’alto medioevo (Settimane del CISAM), Spoleto, pp. 443-478. Rovelli A., 2009, Coins and trade in Early Medieval Italy, «Early medieval Europe», 17, pp. 45-76. Settia A.A., 1993, “Per foros Italie”. Le aree extraurbane fra Alpi e Appennini, in Mercati e mercanti nell’alto medioevo. L’area euroasiatica e l’area mediterranea, Settimane di studio del CISAM, 40, Spoleto, pp. 187-237. Schiaparelli L. (ed.), 1924, I diplomi di Ugo, in I diplomi di Ugo e di Lotario, di Berengario II e di Adalberto, Roma. Spreti C., 1820, Notizie spettanti all’antichissima Scola de’ pescatori, Ravenna. Tomei P., 2018, The Power of the Gift. Early Medieval Lucca and its Court, in R. Hodges, G. Bianchi (eds.), Origins of a new economic union (7th-12th century). Preliminary results of the nEU-Med project: October 2015-March 2017, Firenze, pp. 123-134. Tomei P., forthcoming, Il sale e la seta. Sulle risorse pubbliche nel Tirreno settentrionale (secc. V-XI). Tiraboschi G., 1784, Storia dell’augusta Badia di S. Silvestro di Nonantola, vol. 2, Modena. Toubert P., 1983, Il sistema curtense: la produzione e lo scambio interno in Italia nei secoli VIII, IX e X, in R. Romano, U. Tucci (a cura di)Storia d’Italia, 6, Economia naturale, economia monetaria, Torino, pp. 5-63. Toubert P., 1990, La part du grand domaine dans le décollage économique de l’Occident (VIIIe-Xe siècles), in La Croissance agricole du haut Moyen Âge, Auch, pp. 53-86. Vignodelli G., forthcoming, Reshaping the Frame: the System of Fiscal Curtes in Northern Italy and the Politics of King Hugh of Arles (926-945). Violante C., 1953, La società milanese nell’età precomunale, Bari. Wickham C., 2005, Framing the Early Middle Ages, Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800, Oxford. Wickham C., 2014, Rome. Stability and Crisis of a City, 900-1150, Oxford. Wickham C., 2017, Prima della crescita: quale società? in La crescita economica dell’Occidente medievale. Un tema storico non ancora esaurito, Roma, pp. 93-106. Wilson A.I., Bowman A.K. (eds.), 2017, Trade, Commerce, and the State in the Roman World, Oxford. 204 Italian abstract I NODI E LE RETI: FISCO, PROPRIETÀ RUR ALI E CITTÀ NELLE FONTI SCRITTE (NORD ITALIA, IX-X SECOLO) Capire come un sistema economico del passato funziona è quindi in primo luogo un’opera di de-presentizzazione, in modo da comprendere le specifiche peculiarità di quel sistema di produzione e scambio. Se la costruzione di un vero e proprio modello complessivo di funzionamento dell’economia altomedievale è un obiettivo ancora molto distante, in questa sede proverò a esporre alcuni primi spunti in tale direzione, indicando alcune possibili piste di indagine basate sul caso specifico delle strutture produttive e di scambio in Italia settentrionale tra il IX e X secolo, sulla base dei dati forniti dalle ricerche sulle fonti materiali e, soprattutto, su quelle scritte, cercando in particolare di valorizzarne alcune, ancora poco note. Un primo dato preliminare da sottolineare è che ormai da decenni per la ricerca sull’economia altomedievale la grande proprietà (fiscale e non) costituisce tra VIII e X secolo il cuore pulsante del sistema e il suo settore più dinamico e sviluppato. Se vogliamo indagare la specifica fase carolingia-ottoniana è dunque proprio alla grande proprietà (aristocratica, ecclesiastica e regia) a cui dobbiamo in primo luogo guardare, per capire come la grande proprietà aristocratica/ecclesiastica e i beni fiscali funzionino sotto il profilo strutturale. I polittici del IX-X secolo mostrano che le chiese italiche, nonostante la massiccia preponderanza della produzione cerealicola (e in seconda battuta vinicola), tendono comunque a curare alcune attività produttive più di nicchia. come gli olivi sulle rive dei laghi di Garda o di Como, la canapa, o i formaggi dell’Appennino, il taglio di alberi su larga scala e la produzione di carbone vegetale nelle grandi foreste sulle montagne intorno al lago Maggiore. Alcuni di questi siti sono ricordati come un tempo di pertinenza regia, successivamente passati a un ente monastico. Un’altra grande specializzazione produttiva è tuttavia quella legata all’estrazione e lavorazione del ferro, come il grande sito di lavorazione, attivo ancora alla metà dell’XI secolo, nella corte regia di Darfo, in Valcamonica. Infine in Vachiavenna sappiamo dell’esistenza di importanti giacimenti di pietra ollare (plausibilmente lavorata in loco