Archaeology and land evaluation in the Agro Pontino

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ATTI

CONVEGNO

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~ Comune di Cod

Consorzio Biblioteche Monti Lepini Convegno di Studi

13-14 aprile 1985

Ideazione e coordinamento scientifico Livio Crescenzi

Redazione Maria Cherchi

n

Convegno e gli Atti sono stati realizzati con i1 contdbuto del Comune di Cod, del Consorzio Bi-blioteche Monti Lepini, della Regione Lazio Assesso-rato alla Cultura, della Amministrazione Provinciale di Latina.

ISBN 88-7140-026-7

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INDICE

Premessa ... 5

PRIMA GIORNATA Archaelogy and land evaluation in the Agro Pontino, H. Kamermans, S.H. Loving, A. Voorrips ... 9

La presenza umana nella Pianura Pontina durante il PaleoUtico medio e superiore, M. Mussz; D. Zampetti.. 13'

Nuovi modelli di ricerca archeologica: il caso di Grotta Bat'bara al Monte Circeo, M. Musst; D. Zampetti .... 17

La necropoli dell'Eta del Ferro di Caracupa, M. Angle. A. Gianni ... 23

Nuova metodica per la diagnosi di talassemia in paleopatologia, A. Ascenzt; M. Brunort; G. Citro, R. Zito .... 31

Satricum e Pometia, C. Stibbe ... 33

L'immagine imperiale delle paludi Pontine, G. Traina ... 39

A proposito di CN. Domitius Calvinus e la colonia triumvirale di Terracina, M. Cancellieri ... 45

Mutamenti economici e sociali nella valle Pontina tra media e tarda repubblica, F. Coarelli ... ... 51

SECONDA GIORNATA Feronia, un cuho sabino nel territorio volsco, P. Longo ... 59

Management dei beni culturali ed ambientali nella societa moderna, M. Zei .. ... ... ... ... 63

Archeologia, divulgazione, territorio, F Pierluisi ... 67

Via delle Colannc: un progetta di restauro urbana, A. Di 1'10to ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 71

Cod: case e torri (XII-XVI sec.), ricognizione e problemi, E.M.C Scoditti ... 73

La valle pontina nella cartografia della Collezione Disegni e Piante dell'Archivio cli Stato di Roma, R. Giaf/ei 79 U n'iscrizione funeraria a COrl, N. Cassieri .... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 1 Prime osservazioni sulla mammalofauna del pleistocene superiore di Grotta Barbara (Monte Circeo), L. Caloi, M.R. Palombo ... ... 103

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territorio pontino meridionale negli anni della bonifica, R. Righi ... 105

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ARCHAELOGY AND LAND EVALUATlON IN THE AGRO PONTlNO Hans KamermansI,

s.H.

Loving & A. Voorrips2.

The Agro Pontino project is a regional archaelogical project sponsored by the Albert Egges van Giffen Instituut voor Prae- en Protohistorie of the University of Amsterdam in Holland in cooperation with several other institutes in Italy: the Istituto Olandese, the Soprintendenza Archeolo-gica per il Lazio, the Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana and the Museo Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pi-gorini (Voorrips et al. 1983).

The project is directed by Albertus Voorrips, Susan Loving, both from the University of Amsterdam, and Hans Kamer-mans, from the University of Leiden.

In this paper we will first present something about the history and the main research goals of the project, and then we will focus on one aspect: the application of the land evaluation technique. We show the procedures and give preliminary results; we are still in the process of collecting and analyzing our data'.

Since 1967 scholars and students of the Institute for Physical Geography and Soil Science of the University of Amsterdam have been working on a soil map of the Agro Pontino (Sevink ed al. 1984). During the soil survey archaelogical material was· encountered and in 1979 the

Tav, 1,1 Institute for Prehistory of the University of Amsterdam started an archaelogical project in the Agro Pontino. This project consists primarily of an intensive archaelogical survey designed to locate and interpret finds pots dating from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages. In-tegrated within the project are specialized studies, such as locating differences between Middle and Upper Palaeo-lithic hunting behavior (Voorrips et al. 1985) and the application of the land evaluation technique to the investi-gation of changing patterns of prehistoric landuse (Kamer-mans et

at.

