Late Roman Villa Research Articles

Production technique and multi-analytical characterization of a paint-plastered ceiling from the Late Antique villa of Negrar (Verona, Italy)

The research focuses on analyzing the production techniques and materials of a Roman paint-plastered ceiling from a Late Antique Roman villa near Negrar (Verona, Italy), recently uncovered. Stylistic features of the decoration, found in reworked collapse debris during the villa’s excavation, date the ceiling to the original construction phase in the 4th century CE. The paper presents the protocol we adopted for recovering and analyzing the painted decoration of the villa, which was in-laboratory recomposed in its original layout after a meticulous and systematic retrieval of fragmented materials. Microsamples of mortar and pigment were then taken to fully reconstruct the execution technique and raw materials used in the paint-plastered ceiling, detailing the application of the tectorium and pigment preparation. Mortar samples were analyzed to define preparatory layer properties, using various analytical techniques including Transmitted-Light Polarized Optical Microscopy (TL-OM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (SEM-EDS). Optical reflected-light microscopy detected guide incisions on the preparatory mortar, while Reflected-Light Optical Microscopy (RL-OM) revealed the microstratigraphy of pictorial micro-layers. Micro-samplings of painted decorations were conducted to define pigment palettes, determining their mineralogical composition through X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) analysis coupled with micro-Raman analyses for the determination of carbon-based compounds. The research aims to establish a comprehensive protocol for future endeavors, integrating archaeological reassembly with precise micro-analyses of pigments and mortars, deciphering the intricate layout of ancient, fragmented decorations. This study is the first of its kind in Northern Italy, overcoming challenges posed by fragmented and reworked artifacts in previous research, enabling detailed analytical studies like those conducted here. Moreover, this study of the paint-plastered ceiling of the Late Roman villa of Negrar aims to provide a new impulse for the knowledge of Late Antique painting techniques and materials, which were only marginally considered within Roman painting tradition so far.

Advantages and pitfalls of the use of mobile Raman and XRF systems applied on cultural heritage objects in Tuscany (Italy)

Mobile Raman and XRF systems are particularly suitable for the study of cultural heritage objects, allowing in situ, nondestructive analysis on a large variety of materials. Nowadays, thanks to technological developments, the size of the new generation of mobile instruments is reduced. Moreover, operation of the instrumentation is straightforward, as most instrumental settings and data interpretation are automated. However, automated data processing should be evaluated carefully and the risks of incorrect data collection and/or interpretation must be considered and prevented. Therefore, the aim of this research is to start a discussion about some of the challenging aspects and pitfalls, which can be encountered when using mobile techniques. Data collection and interpretation are examined when dealing with works of art. Those aspects are highlighted based on a measuring campaign carried out in Tuscany (Italy) in three different contexts: an archaeological excavation in the Late Roman Villa dell’Oratorio (Capraia-Limite sull’Arno, Florence), the analysis of a mosaic at the facade of the Pisa Cathedral and studies inside the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (Pisa), where some outdoor statues are exhibited. Measurements were acquired with two state-of-the-art mobile Raman and one handheld X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) systems.

Late Roman Villas and Cognitive Science

Without the benefit of cognitive or evolutionary theory, late Roman villa patrons and designers intuited their way toward houses that engaged and strongly affected the emotions of inhabitants and visitor participants. Through the lens of their unique cultural moment, they discovered and deployed strategies that respond to certain innate and universal human needs. These were the aspects of a formal language of design that arose from a competitive ‘architectural arms race’ among a newly minted elite in the era of the late empire, which left a heritage that echoes through the history of architecture. Through the application of methods in cognitive science we can recover some of those strategies and understand their effects with a new specificity. Cognitive science confirms, continues, and elucidates earlier discoveries in phenomenology and psychology, placing the embodied and active human agent into the center of the experience of ancient architecture.

