Italian Archaeological Mission Research Articles

A Treasure of Lustrewares from Ghazni (Afghanistan, Mid-12th–Early 13th Century)

Abstract In 1957, eight intact and well-preserved lustre-painted ceramics were found in a cache during the excavation of a private residence at Ghazni by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan. The lustre-painted stonepaste specimens were retrieved from a sealed archaeological context. They were certainly imported from Iran between the mid-12th and the early 13th century and therefore constitute an exceptional example of a collection of lustrewares assembled shortly after their production date. However, the vessels remain understudied and got lost during the second half of the 20th century, as it happened to many other finds from the same site. For the first time, the present paper offers a thorough analysis of this lot, its stylistic and epigraphic features, based on the graphic and photographic documentation dating from the time of the excavation and on extensive comparisons with specimens kept in international collections.

Early Byzantine city walls of Hierapolis in Phrygia: demolishing and recycling the Imperial era monuments

The study concerns the city walls of Hierapolis in Phrygia (Denizli, Turkey), which were built in the second half of the 4th century AD or at the beginning of the 5th century AD, by systematically recycling architectural blocks from Imperial-era public monuments and funerary edifices. The preserved remains of the fortifications enclose the city along its northern, eastern and southern sides, leaving out large sectors of the urban area. Within the research activities of the Italian Archaeological Mission, topographical DGPS surveys of the remains were performed, and a geodatabase of the reemployed blocks was implemented with three main aims: i) the reconstruction of the building site of the city walls; ii) the identification of the demolished monuments of the Imperial-era used as “quarries” and the study of the procurement strategies of stone materials in the early-Byzantine Hierapolis; iii) the analysis of the relationship between the large building site of the fortifications and the other coeval construction sites and their impact on the socio-economic life of the city. The research allowed us to trace the development of the building site of the city walls, which, starting from the north, mainly reemployed blocks from the necropolises, North Theatre, North Agora and the shops along the plateia not-included into the early Byzantine Hierapolis. Moreover, numerous materials from the Gymnasium and other monuments located in the central part of the city but not yet identified on the ground were especially reused in the eastern and southern sectors of the walls. Lastly, the location of the recycled blocks made it possible even to reconstruct the various transportation routes linking the demolished monuments to the different sectors of the city walls. On cover:Late Roman wall, the portion immediately south of the West Gate (Porta Oea) with re-used blocks from first-century mausolea (Drawing by Francesca Bigi) and Tombstone of Regina from South Shields (Arbeia) (Tyne and WearArchives and Museums/ Bridgeman Images). E-ISSN (online version) 2611-3686 ISSN (print version) 0065-0900

Recent investigations on the Early Bronze Age sites in the Marmarik River Valley as part of the Kotayk Survey Project

Since 2013 an Armenian - Italian archaeological mission has been working in the Kotayk Province in Armenia with multiple purposes. One of these is the systematic investigation of the valley of the River Marmarik, the main tributary of the River Hrazdan, which is the main watercourse in the Central Armenia. The Marmarik valley is an area of great interest, both for its geographical characteristics and for the archaeological remains that have been found there over the years. In fact the area is characterised by the presence of gold, and some of the most important ores in Armenia, including iron and copper. This contribution presents and discusses the archaeological evidence relating to the first protohistoric phase, the Early Bronze Age, in the River Marmarik valley.

Some Considerations Regarding the Attribution to Masʿūd III of the Royal Palace at Ghazni

Abstract Recent studies have established that construction work on the Ghaznavid palace discovered in Ghazni by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan began before Masʿūd III (r. 1099–1115) came to power. This sultan, on the other hand, could be credited with the reorganisation of the rooms overlooking the building’s central courtyard and, above all, with the construction (or reconstruction) of the palatine mosque.

Monumental Entrance to Gandharan Buddhist Architecture Stairs and Gates from Swat

The article presents a series of pieces excavated by the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in two Buddhist sacred areas in Swat (Pakistan). The pieces are chosen for their connection to the theme of monumental entrances of cultic buildings. In the first case (Gumbat), the building is a shrine. In the second, (Amluk-dara) it is a Main Stupa. The pieces belong to three different entrance parts: lower sides of the stairs, decorated steps or stair-riser friezes, and decorated frames of doors. Pieces like these, which belong to specific architecture, can be hypothetically positioned in their places, allowing thus a more vivid reconstruction of the original appearance of the monuments. The decorative apparatus of the entrances to Buddhist monuments, although apparently extraneous to the religious language, is not less rich than the Buddhist iconographic programme illustrated on the stupas or inside the shrines. The second part of the article deals with the interpretation of the language of the entrance as ‘symbolic capital’ of the political élites, who were the donors of the great Buddhist architecture in Swat.

