Tardoantico

This volume gathers the contributions presented by various scholars at the International Conference organised at the University of Strasbourg, which took place, online and in collaboration with the Department of Humanistic Studies of the University of Roma Tre, from 26 to 28 May 2021. The Conference was the first international scientific meeting dedicated to the study of the praetorian prefectures and their holders in the late Roman Empire. The aim of the meeting was to promote a genuine scientific dialogue between specialists in late Roman administration and society.

Post-Classical Archaeologies (PCA) is an independent, international, peer-reviewed journal devoted to the communication of post-classical research. PCA publishes a variety of manuscript types, including original research, discussions and review articles. Topics of interest include all subjects that relate to the science and practice of archaeology, particularly multidisciplinary research which use specialist methodologies, such as zooarchaeology, paleobotany, archaeometallurgy, archaeometry, spatial analysis, as well as other experimental methodologies applied to the archaeology of post-classical Europe. Submission of a manuscript implies that the work has not been published before, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and that it has been approved by all co-authors. Authors must clear reproduction rights for any photos or illustration, credited to a third party that they wishe to use (including content found on the Internet). For more information about ethics (including plagiarism), copyright practices and guidelines please visit the website www.postclassical.it. PCA is published once a year in May. Manuscripts should be submitted to editor@postclassical.it in accordance to the guidelines for contributors in the webpage http://www.postclassical.it. Post-Classical Archaeologies' manuscript review process is rigorous and is intended to identify the strengths and weaknesses in each submitted manuscript, to determine which manuscripts are suitable for publication, and to work with the authors to improve their manuscript prior to publication. This journal has the option to publish in open access. For more information on our open access policy please visit the website www.postclassical.it. How to quote: please use "PCA" as abbreviation and "European Journal of Post-Classical Archaeologies" as full title. Cover image: LiDAR survey of Castelseprio (north Italy) (project funded by Varese Province). "Post-Classical Archaeologies" is indexed in Scopus. It was approved on 2015-05-13 according to ERIH PLUS criteria for inclusion and indexed in Carhus+2018. Classified A by ANVUR (Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del sistema Universitario e della Ricerca).

Il presente testo, preliminare allo studio complessivo delle strutture e dei materiali, analizza i soli dati stratigrafici di scavo e vi unisce le informazioni al momento note sui pochi materiali ad oggi presi in esame. Circa il 90% dei materiali è ancora da pulire e restaurare, e il loro ...

This paper surveys the work of historian Peter Brown be examining five of his major works: Augustine (1967), The World of Late Antiquity (1971), The Body and Society 1988), The Rise of Western Christendom (1998), Through the Eye of a Needle (2012), with some attention to other works. It thereby serves as a vehicle for giving a sense of the emergent scholarly view of Late Antiquity, the period between the third and eighth centuries CE.

Mutina, colonia civium Romanorum fondata nell’anno 183 a.C., è posta in media pianura, lungo la via Aemilia e nell’area depressa tra i fiumi Secchia e Panaro. La particolare posizione topografica, con attinenze fluviali e presenza di paludi, è evidenziata dalle fonti nel 43 a.C. durante la “Guerra di Modena”. Sorta in un’area di “deficit sedimentario” nella quale venivano naturalmente incanalati i torrenti Cerca e Tiepido – dotati di un proprio bacino collinare – ed altri corsi minori, Mutina romana, tardoantica ed altomedievale fu soggetta a successive e ripetute esondazioni e
deposizioni di sedimenti alluvionali che rialzarono in più momenti il piano di calpestio in una estesissima porzione del suo suburbio e, conseguentemente, in ambito cittadino. I piani di calpestio e pavimentali di età augustea giacciono  infatti ad oltre 5 metri di profondità e questa notevole copertura sedimentaria ha permesso il recupero, soprattutto nel suburbio e nelle necropoli, di dati analitici unici in quanto relativi a livelli non interessati e disturbati nei secoli successivi dall’intenso recupero e reimpiego di materiali antichi. Negli ultimi anni, grazie a scavi condotti con metodiche aggiornate e pluridisciplinari, è stato possibile raccogliere una notevole mole di dati sulla interazione tra eventi naturali e gestione antropica della città e del territorio circostante, eventi che hanno ricevuto precise e coordinate datazioni
per via archeologica, radiocarbonica e dendrocronologica.
Si tratta pertanto di una situazione fortunata e ottimale per confrontare i dati archeologici con il cenno delle fonti ai dissesti tardoantichi (da Mario di Avenches a Paolo Diacono) in quanto si dispone ora di una base analitica complessa,
ma sempre puntuale e significativa, per un rilevante centro urbano norditalico (forse un tempo sede del governatore della Gallia Cisalpina) e per il territorio circostante.