1985).

The theoretical background for the use of the land evalu-ation technique in archaelogy has been published el-sewhere (Kamermans et

at.

1985). Here, we will limit ourselves to the illustration of this technique with our

Tav, I, 2 research in the Agro Pontino. Land evaluation is the utilization of social and economic parameters for evaluat-ing the physical data about environmental potential. In archaeology land evaluation entails the collection ofland characteristics and archaeological data about past forms of land use in order to identify socio-economic contexts.

Tav, I, 2 The first of our basic inventories (surveys) consists of the collection of data about the geological, geomorphological and pedological history of the area. The geology of the Agro

Pontino has been studied and published by Italian geo-logists (Blanc, Segre & Tongiorgi 1953; Segre 1957; 1969). A map of the geomorphology of the area was published by

A.c. Blanc (1937).

The pedological research by the Dutch physical geogra-phers resulted in several publications (efr. Sevink 1977; Remmelzwaal 1978; Sevink et al. 1982; 1984). A report about a soil survey in the northern part of the Agro Pontino will be published soon.

Because the Agro Pontino is a coastal plain surrounded by Tav. I, 3

the Monti Lepini, the Monti Ausoni, the Tyrrhenian sea and the low hills south of Rome, we consider the survey area as a more or less closed area, a physiographic unit. Geologically speaking, the area consists of two parts, a low lying graben, filled with clayey and peaty sediments, and a sandy dune area along the coast, both dating from the Quaternary. Part of the graben is covered by colluvium. The calcaric mountains along the north of the Agro Pon-tino, and Monte Circeo, an isolated par of the Appenines, were formed during the Mesozoic.

The soil map of the area shows that along the coast four Tav. il, 1

marine terraces can be distinguised. Estimated dates are 500000 BP (Milazzian?), 100000 BP (Tyrrhenian Il), 70 000 BP (Tyrrhenian Ill), and post-glacial (pre-Neolithic). Each terrace consists of a sandy beach ridge and a clayey fossil lagoon.

For the basic inventories, we need not only geological, geomorphological and pedological data, but also biotic data.

Excellent conditions exist for collecting paleo-ecological data: the marshy peat in the slowly sinking graben is a mine for paleo-botanical samples and the caves in the surroun-ding Appenines and Monte Circeo have yielded well-preserved paleo-zoological samples.

Until recently not much was published about the vege-tational history of the Agro Pontino (Tongiorgi 1936). Our project has collected several samples for palynological

1 Relatore; Instituut voor Prehistoric. Rijksllnivcrsitcit Leidcn. Olanda,

2 Both Albert Egg~s van Giffen Institllllt voor Prae-en Protohistorie, Univer-siteit van Amsterdam, Olanda.

3 Awmewhat expanded version of this paper has been published in Kamermans et a1. 1985,

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analysis from the grab en and from the fossil lagoons in the area (Eisner et al. 1984; in press). One of these coresam-pIes, taken at a place called Mezzaluna near Sezze, has a continuous record dating from approximately 16 000 to 4 500 BP, and has given a general indication of the climatic and vegetational history since the late glacial. Several other samples are now being analysed.

1be bone material from the cave excavations and from Canale Mussolini give a rough idea about the fauna from the last ice age onwards (Blanc & Segre 1953; Piperno 1976/1977).

To apply the land evaluation technique to this region, the information collected, described above, is used to make a qualitative land classification as follows. We use the boun-daries of the soil map a a basis for our land units and add

Tav. III, 1 the necessary information for each unit. We show a land unit map based on the soil map and the Mezzaluna pollen core. It gives general vegetational reconstructions for three different time periods. Cl represents the latter part of the

~last glacial, approximately 16.000 BP. During this time period the climate was dry and cool. A represents a dune vegetation with pine, b is Artemisia steppe, C is fen located in the graben and D is sparse oak woods. During zone D 1 (8.000 BP) the vegetational trend is towards a closed arboreal vegetation consisting mainly of climax forest spe-cies, indicating a more humid and possibly warmer climate. B has changed into a parkland vegetation with Artemisia and low shrubs, C has become an alder fen and D oak forest. D2 gives the situation for the neolithic period (6.000-5.000 BP) when the climate was already of a mediterranean type. A again represents a dune vegetation with pine and the addition of tamarix. B supports an open, dry vegetation with many herbs, C is an alder marsh with Dryopteris and D is a combination of oak forest and macchia -garrigue.