Islamic Marble Objects from Afghanistan in the Bumiller Collection, Bamberg

Abstract The Bumiller Collection in Bamberg includes a number of Afghan marble artefacts that are thought to have come from Ghazni, ancient capital of the Ghaznavids (977–1186), famous for the abundant use of this material both in the decoration of religious and civil buildings in the medieval era and in the construction of funerary monuments in medieval and post-medieval times. A comparison with the finds documented by the Italian Archaeological Mission, engaged in Afghanistan since 1956 and with a specific interest in the city of Ghazni, reveals several interesting aspects that allow us to advance hypotheses about the effective provenance and dating of the marbles in the Collection.

Valentina Laviola. Islamic Metalwork from Afghanistan (9th-13th Century): The Documentation of the IsMEO Italian Archaeological Mission

Valentina Laviola. Islamic Metalwork from Afghanistan (9th-13th Century): The Documentation of the IsMEO Italian Archaeological Mission

Surveying the rural village of Al-Jāyyah (Ma’an Governorate, Jordan): archaeological methodologies and first results

Surveying the rural village of Al-Jāyyah (Ma’an Governorate, Jordan): archaeological methodologies and first results. A contribution to the knowledge of the Shawbak territorial settlement in the longue durée
 This paper presents some preliminary results about systematic Light Archaeology surveys (integrating Building and Landscape Archaeology) that the author is leading in the village of Al-Jāyyah, SE ofthe Shawbak castle, within the archaeological investigations on the landscape surrounding the fortress managed by the Italian archaeological Mission‘Medieval Petra,’ University of Florence. The aim of the surveys is to investigate the historical connection between the castle and the village, suggested by some Medieval written sources. The research’s preliminary outcomes are confirming that even if the present appearance of the village is modern, it preserves significant Medieval material evidences plausibly linked to the Crusader suburb and the Islamic madīnah of Shawbak.

Archaeological research in the Petra Valley: preliminary remarks from the excavation at the Corinthian Tomb

Archaeological research in the Petra Valley: preliminary remarks from the excavation at the Corinthian Tomb
 The Italian Archaeological Mission ‘Medieval Petra’: archaeology of Crusader-Ayyubid Settlement in Transjordan started an archaeological excavation within the site of Petra, in the Corinthian Tombarea, during the 2015 and 2016 campaigns. The main aim was to clarify the presence and the nature of a potential medieval structure whose evidences were identified during the surveys of 2012 and 2013. This brief paper intend sto present some preliminary remarks on the excavation data coming from the stratigraphic analyses and from the ongoing study of the pottery findings related to the context.

The typology, production and adornment of Gandharan beads during the mid-3rd century BCE – 1st century CE: Preliminary results from Barikot, Swat, Pakistan

This study of beads from the site of Barikot, Pakistan provides new perspectives on the typological and technological methods of bead production in use during the mid-3rd BCE – 1st century CE. Through the analysis of raw materials and bead types it also opens a window on the socio-economic and technological aspects of the Early Historic Period in the north-western subcontinent, specifically on the Greco-Bactrian, Indo-Greek and Saka-Parthian periods. This approach will also provide, by extension, important perspectives on adornment practises in use at Barikot. The site of Barikot has been stratigraphically excavated by the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan and is one of the few sites from this time period that has a chronology supported with numerous radiocarbon dates.

ARCHAEOLOGY AT RAS MUARI: SONARI, A BRONZE AGE FISHER-GATHERERS SETTLEMENT AT THE HAB RIVER MOUTH (KARACHI, PAKISTAN)

This paper describes the results of the surveys carried out along Ras Muari (Cape Monze, Karachi, Sindh) by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Lower Sindh and Las Bela in 2013 and 2014. The surveyed area coincides with part of the mythical land of the Ichthyophagoi, mentioned by the classical chroniclers. Many archaeological sites, mainly scatters and spots of fragmented marine and mangrove shells, were discovered and AMS dated along the northern part of the cape facing the Hab River mouth. The surveys have shown that fisher and shell gatherer communities temporarily settled in different parts of the headland. They began to exploit the sea resources during the Neolithic. However, the most important discovery consists of a unique fishers’ settlement with rectangular stone-walled structures located on a limestone terrace near Sonari (SNR-1), the first ever found along the northern coast of the Arabian Sea. The AMS dates show that it was settled mainly during the first half of the third millennium cal bc when the Indus Civilisation flourished in the area. Considering the importance of the discovery, all the material culture remains from the Sonari sites have been described and analysed in detail and, whenever possible, framed into the different phases of environmental changes and human adaptation to the coastal environment that have been interpreted thanks to a good series of AMS dates from marine and mangrove shells.

