Pilar Diarte-Blasco

From the fourth century until the sixth, coinciding with the last centuries of the Roman Empire and the consolidation of the Suevic and Visigothic Kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula, important transformations in both the urban and rural contexts took place. In some cases, the phenomena could probably have their origin in dates before the formation of the Suevi and Visigoth kingdoms, but other changes seem to derive from processes set in motion by the creation of new states in the Iberian Peninsula. Archaeological research reveals important transformations in both urban and rural areas in this period. However, the urban and rural spaces have often been analyzed independently, without addressing the differences they experience in their evolution. In this study we seek to assess changes in both contexts, through close analysis of two cities with different urban evolutions, namely Asturica and Albocela. For each we will evaluate the varied impacts on their respective territories, especially in terms of the types of rural habitat and exploitation.

A detailed magnetic survey combined with the study of magnetic properties and spectral analysis in the Tusculum archaeological site (Alban Hills, Italy) indicates the existence of magnetic anomalies (total field and gradient, showing amplitudes up to thousands of nT) resulting from combined geological and archaeological features. In this paper we propose a two-fold analysis based on both manual and automatic procedures for a precise characterization of those elements from total magnetic field and magnetic gradient profiles. The first, automated step consists in spectral analysis of a long (1.2 km) profile to define the dominant wavelengths related to geological and/or archaeological features. The second, manual step consists of the definition of a hierarchical pattern of magnetic anomalies, according to their amplitude and pervasiveness, in the selected (90 × 90 m) area. The defined anomaly pattern includes 1st-order, total field, magnetic anomaly (1000 nT, decreasing towards the North) related to the geological (volcanic) background, 2nd order anomalies (tens to hundreds of nT), showing a marked periodicity, revealed by spectral analysis, in the magnetic gradient in the 1.2 km long profile, and, finally, superimposed 3rd order anomalies (on the order of several nT). Most second-order and some of the third order anomalies are normal dipoles arranged in an orthogonal pattern in plan view, and can be interpreted as linked to the main roman walls of public buildings or roads. The magnetic susceptibility of most materials used in Roman constructions (volcanic tuff and basalt, whose lithology was characterized by means of thin sections) ranges from 600 to 110,000 × 10−6 S.I., contrasting with the overall lower susceptibility of soil fillings between walls, what explains most of the anomalies found. Magnetite and other iron oxides and sulphides are the main ferromagnetic phases in construction materials. Koenigsberger ratios of roman construction materials vary between 0.25 and 107 what explains for magnetic remanence to have played a certain (but limited) role in some particular magnetic anomalies.

* Los resultados de este artículo se inscriben dentro del proyecto de investigación HAR2017-84144-P, «Cambio climático y construc-ción del paisaje Medieval: dinámicas de variabilidad en un periodo de transformaciones», Plan Nacional de I+D+I, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Proyectos de Excelencia 2017-2020. Resumen Recópolis es la única fundación visigoda conocida arqueo-lógicamente en la península ibérica. Creada durante el reinado del rey Leovigildo en el año 576, la ciudad jugó un papel crucial en el paisaje y se mantuvo como el punto focal del territorio hasta el siglo VIII. En este artículo presentamos los resultados más recientes del proyecto realizado en torno a Recópolis, en el que el paisaje se ha explorado como una construcción social, lo que per-mite una comprensión más completa del agrosistema. De hecho, considerando los datos paleo-biológicos y ambien-tales, junto con los arqueológicos, ha sido posible analizar la evolución de este complejo territorio de la Meseta Central de la península ibérica en la Alta Edad Media. Palabras clave. Paisaje; agrosistema; aleobiología; clima; Alta Edad Media; época visigoda. Abstract Reccopolis is the only archaeologically-attested Visigothic city in the Iberian Peninsula. Founded under King Leovigild in A.D. 576, the city played a notable role in the landscape, persisting as the focal point in the territory until the 8 th century AD. This paper offers an overview of the most recent results from the project undertaken around Reccopolis, whose landscape has been explored as a social construction, which enables a fuller understanding of the agrosystem. Indeed, considering the paleo-biological and environmental data, together with the archaeological ones, it has been possible to analyze the evolution across the Early Middle Ages of this complex territory in the Central Plateau of the Iberian Peninsula.

We present a very intriguing set of finds coming from Tragaluz Norte, one of the most inaccessible rock shelters in the Vero canyon, which runs north to south through the Sierra de Guara, in the Huesca province (north-east Spain). There, a skeleton from a 9-years-old child with his toy wooden bow as well as other elements (pieces of wood, fabric and pottery, and a stone wall) were found. The whole ensemble belongs to a single moment in the second half of the 4th century CE. We hypothesize that this child was part of a group of rural laborers who died accidentally and was buried there. As an explanation for their presence in such an inaccessible place we think that they could be gathering honey from man-made cane and mud honeycombs -locally called arnas-, a task documented in the area until recent times.

