Carl Nylander, Börje Blomé, Lars Karlsson, Angela Bizzarro, Giuseppe Tilia, Stefano Tilia, Alessandro Tilia
ActaRom-4°, no. 26:5,1
The Etruscan city of San Giovenale was excavated by
the Swedish Institute of Classical Studies at Rome between 1956 and
1965. The ancient city plateau consists of two residential areas, the
Acropolis and the Borgo, separated by a cut roadway. This publication
deals only with the northwest corner of the Borgo (Borgo NW), which was
excavated under the direction of Carl Nylander between 1961 and 1965.
Here, in a "pocket" at the edge of the plateau, the Etruscans built a
small metal working quarter, surrounded by a defensive terrace wall.
Protected by the high tufa cliff a series of water cisterns and furnaces
were installed. The excavations uncovered four major houses, Houses A,
B, C and D, separated from each other by small drains and a Lane K. The
houses, the drains and lanes are oriented west-east. A major well is
located east and above House C. The most important settlement dates from
the early Archaic period, in the late 7th century BC. The buildings
were destroyed around 550/530 BC by a possible earthquake. The buildings
were then rebuilt on a higher level and existed down to about 400 BC.
Below the Archaic levels there are cuttings for huts and a wooden
palisade.
The publication starts with an informative personal prolegomena by
Carl Nylander in which the history of the excavations and the
participating members are described. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the
site and an analysis of the geology by Sheldon Judson. Chapter 2 gives
the history of the work and Chapter 3 the settlement periods and the
stratigraphy. Chapters 4 and 5 present the mainly rock-cut remains of
pre-archaic structures. Chapter 6 attempts to describe the large work of
levelling the area for the Archaic houses, called "The Great Fill
Project". The following chapters are archaeological and architectural
descriptions of the walls and houses, starting from the north: House A
(Ch. 7), Houses B and C (Ch. 8), Lane K (Ch. 9) and House D (Ch. 10).
The possible earthquake as the destruction of the early Archaic
settlement is discussed in Chapter Eleven. Chapters Twelve and Thirteen
reports briefly on the very scattered traces of later developments. The
book contains several appendices: a San Giovenale bibliography
1877-2011, a catalogue of the walls at the site, an investigation of the
mortar remains, a discussion on the roof-tiles and an explicatory text
about the process of architectural documentation. Finally, the
publication contains 43 plates with the very carefully drawn elevations
and plans of the excavated buildings, originally produced by architect
Börje Blomé, later digitalized and completed by Giuseppe, Stefano and
Alessandro Tilia as well as by Angela Bizzarro.
ISBN 9789170421808
Hard cover
222 pages
Published 2013
Language eng
Open access (articles as PDF)
Contents |
Acknowledgements |
Ringraziamenti
|
Preface |
List of illustrations |
Bibliography |
Personal prolegomena |
Introduction to the geography and geology of San Giovenale |
History of the Borgo excavations |
Excavation areas, periods and stratigraphy |
Pre-House Period I |
Pre-House Period II |
The Great Fill Project |
The northern Area A. Buildings and stratigraphy of periods 1 & 2 |
The central Area B/C/I/R |
Lane K |
The southern Area D/E/F/G/H |
An earthquake at San Giovenale in the 6th century BC (?) |
Period 3—after the earthquake |
Periods 4 & 5—later developments |
Summary |
Appendix: San Giovenale bibliography 1877–2011
|
Appendix2: Osservazioni sulle strutture murarie |
Appendix3: An investigation into ancient mortars |
Appendix4: The roof-tiles |
Appendix5: Documentation of architectural remains |
Plates
|
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