Campanaio -

Campanaio -- an agricultural settlement in Roman Sicily. Roman Sicily has long been known from classical sources for itsagricultural fertility, but little archaeological research has beenconducted on the rural economy. The Campanaio project is uncovering awealth of information about a small (3 ha) hellenistic and Roman ruralsettlement and its economy, 25 km west of Agrigento. Excavations(1994-95, 1997-98) have revealed seven principal phases. Activitystarted c. 200 BC, and was intensive for two centuries in the centralpart of the site. A complex of buildings underwent two completereconstructions between 200 BC and AD 25; in its last phase (c. 50 BC)it comprised an L-shaped building some 17 m long and 8.40 m wide, withdry-stone wails, earth floors and mud-brick superstructure (FIGURE 1). Arubbish dump outside it yielded much 2nd/1st-century BC ceramic andenvironmental material, with evidence for contact with Cyrenaica(brazier lugs), Greece (Rhodian wine amphora stamped `Agathokleus')and north Africa (including a mortarium stamped with a ostrich ostrich,common name for a large flightless bird (Struthio camelus) of Africa and parts of SW Asia, allied to the rhea, the emu and the extinct moa. It is the largest of living birds; some males reach a height of 8 ft (244 cm) and weigh from 200 to 300 lb and theletters T and P (FIGURE 2) -- can anyone furnish parallels?). Nearbyindustrial activity, starting before 150 BC, is attested by twointer-connecting cisterns and a tile kiln. One cistern cistern/cis��tern/ (sis��tern) a closed space serving as a reservoir for fluid, e.g., one of the enlarged spaces of the body containing lymph or other fluid. had an inflowchannel (of purpose-made pipes) and an overflow pipe (an afterthought),made up of re-used Punic amphorae with their spikes knocked off (threeare stamped, one with the `Tanit' sign) (FIGURE 3). The re-use ofamphorae as water pipes is surprisingly rare -- I know of examples atGela, Eyguieres, Bibracte, Rome, Cagliari, Nora and Gortyn: does anyoneknow others? The[sections][sections] tile kiln was replaced c. 125 BC bya bigger structure (4.75 m by 4.25 m: FIGURE 4): curiously it has asplit-level firing chamber with a brick-revetted step marking thejunction -- are any comparanda known for this feature? At this stage theCampanaio settlement was probably quite small, a large farmstead ratherthan a village proper, although the tileworks represents considerableestate investment. Scanty early imperial activity was followed byrenewed building work in the late Roman period (c. AD 375-460). Freshstructures were tacked on to the ruined hellenistic building, a newwarehouse was erected nearby, an olive oil separating-vat was built tothe west, and elsewhere a lime kiln (the first in Sicily of Roman date),and a whole set of buildings on the eastern side of the settlement wereconstructed -- in total amounting to a substantial village. Thesebuildings (except the kiln) are also dry-stone with mud-brick or adobesuperstructure, demonstrating that this time-honoured constructionmethod continued in Sicily into late Roman times. In this phase therewas also evidence for iron-working, possible leather production (acess-pit) and the manufacture on site of tiles, mortaria and amphorae(represented by wasters dumped c. AD 400 in the disused lime kiln). Theamphorae are variants of the flat-bottomed Keay 52, production of whichis known also at Sicilian Naxos and at three sites in the toe ofCalabria. [Figures 1-4 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] All this activity came to a violent end c. AD 460, with vividdestruction levels everywhere, possibly the result of Vandal attack(attested in the sources at this date -- Campanaio lies only 5 km fromthe south coast). One destruction deposit contained an ARS plate andthree Pantellerian casseroles, all with holes drilled post-firing in themiddle of their bases (FIGURE 5). Could they have been used for keepingballs of wool in place during spinning? Or were they used in foodpreparation, possibly for making the cake called encytum (Cato tells usthat this required vessels with a hole in the bottom)? Another smasheddeposit contained 16 amphorae (including examples of Keay 25, 25/6, 33and 35); five have incised letters on the spikes, presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. controlmarks cut before firing. The amphorae are mostly African, but one LR1amphora, not of standard Cilician/Cypriot fabric, is probably a Sicilianimitation of the eastern amphora (itself attested in other Campanaiodeposits). It is intriguing to find imported oil amphorae at what isclearly (weightstones, olive vat) an oil-producing site: was Campanaio amarket for oil of different provenances and qualities, or were emptycontainers being filled with local oil -- possibly even sold off tounsuspecting buyers as imported produce? [Figure 5 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There was modest spasmodic spasmodic/spas��mod��ic/ (spaz-mod��ik) of the nature of a spasm; occurring in spasms. spas��mod��icadj.1. Relating to, affected by, or having the character of a spasm; convulsive. reoccupation c. AD 500 before life atCampanaio petered out. Somewhere, however, a modest later settlement ofArab or Arabo-Norman date awaits discovery, its presence indicated bythree human inhumations (lying on their sides, supposedly facing Mecca)on the eastern edge of Campanaio. One is a juvenile (12/15 years), ofindeterminate sex; teeth marks indicate sustained malnutrition beforethe child was seven. The other two were male, aged 25/35. One had had atumour in his jaw surgically removed, the other had suffered chronictoothache: the teeth in the left lower mandible mandible/man��di��ble/ (man��di-b'l) the horseshoe-shaped bone forming the lower jaw, articulating with the skull at the temporomandibular joint.mandib��ular man��di��blen. were much more worn thanthose on the other side -- he had clearly been chewing all his food onone side to avoid pain. The abnormal thickness of both adult male skulls(and cavities in them) indicate that both suffered from anaemia anaemiasee anemia. :thalassaemia Noun 1. thalassaemia - an inherited form of anemia caused by faulty synthesis of hemoglobinMediterranean anaemia, Mediterranean anemia, thalassemiamonogenic disease, monogenic disorder - an inherited disease controlled by a single pair of genes is still endemic in Sicily today. Ovicaprids are most numerous in the bone assemblages, followed bypig and cattle; horse, dog, hedgehog, hare, tortoise and duck are alsorepresented. Of particular interest is the quantity of deer bones(second only to ovicaprids in 5th-century deposits), not only of red androe deer, but also of fallow deer fallow deera small, 150 lb, fawn deer with white spots and a white spot bordered with black on each buttock. Called also Dama dama. , very rare on Mediterranean sites: thelargest published assemblage comes from the Sicilian medieval site ofBrucato. Were fallow deer originally indigenous to southernItaly/Sicily? References WILSON, R.J.A. 1996. Rural life in Roman Sicily: excavations atCastagna and Campanaio, in R.J.A. Wilson (ed.), From River Trent toRaqqa: 24-41. Nottingham: Department of Archaeology, University ofNottingham The University of Nottingham is a leading research and teaching university in the city of Nottingham, in the East Midlands of England. It is a member of the Russell Group, and of Universitas 21, an international network of research-led universities. . In press. Rural settlement in hellenistic and Roman Sicily:excavations at Campanaio (AG). 1994-1998, Papers of the British Schoolat Rome The British School at Rome was established in 1901 and granted a Royal Charter in 1912 as an educational institute culminating the study of awarded British scholars in the fields of archaeology, literature, music, and history of Rome and Italy of every period, and for the study of 67 (2000). www.nottingham.ac.uk/archaeology/research/index.html R.J.A. WILSON(*) (*) Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, UniversityPark, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England. Roger. Wilson@nottingham.ac.uk