Sedimentological, Stratigraphical and Geomorphological analysis were performed at the surrounding of the Vetricella site, in particular along the sections opened during geoengineering works on the left banks of the Pecora river, few hundreds of meters to the NW from the site.… Read More

Preliminary on-site chemical survey was performed together with the magnetometric investigation inside and outside an anomaly previously observed from aerial images (fig.1-2).
The main goal of this analysis is to detect the presence of a geochemical anomaly to identify potential archaeometallurgical processing areas. The second purpose is to compare chemical and magnetometric results for evaluating possible correlations..… Read More

Many fragments of iron slag have been found during surface surveys at Vetricella. Most of them, according to their typical plane or plano-convex shape – could be interpreted as smithing slags, and are constituted by variable proportions of fayalite (Fe2SiO4), wüstite (FeO), magnetite (Fe3O4), iron oxyhydroxides and quartz.
A few small iron bars have also been recovered: metallic iron is still present in the bar core, surrounded by a thick patina of alteration products (magnetite, maghemite and iron hydroxides: XRD analysis). They could represent the final products of smithing activity…… Read More

In September and November 2015, the fieldwork research of the nEU-Med staff were mainly focused to the study of the paleostratigraphy of the river Pecora, not far from the site of Vetricella. As part of the geomorphological analysis, seven soil profiles were sampled in order to recover charred wood fragments and to start a preliminary anthracological analysis. Macroscopic soil charcoal content, derived from natural or anthropogenic fires, provides information (complementary to traditional pollen-based reconstructions) about the vegetation on the Pecora basin.
In March 2016…… Read More

18th of April: Lecture by guest lecturer Prof. Sauro Gelichi ” From Anselmo to Pietro. The origins of a great early medieval abbey (San Silvestro di Nonantola) through archaeology”… Read More

Principal Investigator
Richard Hodges studied archaeology and medieval history at Southampton University, where he also gained his PhD in 1977 on the trade and ceramics of the North Sea region. He has taught at the Universities of Sheffield (1976-95), Siena (1984-87; 2008), Copenhagen (1988), and East Anglia (1995- ) where he holds a professorship. He has been Director of the British School at Rome (1988-95), Director of the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture (1996-98), Scientific Director of the Butrint Foundation (1994-2012), and Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (2007-12).… Read More

Coordinator
Giovanna Bianchi holds a PhD in Medieval Archaeology from the University of Siena. For the past twenty years she has coordinated, in collaboration with Riccardo Francovich, various archaeological research projects in many castles and monasteries of Southern Tuscany. Between 2007 and 2009, Bianchi conducted research on the medieval architecture of the sites of Butrint, the castle of Gjirokastra and Berat Castle (Albania) under the scientific direction of Richard Hodges… Read More

Luisa Dallai holds a PhD in Medieval Archaeology from the University of Siena, where she studied under the supervision of Riccardo Francovich. She continued her studies in the UK on the application of GIS methodologies to the context of landscape archeology. She is currently head of the Laboratory of Topography of the Mining Territories at the University of Siena.… Read More

Alessandro Donati holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Perugia and University of Siena, where he studied under the supervision of Claudio Rossi and Enzo Tiezzi. In 96/97 Donati won a scholarship within the NATO – CNR Advanced Fellowship Program to spend a period of research at the Laboratory of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance of Prof. Thomas L. James at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Radiology – University of California San Francisco… Read More

Pierluigi Pieruccini holds a PhD in Earth Sciences from the University of Siena where he is now Geology Research Fellow. His main research interests focus on geoarchaeology; stratigraphy and sedimentology of quaternary terrestrial and marine successions; geopedology ed ecology; geologic and quaternary; geology survey and mapping; geomorphological mapping and survey; neotectonics and seismic hazard… Read More