3500 BP under the Volcano - Dipartimento di Scienze chimiche e

3500 BP
under the Volcano
The protohistoric Village of San Vincenzo in Stromboli
The San Vincenzo - Stromboli Project
The project is a partnership among Soprintendenza di Messina, Parco archeologico delle Isole Eolie, Milazzo, Patti e Comuni limitrofi, Dipartimento di Scienze
della Terra dell’Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, CNR Istituto per le Civiltà
dell’ Egeo e del Vicino Oriente, Rome, Associazione culturale Preistoria Attuale.
Scientific directors
Maria Clara Martinelli
Sara Levi
Marco Bettelli
Parco archeologico delle Isole Eolie, Milazzo,
Patti e Comuni limitrofi - Lipari
Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia
CNR-ICEVO
Assistant-directors
Andrea Di Renzoni
Francesca Ferranti
CNR-ICEVO
Univ. Roma Sapienza
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Scientific collaborations
Geophysical prospecting:
Emanuele Forte Univ. Trieste
Michele Pipan Univ. Trieste
Archaeological documentation:
Valeria Corazza
Nicoletta Giannini
Leandro Lopes Univ. Ferrara
Maria Marsella Univ. Roma Sapienza
Daniele Pantano
Nadia Torre
Paola Vertuani
Domenica Vivace
Geoarchaeology and archaeometry:
Gianna Ayala Univ. Sheffield
Daniele Brunelli
Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia
Mauro Coltelli
INGV Catania
Effie Photos-Jones SASAA Glasgow
Matthew Fitzjohn Univ. Liverpool
Richard Jones Univ. Glasgow
Stefano Lugli Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia
Maurizio Mazzucchelli Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia
Alberto Renzulli Univ. Urbino
Mauro Rosi
Univ. Pisa
Patrizia Santi Univ. Urbino
Fabio Speranza
INGV Roma
Luigi Vigliotti CNR-ISMAR Bologna
John Williams Univ. Bangor
Paleobotany:
Anna Maria Mercuri Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia
Conservation and models:
Renaud Bernadet
Frederic Masse
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Freelancers:
Dario Letizia
Carmelo Triolo
Mario Triolo
Students involved in the project:
Erica Camurri
Univ. Lipsia
Valentina Cannavò Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia
Elise Cazals Institut National du Patrimoine
Sonia Conte Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia
Silvia Corti Univ. Ferrara
Tudur Davies Univ. Sheffield
Assunta Florenzano Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia
Pamela Fragnoli Univ. Ferrara
Elena Lusuardi Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia
Ilaria Patania Boston University
Eleonora Rattighieri Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia
Francesco Sartor Univ. Modena e Reggio Emilia
Students and doctoral candidates from the following University are involved:
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Ferrara, Pisa,
Roma Sapienza, Napoli Federico II, Catania, Lecce, Madrid
Lipsia, Sheffield, Glasgow, Boston, Torino Study Abroad.
Logistic support at Stromboli:
Carlo Lanza, Maresciallo Riccardo Spanò, Don Luciano, Roberto Pagliero, Italo, Catena Utano
Thanks to:
Madeleine Cavalier, Umberto Spigo, Gabriella Tigano, Annunziata Ollà.
A very special thanks to the people of Stromboli that enthusiastically support our
project.
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Stromboli in the panorama of the Aeolian Islands
It was in 1980 that a protohistorical village, in San Vincenzo
church area came to light. The village dates back to the Bronze Age
(first half of the II millennium a.C.) and provides important evidence
relating to the following ages, of which a burial ground from the
Roman Era.
This discovery has enriched the exceptional assets of the Aeolian
Islands, the fruit of many years of research activity by Luigi Bernabò
Brea and Madeleine Cavalier that helped outlay a temporal sequence of events for all of Southern Italy starting from the Neolithic (a
phase in which Lipari played an important role because of the presence of a specific type of volcanic rock, obsidian, a rare and very
prestigious raw material used to make cutting instruments.)
Aeolian Islands and the view from the Village of S. Vincenzo at Stromboli.
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The Aeolian villages
Villages like San Vincenzo, typically made up of oval huts constructed of lava rock are also found in Lipari, Panarea, Salina and Filicudi.
On this last island, on the Capo Graziano promontory there is the
site that allowed the definition of the cultural facies namesake and
to which the San Vincenzo settlement belongs.