e poi esportata in tutta l’Italia settentrionale), il cui sfruttamento è ricordato come un’attività tradizionale del luogo in una lettera di Pier Damiani del 1064, e che plausibilmente fino alla fine del X secolo erano di proprietà regia. Nel complesso i dati a nostra disposizione ci permettono di ricostruire l’immagine di uno spazio rurale indubbiamente dominato dalla produzione cerealicola (e vinicola), in particolare nelle aree di pianura e bassa collina, ma con diversi importanti siti legati in modo specializzato ad attività estrattive, a coltivazioni di nicchia come l’ulivo, al taglio di legname, alla carpenteria, a produzioni artigianali specializzate come gli oggetti di steatite o l’argenteria. Emerge una forte connessione tra fisco regio e siti produttivi specializzati, anche se alla metà dell’XI secolo solo alcuni di questi erano ancora nelle mani dei sovrani. Osserviamo comunque una tendenza alla diversificazione produttiva, all’integrazione di siti specializzati diversi tra loro, e infine alla redistribuzione della produzione all’interno dei nodi della rete. Per capire la complessità del sistema occorre tuttavia considerare anche il ruolo delle città. Queste sono sedi di curtes fiscali controllate dai rappresentanti del potere regio (conti, o marchesi) dove confluiscono prodotti (agricoli e non) del territorio rurale; ma sono anche sedi di importanti monasteri e dei locali vescovi. Questo fa sì che esse siano i terminali di beni prodotti altrove, sia in qualità di luoghi di consumo, sia di accumulo e redistribuzione. Inoltre la vocazione delle città come perni sistemici è enfatizzata non solo dall’esistenza di mercati settimanali, dal significato eminentemente locale, ma anche dalla presenza di fiere annuali. Se invece spostiamo l’attenzione al ruolo delle città come luoghi di produzione, siamo costretti a rilevare che le fonti scritte (come quelle archeologiche) risultino molto avare sull’attività produttiva in città in questa fase costringendoci a valorizzare le poche menzioni Pavia che per tutto il X secolo è la capitale del regno, un centro di prima importanza dal punto di vista demografico e anche il luogo in cui i potenti del regno dovevano periodicamente recarsi per ragioni politiche, alimentando la domanda in loco, e quindi i circuiti di scambio e la produzione. Dalle Honorantie Civitatis Papiae emergono in modo molto chiaro alcune specializzazioni professionali e produttive. Oltre a monetieri e mercanti colpisce la presenza dei pescatori e dei conciatori di pelli e, a un livello un poco più basso saponarii e battellieri. Spicca inoltre l’assenza di fabbri, un gruppo invece assai visibile nella non lontana Milano e in altre città lombarde. A Milano infatti dal X secolo i fabbri attestati in città (e nei territori vicini) sono personaggi ricchi, comprano terre coltivabili, sedimi e case, mostrando una forte disponibilità di liquidità da investire; sono le prime tracce di quella centralità nella lavorazione del ferro che caratterizzerà Milano (come la vicina Brescia) per tutto il medioevo grazie al ferro delle vicine miniere alpine, mentre il gruppo di artigiani più visibili a livello locale dopo i fabbri è quello dei monetieri. Anche a Ravenna, come del resto a Pavia i pescatori paiono avere nel nostro periodo un notevole peso locale, forse connesso anche con la locale disponibilità di sale a basso costo per la salatura Uscirò infine dal contesto settentrionale per parlare di Firenze, anche se in connessione con la pianura padana. Un importante documento dell’895, attesta che a un monastero urbano femminile dipendente da Nonantola era annesso un laboratorio, in cui erano attive ben 12 schiave che tessevano lino e lana inviati dai possedimenti nonantolani in Emilia, 205 A. Fiore producendo dei panni. È una notevole anticipazione rispetto agli altri documenti relativi alla lavorazione di panni a Firenze, ma coerente con la recente anticipazione della lavorazione serica a Lucca al X secolo. Se la prudenza è d’obbligo è comunque significativo che già tra tardo IX e X secolo le due città toscane siano attestate come luoghi di produzione di quei tessuti per cui solo nel Duecento abbiamo dati significativi. Sulla base dei casi mostrati plausibile affermare che almeno alcune delle specializzazioni produttive urbane osservabili nel pieno e tardo medioevo potrebbero in realtà avere radici ben più antiche. Le città del Nord