Abstract
Hydrogeological instability and management of the territory in Mutina and its suburbium. New data from the excavations and the dendrochronological dating.
Mutina, colonia civium Romanorum was established in 183 BC and is situated along the Via Aemilia in the middle section of the Po basin, within a depression enclosed by the Secchia and Panaro rivers. The peculiar topographic location, characterised by fluvial drainages and swamps, is highlighted by ancient sources in 43 BC, during the ‘Modena War’.
Mutina therefore emerged in an area of natural ‘sedimentary deficit’ where the Cerca and Tiepidus streams, as well as other minor watercourses, naturally drained from their uphill basins. During the Roman, Late Antiquity and Upper  Medieval phases, Mutina experienced several consecutive floods and consequent deposits of alluvial sediments, which  ended up raising the natural ground level of the city and its suburbium in multiple stages for a considerably large extent. This thick sedimentary cover which sealed the Augustan Age frequentation layers and relative pavements, now  at more than 5 m depth from the current ground level, preserved them from the later intensive practices of search,  dislocation and reuse of ancient material, allowing the collection of scientific data of unique value especially in the suburbium and necropolis. In recent years, in fact, excavations conducted with up-to-date multidisciplinary methods allowed to retrieve a large amount of information about the interplay of natural events and human agency in response to those events for the management of the city and surrounding territory. The chronology of these natural events has been also accurately and precisely established through the integration of archaeological, radiocarbon and dendrochronological analysis.
To conclude, this serendipitous circumstance provided an optimal opportunity to cross-check the archaeological data against the mentions made by ancient sources of episodes of hydrogeological instability occurred during the Late Antiquity (Marius of Avenches and Paulus Diaconus). As a result, current scientific research is able to utilise complex analytical frameworks which rely on accurate and precise datasets, providing a better understanding of this significant northern Italian urban center – possibly once the seat of the Gallia Cisalpina’s governor, and its surrounding area.

L'analisi del Panegirico VI/7 dimostra che non ci fu alcuna "visione pagana" a Grand, sito in cui peraltro non è mai stato rinvenuto alcun tempio di Grannus. L'episodio è invece da connettere a una politica di stampo augusteo perseguita da Costantino già prima della battaglia sul ponte Milvio.

The contribution proposes a new historical-artistic framework of the ecclesiastical building of Santu Miali in Is Mortorius(QuartuSant’Elena). Starting from Renata Serra’s research(1973), from the analysis of the site, from a comparative reading of the building’s ichnography (construction examples attested in the eastern Mediterranean, in North Africa, in the Italian area, and in Sardinia itself), and from the reflection on Saint Michael’s role-playing data, we will theorize the possible existence of two construction phases of the church (VI and IX-X), in turn built on older structures.

The site of S. Gada (Laino Borgo, CS) is located along the upper course of the Lao-Mercure valley, in the area of the Pollino National Park. Between June and July 2019 the DICAM of the University of Messina carried out an excavation in the southern area of the site, where previous investigations had highlighted a vast and very dense range of pottery and stone blocks. The results of the excavations allowed us to hypothesize the presence of a large settlement with a life that spans from the second half of the 6th century BC to the 3rd century BC.

Un’analisi ravvicinata dell’esterno dell’abside, resa possibile di recente dalla presenza dei ponteggi, ha permesso di fare nuove considerazioni sulle diverse fasi costruttive e decorative, tra loro strettamente correlate, che hanno interessato il complesso celimontano. In particolare è stato possibile esaminare la sommità della struttura e le oltre trenta mensole tardo antiche che ancora la decorano. Tale indagine ha dato l’occasione di ricostruire con buona attendibilità la terminazione dell’abside nelle due fasi medievali, quella carolingia di Leone IV (847-855) e quella romanica di Pasquale II (1099-1118), in cui una calotta estradossata con gradoni era ornata da una cornice marmorea di notevole impatto visivo. La chiesa del IX secolo, dunque, presentava un carattere “romano” sia nella struttura sia nella decorazione, che Pasquale II circa 250 anni dopo ripropose à l’identique. L’analisi del materiale ha anche mostrato che le stesse mensole, in più di un caso, sono a loro volta frutto di rilavorazione e reimpiego di elementi architettonici più antichi.A close look of the exterior of the apse from the scaffoldings allowed new observations regarding its different phases, both structural and decorative, strictly connected among them. In particular it has been possible to examine the highest part of the apse and the over thirty late roman corbels of the cornice still in situ, and to propose a possible reconstruction of the original medieval appearance of both the carolingian phase of the time of pope Leo IV (847-855), and the Romanesque one of the time of pope Paschal II (1099-1118). On the top of the apse there was an extrados vault decorated by a huge marble cornice of a great visual impact. The ninth century church showed then a “roman” character both in the structure and in the decoration, the same character that after 250 years Paschal II re-proposed à l’identique. A close examination of the marble corbels made possible to ascertain that some of them were, at their turn, reworked and reused from more ancient architectural elements