Remains of huts from the Capo Graziano at Filicudi
(Bernabò Brea, Cavalier 1991).
Topographical map of the village on the Lipari acropolis, with the
various settlement phases: Capo Graziano in green, Milazzese in red,
Ausonio in blue (Bernabò Brea, Cavalier 1980).
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Contacts with the Aegean world
The first evidence of contact between the Aegean-Mycenaean
worlds and the low Tyrrhenian date back to the Capo Graziano period. San Vincenzo village is situated in a strategic, controlling position on the seaways, like an outpost on the north-west archipelago,
with views from the straights of Messina to the Phlegrean Islands.
From this moment in the Bronze Age the West Mediterranean
routes and markets were controlled by Cretans, the young minoan rulers looked for new sources of copper and tin in directions
that allowed them to navigate visually and that touched the Aeolian
Islands.
The navigation routes in the low Tyrrhenian in the Bronze Age
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The Cavalier excavation
The excavation by Madaleine Cavalier in 1980 at San Vincenzo
established the nature and the time sequence of the archaeological
deposits bringing to light part of the village.
In the main trench, 16 x 9 metres, a number of structures emerged set up on artificial terraces, both housing and accessories, built
with typical techniques from that period. Furthermore many pieces
were discovered and are exhibited in the Aeolian Archaeological
Museum in Lipari.
The author emphasised the site “enriched with ceramic fragments... it should be systematically researched in the near future”.
Walled structures discovered by M. Cavalier (Cavalier 1981).
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New research
The present series of field-work, begun in 2009, have interdisciplinary and didactic purposes. The work team includes geo-archaeologists, volcanologists, geo-physicists, archaeomagnetists, engineers,
paleo-botanists, surveyors, renovators, restorers and archaeological reporters. To reconstruct the way of life of the inhabitants of
ancient Stromboli the investigations cover many different aspects:
interaction with the Volcano, the natural environment, their sustainable means, raw materials, the technology, craftsmen products,
topographic organization, the temporal sequence of events, the
contacts with Mediterranean commerce.
Many of these aspects are treated by students working on the
dig for their degree thesis, dissertation or doctorate. On-site work
covered both extended stratigraphical dig and a trench in depth.
For the investigations on the extended dig, new sectors have been
opened up covering an area of over 300 square metres. The complete layering has been investigated in a deep trench dug until insitu rock has been reached. The temporal sequence shows traces
form Neolithic age up to today. Amongst the more recent discoveries agricultural activities have been found most likely vineyards.
From rock specimens some samples have been taken to carry out
volcanological, geo-archaelogical and pollen tests.
Excavation area from north-east, with trenches 2 and 3.
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Geophysical measurements with
a magnetometer
Extended stratigraphical dig in trench 3
Paleomagnetic analyses
Sample collection in the deep trench for
sediment and pollen analysis (trench 4)
Excavation documentation and registration
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3 dimensional topographic measurement
with laser scanner
On-site restoration work:
extraction of a vase
Classification and cataloguing of specimens
Drawings of specimens with
major scientific interest
Thin section investigation
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The protohistorical village
In the new trenches, oval huts built in stone have been found,
with the largest side measuring approximately 6 metres. Some stone wall and pavements filaments have been conserved, placed one
on top of the other in pressed earth that show the existence of
different floors in the same structure.
The hut in trench 2, with a detail of the hearth.
The mortar discovered in the hut of trench 2 (left).
The hearth of the hut in trench 2 (right).
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Wide view of the trench 2 and the area excavated by M. Cavalier (trench 5).
Making the model of the heatrh.
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Remains of the hut discovered in trench 3.
A wide view of trench 3
with a huge amount of walled structures (left).
Excavation of a pot discovered on the floor of the hut (right).
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In the huts and the surrounding layers an abundance of impasto
pottery has been restored, hand-made related to the Capo Graziano facies, amongst which some decorated examples with geometrical carved patterns.
Of particular interest is the discovery of fragments of Mycenaean vases turned and painted, already discovered in the Filicudi and
Lipari villages but up until now never seen in Stromboli. They are
vases used for drinking, produced in the Peloponnese and dating
back to the beginning of the Mycenaean civilization.
In the same levels some vitreous beads have been found probably
of Aegean production. This type of object, is present, in the same
period, with particular abundance as well as in the Aeolian islands
in the Vivara archipelago.