Online-Only Content

Next article FreeOPEN ACCESS ON AJA ONLINE (www.ajaonline.org)Online-Only ContentPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreOnline-only content accompanying American Journal of Archaeology Volume 122, Number 3 (July 2018)SUPPLEMENTARY CONTENTImage Gallery: The Functions of Masons' Marks in the Bronze Age Palace at Malia (Crete), by Maud DevolderImage Gallery: A Cultural History of the Cretan Labyrinth: Monument and Memory from Prehistory to the Present, by Antonis KostonasImage Gallery: Urban Images in Glass from the Late Roman Empire: The Souvenir Flasks of Puteoli and Baiae, by Maggie L. PopkinAppendix: Dataset of Minoan Masons' Marks, by Maud DevolderAppendix: Inscriptions and Images That Appear on the Surviving Flasks of the Puteoli-Baiae Group, by Maggie L. PopkinMUSEUM REVIEWPresenting the Warrior? Iron Age Scythian Materials and Gender Identity at the British Museum, by James A. JohnsonREVIEW ARTICLECreating Meaning in Archaeology, by Peter S. AllenBOOK REVIEWSSocial Theory in Archaeology and Ancient History: The Present and Future of Counternarratives, edited by Geoff Emberling. Reviewed by Guy D. MiddletonGendered Labor in Specialized Economies: Archaeological Perspectives on Female and Male Work, edited by Sophia E. Kelly and Traci Ardren. Reviewed by Thomas E. EmersonKataret Es-Samra, Jordan: The 1985 Excavation and Survey, by Albert Leonard, Jr. Reviewed by Alexander AhrensMrs. Naunakhte and Family: The Women of Ramesside Deir al-Medina, by Koenraad Donker van Heel. Reviewed by Margaret Taylor DeaneThe Sunshade Chapel of Meritaten from the House-of-Waenre of Akhenaten, by Josef Wegner. Reviewed by Jacquelyn WilliamsonSummer Farms: Seasonal Exploitation of the Uplands from Prehistory to the Present, edited by John Collis, Mark Pearce, and Franco Nicolis. Reviewed by Emily HoltMaritime Transport Containers in the Bronze-Iron Age Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, edited by Stella Demesticha and A. Bernard Knapp. Reviewed by Stefano GimatzidisThe Art of Contact: Comparative Approaches to Greek and Phoenician Art, by S. Rebecca Martin. Reviewed by Jeremy TannerA Companion to the Etruscans, edited by Sinclair Bell and Alexandra A. Carpino. Reviewed by Laurel TaylorThe Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden: Religion at the Roman Street Corner, by Harriet I. Flower. Reviewed by David PotterEgypt in Italy: Visions of Egypt in Roman Imperial Culture, by Molly Swetnam-Burland. Reviewed by Arabela BaerVilla Magna: An Imperial Estate and Its Legacies. Excavations 2006–10, edited by Elizabeth Fentress, Caroline Goodson, and Marco Maiuro, with Margaret Andrews and J. Andrew Dufton. Reviewed by Helena FracchiaCaddeddi on the Tellaro: A Late Roman Villa in Sicily and Its Mosaics, by R.J.A. Wilson. Reviewed by Jerrad LancasterVisualizing the Afterlife in the Tombs of Graeco-Roman Egypt, by Marjorie Susan Venit. Reviewed by Christina RiggsThe Mithraeum at Caesarea Maritima: The Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima Excavation Reports. Vol. 2, by Robert Jehu Bull, with Jane DeRose Evans, Alexandra L. Ratzlaff, Andrew H. Bobeck, and Robert S. Fritzius. Reviewed by Caroline DowningParadigm and Progeny: Roman Imperial Architecture and Its Legacy. Proceedings of a Conference Held at the American Academy in Rome on 6–7 December, 2011, in Honor of William L. MacDonald, edited by D. Favro, F.K. Yegül, J. Pinto, and G. Métraux. Reviewed by Lynne C. LancasterList of Books Received Next article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Archaeology Volume 122, Number 3July 2018 The journal of the Archaeological Institute of America Views: 96Total views on this site Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.3764/aja.122.3.online Copyright © 2018 by the Archaeological Institute of America. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Book Review of Caddeddi on the Tellaro: A Late Roman Villa in Sicily and its Mosaics, by R.J.A. Wilson

Book Review of Caddeddi on the Tellaro: A Late Roman Villa in Sicily and its Mosaics, by R.J.A. Wilson

