The Making of a Roman Imperial Estate.

• Superior document: Archaeopress Roman Archaeology ; v.88
• Author: Carroll, Maureen.
• HerausgeberIn: Carroll, Maureen, 1960-
• Place / Publishing House: Oxford : : Archaeopress,, 2022.; ©2022.
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Archaeopress Roman Archaeology
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (392 pages)

Excavation reports and analysis of material remains from Vagnari, southeast Italy, facilitate a detailed phasing of a rural settlement, both in the late Republican period, when it was established on land leased from the Roman state, and later when it became the hub (vicus) of a vast agricultural estate owned by the emperor himself.

Table of Contents

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright page -- Contents -- List of Figures -- CHAPTER 1 -- Figure 1.1 Map of South Italy showing the location of Vagnari and other relevant settlements. -- Figure 1.2 View from San Felice over the Vagnari plateau (yellowish-green vegetation, photo middle), the slope of Monte Marano (right), and the water of the Lago di Serra del Corvo/Diga del Basentello in the distance. -- Figure 1.3 Drone photo of the Vagnari plateau. The vicus lies to the left of the ravine (in the centre of the photo), the cemetery to the right. In the background right is the hill of San Felice. -- Figure 1.4 Original geophysics plot-out by John Hunt with excavated remains superimposed on it. -- Figure 1.5 The photo (2012) shows the stone-built drains under the walls and floors of the portico building that showed up on the geophysics as lines. -- Figure 1.6 Overall multi-phase plan of excavated remains 2012-2018. -- Figure 1.7 The Iron Age settlement of Silvium (Botromagno), seen from Gravina in Puglia. -- CHAPTER 2 -- Figure 2.1 Map showing settlements of the Mid-Imperial period and topographical features mentioned in the text. -- CHAPTER 3 -- Figure 3.1 View of the upper Basentello River valley from Irsina. -- Figure 3.2 Mesozoic limestone on the west side of the ravine at Gravina in Puglia. -- Figure 3.3 Sauropod foot print in the Gravina Mesozoic limestone, which has been used by Conti et al. 2005 to determine the age and geographic setting of the limestone deposits. -- Figure 3.4 Geological overlay of the deep and surface structure of southern Italy (after Sauer et al. 2010: fig. 1). -- Figure 3.5 General stratigraphic column of the Apulian Platform unit succession and their ages (after Petrullo et al. 2017: fig. 2). -- Figure 3.6a-b Marine marl exposures in the Bradano River valley west-southwest of Irsina.

Figure 3.7 The Apennine Blue Clay also outcrops in the erosional channels of streams around Vagnari, as it does here just north of the archaeological site (Google Earth Image). -- Figure 3.8 Middle to late Pleistocene coastal terraces mapped and described along the Gulf of Taranto near Metaponto (after Sauer et al. 2010: fig. 2). -- Figure 3.9 Comparison of coastal terrace ages in the Metaponto area (red dots in top diagramme) with the Marine O18 Isotope Stages or the record of O18 content of ocean sediment cores in the lower diagram. -- Figure 3.10 Along a stream cut just north of the Vagnari site, the grey-coloured upper Pliocene-lower Pleistocene marine marl, which forms the bedrock of the area, is exposed. -- Figure 3.11 Cross-bedded conglomerate formations such as these along the road leading south out of Irsina seem to be part of an upper Pliocene to lower Pleistocene sequence of fan-delta-front to shallow marine conglomerates and sandstones. -- Figure 3.12a-d Beach deposits exposed at the Bosco locality south of Gravina in Puglia (a-b). -- Figure 3.13 Fluvial sand deposits at the top of the slope above the San Felice villa site. -- Figure 3.14a-b Fluvial sands on the slope above the San Felice villa site. -- Figure 3.15a-b Stream and spring deposits northeast of Castello di Monteserico. -- Figure 3.16 Here the fluvial unit consists of a chaotic slurry of sands, silts, and gravels. -- Figure 3.18 The deposits overlying the fluvial deposits are comprised of sequences of thinly laminated clayey silts with accumulations of indurated calcium carbonate between the laminated units. -- Figure 3.19 Detail of the deposits overlying the fluvial deposits comprised of sequences of thinly laminated clayey silts with accumulations of indurated calcium carbonate between the laminated units.

