Girolamo Ferdinando De Simone

Pottery production and circulation in the environs of Vesuvius: the villa with baths in Pollena Trocchia – This contribution provides an overall picture of the pottery found in the villa with baths at Pollena Trocchia and, through it, offers theoretical models of the food practices, the landscape, and the economy of late antique Campania. What has been brought to light so far consists of 20 rooms of a private bath complex, which is tied to a sizeable villa. The site was built right after the AD 79 eruption and buried by the subsequent eruptions of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 472 and 512. The pottery assemblage is composed mostly of sherds of the mid-5th c. AD and overall it seems pretty consistent with the published evidence from other Vesuvian contexts. Nevertheless, the ratio among the classes and the presence of some distinctive shapes hint to certain differences in the trade practices between the city of Neapolis and its countryside.

Balnea: the pottery assemblage from the piscina calida of the Suburban Baths in Pompeii – The Suburban Baths lie on a natural slope just outside the city walls of Pompeii and were covered only partially by the volcanic debris of the AD 79 eruption. Afterwards, the building was visited probably already in the 2nd c. AD – as the spoliation of the nymphaeum suggests – and surely from the 4th to the 18th c., as the pottery and tunnels prove. The site was fully excavated and restored in 1985-88, but only a handful of potsherds have been published so far. This contribution describes the pottery assemblage from the piscina calida (room 2), it provides percentages of the pottery classes and their main types. The majority of the fragments are dated to the Augustan-Tiberian period and seems to be related to the use of the baths, while a smaller amount is of a later period and suggests that the baths were under restoration. No post-79 potsherds have been found in this room.

This contribution describes the pottery assemblage from the Roman villa with baths in Pollena Trocchia (Mt. Vesuvius), whose importance resides mostly in its stratigraphy: it was built on top of the AD 79 ashes and buried by volcanic debris in AD 472 and 512, providing sharp chronological markers. After a brief discussion on the exact chronology of the late antique eruptions of Vesuvius, a contextual analysis of the deposits from four rooms of the baths is provided. A thorough description of the pottery assemblages, which are presented by context, classes, and typology, follows. Overall the analysis of the potsherds confirms the hypothesis that, during the last phase before the AD 472 eruption, the baths were abandoned and used as dumping area, while on a macroscopic level the assemblage seems pretty consistent with others from Naples in the third quarter of the 5th century AD.

This paper studies the African Red Slip ware and its imitations from the Roman villa with baths in Pollena Trocchia. The site lies on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius, in the ancient territory of Naples, and provides one of the largest datasets for late antique Campania. The ARS is 12 % of the entire assemblage and one third of the tableware. Hayes forms 61 and 91 are the most common types in both ARS and its imitations. Overall the assemblage shows strict similarities with the evidence in Naples, although less variety is noted among the types. In the final part, this contribution suggests that ARS and its imitations covered a specific market segment, rather than complementing the local products and provides a workingk hypothesis of a multi-layered distribution system.

The present contribution aims to define the technological characteristics of some colour coated tablewares produced in Campania from the mid-3rd to the 6th century, which marks the transition from late antiquity to the Middle Ages. These tablewares are mostly known as slipped ware and painted ware, each term being distinctive of a specific typology and chronology. Both the slipped and the painted wares are characterised by a quite depurated, calcareous fabric and mainly by a clayish, coloured coating in black/brown/orange/red. Until recently these categories have been identified mostly on the basis of the typology, but obviously this criterion is useless for wall fragments. This paper attempts to better define the distinction between these classes, through both a chrono-typological description and archaeometric analyses.

The contribution provides a comprehensive report of the ongoing investigations through GPR and excavations at the Roman city of Aeclanum, in the southern Italian Apennines. These activities provide new insights into the usefulness of GPR for the reconstruction not only of the urban grid, but also of the phases of spoliation and natural erosion that the city suffered after its abandonment.

Large explosive eruptions have reshaped the landscape around Vesuvius many times in prehistoric and historical times. Previous stratigraphic surveys suggested that people living in this area have probably abandoned their settlements (in the Bronze Age) or towns and villas (in the Roman period) for centuries after each major plinian eruption. New archaeological excavations on the northern slope of Vesuvius suggest a much more intriguing scenario. At Pollena Trocchia, an ongoing excavation has shown the superimposition of three different Roman structures, sandwiched between the deposits of the AD 79, AD 472, and AD 512 Vesuvius eruptions. Each of these eruptions more or less completely destroyed and buried the buildings under meters of volcanic products. Surprisingly, after a few years or decades, a new settlement was established exactly on the top of the buried one, indicating the immediate recovery of part of the devastated area. Our research documents the destruction of Roman buildings by volcanic eruptions over a period of five centuries (first to sixth century AD) and provides new insight into human behavior after major explosive eruptions.