La discordanza delle fonti inerenti la fondazione di Costantinopoli si spiega alla luce di elementi astrologici connessi ai riti di fondazione pagani. Tali elementi, reinterpretati dagli autori cristiani, aiutano a far luce sulle istanze culturali che presiedettero alla nascita della Nea Rome e anche sul problema del 'nome segreto' di Roma.

The history of researches on ancient Roman roads’ system is characterized by many case studies in which the distances related by the ancient sources are too short to link the resting places. The ongoing review of these cases (with my PhD project) and the deepening of the Consentia’s example allow us to point out that most of these instances share and are conditioned by a series of landscape and historical elements. These suggest a change in the methodological approach: if the Roman Law’s sources are implemented, the measurement inconsistencies, always regarded as errors produced by the ancient sources’ tradition, can indeed give us important institutional and topographical information.

A series of literary works came up between the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 18th Century. In these papers Osuna was identified with the old Colonia Iulia Genetiva Vrso, the mentions made by some roman authors were also included, as well as the testimonies of the past, with the aim of reinforcing its prestige.

En este artículo presentamos por primera vez una historiografía dedicada a los ladrillos paleocristianos y visigodos, para después dar a conocer setenta y nueve ejemplares inéditos depositados en la Fundación Alhonoz (Ecija, Sevilla). Los ejemplares dados a conocer proceden de diversas provincias andaluzas (Sevilla, Córdoba y Huelva) y son producto de hallazgos casuales realizados como consecuencia de las faenas agrícolas realizadas en los numerosos cortijos de la zona. Con la publicación de estos ejemplares queremos contribuir a ampliar el corpus de estos elementos ornamentales que tanta difusión tuvieron en algunas zonas del sur peninsular. Así mismo queremos presentar algunas nuevas decoraciones que hasta el momento no se habían recogido en estudios precedentes como los realizados por Rada y Delgado, Fariña Couto o Palol, entre otros investigadores. Se alude a las iconografías representadas en las piezas para pasar a dar una interpretación funcional de las mismas.

Riassunto: Il contributo propone un nuovo inquadramento storico-artistico dell'edificio ecclesiastico di Santu Miali a Is Mortorius (Quartu Sant'Elena). Partendo dallo studio di Renata Serra del 1973, dall'analisi de visu del sito, da una lettura comparata dell'icnografia dell'edificio (esempi costruttivi attestati nel Mediterraneo orientale, nel Nord Africa, nell'area italiana, e nella stessa Sardegna) e dalla riflessione sul dato agio-topo-nomastico di San Michele, si argomenterà la possibile esistenza di due fasi costruttive della chiesa (VI e IX-X), a loro volta edificate su strutture più antiche. Parole chiave: tardo antico, altomedioevo, architettura bizantina, San Michele, Sardegna. Abstract: The contribution proposes a novel historical-artistic background of the ecclesiastical building Santu Miali in Is Mortorius (Quartu Sant'Elena). On the basis of Renata Serra's research (1973), the analysis of the site, a comparative reading of the building...

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the funerary world and, more specifically, to analyse the phenomenon of burials carved into the rock. The results of the archaeological works carried out in the Early Medieval necropolis of Tozar, located in the Western Mountains of Granada, are presented. The study is not limited to research the funeral rituals that characterise these burials, but it also places to focus on the analysis of the ceramic assemblage collected by survey and derived from the village nearby. In so doing, we aim to gain an insight into the social and historical dynamics of one of the few rock-carved necropolises with anthropomorphic burials identified in the province of Granada.

This article presents a proposal for chronological phases to late antiquity in the town of Alicante, on the basis of a detailed archaeological survey of archaeological sites excavated, its stratigraphy, the material record and absolute dating, analyzed in the context geo-policy area where it is confined.