Reccopolis is the sole archaeologically-attested Visigothic city foundation in the Iberian Peninsula. Created under King Leovigild in A.D. 576, the city played a notable role in the landscape, persisting as the focal point of the territory through to the 8th century AD. This paper offers an overview of the most recent results from the project undertaken in and around Reccopolis, which in the last two decades has drawn much from the discipline of Landscape Archeology, enabling fuller understanding of the agrosystem, the character and structure of rural occupation and exploitation, and a developed awareness of environmental conditions across the Early Middle Ages in the territory of the Central Plateau of the Iberian Peninsula.

Since 1994, the Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma-CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) has been coordinating the " Tusculum " Research Project, dedicated to the rediscovery and study of this important ancient settlement situated 30 km southeast of Rome. In 2012, the EEHAR launched an archaeological project focusing on exploring the medieval site, where-thanks to the drastic interruption of the continuity of life in the area since the thirteenth century-, today we have the possibility to analyze the city urban planning, while providing an interesting case for analysis of reuse and recover of Antiquity. Dal 1994, la Escuela Española de Historia y Archeología en Roma-CSIC (EEHAR-Consiglio Nazionale Spagnolo delle Ricerche) coordina il progetto di ricerca " Tusculum " , dedicato alla riscoperta e allo studio di questo importante insediamento antico situato a meno di 30 km a sud-est di Roma. Nel 2012, la EEHAR ha iniziato un nuovo progetto archeologico specificamente dedicato a esplorare la fase post-classica del sito, dove grazie alla drastica interruzione della continuità di vita nell'area a partire dal XIII secolo deriva oggi la possibilità di indagare l'articolazione urbanistica dell'abitato, fornendo ulteriormente un caso di studio molto interessante per l'analisi delle modalità di reimpiego e recupero dell'antico.

In 2012, the launched an archaeological project dedicated to explore the medieval
site of Tusculum. The effort made over the past four years to experiment in Tusculum –in
particular in the area of the medieval fortress– using a highly multidisciplinary approach and
pursuing an integrated interpretation of data by specialists with different backgrounds, has
enable for the first time the formulation of an historical framework that is not limited to the
reconstruction of a single monument, but aims, instead, to read it within a larger framework
of reference: notably the reconstruction of the medieval town planning (arx and civitas), Tusculum’s
relationship with its landscape, and the daily life of its inhabitants. This paper presents
the results from the 2015 season of excavation.

Since 1994 the Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma-CSIC  (EEHAR-Spanish National Research Council) has been coordinating the “Tusculum” Research Project, dedicated to the rediscovery and study of this important ancient settlement situated 20 km south-east of Rome. In 2012, the EEHAR launched an archaeological project dedicated to exploring explicitly the medieval site. In the following pages, an analysis of Tusculum’s urban planning (10th-12th centuries), based on aerial photographs (with drone and kite), topographical analysis, geophysical surveys and stratigraphic excavation campaigns is presented.

The low contrast in physical properties of archaeological elements compared to the host soil is a common drawback in geophysical surveys applied to subtle archaeological sites because those contrasts are usually what are being measured by most instruments. Furthermore, when archaeological elements and construction remains are placed within the same package of materials, differentiation of each can make the interpretation of geophysical data sometimes difficult. In this work we propose a dynamic, integrated approach for the characterization of an archaeological site with simple Roman construction materials in order to evaluate methodological considerations in the evaluation of this kind of sites. This approach includes: (i) a preliminary evaluation of construction material characteristics, according to the background provided by the historical and geographical context and from previous excavations, (ii) measurements of magnetic susceptibility of archaeological and natural materials in the site for direct modelling of the expected anomalies; (iii) a geophysical survey including magnetometry, multifrequency electromagnetic (EM) method and ground penetrating radar (GPR) (100, 250 and 500 MHz centre frequency antennas); (iv) geophysical data evaluation for planning subsequent systematic surveys; (v) dynamic interpretation of geophysical results through careful data evaluation of all previous steps. The final archaeological model from geophysical data has been successful due to the manner of data interpretation looking for orthogonal patterns of geophysical anomalies that were hypothesized to be subsurface walls. Modelling was then followed by archaeological excavations consisting of three trenches where the walls were exposed. The integration of geophysical data with excavations has permitted to evaluate significance of the different geophysical analysis and to identify their archaeological meaning. The proposed sequential methodology represents an innovative manner of analysis (i) in subtle sites where construction remains are scarce and the absence of well-defined geophysical contrasts can limit the results of usual surveys and (ii) to increase the efficiency in the evaluation of more extensive survey areas.

