Report Vada 2013

8/11/2019 Report Vada 2013

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/report-vada-2013 1/6

Two more buildings have been discovered inthe southern part of the site.Building G (southern sector of site) peculiar

plan is characterized by a hallway, a centralarea with three apses and rich wall paintings(fig. 5); ‘H’ complex area has a very largeservice courtyard (where a setting basin and akiln are located) and a big building with twolarge apsidal rooms .

During the roman imperial age the site ofSan Gaetano di Vada was part of a widerharbour system called Vada Volaterrana; thiswas a sequence of docks, pottery factoriesand farms spreading trough the coastal

plane between the Fine and the Cecina river,at that time part of the territory of the city ofVolterra.San Gaetano harbour quarter was built,

according to a plan (fig.1), during the Augustan age, to be abandoned at thebeginning of the VIIth century AD; hereexcavations revealed 8 buildings: a largewarehouse ( horreum ; fig.1 ‘B’) with almost36 cells (figg.2-3), a little thermal bath (‘A’) intended for the warehouse’s workers( horrearii ), a fountain/waterhole (‘E’),

probably a large water tank (‘C’) and a public thermal bath (‘D’). In front of thethermal bath (‘D’) the head office ( schola ‘F’) of the guild ( collegium ) in charge of portactivities management standed. Its members( dendrophori ) worshipped the EasternGoddess Cibele, whose lover Attis ’ marblestatue was found in fragments (fig. 4).

Vada Volaterrana harbour excavation

Fig.2 - Warhouse cell.

Fig.1 - Plan of the archaeological site.

Fig.5 - Wall paintingwith theatrical mask.

Fig.3 - Warhouse 3D reconstruction.

Fig.4 - Attis marble statue (Archaeological Museum, RosignanoMarittimo)

1

Lamp with christian symbol(chrismon)

Vada Volaterrana Harbour Project2013 excavation and survey reportby S. Genovesi, F. Bulzomì (staff)Website: www.diggingvada.com

8/11/2019 Report Vada 2013


A recent GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar)survey allowed us to identify, southward ofthe area already investigated (Fig. 1), thestructures of a new building, belonging aswell to the same harbour quarter (Fig. 2). In July the excavation of this new buildingstarted.Investigations focused on a rectangularstructure of 4x5,3 m (figg.3-4 ); althoughuntil now a few data have been collected,the very thick walls (90 cm) show its heightshould be a not negligible one – perhaps tobe related to a use as a water tank or astairwell to upper floors.

In the empty space inside the structure manymarble slabs, taken form others building,have been found, together with pottery

fragments belonging to local wine amphorasand Tunisian olive oil and fish sauces (likegarum ) amphoras (Fig. 5).

Vada Volaterrana harbour project – Report 2013

Vada Volaterrana harbour excavation-

A new building…

2

Fig.2 (above) – GPR plan of the newbuildingc

Fig.1 (left) – Plan of the harbourquarter of S. Gaetano di Vada. Thenew area is in red.

Fig.3 – The big rectangular structure form the South Fig.4 – The big rectangular structure form the North

Fig.5 – Amphoras

inside the

bigstructure

8/11/2019 Report Vada 2013




A new building…

3

Even if the porpouse of the small artefact isnot easy to understand, a first hypothesiscan be proposed; the statue could be used

for a family and private cult, representing in fact one of the ancestors (called in latinLares familiares ).

Very close to the big rectangular structure acircular hole (figg. 1-2), used as a trash-pit,was dug – according to pottery findings -between the Vth and the VIth cent. AD. (fig.3). The most surprising discovery from the holeis a small clay statue, only 9,5 cm tall (fig. 4);

forearms and legs are all actually missing.The style is very simple, showing no interest

for details. A beard and hair, made by manysmall points all around the mouth and overthe head, tell us the statue is finallyrepresenting a man .