The next step is to construct a series of models of prehisto-ric socio-economic situations using ethnographic, archaeo-logical and historical sources. From these models we derive land utilization types, for exemple, potential land for farming, for pasturage, etc., and compare those with our land mapping units. The outcome will be a model of land use wich can then be compared with land use as recorded archaeologically. We follow this procedure for different time periods. As soon as the archaeological record matches with what we think should have been the outcome of a certain kind of land use we may infer sodo-economic situation for that time period.

We collect our archaeological data by means of our survey and by studying existing collections and pubblications (efr. Bietti 1984; Blanc & Segre 1953; Taschini 1972). One of the main problems is the reliability of the archaeological record (Loving et al. in press). It is, of course, impossible to survey an area of 900 kmq completely. For that reason we made a sampling design that consists of three phases. The main phase is a systematic non-aligned transect sample designed to select (a) a sufficient sample size for making probability statements about the archaeological 1'0-pulations in the Agro Pontino as a whole, (b) a sample which spatially 'covers' the NE-SW lefl/:s'1:h of the Agro 10

Pontino plain and is thus theoretically capable of detecting NE-SW variability, and (c) most important for the land evaluation study, a sufficient sample size from the

environ-mental strata to make probability statements about the archaeological record in relation to soil parent materials. We selected five transect lines running from the sea to-wards the mountains. We try to survey all the fields crossed by these lines.

The screening of our archaeological data collected during the survey is a important theme in our research. We not only have to know the history of the landscape during the periods of our interest, but also during the later periods because we want to know how our archaeological material has been disturbed. For this reason we study old topogra-phical maps and historical records, and we screen our data for determining factors other than prehistoric and historic activities that may have affected the archaelogical finds distribution observed. All the information we have collec-ted so far has been stored into a computerized database. 'That makes it possible to analyze, for instance, the in-fluence of our survey methodology on the finds distri-bution. We have begun to assess the influence of visibility conditions of fields visited by the survey, the influence of the geological conditions, the influence of soil transport, and so on.

Now we will give you some very tentative results based on our survey data up to 1982.

We indicate the findspots with late Palaeolithic material, Tav. IT, 2

recorded through 1982, in the Agro Pontino. From pre-vious work we observed that some late Palaelithic sites occured in caves near the entrances of the Agro Pontino, what we termed 'strategic spots', whereas sites from other periods did not. Strictly speaking, there are no 'strategic spots' on the plain proper comparable to those at the entrances of the plain that provide a long range of visibility. But there are places on the plain which afford limited visibility along drainage channels or places where animals might be expected to gather, such as depressions in the aeolian sands which, according to the pedological evidence, once collected water. Mter coding our data on the Agro Pontino proper regarding strategic and non strategic spots (according to the criteria described above), our analyses showed a difference betweed the late Palaeo-lithic and the other periods in preference for strategic spots. Although more late Palaeolithic findspots occur at non-strategic spots than at strategic ones (about 2:1), far more findspots of other periods are found at non-strategic spots than at strategic ones (about 6: 1). Using the palaeon-tological evidence from Monte Circeo and Canale Musso-lini and the strategic spot variable, our next step will be to rank the land units as hunting territories and then see how the late Palaeolithic findspots are associated with the land units.

We also tested the hypothesis that Neolithic/Bronze age Tav. IT, 3

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change when we are able to better separate the Neolithic from the Bronze age findspots.

The methodological approach of combining environmental and archaeological data to derive a prehistoric

socio-econo-BIBLIOGRAPHY

A BIETTI, 1984. If mesolitico nel Lazio. Atti della XXIV Riunione Scientifica dell'Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Preistoria nel Lazio: 79-102.

