Current Projects

Monte Pallano (1999 – 2004)

The 1999- 2004 excavations on Monte Pallano are currently being prepared for publication.

Acquachiara

Acquachiara, just below 700m asl on the southern slopes of Monte Pallano, is called by the locals La Ciutarella (‘the little city’ in local dialect). This area was already known as the location of a putative archaic cemetery, and—from surface survey—to have been settled from the Iron Age into the Roman empire. 

Excavations in 2002-3 identified structures indicative of agricultural buildings of Roman date (Trench 70000; now Trench 10000) and in 2004 a large horizon of apparently Iron Age date was identified 500m to the NE (Trench 8000). Both these sites are the focus of recent SVP investigations.

Trench 8000 (2005, 2006, 2007)

Excavation work in Trench 8000 has been completed.  This Iron Age horizon consisted of a number of prepared, probably outdoor, surfaces; there were no signs of post-holes or collapse of up-standing remains. Artefactual evidence including a number of quern-stone fragments suggest that the area may have been used for the processing of agricultural produce, related to a not yet identified settlement that must have been nearby. As well as wheat seeds, there was a marked preponderance of grape and bitter vetch (vicia ervilia) seeds in the palaeobotanical samples. The ceramic sequence for this trench suggests frequentation perhaps starting in the seventh century B.C., and not continuing later than the end of the fifth. (See season reports in the Archive)

Acquachiara 2009

Excavations will continue in the summer of 2009 in Trench 10000.

Trench 10000 (2002, 2006, 2007 and continuing in 2009)

Trench 1000 (formerly 7000) was first explored in 2002. Part of a Roman farm building was excavated in that season, including what was believed to be a fragment of a cocciopesto floor, and large sherds of dolia and amphorae, presumed to form the building’s contents. Subsequent work in continuing seasons has identified one external wall (E), with a possible doorway in it. The ‘floor’, originally believed to be of cocciopesto, now seems to be beaten flysch. The whole structure is characterised by rough and ready construction. The ceramics from the building are characterised by amphora and dolium sherds; an ITS platter recovered from the floor surface allows a date of construction to the Augustan period rather than an earlier estimate of the early second century A.D. The palaeobotanical evidence includes grapes, figs and a plum (seeds and flesh).  The building must be interpreted as a storage structure; it is nonetheless not yet possible to assess what was stored here.

The lifespan of the building (based on ARS sherds from upper levels) seems to continue into the second century; a tile-lined terracotta pit cut into the flysch, found nearby (ACQ 7100) suggests later occupation, with late Roman Red-Coated Ware and a Late Roman transport amphora being found in its fill.  Coins recovered from this field (all unstratified) which have been identified come from the early first century B.C. and the Flavian and Antonine periods.  This concentration of coins is unique for Acquachiara. (See season reports in the Reports Archive)

Acquachiara’s importance

Iron Age domestic sites are very rare in Abruzzo/Molise region. Only a few others are known and only the sixth-century phase at Fonte Romito further up the Sangro valley is published. Acquachiara is thus of considerable regional significance. The palaeoenvironmental evidence points to an agricultural regime so far unparalleled in Samnium and different again from the nearby Bronze Age village of Fonte Tasca. 

The evidence for the archaic agricultural economy now emerging from these investigations needs to be meshed with two other strands of enquiry: one is the presence (certain despite the lack of excavation) of an Iron Age necropolis at Piano D. Giorgio/Colle Archiano, the saddle linking the Sangro and Sinello/Osento valley systems (and there are signs that the ancient communications network may be about to reveal itself, with the strada bianca known as Strada Constantini, which runs past a number of springs along the flank of the mountain looking now very much like a primary ancient route).  The other is the existence of a village or villages in the area, suggested by the concentrations of Iron Age pottery found by John Lloyd and Gary Lock in the Sangro survey– Trench 8000’s agricultural processing area must have been adjacent to a village, much of whose ceramic and faunal waste was dumped in the construction of the excavated features.

There seems to be a break in occupation or activity at Acquachiara by the end of the fifth century. Did the rise of the pagus-polity focussed on Monte Pallano provoke a restructuring of settlement patterns?  While Hellenistic fabrics are well-represented in the survey material from around Monte Pallano and SVP excavations have revealed a late Hellenistic sanctuary complex on the mountain, paralleling structures of similar date found nearby by the Soprintendenza (1999-2005), the precise characteristics of landscape use and agricultural regimes over time in the territory remain unclear.