... topographic data, obtained from apposite survey activity, using at first Autodesk AutoCAD and Autodesk 3D Studio Max, then Blender ... GUIDAZZOLI A., MALAVASI M., RAFFA G., ROFFIA L., SALMON CINOTTI T., SCAGLIARINI CORLÀITA D., SFORZA F., TABONI C., VECCHIETTI ...

Since 1994 the EEHAR-CSIC has run an archaeological project focusing on the city of Tusculum, near Rome. In 2012, a new phase, centred on the medieval occupation of the city, began with new excavations on the Rocca. During this period (11th-12th cent.), the city was the principal centre of the powerful line of the Counts of Tuscolo, whose political and economic influence extended over a large region. The project’s multidisciplinary approach will allow new research avenues to be opened up.

The EEHAR-CSIC project “Tusculum en época medieval: territorio, paisaje, economía y sociedad” (PIE n. 201210E033) began in 2012 with the clear goal of exploring and incorporating new research trends and different methodological approaches in order to reach a better understanding of the medieval period. Further to its aim of reconstructing the landscape and economic structure of ancient and medieval Tusculum, the archaeological research is complemented by multidisciplinary techniques, such as geophysical surveys, topography, and drone and kite aerial photography.

"La prospección geofísica consiste en el estudio indirecto de los cambios naturales de las propiedades físicas de los materiales del subsuelo analizadas desde la superficie. En el caso de yacimientos arqueológicos, la prospección geofísica se fundamenta en la presencia de contrastes entre los materiales naturales y los constructivos o con los restos de origen no natural localizados en el subsuelo. En este trabajo se aborda un análisis de las variables que deben ser tenidas en cuenta durante el dimensionamiento previo de una prospección geofísica, ilustrado con ejemplos del estudio de dos yacimientos arqueológicos en Tarazona (España). Los resultados obtenidos permiten determinar las variables de dimensionamiento de la prospección, la potencial impronta en el registro geofísico de los elementos analizados, las ventajas de la aplicación de varias técnicas de prospección, su análisis conjunto, y
el análisis integrado de los resultados, límites e influencias externas dependiendo de las características y condiciones de los yacimientos analizados.

Geophysical surveys allow the indirect study of the natural changes of the physical properties of the subsurface materials analyzed from the surface. In the case of archaeological sites, geophysical prospecting is based on the presence of contrasts between natural and construction material or unnatural rests located in the underground. This paper deals with an analysis of the variables to be taken into account during the previous dimensioning of a geophysical study illustrated with examples of two archaeological sites in Tarazona (Spain). The results help to determine the sizing of the variables of prospecting, potential geophysical logging signature on the elements analyzed, applying of various prospecting techniques, their analysis, and integrated analysis of the results, limits and external influences depending of the characteristics and conditions of the analyzed sites."

Since 1994, the Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en
Roma (EEHAR-CSIC) develops an archaeological research project focused on the city of Tusculum. In 2011, a new project, “Tusculum en época medieval: territorio, paisaje, economía y sociedad” started with a clear willingness to provide a new direction to explore and incorporate new research trends and different methodological approaches, focusing on the more unknown phases of the city: the Late Antiquity and the Middle Age. The project, in fact, focused on these marginal historical periods, pays attention to the urban core relationships with the environmental context. Besides the reconstruction of the landscape and the economic structure of the ancient and medieval Tusculum, the study is complemented by the analysis of the main activities carried out on the territory: agricultural production, strategies and crop type, human and animal nutrition and the method of preservation, storage and food
processing.

In the last years, the techniques of computer graphics and virtual reality can extend our abilities of perception, prompting possible interactions between numerical simulations and experimental data. On basis of this, applications of Virtual Reality are strictly linked to those of Scientific Visualization. In this sense, we integrated the contents of the project DHER –Domus Herculaniensis Rationes- of the University of Bologna with the scientific visualization, in order to visualize and interact with the archaeological data at different levels of detail. We have chosen to create a 3D model mirroring the architectural complexity of the Herculaneum archaeological site, not only in geometries, but also in the images reproducing structures and surfaces, and therefore allowing a contextual fruition of the corpus of Herculaneum decoration ensembles, to which researchers and technicians of the DHER project are working.