UBC Excavations of the Roman Villa at Gerace, Sicily: Results of the 2016 Season

A third season of excavation at the Roman rural estate of Gerace (Enna province, Sicily) took place in 2016. In the small late Roman villa of c. ad 370/375, the entire surviving length of the south corridor was uncovered for the first time; it is floored in polychrome geometric mosaic. Of particular interest is a mosaic “welcome mat” at the entrance, where a foot measuring-rod is depicted. The overall dimensions of the adjacent basilican storehouse, destroyed in the mid-fourth century before the construction of the late Roman villa, were established, and the use of the Greek Samian foot-unit in its design confirmed. Preliminary investigation of a kiln yielded bricks stamped with the name of Philippianus; others nearby record a separate name, Cn […] Cylin[drus]. In the northern part of the site, part of a well-preserved bath-house was excavated, including portions of two heated rooms and two adjacent hot-water pools. Its walls stand up to 2.30 m high; there were geometric mosaics on the floors and marble veneer on the walls. The date is uncertain (late fourth century?). On decommissioning, the baths were stripped of reusable material, including tubuli and the large bricks spanning the gaps between hypocaust pilae; to extract the latter the mosaic floors were smashed. Over 200 terracotta vaulting tubes used in roofing came from one of the pools. The end of the baths occurred sometime in the second half of the fifth century ad. Of the sixth- and seventh-century rural settlement which succeeded the élite structures, a portion of building with a paved yard and external staircase to an upper floor was also excavated.

The Roman Mosaics of the Roman Villa in the Monumental Complex of Santiago da Guarda, Municipality of Ansião (Portugal)

Classified as a National Monument in 1978, the Palace of Vasconcelos or manor house of the Counts of Castelo Melhor, important museum centre of Ansião Municipality, is a reference property of the noble houses of the sixteenth century, formed by a fifteenth-century tower and sixteenth-century palace. The monument is located in Santiago da Guarda parish seat of Ansião municipality, in the district of Leiria, and is currently known as the Monumental Complex of Santiago da Guarda. The need to recover the set was preceded by an archaeological investigation that confirmed the existence of the ruins of a Late Roman villa in the basement, which stand out roman mosaics which are integrated in the respective rehabilitation project.

Caddeddi on the Tellaro: A Late Roman Villa in Sicily and its Mosaics by R. J. A. Wilson

Reviewed by: Caddeddi on the Tellaro: A Late Roman Villa in Sicily and its Mosaics by R. J. A. Wilson Antonino Crisà R. J. A. Wilson. Caddeddi on the Tellaro: A Late Roman Villa in Sicily and its Mosaics. Babesch Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology, Supplement 28. Louvain, Paris, and Bristol, CT: Peeters, 2016. Pp. viii, 200. €80,00. ISBN 978-90-429-3388-0. Caddeddi on the Tellaro fits into a long-standing body of scholarship (though often lacking for some sites) on Sicilian archaeology, with a special focus on Roman housing and villae. Among these, the most celebrated is certainly the complex of Piazza Armerina in the province of Enna. Wilson reports (vii) that he started to write this work in 2012, when he was "Guest Fellow" at the Getty Research Institute. The Roman villa was discovered in the early 1970s in an [End Page 141] agricultural area close to the river Tellaro, not far from Noto (Syracuse). The villa, built in the fourth century c.e. and destroyed by fire in the fifth century, lies beneath an early-modern farmhouse. The masseria was lived in until the nineteenth century. A thorough review of all the excavation reports and finds has never been published, and this book is therefore undoubtedly crucial for fully understanding one aspect of the complex, that is, its exceptional and well-preserved flooring decoration. As one of its main objectives, the book offers an accurate, close examination of the Caddeddi villa's mosaics and includes six sections or chapters. First, Background (1–25) helps to situate the villa in the regional archaeological context. It also incorporates specific examinations of other Roman villae in Sicily, including those in Patti Marina (10–15), Pistunina (15), Gerace (15–21), and Settefrati (21–22). "The Caddeddi Villa: An Overview" (26–42) is a description of the entire complex, accurately focusing on the plan, the rooms, and the distribution of their mosaics. However, this part is a little incomplete in its coverage of the history of the villa's excavation (26)—a history that the author appears to have summarized in anticipation (one hopes) of a more complete publication of the excavation results. Chapter 3 (43–62) contains a detailed analysis of the fragmentary mosaic found in room 8, showing the ransom of Hector's body. Wilson provides all the pertinent links with contemporary mosaics and other fine art objects (for example, the Berthouville oenochoe). The mosaic of Bacchus (room 9) is described in chapter 4 (63–74), including coverage of all its decorative elements, such as the crater with pomegranates (fig. 4.18). The last descriptive section, entitled "The Hunt Mosaic" (75–103), details a spectacular and complex floor that shows an elaborate hunting scene featuring varied characters and animals. Wilson properly analyzes all aspects of the action portrayed therein, albeit focusing on a series of sub-scenes, which he describes separately (for example, "the picnic," 90–95). "Discussion" (104–32) is clearly one of the most significant sections of the book: here, Wilson continues his discussion of various aspects of the hunt scene and its stylistic elements, also contextualizing the floor within the context of other significant African mosaics. A set of thematic appendices (A on saddles, 133–35; B on shoes and legwear, 135–46) further enhances this monograph. Last but not least, many clear and varied high-resolution illustrations greatly enhance Wilson's book. These images are not only relevant to the Caddeddi villa's mosaics (including enlargements and details; see, for instance, figs. 3.17–21 and 4.3–9), but they also extend to a series of comparative elements such as fruits (fig. 4.10), animals (fig. 5.34), and other mosaics (figs. A.7–12). All 197 illustrations are listed in a dedicated section (151–59). In conclusion, Wilson's book is undoubtedly an essential resource for scholars interested in late-Roman Sicilian archaeology. It is to be warmly welcomed for four main reasons. First, it offers new data on the Caddeddi villa, data that are still awaiting full publication. Second, the many images represent a crucial strength of this well-documented book. Third, the Caddeddi villa's mosaic floors shed new...