New Research Perspectives on the Mamluk Qāʾa at Kerak Castle: Building Archaeology and Historical Contextualization

The Mamluk dynasty (1250–1517) succeeded the Ayyubids in Egypt and Syria. From 1260, and for 260 years, construction projects and different types of buildings were sponsored by sultans, emirs, and members of the elite in Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem as well as in smaller towns and regions on the outskirts of the Mamluk sultanate. Although the existing architecture from the Mamluk period is generally well known in Egypt and Syria, this is not always the case in other countries. In present-day Jordan, which was divided administratively into two large mamlakats, there are many sumptuous examples of mamluk buildings that still have yet to be investigated with the necessary attention. The case study analysed here is the castrum/qal'at Kerak in the late 13th and the first half of 14th century, where an exceptional example of Mamluk palatine architecture is partially preserved. According to written historical sources, this reception hall (or qa'a) called Qa'at al-Nahhas can be attributed to al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun (1310–1341), one of the most distinguished figure of the Mamluk sultanate. This paper will undertake to clarify the construction process of Mamluk royal spaces in Kerak as evidence of the Mamluk dynasty’s power and stability, using the methods of “Light Archaeology” (building stratigraphy, in particular) already used by the Italian archaeological mission (University of Florence) at Petra and Shawbak (Medieval Petra project).

I sarcofagi della necropoli nord di Hierapolis in contesto : due casi di studio

The contribution presents the preliminary results of three campaigns (2017-2019) of survey and study at Hierapolis in Phrygia (Turkey), conducted by archaeologists from the University of Pisa within the framework of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Hierapolis (MAIER). The ongoing research program has focused on the northern necropolis in this site, its monuments and sarcophagi (both in marble and local stone), with particular reference to buildings and artifacts from the II-IV centuries CE. The project addresses two closely related questions. Firstly, it aims at providing a full typological and stylistic account of the fragmentary marble sarcophagi from the northern necropolis now in the deposit of the Italian Archaeological Mission, mostly recovered from surveys and excavations in the area of tombs 169-174 during the early 1990s. These fragments seem to belong to semi-finished garland chests (likely produced by local craftsmen), as well as to columnar sarcophagi which find close parallels with types attributed to workshops from Docimium. Secondly, the project discusses a significant case study for the understanding of Roman sarcophagi in their architectural context. Thanks to a full review of the archaeological and epigraphic evidence from tomb 159c, it has been possible to reconstruct patterns and changes in ownership, use, and movement in a significant area of the necropolis across three centuries.

Confirmation of a Predating of the First Abbasid Masjid-i Jumʿa in Isfahan: the nahr Farsān as the mādī Fadan

Abstract The first Abbasid Masjid-i Jumʿa in Isfahan, underneath the present-day building, was brought to light by the Italian Archaeological Mission in the 1970s. An in-depth study of the unedited archaeological data obtained from the excavations has allowed the author to equate the mosque with the building described by some historical sources as having been erected close to the ancient nahr (canal) Farsān by the Abbasid governor Ayyūb ibn Ziyād in 767. This paper aims to present some new observations that support this hypothesis. In particular, extending the research to incorporate the study of the water canalization of Isfahan, mostly dated to the Safavid period, suggests the possibility that the mādī Fadan – an old branch of a canal running very close to the present-day mosque – could be identified with the nahr Farsān, thus confirming the identification of the excavated mosque with the 767 building.

A new revised chronology and cultural sequence of the Swat valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) in the light of current excavations at Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai)

In 2016 CIRCE and the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan launched a specific project specifically aimed at investigating a cultural phase that had not been previously explored, namely the transition phase between Late Bronze/Early Iron age (1200–800 BCE) and Early-Historic phases (c. BCE 500–80 AD) in the ancient Gandhara region. Current excavations of the key-site of Barikot (Bir-kot-ghwandai), supported by a substantial series of new radiocarbon dates, provide a new, very detailed chronological-cultural framework for the social evolution of ancient Swat after the late Bronze age. Thanks to the radiocarbon data published in this work, for the first time at Barikot it has been possible to discover or better define the Achaemenian, Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek acculturational phases. Barikot is identified with the city of Bazira/Beira mentioned by Alexander’s historians’ and the siege of Alexander the Great, in 327 BCE, falling exactly in one of the identified archaeological frames.