Figure 3.20 Approximate elevation of the Upper Basentello river near Vagnari above mean sea level during the last 800,000 years. -- Figure 3.21a-b Just north of Vagnari vicus, recent erosion along the stream incision has exposed the cross-sections of two streams of different ages and with different fill. -- Figure 3.22 The lower channel with oxidized Pliocene fill from the top of the plateau. -- Figure 3.23 The contact between the two channel fills of the 130,000-year-old channel. -- Figure 3.24 Younger stream cut-and-fill in the stream channel just north of the Vagnari vicus site. -- Figure 3.25 The Irsina exposure east of the town (on the crest of the hill in the distance). -- Figure 3.26 Stratigraphy of the Arroyo Italiano exposure southwest of the Vagnari vicus site. -- Figure 3.27a-b Holocene record of fluvial deposits with superimposed soil horizons nested within the stream channel north of the Vagnari vicus site, with (a) a close up of the deposits, and (b) the well-developed angular-blocky structure of the soils. -- Figure 3.28a-f Flood control canals constructed during the 1950s to move rainwater quickly out of fields on the valley floor accelerated stream velocities to the point that they began head-ward erosion in streams above the upper ends of the canals (a-b). -- Figure 3.29 Comparison of the sum of spring and summer rainfall with the sum of the radiocarbon dates on erosion in southern Italy (red line). -- Figure 3.30a-b Modern summer erosion currently typical of the tributaries of the upper Basentello River. -- Figure 3.31 Principal component analysis of pollen from Lago Grande Monticchio core 90D from the crater of Monte Vulture. -- Figure 3.32a-c Comparison of the pollen rations of the three dominant periods from Lago Grande di Monticchio. -- Figure 3.33 Possible spring locality south of the Vagnari cemetery site. -- CHAPTER 4.

Figure 4.1 Simplified plan of excavated remains in the north-west part of the vicus, with attested and estimated room arrangements. Plan J. Moulton. -- Figure 4.2 Levelled natural chalk and clay deposit with visible tool marks from Phase 1 (foreground). Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.3 Cylindrical pit 4021. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.4 Grey-gloss oil lamp from the lowest deposit (4039) in cylindrical pit 4021. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.5 Excavated remains belonging to Phase 2. Plan J. Moulton. -- Figure 4.6 Robber trench (4057/6050) of the Phase 1 wall 4017, view from the north. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.7 Wall 4006, faced on the north inner side (top) with a vertical tile facing. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.8 Lower right: wall 4006 -- background: wall 4059 -- lower right, remnant of wall 4062. View from the south. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.9 Drone photograph of trenches in 2018. Lower right: robber trenches of Phase 2 buildings -- upper trench: wall 6022 (Phase 5). Photo V. Ferrari and G. Ceraudo. -- Figure 4.10 Cobblestone floor (4015) of Room L, bounded by wall 4006. View from the west. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.11 Wall 5003, view from the south. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.12 View, from the east, of the stone drain 5045/4054, with parts of the side walls of the drain removed to show the cobblestone foundations. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.13 View, from the west, of the stone-built drain 5013/2024. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.14 View, from the west, of wall 5003 in which a gap for drain 5045 has been blocked up with masonry and mortar (middle of photo) when the drain was given up. -- Figure 4.15 Grain storage pit 5008 with remains of its backfill containing pottery, loom weights, animal bone, and metal. Photo M. Carroll.

Figure 4.16 Grain storage pit 6061 with the remnants of the ceramic dolium still in situ. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.17 Mortar-lined grain storage pit 4020 with the impression of a flat-bottomed dolium preserved at the bottom. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.19 Excavated remains belonging to Phase 3. Plan J. Moulton. -- Figure 4.20 The cella vinaria at Vagnari, showing intact or partially intact dolia in mortar basins (6, 7, 9), robbed-out dolium impressions (2, 5, 8, 10), and circular darker traces of dolium holes not excavated (1, 3, 4). Plan J. Moulton. -- Figure 4.21 Mortar-lined dolium basins, with a large fragment of a dolium preserved in basin 3020 (left) and just the basin for 3012 (right). View from the north. -- Figure 4.22 Mortar-lined basin 3012 for a dolium, view from the north. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.23 Channel 3025 cut through the mortar floor of the cella vinaria, view from the east. -- Figure 4.24 The western part of drain 4054/5013 cut by the placement of dolium 3020 in Room A. View from the east. -- Figure 4.25 View from the southeast of stone-built drain 5045 (left), blocked up so the water and waste could be diverted into stone drain 5051 (right). Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.26 Excavated remains belonging to Phase 4. Plan J. Moulton. -- Figure 4.27 View from the south at east-west wall 3008 (top) abutting onto the older north-south running wall 3010 of Phase 2 (right). Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.28 View from the east of wall 2018, the western wall of the cella vinaria in Phase 2 (right), cut by wall 2013, the western wall of the portico building, in Phase 4 (left). Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.29 View from the southeast of the northern wall 1005 of the portico building (Room D) with a doorway and threshold. Photo M. Carroll. -- Figure 4.30 Wall 3008 of Room D with its internal plaster skim in situ. Photo M. Carroll.

Figure 4.31 Burnt daub 2010/3011 lying on the beaten earth floor in Room D in the portico building. Photo M. Carroll.