The exploitation of woodland resources in Late Antique Campania: anthracological remains from two Vesuvius sites.
The archeological research in Italy relating to Late Antiquity has solid roots, and it offers notable examples coming from Campania and the other Southern regions of the peninsula. Nevertheless, up to present day only a few sites have seen a systematic use of anthracological investigations. The evidence now made available in Late Antique Campania – focused on the perivolcanic sites buried by the eruption of AD 472 – offers therefore an opportunity to better understand how woodland resources were exploited.
The present contribution takes into consideration the anthrocological evidence from two villas located on the northern side of Vesuvius, one discovered at the site of Starza della Regina (Somma Vesuviana), the other at Masseria De Carolis, near the town of Pollena Trocchia. The aim is to shed light on the exploitation of woodland resources in Late Antique Campania.

In Italia la ricerca archeologica per l’età tardoantica ha radici profonde e presenta esempi notevoli anche in Campania e nelle altre regioni del Meridione. Ciononostante, fra i siti investigati quelli in cui si svolgono indagini antracologiche sistematiche sono ancora pochi, per cui l’evidenza disponibile per la Campania tardoantica, ed in particolare per i siti perivulcanici sepolti
dall’eruzione del 472 d.C.5, offre l’opportunità di meglio comprendere in che modo le risorse boschive fossero sfruttate.
Il presente contributo si propone di analizzare l’evidenza antracologica proveniente da due ville sul versante settentrionale del Vesuvio, la prima in località Starza della Regina a Somma Vesuviana, la seconda in località Masseria De Carolis a Pollena Trocchia, in modo da poter offrire una vista sullo
sfruttamento delle risorse boschive nella Campania tardoantica.

In recent contributions Paul Arthur studied the spread of open cooking vessels found around the Mediterranean basin in the fifth and sixth centuries AD, connecting these with the hypothetical transition to a sheep/goat-dominated diet. This article tests the theory against the dataset from a site in Pollena Trocchia on the northern slopes of Mt. Vesuvius. In order to understand the prevailing cooking practices, potsherds are first quantified using several methods, then rearranged by function and divided into the categories of cooking ware and tableware, and subsequently also sorted by shape. The proportions of various shapes reveal prevalence of pots used for semi-liquid and stewed food over those used for braising, as well as of bowls over dishes. In its last part, this article compares the faunal assemblage from Pollena Trocchia with other Late Antique sites in Italy, and proposes an alternative interpretation for the spread of open cooking vessels.

This article aims to provide a snapshot of local production and trade patterns in the territories of Neapolis and Nola in late Antiquity through the study of published data from Neapolis and pottery assemblages from two sites: a bath complex in Pollena Trocchia and a villa on the outskirts of Nola. Pottery assemblages from both sites are described and compared to the evidence from Neapolis and sites in the Apennines in order to reconstruct trade patterns from the coast to the mountains. Results suggest that the distribution of imported goods is determined more by site ranking and proximity to main routes, rather than by distance. Furthermore, archaeometric analyses are provided for samples selected from burnished ware and cooking ware from Pollena Trocchia and Somma Vesuviana. Results suggest a complex distributional pattern and the existence of several kilns, both around Vesuvius and on the Apennines, which shared the same vase typology.

This contribution provides a general picture of pottery circulating between the coast,  the Campanian hinterland, and the Apennines in the second half of the fifth century AD. The published data from the excavations in Neapolis are matched with new unpublished evidence from the inland, in particular from many sites around Nola and a bath complex from the northern slopes of Vesuvius, which has been excavated since 2007. The archaeological sites in the environs of Vesuvius are especially relevant for this study because they have been covered by the volcanoclastic deposits of the AD 472 eruption, hence providing a clear terminus ante quem for the chronology and a snapshot of the circulation of goods within a very narrow time frame. Moreover, this paper will focus on some micro-regional productions and their distribution within the Apennine region. Supported by archaeometric analyses, the study of these artefacts suggests new patterns of trade that move beyond traditional economic models.

Preliminary archaeological report on the site of Cammarano (Roccarainola, Southern Italy). This contribution provides a summary of the activities carried out by the Apolline Project at the medieval church of Cammarano in 2011-2012 and it analyses the information gathered so far. In particular, the architectural remains provide evidence to the hypothesis that a Roman villa existed at Cammarano; the church was probably built between the 4th and the 7th century and was likely dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. The marble fragments show considerable variety and were probably spoliated from a Roman building. The pottery covers a wide timespan, from the 4th century BC to the Late Medieval period, although the majority of the fragments are dated to the Late Roman to the Early Medieval period.