The discovery of this ceramic in Stromboli, helps to define more
precisely the dynamics of the circulation of prestigious goods in the
Mediterranean in relation to the commercial interest of young powerful Mycenae.
The link to the Mycenaean ceramic‘s chronology also allows better punctual dating of our village in the advanced phase of Capo
Graziano (XVII-XV cent. BC) already indicated by the rich decorations on the local ceramics.
Mycenean pottery and glass bead imported from the Aegean
(Late Helladic I-II) .
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local pottery from the new excavation. The carved decorations are
typical of the late phase of Capo Graziano period.
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The later periods
In some trenches of the excavation area, notable evidence of activity dating back to an epoch after the protohistoric village has come
to light. The ceramics and building materials or Roman-Hellenistic
age can be attributed in part to a nearby burial ground and in part
to agricultural activity.
The many ceramic pieces discovered such as glazed-pottery and
majolica can be attributed to a more recent age during the agricultural use of the plains. The systematic study of these specimens
could shine a light on the role of Stromboli within the Mediterranean traffic, particularly of Greek and Roman age.
Hellenistic, Roman, Medieval and Modern finds from the excavation.
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Aeolian Islands
Chronology
Aegean
chronology
Absolute
chronology
Capo Graziano I
Early Bronze Age
Mesohelladic
2.300 - abt. 1.650 BC
Capo Graziano II
MiddleBronze Age
1-2
Late Helladic I-II
abt. 1.650 - 1.400 BC
Milazzese
MiddleBronze Age
3
Late Helladic IIIA
1.400 - abt. 1.300 BC
Ausonio I
Recent Bronze Age
Late Helladic IIIB-C
abt. 1.300 - abt. 1.150 BC
Ausonio II
Final Bronze Age
Late Helladic IIIC Protogeometric
abt. 1.150 - 900 BC
Comparative chronology between Aeolian Islands and the Aegean in the
Bronze Age.
Selected bibliography
Bernabò Brea L. 1985, Gli Eoli e l’inizio dell’età del bronzo nelle isole Eolie e nell’Italia meridionale, Napoli 1985.
Bernabò Brea L., Cavalier M. 1968, Meligunìs Lipàra III. Stazioni preistoriche delle isole Panarea, Salina e Stromboli, Palermo.
Bernabò Brea L., Cavalier M. 1980, Meligunìs Lipàra IV. L’Acropoli di Lipari nella preistoria, Palermo.
Bernabò Brea L. Cavalier M. 1991, Meligunìs Lipàra VI. Filicudi. Insediamenti dell’età del bronzo, Palermo.
Cavalier M. 1981, Villaggio preistorico di San Vincenzo, Sicilia Archeologica, nn. 46-47: 27-54.
Di Renzoni A., Bettelli M., Ferranti F., Levi S.T., Martinelli M.C. 2012, Archivio digitale e indagine archeologica
interdisciplinare: il caso di San Vincenzo-Stromboli, VII Convegno Nazionale di Archeometria (AIAr), Modena.
Levi S.T., Bettelli M., Di Renzoni A., Ferranti F., Martinelli M.C. 2011, 3500 anni fa sotto il vulcano. La ripresa delle
indagini nel villaggio protostorico di San Vincenzo a Stromboli, Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche LXI.
Martinelli M.C., Fiorentino G., Prosdocimi B., d’Oronzo C., Levi S.T., Mangano G., Stellari A., Wolff N. 2010,
Nuove ricerche nell’insediamento sull’istmo di Filo Braccio a Filicudi, nota preliminare sugli scavi 2009, Origini
XXXII, NS IV: 285-314.
Rattighieri E., Florenzano A., Mercuri A.M., Levi S.T. 2010, Una ricostruzione archeoambientale del sito di San
Vincenzo, villaggio del bronzo a Stromboli, Atti Soc. Nat. Mat. Modena 141, 219-230
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNKRBtRqsbg (Stromboli San Vincenzo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXpByBmWwto (Stromboli San Vincenzo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOzIAkwW5bM&feature=related (Stromboli San Vincenzo)
graphical project by Andrea Di Renzoni, Francesca Ferranti
© Preistoria Attuale 2011
Soprintendenza di Messina, Parco archeologico delle Isole Eolie, Milazzo, Patti e
Comuni limitrofi
Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra
dell’Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
CNR-Istituto per le Civiltà dell’Egeo e del
Vicino Oriente
Comune di Lipari
Associazione Culturale
Preistoria Attuale