The Roman farm building emerging in Trench 10000 may now be as early as the Augustan period and it seems clear from the inscribed dolia that the products of the local area (probably wine, given the associated amphora finds) were being traded within a commoditised commercial system (perhaps extending along the Adriatic coast) as a cash crop, not adventitiously as occasional surplus.  A landscape history is beginning to emerge. 

Geomorphological Studies

The importance of the Sangro Valley in the cultural, historical, economic and environmental development of the southern Abruzzo can not be overstressed. Recent archaeological research has shown that the region played a much more significant role in the cultural development of the Italian peninsula than previously thought. To more completely understand the processes of social development within the physical as well as cultural landscape, it is imperative that a systematic and thorough examination of past and current physical processes that shaped the landscape be carried out in conjunction with the archaeological research.

The Sangro River runs through one of the most complex tectonic settings in the central Apennine tectonic zones. The river flows through three geographically distinct regions, each characterized by a discernable geologic profile. The aims and objectives of this phase of research are (1) to identify the natural and anthropogenic forces that have influenced and may continue to influence the geomorphic and fluvial structure of the Sangro River valley, (2) to observe, record, date and correlate geomorphic and fluvial landforms of the Sangro River with changes in the paleoenvironment and geomorphology within the catchment basin (3) to integrate current and future geological, environmental and archaeological research into a GIS database to promote spatial and temporal interpretations of the geomorphological, environmental and cultural development of the Sangro River valley.

Paleoenvironmental and Archaeological Survey at Lago Nero

Lago Nero is a seasonal lake situated upslope of Tornareccio on the eastern flank of Monte Pallano Field observations as well as preliminary geophyisical (resistivity) and sedimentological data suggest that the lake resides in a structural basin formed in the trace of an inactive fault. Local residents recall the lake holding water, although now the lake is nearly completely silted up with very limited storage capacity. The fact that the lake appears to be a closed basin with no drainage outlet provides an excellent opportunity to study the paleoecology of the lake’s relatively small drainage. We conjecture that surface runoff from the surrounding slopes would have collected in the lake and the sediment and biological loads would have been deposited in the lake’s sediment. Human activity on the landscape would have had a direct or secondary affect on soil development and erosion. Activities such as deforestation, agriculture and livestock farming as well as landscape maintenance abandonment (e.g. permitting terrace walls to degrade) would all increase the sediment load and subsequent sediment deposition in the lake. A concerted effort is underway to collect and analyze sediment cores from the lake to measure and characterize the sediment components including preserved macro- and microbotanical remains with the aim of interpreting the paleoecological sequence of the landscape. Currently, radiocarbon samples are being analyzed to provide a temporal control over of the stratigraphy. Soil samples for pollen and phytolith studies have also been collected.

Slope Stability Studies

An understanding of slope geomorphic processes in the Sangro Valley is critical to effectively designing archaeological field strategies and interpreting spatial relationships of field data. Field observations of surface features and associated surface scatters and subsurface finds at Acquachiara suggests that there is an important relationship between colluvial and alluvial processes and the spatial distribution of artifact scatter in relation to subsurface sites. A goal for Phase III of the Sangro Valley Project is to qualitatively and quantitatively characterize and understand the relationship between (1) colluvial processes, (2) the density and spatial relationships between surface scatter and (3) the location of subsurface archaeological sites on slopes. Such a model will have wide-reaching implications for interpreting field survey data from high-relief landscapes throughout the Mediterranean.

Methods to address this research problem include (1) field survey with a systematic shovel-test and keyhole test program, (2) geophysical analysis of the colluvial mantle that sits atop the culturally sterile marl on the slopes of the Sangro River valley and (3) integration and interpretation of the data with mapped archaeological scatters and subsurface archaeological sites with a GIS database.

Fluvial and alluvial paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the entire stretch of the Sangro River Valley

The Sangro River valley provides an ideal opportunity to gain an understanding of the complex interplay between tectonic, surficial and anthropogenic forces that shape and regulate a major drainage system in the eastern side of the central Italian Apennines. In more recent times, the region has experienced intense changes in land use that has greatly influenced the Sangro River’s fluvial system. Since the mid-twentieth century the impoverished region has experienced a transition away from charcoal production, transhumance, and wheat production to the development of industrial parks, an ecotourism industry and the production of cash crops such as olives and grapes. The development has been fueled by the construction of a hydrologic dam and improved roadways and water management systems – all of which have had an impact on the fluvial dynamics of the Sangro River. Throughout its history the Sangro River valley has been at the core of human interaction with the landscape. A full-scale geomorphological study of the watershed will provide a continuum from which we can monitor the synergistic interactions between humans and a natural river system.