UBC Excavations of the Roman Villa at Gerace, Sicily: Results of the 2015 Season

A second season of excavation was conducted in 2015 at Gerace (Enna province, Sicily). In the small late Roman villa of ca. 370/375 ad identified by earlier work, the largest room, in the west wing, was found to have a floor of opus signinum, but the west corridor, in contrast to the mosaic-paved south corridor, had a floor of beaten earth throughout its life. The villa may never have been completely finished, even though occupation debris suggests it was frequented for much of the fifth century. Of the small freestanding bath-house at a higher level alongside it, only a single heated pool had survived later demolition. In its place two storerooms were inserted deep into the earth for efficient insulation. In the fire that destroyed the villa ca. 450/530 ad, a date supported by C14 analysis, the contents of these stores were carbonized: a huge cache of thousands of seeds, principally barley but also including wheat, grapes, and legumes, was uncovered there. The much larger, earlier store-building to the east, provisionally dated to ca. 325/350 and destroyed ca. 360, is now shown to have been a basilican structure. Three earlier phases of building have been detected below it; there is also a sherd of Attic Black Figure pottery, attesting activity at Gerace ca. 500 bc. A further 37 examples of stamps on roof tiles were discovered, including a single example from a hitherto unrecorded die; they were all part of the production, probably on site, of Philippianus, the likely owner of the Gerace estate in the late fourth century. After the fire of 450/530 ad, early Byzantine structures (seventh century?), much disturbed by the plough, occupied part of the site of the late Roman villa.

Archaeometric study of natural hydraulic mortars: the case of the Late Roman Villa dell’Oratorio (Florence, Italy)

This paper shows the results of a multidisciplinary study carried out on the mortars from the Late Roman Villa dell’Oratorio (fourth-sixth ad), an aristocratic mansion built in the lower Valdarno (Florence, Italy). Thirty-one bedding mortar and plaster samples were analysed through optical microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy for determining the chemical, mineralogical and petrographic characteristics, while their main physical properties were measured by geotechnical procedures. The collected data indicates that the analysed mortars are made up of very fine to coarse river sand aggregate mixed with white to yellowish-white natural hydraulic lime binder mainly consisting of mixtures of prevailing calcite and hydraulic compounds. With regard to the origin of the raw materials, the aggregates were recognized to be selected Arno river sands, and the binders are the burning product of a local marly limestone (ex Alberese). Therefore, the mortars of the Late Roman Villa dell’Oratorio are one of the first uses of natural hydraulic lime in the lower Valdarno.

