Limina/Limites: Archaeologies, histories, islands and borders in the Mediterranean (365-1556) – serie

The central theme The Ubaldini and the City is the classic confrontation between feudal society and a resurgent urban form as the central instrument of organisation of European society, which is crucial to the origins of Europe as we know it today. The analysis starts from a reconstruction of the historical role played by the Ubaldini on the basis of a critical reconsideration of the available documentary evidence, and the results appear to be perfectly consistent with the general pattern for the Florentine aristocracy. The theme is one of ‘boundaries’: between historical and archaeological evidence, between the late Middle Ages and the birth of modernity; it concerns space with the establishment of new ‘borders’ which evolve from Terra Nuova and become completely territorial. The book takes as its subject a turning point in the history of the late Middle Ages on the threshold of the modern world: the crisis and collapse of the traditional feudal and rural world and the emergence of new territorial states based on the cities.

Ancient aqueducts have long commanded the attention of archaeologists, both for their intrinsic, monumental importance and for their significance as infrastructures closely related to the concept of civilisation. An aqueduct, in fact, is an artefact that has a great potential for providing information concerning at least two major aspects of ancient society: those relating to structural, technical, and engineering matters, and those relating to building and construction technology. These topics have enjoyed considerable attention in past studies, and in recent years they have also been integrated with a multi-disciplinary and contextual approach. They have further increased the potential of the analysis of ancient hydraulic systems, turning them into historical subjects capable of expanding our knowledge of the urban and social transformation of ancient cities and their territories. The current study of the early Byzantine aqueduct of Gortyn (Crete) follows this tradition, but starts from a viewpoint related not so much to the aqueduct itself, as to a series of questions about the city: what was the appearance of Gortyn in the early Byzantine era? How did the inhabitants live? Where did they live and what did they do for living? The aqueduct was born with the Roman city and accompanied it for its entire lifetime, constituting the backbone around which the various forms of urban settlement were redrawn at each major historical stage. Its vital link with everyday life makes the aqueduct a key witness for the study of the transformations of the city over the long term.

This volume gathers a series of selected contributions about settlement patterns in the Italian countryside between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. It provides a critical overview of the most recent research carried out on late antique and early medieval Italy (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Lazio, Apulia and Calabria) and uses innovative interpretative frameworks to gain a better understanding of rural settlement dynamics.

Este volumen colectivo recoge diferentes contribuciones sobre la historia y la arqueología de las islas Baleares durante la Antigüedad tardía. En su conjunto, estas aportaciones ofrecen una visión general entre el siglo III y X d. C., un período considerado tradicionalmente como uno de los peor conocidos de la historia insular. La escasez de fuentes escritas y, en cierta forma, de investigación arqueológica, pero también la influencia historiográfica de las “dark ages”, habían suscitado una percepción negativa de estos momentos de la historia insular y relegado al archipiélago a un papel marginal. Cabe recordar, no obstante, que las Baleares estaban situadas en un lugar estratégico en las rutas comerciales del Mediterráneo occidental. Fue precisamente esa ubicación la que las convirtió en objetivo de Roma, que ocupó las Baleares (Mallorca y Menorca) en el 123 a. C. En el siglo IV d. C. llegaron a constituir una provincia independiente dentro del Imperio romano, para ser conquistadas sucesivamente por vándalos (455 d. C.) y bizantinos (534 d. C.) y terminar en manos islámicas a inicios del siglo X. El volumen reúne, sin ánimo de exhaustividad, algunos ejemplos de investigación histórica y arqueológica que han permitido una mejora notable en el conocimiento de este período. Sin duda, la investigación desarrollada en estos últimos decenios, tanto desde la academia como desde la arqueología preventiva o de urgencia, ha contribuido a mejorar sustancialmente nuestro conocimiento de este dilatado período de transición, un período en el que las islas del archipiélago balear se transformaron y se adentraron, finalmente, en la Edad Media.

La transformación del mundo rural en la isla de Mallorca durante la Antigüedad tardía presents the study of the rural landscape of the eastern part of the island of Mallorca (Balearic Islands) during Late Antiquity, providing new data that improves our understanding of one of the least well-known periods of the island. The author describes the results of the study of old archaeological surveys carried out on the island – which had not been published yet – and the results of new archaeological surveys. The conclusions from these studies detected a series of trends that help to better understand the settlement patterns of the island during the transition from the Roman period to medieval times. Furthermore, they help to obtain an overview of different transformations that occurred in the rural world in a territory that was strongly marked by its insularity. Equally discernable in this territory was the role played by the old indigenous substrate, which was reflected in the survival or re-use of pre and proto-historic settlements.

Traffici commerciali e approdi portuali nella Sardegna meridionale riguarda lo studio dei flussi commerciali della costa meridionale della Sardegna nella tarda antichità, attraverso i ritrovamenti subacquei, le analisi dei contenitori anforici e gli ipotetici luoghi d’attracco. Le indagini subacquee condotte lungo le coste meridionali negli ultimi anni stanno consentendo di ampliare il registro informativo, evidenziando molteplici situazioni di possibili carichi di relitti, di tipo soprattutto eterogeneo, come a Cagliari, Nora (Pula) e nei mari del Sulcis. In particolare, il porto di Cagliari era coinvolto nei percorsi commerciali e forse nelle attività di trasbordo.Lo studio delle anfore è indissolubilmente legato agli aspetti economici e sociali. I materiali e i contesti inclusi in questo lavoro sono originari di tutta l’area mediterranea (Sud Italia-Sicilia, Gallia, Betica, Lusitania, Nord Africa, Mediterraneo orientale).Un altro aspetto del lavoro riguarda l’analisi dei contesti archeologici subacquei dei reperti anforici studiati, con l’obiettivo di comprendere il grado di sfruttamento di ciascuna area costiera, attraverso un approccio subacqueo, geomorfologico e storiografico.Questo studio può contribuire ad una maggiore conoscenza del ruolo della Sardegna meridionale nel commercio mediterraneo e le sue risorse ne hanno indubbiamente influenzato, direttamente e indirettamente, il coinvolgimento negli antichi traffici marittimi e negli scambi commerciali.

This study is a historical archaeological analysis of a territorial area including the Island of Elba, Monte Pisano and the neighboring plain, using the methodology of 'light' archeology: stratigraphic reading of the elevations and reading of the historical landscape. The purpose of the study was to analyze, within the territory under consideration, the spread of a religious building (TE 1) and understand the reasons behind the choice of a specific architectural language, even in political and cultural contexts very different from each other, by both religious and lay clients who chose to represent their prestige in this way.

Early Christianity on the Margins (?) is the final result of a five-year project divided into multiple phases, in which the Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana (Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology - PIAC) of Rome took a leading role in the excavation and study of some of the most significant areas of the ancient city of Adulis, now in Eritrea. From the 1st to the 8th centuries AD, Adulis was the main port of the great Aksumite Kingdom and, as we will see, a flourishing Christian centre from the mature 5th century AD onward.