Fig.2 (above) – The trash-pit seen from above

Fig.4 – The clay statue

Fig.1 (above) – Location of the trash-pit

Fig.3 – The trash-pit being excavated

8/11/2019 Report Vada 2013




A new building…

4

In September the excavation was extendedto the Northern sector of the areainvestigated by GPR survey. The buildingidentified during the July campaign isactually extending to the North, where manywalls in many different building techniquesseveral phases of life, to be thoroughlyinvestigated during 2014 excavation. Threerooms (room 1, 3, 4), whose purpose is notyet known, have been anyway identified(fig.1).

The Northernmost one is actually the mostinteresting and puzzling; being characterizedby a semi-circular shaped structure (figg. 2-3) a sort of apse – it can be cautiouslyidentified with a small shrine. Thechronology of this area and of the threerooms – like in the Southern one – will bebetter understood since next campaign,when we’ll be able to focus our excavationactivity inside each room, digging their fullstratigraphical sequence .

In late antiquity (Vth-VIth cent. AD) this sectorof the building was used as a necropolis; twotombs, both of them reusing a big amphora

for laying the body, have been excavated inthe middle of the area (fig. 4). This kind ofburial is called enchytrismós (figg. 4-5).

A few bones allowed us to identify one ofthem as the burial of a 4-5 years old child.

Fig. 1- The identified rooms: room 1, room 3, room 4.

Fig. 2- Room 4: semi-circular shaped structure.

Fig.4- Enchytrismós from the middle of the excavation area.

Fig. 4- Amphora reusedas a tomb from S.Martino in Collinaia,Leghorn.

Fig.3- View of the room 4 from above.Bronze buckle fromthe new area.

8/11/2019 Report Vada 2013




The survey

5

Fig.2 – The Vada Volaterrana coast and the surveyed area

The first week of Vada Volaterrana HarbourProject - 2013 was dedicated to the fieldsurvey of a part of the territory locatedbetween the roman harbour settlement andthe mouth of the Cecina river (figg. 1-2).

All along the coast, a number of workshop producing amphoras for local wine trade,utilitarian pottery and bricks developedspecially during the Early Imperial Age. Thismajor economic development was related tothe interests of the aristocratic families ofthe city of Volterra, deeply involved in thelocal and provincial trade of the wine theirown villas estates produced.

In many cases, the traces of these workshopsare still visible on the ground after plowing;the main purposes of our campaign wereidentifying their tracks and creating a mapof discovered settlements.

Surveyed areas

Fig.1 – Walking the Vada Volaterrana coast: a break ….

8/11/2019 Report Vada 2013




The survey

5Fig.3 – Site with fragments of pottery and roof-tiles.

Fig.1 – Map of the surveyed areas. The wine amphorasworkshops sites in grey.

A dramatically smaller group of pottery fragments testify a continuous production ofwine amphoras again until the Vth- VIthcent. AD but certainly at a much lower scale.

A strong competition from cheaper foodstuffs of the Roman Empire provincesmeant the workshops of Vada Volaterranaharbour coast saw over time their activity

decreasing more and more.

Five sites, called - according toarchaeological terminology - UT (Units ofTopography), have been identified (fig. 1).The findings of four of them revealed tracesof pottery production activities, like the so-called “kiln spacers” - terracotta rings used

for preventing the amphorae from stickingduring firing - and burnt bricks belonging to

the kilns structures. Among the potteryamphoras fragments - , almost all belongingto sea trade types - were by far the mostnumerous (figg. 2-3).The four UTs – very close each other - thusbelong to a single and wide workhopssettlement, whose maximum development

phase is dated between the beginning of theImperial Age and the end of the Ist cent. AD.

Amphoras were of course shipped at theVada Volaterrana harbour (fig. 4).

Fig.2 (left) – Amphoras workshop site.

Fig.4 – Main wineamphoras

types produced inthe VadaVolaterrana harbourworkshops.

Documents

Report Vada 2013