Carte archeologiche nella Provincia di Viterbo: tra conoscenza e conservazione

Abstract

The paper concerns three research projects promoted during the last 20 years by the University of Tuscia, aimed at the reconstruction of the ancient topography of areas inside southern Etruria, between Viterbo and the Tiber river valley; they are based on the systematic exploration of the territory and the production of archaeological maps. Two of these works, regarding the Ager Ciminius and Bomarzo-Bassano-Mugnano areas were completed and published in the series Carta Archeologica d’Italia - Contributi; the title of the series relates to the first project in the archaeological mapping of the national territory, performed in the last decades of the nineteenth century. The third research project, still in progress, regards the territory surrounding Viterbo, and between the city itself and the ancient settlement of Ferento and Acquarossa. The research projects produced archaeological maps aimed at supporting both the reconstruction of historical processes in a diachronic perspective and the activities in preservation of the archaeological heritage conducted by the Soprintendenza Archeologica per l’Etruria Meridionale. The systematic research activities allowed the collection of many new data about the ancient topography of these areas from the Proto-historic Age to the Medieval period, across the Etruscan and Roman epochs. The settlement pattern, the necropolises, the road networks, the rural and productive activities were studied and reconstructed. In general, the new data are very numerous in comparison to those previously known. Moreover, field-walking also provided the opportunity to document the condition of preservation of the archaeological evidence. In particular, in the area surrounding Viterbo, many ancient remains damaged or destroyed by new urbanisation and infrastructures are documented (also in comparison to the data documented during the surveys performed in the same territory at the beginning of 1970s). In the other two study areas, the most numerous damages are produced by mechanised agricultural works.