AC. BLANC, 1937. Low levels of the Mediterranean Sea during the Pleistocene glaciation, Quaterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. XCIII, 621-651. AC. BLANC &AG. SEGRE, 1953. Excursionau MontCiree. N Congres International de l'Association Internationale pour l'etude du Quaternaire. Roma-Pisa.

AC. BLANC, SEGRE & TONGIORGI, 1953. Le Quaternaire de I'Agro Pontino (Supplement au livret guide Excursion au Mont Cimn,

N:

Congres International de l'Association Internationale pour l'etude du Quaternaire. Roma-Pisa. K BRINKMAN, A YOUNG (editors), 1976. A frame work land evaluation. ILRI Pub!. no. 22. Wageningen.

KW. EISNER, H. KAMERMANS & S.H. LOVING, 1984. Risultati preliminari di una ricerca palinologica nell'Agro Pontino. Atti della XXIV riunione scientifica dell'Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria ne! Lazio: 207-211. KW. ErSNER, H. KAMERMANS & T.J. WYMSTRA, in press. The Agro Pontino survey: results /rom a first pollen core.H. KAMERMANS, S.H. LOVING & a. VOORRIPS, 1985. Chan-ging Patterns of prehistoric landuse in the Agro Pontino. In C. MALONE & S. STODDART (editors). Papers in Italian Ar-chaeology IV Part: The Human Landscape. BAR Internatio-nal Series 243: 55-68.

S.H. LOVING, A VOORRIPS & H. KAMERMANS, 1985. Old finds in new fields: first results of the Agro Pontino Archaeolo-gical survey. Bollettino di Paletnologia Italiana in press.

M. PIPERNO, 1976/1977. Analyse du sol Mousterien de la grotte Guattari au Mont Circe. Quaternaria XIX: 71-92. A REMMELZWAAL, 1978. Soil genest:r and quaternary land-scape development in the tyrrhenian coastal area of South Central Italy. Amsterdam.

mic model has been used implicitly in archaeology for a long time. The importance of the land evaluation technique is that it offers a more explicit and quantitative approach for regional archaeological research.

AG. SEGRE, 1957. Contributo allo studio del Quaternario dell'Agro Pontino: il travertino di Cisterna di Latina. Giaci-mento del Paleolitico Superiore e del Bronzo. Quaternaria N: 191-97.

AG. SEGRE, 1969. Linee di riva sommerse e mor/ologia della piatta/orma continentale italiana relative alIa trasgressione marina versiliana. Quaternaria XI: 141-54.

J.

SEVINK, 1977. Het bodemonderzoek in de fysische geogra-fie. K.N.A.G. Geogra/isch tt/dschrt/t 11: 189-94.

f.

SEVINK, P. Vos, WE. WESTERHOH~ A. STIERMAN & H.

KAMERMANS, 1982. A sequence of marine terraces near Latina (Agro Pontino, Central Italy). Catena 9: 361-378.

J.

SEVINK, A REMMELZWAAL & O.c. SPAARGAREN, 1984. The soils of southern Lazio and adiacent Campania. Amster-dam.

M. TASCHINI, 1972. Sur le Paleolithique de la Plaine Pontine (Latium). Quaternaria 16: 203-223.

E. TONGIORGI, 1936. Documenti per la storia della vegeta-zione della Toscana e del Lazio. Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano. Vo!. XLIII, n. 4: 119-244.

A VOORRIPS, S.H. LOVING & H. KAMERMANS, 1983. An archeological survey of the Agro Pontino (prov. of Latina). In

D.R. KELLER & D.W. Rupp, (editors). Archaeological sur-vey in the mediterranean area. BAR International Series 155:

179-81.

A. VORRIPS, S.H. LOVING &

J.

STRACKEE, 1985. The gamma mix density: A new statistical model for some mpects of system organization. In A VORRIPS & S.H. LOVING, (edi-tors). To Pattern the Past. PACT. Volume 11. Brussel in press.

