Metallurgia del piombo e siderurgia nel sito protostorico di Brunku ’e s’Omu (Sardegna centro-occidentale): inquadramento funzionale dei manufatti e ricostruzione dei processi produttivi

The archaeological excavations carried out in 2013 in the hut n. 16 of the protohistoric settlement of Brunku ’e s’Omu (central-western Sardinia) returned some metal products. The morpho-metric and functional study of these artifacts al-lowed the identification of two mending strips and other remains related to Bronze Age (late II millennium BC) ceramic vessels reparing. Some uncertainly dated slags and metal fragments were also identified. Visual examination and archaeometric investigation carried out by means of portable energy dispersive X-ray fluores-cence spectrometry (pXRF) were performed on these metals. The analyses were able to relate some remains to iron manufacturing and highlighted the lead composition of the other ones. The chosen approach further clarified some as-pects of nuragic metallurgists’ behaviour in selecting and processing metalliferous geo-materials.

Preliminary Report on the 2014 Field Season of the American Excavations at Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (CAP)

This article provides a preliminary report on the 2014 excavations carried out by the American Excavations at Morgantina (Sicily): Contrada Agnese Project (CAP). The 2014 season was the second year of this multiyear research and excavation project aimed at investigating both the urban planning of the city and the lives of its residents, with a specific focus on the periods of occupation and cultural transformation from the third to first century BCE. During the second season, three trenches were excavated in the area corresponding to Lot One of the urban insula W13/14S. This preliminary report presents the significant stratigraphic units and material finds encountered in each trench, along with a provisional outline of the phases of activity, setting the developments observed in each trench within the broader historical and archaeological context of the urban center at Morgantina. The discovery of several rooms with similar architectural features suggests that they belong to a single building, the so-called Southeast Building, the function and dimensions of which will be investigated in future CAP excavations.

Telesia Archaeological Project: Indagini nella basilica e nel foro (2014-2015)

The Telesia Archaeological Project is an initiative that will make a significant contribution to thi historical and archaeological knowledge of the urban area of the Roman city of Telesia, located near Benevento (S. Salvatore Telesino). The first and second season of the Telesia Archaeological Project (2014-2015), conducted under the supervision of the Archaeological Superintendence, and thanks to the indispensable collaboration of a private landowner, provided results of great scientific interest. There was the possibility to investigate part of a significant building of imperial age, richly decorated, identified with the basilica of the city. It was possible to establish, in addition, that this large building (36 by 21 m ca) was opened, through a great brick colonnade, to the forum, localized in summer 2015 with certainty for the first time. The extraordinary large double colonnade (porticus duplex), 9 meters wide, covering the entire façade of that public building, was erased in the fifth century AD, probably after two earthquakes that seriously damaged the city in 346 and 375 AD.