The potential of integrated GPR survey and aerial photographic analysis of historic urban areas: A case study and digital reconstruction of a Late Roman villa in Durrës (Albania)

This paper focuses on the results of a joint geoarchaeological research project of urban historical remains in the ancient Roman city of Durrës, Albania. The project began with a desk-based analysis of all the historical and archival evidence including aerial photos from the 1920s–40s, a period before major urbanization of the area and prior to the capture of satellite imagery in the 1960s. These aerial photographs were re-processed and then combined with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) imagery and used to locate a Late Roman villa in the city. The integrated results produced a visual idea of what the villa looked like, when analysed in conjunction with the known archaeological and historical literature. During analysis, different levels of data reliability and resolution have been identified, which inform methodological choices when undertaking reconstructions of the villa. These methodological issues have generic resonance in the reconstruction of urban landscapes.

THE MIDDLE–LATE NEOLITHIC TRANSITION AT KOUPHOVOUNO

The site of Kouphovouno, just south of Sparta, is one of the main Neolithic sites in Laconia. It was first settled in the Middle Neolithic period and developed into a large village with remains occupying some 4–5 hectares. A joint team from the British School at Athens and the Ecole française d'Athènes carried out excavations at the site in 2001–6. There is evidence for occupation during the Bronze Age, and for an extensive Late Roman villa, but this article concentrates on the chronology of the site during the Middle and Late Neolithic phases. The evidence from stratigraphic sequences, pottery typology, seriation and Bayesian analysis of the radiocarbon dates is brought together to present a detailed chronological sequence covering the periodc.5800–5000bc. In particular the analysis relies on the results from two deep soundings, one excavated in Area C carried down to the natural sediments underlying the site and exposing the earliest period of occupation, and the second in Area G covering the later Middle Neolithic and much of the Late Neolithic phase. The findings from Kouphovouno are placed more generally in the context of finds from other sites in the Peloponnese and in particular in relation to the important sequence from Franchthi Cave. On the basis of the evidence it is argued that the transition from Middle Neolithic to Late Neolithic in southern Greece was not abrupt, as had previously been thought, but showed a gradual evolution. This finding has implications for our understanding of the process of transformation that southern Greece underwent in the course of the later sixth millenniumbc.

Questioni di storia agraria tardoromana: schiavi, coloni, villae

Three general issues, which have been recently widely discussed, are relevant to the historical reconstruction of different provincial setups in Late Antiquity. One issue is whether rural slavery was quantitatively limited everywhere in the Empire and should be included in the free colonate, as scholars mainly argued in past decades, or whether it remained the type of labour more suitable to agricultural systems oriented towards a market economy, thus particularly flourishing in the East during the 4th-5thcentury AD development. Recent economic and legal historical research has identified colonate not as an organic part of agricultural systems where property did not concentrate on direct production but as a different institution: not a type of land rent but a “contract of employment” where coloni cultivated manorial lands (here again East and Egypt predominate) and were paid by the use of plots of land. Therefore in a kind of “precapitalistic” context the colonic workforce was a salary. Lastly was the luxurious Late Roman villa (praetorium) mainly the site for accumulation of surpluses produced autonomously in colonic farms or did it keep specific features of the classic model, i.e. resident slaves and direct agricultural production? Were well-known western villas similar to those still to be explored thoroughly in the East?

Beiträge zur frühbyzantinischen Profanarchitektur aus Hadrianupolis – Blütezeit unter Kaiser Iustinian I