sono quindi centri specializzati (anche se a volte in più settori produttivi) che interagiscono tra loro, sviluppando relazioni di interdipendenza o concorrenza, e agiscono in un contesto in cui anche lo spazio rurale ha ancora un ruolo importante sia sotto il profilo della domanda, sia sotto quello della produzione artigianale. Per restituire un senso complessivo a questi dati è prezioso un passo della cronaca di Novalesa, una fonte piemontese di metà XI secolo, che descrive tuttavia una realtà di pieno X secolo. Questo testo ci mostra beni agricoli che fluiscono dai siti di produzione locale (rurali) a un centro di accumulo anch’esso rurale, come il monastero di Novalesa/Breme, situato comunque a una certa distanza. È una circolazione a carattere strutturalmente non commerciale, ma di redistri- buzione interna a una grande proprietà frammentata e dislocata a livello geografico e spaziale, e tuttavia il movimento accumulativo/redistributivo di questi beni attiva e alimenta anche transazioni di carattere puramente commerciale e di mercato, in contesti plausibilmente urbani (o suburbani) come le fiere. Una circolazione di beni a carattere non commerciale tra siti rurali attiva transazioni commerciali con un ruolo significativo dei centri urbani. In senso più generale questa fonte, opportunamente integrata con gli altri dati di cui disponiamo ci aiuta a delineare una economia basata a livello sistemico sull’integrazione di contesti produttivi sparsi (sia a livello micro, sia a livello macro, in modo frattale) uniti sotto l’ombrello di una medesima proprietà. Tuttavia questo movimento interno di beni attiva e stimola al tempo stesso, per il solo fatto di esistere, scambi di natura prettamente commerciale, con un ruolo specifico delle città nelle transazioni. Il periodo tra IX e X secolo si caratterizzerebbe dunque in Italia settentrionale per una generale atonia del sistema economico, almeno rispetto agli standard del pieno medioevo, che però coesisterebbe con una certa complessità di funzionamento, che consente di integrare efficacemente spazi e contesti diversi, valorizzando e stimolando le specificità produttive locali, e in qualche misura ponendo le basi per i successivi sviluppi. 206 € 46,00 BAM-28 ISSN 2035-5319 ISBN 978-88-7814-971-7 e-ISBN 978-88-7814-988-5 The nEU-Med project: Vetricella, an Early Medieval royal property on Tuscany’s Mediterranean The nEU-Med project is part of the Horizon 2020 programme, in the ERC Advanced project category. It began in October 2015 and the University of Siena is the host institution of the project. The project is focussed upon two Tuscan riverine corridors leading from the Gulf of Follonica in the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Colline Metallifere. It aims to document and analyze the form and timeframe of economic growth in this part of the Mediterranean, which took place between the 7 th and the 12 thc. Central to this is an understanding of the processes of change in human settlements, in the natural and farming landscapes in relation to the exploitation of resources, and in the implementation of differing political strategies. This volume presents the multi-disciplinary research focussed upon the key site of the project, Vetricella, and its territory. Vetricella is thought to be the site of Valli, a royal property in the Tuscan march. It is the only Early Medieval property to be extensively studied in Italy. Located on Italy’s Tyrrhenian coast, the archaeology and history of this site provide new insights on estate management, metal production and wider Mediterranean relations in the later first millennium. Apart from reports on the archaeology, the finds from excavations and environmental studies, three essays consider the wider European historical and archaeological context of Vetricella. Future monographs will feature studies by members of the project team on aspects of Vetricella, its finds and territory. edited by Giovanna Bianchi, Richard Hodges 28

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The nEU-Med project: Vetricella, an Early Medieval royal property on Tuscany's Mediterranean edited by Giovanna Bianchi and Richard Hodges, Florence, 2020

The nEU-Med project: Vetricella, an Early Medieval royal property on Tuscany's Mediterranean edited by Giovanna Bianchi and Richard Hodges, Florence, 2020

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