Landscape Archaeology Conference 2020
Open Session (#004):
Post-classical resilient landscapes and urbanscapes: continuities, breakdowns and afterlife in Mediterranean during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (AD 400 – 1000)
Organizers:
Angelo Castrorao Barba (CSIC, EEA, LAAC), castroraobarba@eea.csic.es Pilar Diarte-Blasco (Universidad de Alcalá), pilar.diarte@uah.es Manuel Castro-Priego (Universidad de Alcalá), manuel.castro@uah.es

Please submit your paper by the given deadline of February 14th, 2020 only electronically via the online
submission system:
https://travelbox.eventszone.net/myAbstracts/site.php?page=index&congressCode=lac2020&languageCode=en

Session abstract:
Over the last decade, knowledge about Mediterranean landscapes during the long-term has Sgrown exponentially, thanks to a multidisciplinary approach and the application of innovative technologies. A landscape perspective, beyond a sito-centric vision, represented a way to combine settlement patterns and humanenvironment interactions as a crucial point to understand societies in transition. In particular, one of the big-narrative in historical breakdowns and change is the end of the Roman world and its transformation from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle ages. Particularly significant and valuable are results generated by projects which tackle the last centuries of the Roman Empire and the consolidation of the Early Medieval kingdoms the rise and expansion of Islam, when upheavals, conflict, migration combined to cause drastic change in the character of settlements in both town and countryside. The human dynamics were key in this transformation process, in which the movement of people generated more fluid sociopolitical landscapes, not simply ones dominated by conflict and sense of insecurity. In this sense, recent landscape analyses, where refining sequences and trends of change are crucial, have been able to focus on issues of resilience as a determinant element in this process. While we can recognize the movement and settlement of groups of new incomers or or new conquerors around Europe and Mediterranean in this epoch, more emphasis should go on the underlying or native population, to ask of their resilience in this period of change, to see how they adapted their lives and places to a new reality and rulers, whether able to maintain different degrees of economic and settlement strategies. This session thus aims to explore the varied mosaic of responses to change in the Mediterranean basin in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (400 – 1000 AD) and to debate and compare different approaches to the evaluation and the meanings of landscape and settlement change in various macro- and micro- regional areas, in particular after key historical transitions, such as the end of Roman control in specific zones, the conquest by Arabs, and the imposition of new kingdoms. How altered were human-environment interactions and settlement patterns when politico-military change occurred? What was the response of rural societies after macro-economic and political transformations and crises? Did the countryside suffer an immediate effect or can we see survivals and continuities in settlement, economics, social practice, etc.? There were changes also evident in the urbanscapes? And, above all, how well does the material record (finds, buildings, etc.) attest possible reconfigurations of space and people? These, as we will discuss in this session, are all essential questions for assessing cultural, environmental and settlement adaptations and impositions over this important timespan.

The Universidade de Evora (POR), the University of Leicester (UK) and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie MED-FARWEST Project are running a two-day international conference that draws together academic and professional (field- and museum) colleagues to discuss new results and approaches, recent finds and alternative theoretical assessments of a crucial theme in archaeology, namely the end and transformation of classical towns in Late Antiquity. Towns were the key arena for monumental, political and religious display in the Roman world: Late Antiquity (AD 300-650) marked the progressive, or sometimes rapid, decline and transformation of these urban sites, with monuments failing and urban society itself changing. As towns changed so did the empire and the political and economic make-up of the Mediterranean and European world; and yet, if in some territories the urban spaces largely failed, in other provinces, the towns kept the status of political and religious centres.
The aim of this conference is to bring together experts from the Hispanic Peninsula and an array of modern countries to explore, discuss and re-assess the transformation of towns. It will be an opportunity to compare and contrast critically archaeologies of diverse regions and to debate the qualities of the archaeology and the methods of study. It will also be an opportunity to debate the evolving society of these late antique centres, with their populations too often neglected in favour of discussion on churches and town walls.
There will be two days of contributions: papers will outline and discuss the material changes in towns from the provinces of Hispania, Gallia, Italia and Germania especially; papers should also question the socio-economic implications of the evidence, and ask specifically who were involved in the changes, from dukes to bishops, artisans, and the poor. Papers may also question the idea of a ‘barbarian’ imprint or presence in these modified towns.
The programme will feature core papers on both days, plus themed discussions; we hope also for poster presentations by PhD students, other researchers, field archaeologists and museum teams.
We anticipate a maximum 60 attendees. There is a conference fee of 25€ for students, and 50€ for other attendees.
We identify Evora University and the city of Evora as an ideal venue for the event: the stunning architectural setting of the University is matched by the rich and relevant archaeological heritage of the city itself, showing in its very heart a transformation of a Roman monument to a late antique complex, while the city walls reflect the diverse image of towns after Rome.
We very much look forward to your participation in this event.

All informations in: urbanlateantique.uevora.pt