Abstract Hadrianoupolis lies on the principal western route from the Central Anatolian Plain through the mountains to Bartın and the Black Sea, 3 km west of the modern town of Eskipazar, near Karabük, in Roman Paphlagonia. It was a small but important site which controlled this major route and dominated a rich agricultural, especially vinicultural, enclave. In 2003 the local Archaeological Museum of Ereğli began a small-scale salvage excavation of the newly discovered main church of Hadrianoupolis, known as “Early Byzantine Church B”, situated in the centre of the ancient city. Only the floor and foundation levels are preserved. The church was erected probably in the early 6th century AD and may have still been in use as late as the 7th century. The most important discoveries at Church B were the floor mosaics which show personifications of four Biblical rivers: Euphrates, Tigris, Phison and Geon. Animals, floral and geometric designs, and an extensive inscription are also represented. In 2006 archaeological excavations were begun in Hadrianoupolis by a team from the Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, under the direction of Dr Ergün Laflı. As a result of our 2005 surveys, it has now been confirmed that Hadrianoupolis lay indeed on the site of modern Eskipazar, with finds dating from the 1st century B.C. to the 8th century A.D. It also was determined that the core of the ancient city extended as far as the modern village of Budaklar and the surrounding districts of Hacı Ahmetler, Çaylı and Eleler, along the Eskipazar-Mengen highway for 8 km east-west and 3 km north-south. The chora of Hadrianoupolis is much more extensive in size. The field surveys in 2005 identified the remains of at least 24 buildings at the site. Among them are two bath buildings of the Late Roman period, two Early Byzantine churches, a fortified structure of the Byzantine period, a theatre (?), a vaulted building, a domed building and some domestic buildings with mosaic floors. In 2006 trenches were opened to investigate two of the best preserved of these buildings: Bath A and Early Byzantine Church A. In 2007 “Bath A”, “Bath B”, a Late Roman villa, an absidal Early Byzantine building, as well as two Roman monumental rock-cut graves, were excavated. The 2006–2007 campaigns have established that Hadrianoupolis was a fortified regional centre during the late Roman and early Byzantine period (5th–7th centuries), when it can easily be defined as a “polis” with civic buildings and a fairly large urban population, as well as an extensive agrarian rural population. Most of the visible surface remains belong to this period.

Zur dionysischen Präsenz in Mosaikbildern der spätrömischen Villa bei Piazza Armerina und zu einem einheitlichen, übergeordneten Konzeptionsgedanken

Petra Baum-vom Felde, ,,For he being dead, with him is beauty slain, And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again." (W. Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis). Part II. Dionysiac presence in mosaics of the late Roman villa at Piazza Armerina and the idea of a consistent and superior conceptual design, DHA 32/1, 2006, 27-52. Abstract: Based on the results of the previous examination the second part of the study centers not only on the relations between a single room and its decoration but also on the cross-references for successive rooms. Vast parts of the villa were planned according to a single concept that follows a paramount and consistent program. In our mind's eye arises a holistic conceptual design and above all a credo of Late Antiquity.

Zur Interpretation eines geometrisch-figürlichen Mosaikfußbodens der spätrömischen Villa bei Piazza Armerina

Part I. Interpreting a geometric-figurative mosaic of the late Roman villa at Piazza Armerina. The first part of this study shows, on the basis of the identification of the central figurative scene of a geometric mosaic floor, that one can find an astonishing complexity even in that type of geometric structure. The central figure, interpreted only superficially until now, turns out to be a well-planned composition, whose depth can only be perceived in relation with the whole network of all the mosaics (see part II).

LATE ROMAN VILLA PLANS: THE DANUBE-BALKAN REGION

This paper examines the development of the architectural plan of the Late Roman villa in the Danube-Balkan region. It firstly considers questions relating to the definition of the Roman villa, then presents a methodology for establishing a typology, before classifying villas across a large geographical area. Finally, an attempt is made to explain the chronological and geographical distribution of different plans in relation to local conditions and wider historical phenomena.

Light in the Dark Ages: The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo al Volturno (review)