The AD 472 eruption and its impact on some sites on the slopes of Vesuvius. This contribution provides a multi-disciplinary analysis of the AD 472 eruption of Vesuvius in archaeological contexts. The first section overviews the settlement pattern and the data available on the sites buried by volcanoclastic fill. It further addresses the question of the exact number and main features of the late antique eruptions of Vesuvius (i.e. AD 472, 505 and 512), it reviews the information from literary sources and analyses the evidence from the field. In particular, the impact of the AD 472 eruption on two sites on the northern slopes of Vesuvius – in Pollena Trocchia and Somma Vesuviana – is thoroughly described. The last section deals with the problem of resettlement after AD 472 and puts forward some hypotheses as to how the land recovered.

This article studies the pottery from the baths of a post-79 AD roman villa in Pollena Trocchia on the North Slope of Vesuvius. The analysis includes the quantification and chrono- logical distribution of the site’s potsherds, a description of the typologies attested on the site, and the archaeometric analysis of the main clay matrices. Most of the pottery pertains to the last phase of activity in the site, from the mid-4th century to AD 472 (the late antique eruption of Vesuvius), while very few fragments are attested for the post-472 phase and only scarce residual sherds are dated to the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. In the last part of the article, the pottery is used as a proxy of economic trends in the Mediterranean basin and as a witness of changes in the patterns of food consumption.

Cultural landscapes were prominent during the Early Roman period when agronomic knowledge allowed the spread of intensive land exploitation in most of the available land. The aim of this contribution is to explore whether for the Campania region (Southern Italy) archaeoenvironmental data would support continuity or change in the cultural landscape of Roman tradition in the 4th and 5th centuries. To do so, new data from two sites located on the northern slopes of the Vesuvius, both buried by the AD 472 eruption have been investigated. Charcoal analysis, 14C dating, and chemical analysis of organic residues were carried out in order to study the landscape and the food production at these sites. The results suggest the persistence of the Roman cultural landscape until the 4th and 5th centuries in this area. The landscape is in fact strongly marked both in agriculture and woodland exploitation and management, being characterized by managed chestnut forests as well as valuable cultivations of walnut, large vineyards, olive groves, and probably orchards and crops. The integrated approach with archaeobotanical and archaeometric analyses proves to be a powerful method for the study of the past landscapes, providing a good insight into the environment. Furthermore, this study provided the most ancient evidence of chestnut silviculture for wood.

Charcoal analysis was carried out in two archaeological sites on the north slope of the Somma-Vesuvius volcano, not far from Naples. Both sites were inhabited between the 2nd century AD and AD 472, when a great Vesuvius eruption (so called Pollena eruption) buried them. In both sites, Castanea sativa wood was largely used for architectural structures as well as firewood. Ten 14C dates, spanning between the 1st and the 5th century AD, testify to a continuative use of this wood throughout the life of the sites. The comparison between archaeobotanical and pollen data from other sites in southern Italy suggests that chestnut woods were close to the sites studied and had a restricted spreading, possibly in a refugium area on Vesuvius' foothills. The match between archaeological charcoals and pollen data suggests that the Romans did not spread chestnut cultivation in the entire Campania region and that chestnut probably became a common timber in Campania starting from the 5th-6th century AD.

The north slope of the Somma-Vesuvius complex is archaeologically still little known. Archaeological and volcanologic field research at a site in the town of Pollena Trocchia offers new data for understanding the burying process of the AD 472 eruption and following eruptive events. So far seven rooms of a Roman building have been brought to light, which probably date to the 2nd/3rd century AD. The building consists of two storeys. The floors and the collapse of peripheral walls are the only remains of the upper floor. The lower storey was already severely damaged and spoliated before the AD 472 Vesuvian eruption which buried it. The exposed burial sequence is constituted by 7 stratigraphic units interlayered with paleosoils. Four units are exclusively composed of pyroclastic deposits deposi- ted during an explosive eruption. Three units are formed by volcanoclastic debris deposited during either the final phases of the erup- tion or sometime afterwards. The stratigraphic and lithological features, and the archaeological evidence correlate some of these strati- graphic units with known Vesuvian eruptions. In particular, the thick basal sequence that buried most of the building is associated with the reworking of pyroclastic deposits on the north side of the volcano during the last phases of the AD 472 eruption. The structures placed on top of the volcanoclastic deposit testify to a later phase of life, which was quickly interrupted by a subsequent eruption (pro- bably that of AD 512). The whole area was subsequently completely abandoned and covered by volcanoclastic and volcanic debris throughout the following centuries. The stratigraphic sequence attests the impact of secondary events (lahars) as the main cause of destruction and burial of the Roman building.

We all know about Pompeii and Herculaneum, to the south and west of Vesuvius respectively, but its north slope is by contrast almost a blank in the archaeological record, something which the Apolline Project set out to rectify. The reports and linked historical essays in this volume examine the evidence for settlement on the north slope, and seek to integrate this work into wider debates in Pompeiian studies. They also provide useful perspectives on the region in Late Antiquity.
(Abstract from Oxbow Books)