Archaeometric and archaeological study of painted plaster from the Church of St. Philip in Hierapolis of Phrygia (Turkey)

This paper presents the results of archaeometric and archaeological study of the fragments of painted plaster discovered during the recent archaeological investigations inside the Church of the Apostle Philip in Hierapolis of Phrygia, one of the great Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine cities of southwestern Turkey (Pamukkale, Denizli Province).The analyses were firstly performed, directly on site, at the deposit of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Hierapolis where all the excavated materials were stored, using a protocol including non-invasive techniques based either on imaging (Ultraviolet fluorescence and Visible Induced Luminescence) or single spot analyses (Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy and portable X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry). Then, the most representative and interesting samples were sampled for further studies with laboratory techniques such as optical and electron microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, micro-Raman and X-ray diffraction.The following pigments were identified: red ochres and minium for the red, lapislazuli and Egyptian blue for the blue, ochres for the yellow and carbon for the black. Lapislazuli and minium were found in the apse area, and, in particular, minium in the Early/Middle-Byzantine phase.Regarding the plasters, a different number of layers was identified for the Middle-Byzantine fragments that present an inner painted layer.

The ancient use of colouring on the marble statues of Hierapolis of Phrygia (Turkey): an integrated multi-analytical approach

The interest about the extent of the polychromy of ancient artefacts has increased in the last 10 years, increasing our knowledge on classical art, still often perceived as perfectly white. As a consequence, the development of methodologies allowing the detection and interpretation of the traces of colour remaining on the surfaces of archaeological artefacts has gained momentum. This paper presents the results of a multi-disciplinary research carried out about the painting materials used in producing selected marble statues excavated from the archaeological site of Hierapolis of Phrygia (Turkey), integrating the art-historical approach and the archaeometric data. The artefacts discussed in this paper were excavated in the archaeological site of Hierapolis in the course of several years by the Italian archaeological mission (MAIER). The objects include the reliefs and decorative statuary of the Severan Theatre and the statues excavated from the North Agora of the archaeological site, which are currently preserved in the museum of Hierapolis-Pamukkale. The analytical protocol, based on non-invasive imaging techniques (ultraviolet fluorescence images—UVf and visible induced luminescence—VIL), was performed directly outdoor, in the archaeological site. Few microsamples were selected, collected and subjected to laboratory analyses (XRD, FT-IR, SEM-EDS and HPLC-DAD). The integrated protocol allowed for the identification of the colouring materials used in producing the polychromies under study.

Reproducing the Original Plan of the Abbasid Friday Mosque at Esfahan and its First Enlargement

ABSTRACTFollowing an in-depth study and comparison of the archaeological data collected by the Italian Archaeological Mission at the Friday Mosque of Esfahan in 1970s and Islamic historical sources dealing with Esfahan, this paper aims to suggest a reconstruction of the layout of the first Abbasid mosque at Esfahan – attributed by the author to 767 – and of its first enlargement carried out a few years later. In particular, though two different models can be hypothesised for the 767 mosque, i.e. the so-called “Syrian plan” and the so-called “Arab-Iraqi plan”, some observations can be made that seem to pin down the latter as the actual prototype for the first Abbasid phase, thus revealing an influence of the Arab-Iraqi model in early Islamic Iranian architecture that was maintained in the enlarged plan of the mosque.

The Italian Archaeological Mission in Albania before and during World War II

In 1924 Albania was in a very chaotic political state. After the elections of January, when Ahmet bej Zogu (1895-1961), a former Austro-Hungarian officer, educated in Military school in Constantinople (1903-August 1912), took power, there was a coup attempt against him on February 23, and the government changed in March. Ahmet bej Zogu left Albania in early June and, from June 16 Father Fan S. Noli, head of the Democratic Revolution and Albanian Prime Minister, led the government. Zogu was back in Tirana on December 24 and assumed power again. On the January 31, 1925 Ahmet bej Zogu was both President and the head of the Government.

The Ploutonion of Hierapolis in the 5th-7th c. A.D.

The investigations of the Ploutonion carried out in the years 2013-17 by the Italian Archaeological Mission were the object of an article in JRA 31 (2018)1 in which I presented the complex transformations affecting the sanctuary of Hades from the Archaic through the Late Roman periods. The excavations also brought to light Byzantine structures that had been built over the pagan sanctuary, gradually erasing all trace of it.