Light in the Dark Ages: The Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo al Volturno. By Richard Hodges. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1997. Pp. xix, 231. $49.95.) San Vincenzo al Volturno was 'one of the great monastic complexes patronized by Charlemagne. Initially founded in the eighth century by Beneventan monks from Farfa, San Vincenzo was reconceptualized and rebuilt on a grand scale by Abbot Joshua, a Frank, in the early ninth, and reached its apex shortly thereafter. Ransacked and substantially destroyed in an Arab attack in 881, the abbey was partially rebuilt in the eleventh century, and then demolished and rebuilt anew, fortified, on the opposite side of the Volturno River in the first years of the twelfth. It was also in the mid-twelfth century that Abbot John wrote the Chronicon Volturnense, recounting the history of the abbey from its beginnings to his own day. Our understanding of this important monastery and its meaning for the broader history of the early Middle Ages is greatly increased by Richard Hodges' stimulating study, the result of several decades of intensive excavation of the site. The starting point for his work has been to reassess Pirenne's famous thesis on the origins of the Middle Ages through the archaeological data. Hodges' archaeological experience is extensive, and thus he is able to place the findings from San Vincenzo within a much broader framework of cultural, social, and economic meaning that sheds light on a number of significant issues, including the question of the continuity and discontinuity of the late Roman world. The book is divided into ten chapters. In the first, Hodges discusses the previous treatments of San Vincenzo and the history of its excavation. His own work has two aims: to uncover the extent of the ninth-century monastery, and to identify vestiges of the early medieval villages in the area. Interest in the site goes back to the late nineteenth century, and earlier excavations by the Benedictine Pantoni for the purpose of rebuilding the monastery had uncovered the twelfth-century church with ninth-century fragments. The ninth-century crypt of Abbot Epyphanius was located some distance away, but Pantoni made no attempt to explain why it was set apart from the rest of the abbey, assuming that this was the original arrangement. It was only later that Hodges realized that the crypt in fact stood on the original site of the ninth-century monastery itself, and that the excavation would tell a much more complex story. After a discussion of the chronicle evidence in Chapter 2, Hodges goes on in Chapters 3 through 9 to analyze the archaeology of the site, from the Samnite and Republican Roman remains of the pre-Christian Rochetta plain through the Lombard foundation and Frankish augmentation of San Vincenzo, the Arab devastation, and the later reconstruction of the abbey. The remains of San Vincenzo are very rich, providing a wealth of material for art and architectural historians alike. Among the most valuable evidence is the uncovering of the workshops that produced this art as well as copious piles of raw and waste materials. In conjunction with the substantial remains of the crypt, abbatial palace and guest quarters, refectory, church and chapel, the site reveals a large and lively monastic community. San Vincenzo reached its height in the first half of the ninth century, when it became a focus of Carolingian policy in Benevento. It became what Hodges calls one of the ideological nodes of the Carolingian regime. In recent years the variety and complexity of monastic contributions to the definition of Carolingian culture has become increasingly apparent, and in this context San Vincenzo played a particular role in establishing the royal presence and the clear hierarchy of authority resulting from Charlemagne's conquest of Benevento. The original monastery of the eighth century, built into a late Roman villa, was modest. With the election of Abbot Joshua the abbey was reconceived, incorporating and reworking the older buildings into a monumental space with definite distinctions of monastic and secular spaces, a distinguished guests' palace reflecting the high status of San Vincenzo's patrons, and an emphasis on the aristocratic, indeed regal grandeur of the abbot. …

A Rural Settlement of Imperial Roman and Byzantine Date in Contrada Saraceno near Agrigento, Sicily

A Rural Settlement of Imperial Roman and Byzantine Date in Contrada Saraceno near Agrigento, Sicily

The Late Roman Villa of Vilauba and its Context. A First Report on Field-Work and Excavation in Catalunya, North-East Spain, 1978–81

SummaryThe first three seasons of a joint Anglo-Catalan research project in north-eastern Spain have concentrated on the Roman villa of Vilauba. It has been shown that the site was occupied for some nine centuries, but the most important discoveries have been the elucidation of substantial phases of occupation from the fifth to seventh centuries A.D., which included in the latest phase a large press building for olive oil. These findings have pointed to the problems of the transition from the Roman to the early medieval period, which have also been met in the field survey of the surrounding region. The medieval settlement pattern had emerged by the ninth or tenth centuries, but its relationship with the Roman pattern remains to be clearly established. Important discoveries have also been made about considerable geomorphological changes in the area, which can be dated to the post-Roman period. A range of techniques have been used in the survey, including recording of standing buildings, geophysical survey and surface collection, which, added to the environmental and pottery studies from the excavation, are shedding important light on the Roman and early medieval rural development of this part of Spain and on the western Mediterranean more generally.