Riassunto

Gli autori compiono una ricoglllzlOne di lunga durata dell'Agro Pontino. Lo scopo del progetto

e

di investigare i cambiamenti di insediamento dal Paleolitico medio all'eta del Bronzo utilizzando tecniche di valutazione del terreno (come queUe del FAO) insieme con i dati archcologici, etnografici e storici. E' descritta l'utilizzazione del suolo durante il Paleolitico superiore ed il Neolitico.

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o

150KM

1:=:::::.--===1

1 . -_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1 - Location of the Agro Pontino (drawing IPP)

3 -- Geomorfological map of the Agro

Pontino (adapted from Blanc 1937:

1 - Calcaric mountains. 2 - Tuff-covered hills. 3 - Peat filled grabe.

4 - Sandy-clayey marine terraces.

~

-Basic Surveys Qualitative Land Classification Economic and Social Analysis Quantitative Land Classification Future Land Use Qualitative Land Classification [ Economic and Social Models Quantitative Land Classification Preh istoric Land Use Tav.I ' -2- The land evaluation approach in Physical Geography and Archaelogy

(adapted from Brinkman & Young 1976)_

MONTI LEPINI

MARE TIRRENO

"

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Tav. II , /

..

.'

\

..

"

2 Distribution of late Palaeolithic findspots (drawing IPP) ,

112

1- The major sedimentary complexes in the Agro Pontino (adapted

from Sevink et al. 1984)

1) beach ridge deposits, Terracina level

IT) lagoonal deposits, Terracina level

ITl) beach ridge ad gravely deposits with lagoonal deposits, Borgo Ermada level

N) lagoonal deposits, Borgo Ermada level

V) beach ridge deposits, Minturno level VI) lagoonal deposits, Minturno level VII) lagoonal deposits, Latina level VIII) aeolian deposits

IX) alluvial and colluvial deposits (drawing IPP),

\

~ ---r~ .

_.---.----18J81 2-1J81

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I.I(,j"ll X' Cl ,\ Lc:] B

."',

f:t1::J ~~, D ~:::r;1 I CJ· l1li . '"

1 --Map of the Agro Pontino region showing distribution of land

units based on dominant soil types and the pollen zones from the

Mezzaluna core (Eisner et at. 1984).

a. Dominant Soil Types

A Chromic luvisols formed in sandy beach ridge and aeolian

deposits. B -- Planosols formed in fossil lagoons. C -- Histosols and Gleysols formed in the graben area. D -- Luvisols and Cambisols formed in colluvium. E -- Lithosols and Rendzinas formed on

mountain slopes. F > , Areas with multiple soil types (not include in

palaeoenvironmental reconstructions).

h. Pollen Zone Cl

A --Poaceae, Pinus and Chenopodiaceae. B -- Steppe vegetation. C

Fen vegetation. D -- Sparse oak woods. E > -Pinus, Betula and Abies.

c. Pollen Zone D 1

A Pinus, Poaceae and Pistacia. B Parkland vegetation. C Alder

fen. D -- Oak forest. E -- Mixed oak forest belt.

d. Pollen Zone D2

A Dune vegetation. B -. Dry, open vegetation. C --Dryopteris. D

Quercus ilex forest, macchia-garrigue, and Vitl:\, sp. E Mixed oak forest belt.

2 -- Schema della stratigrafia del Canale delle Acque Alte (gia Canale Mussolini) (da Tongiorgi 1936: 816).

.171(>/0 9 • •. ':.' 1:": • ~ "~" • • 8 o Tav. III A B Gcm Gcm' H

3 -- Schema della stratigrafia di Le Grottacce (integrazione

tra varie sezioni) (da Blanc 1936: 379) A. Sabbie arrossate

('Ichm') con industria del Paleolitico superiore. B. Ciotto-lami alla base delle sabbie arrossate, contenenti industria di

tipo musteriano. Gcm. Tufi vulcanici litoidi, con Quercus e

fauna marina. Gcm!. Conglomerato ad dementi vulcanici e calcarei, con fauna marina e flora analoga a quella di Gcm. H. Marne e sabbie marine siciliane.

4 ,- Industria aurignaziana dal liv. B2 del Canale delle Acque Alte (da Blanc 1937 b: tav. XXVII) (gr. naL).