ACQ T11000

In 2016 ACQ T11000 (2014–) was reopened with the aim of exploring the relationship of the new walls and structures revealed in 2015.

Work in the central portion of ACQ T11000 continued to clarify the phasing of a series of monumental terrace and retaining walls located on the south side of the site. These walls would have been visible from the ancient road in the valley below, where the Atessa torso, a funerary sculpture similar in type to the Capestrano warrior, was found. The necropolis in which it was displayed has yet to be located, but it was not far away from the site of Acquachiara.

Excavations in 2016 proved that Structure C is associated with the latest phase of the site (fifth century bc). Its northwest–southeast orientation is suggestive — in the Archaic Abruzzo, this orientation is most often associated with tombs and temples.

The 2016 season also saw the completion of excavations of a hut, first discovered in 2015, containing the remains of an oven and grinding-stones. A cache of unprocessed cereal grains was discovered on the edge of this structure in 2015. Known parallels for similar huts in central Italy are mainly of eithth-century bc date, but the ceramic vessels, including fine-ware painted kylikes, and the loom weight found on the floor of the hut all date to the sixth to fifth centuries bc. While the founding of the hut likely pre-dated the construction of the largest extent of the terraced podium, the finds within it suggest that the hut remained in use (possibly changing its role) through the considerable expansion in extent and material expression of the Acquachiara complex over time.

As in 2015, a large number of fragments of fine black-figure skyphoi and kylikes were discovered across the site. While study of these vessels is in a preliminary stage, they have parallels with ones found in funerary contexts in Alfedena and Capua; all may have been imports from Campania or Etruria (Falcone and Ibelli, Reference Falcone and Ibelli2007).

The monumental character of the terracing, the variety and high quality of the ceramics and small finds (including a bulla and an inlaid fibula, again with parallels in Alfedena) are suggestive of both sacred and élite usage — such mixed usage could be possible in the Archaic period. One might therefore question whether the site of Acquachiara might have been an anaktoron? Although grander in scale, the anaktoron at Torre di Satriano is the best parallel to date for the overall character of the site of Acquachiara (cf. Osanna and Sica, Reference Osanna and Sica2005).

Dating of the complex from the late seventh through the fifth centuries bc is based on a consistent set of carbon samples from the 2005–7, 2014 and 2015 excavations.

SG T11000

SG T11000, first explored in 2014 and 2015, was reopened in 2016 to continue the excavation of Bronze Age Structure 2 (Fig. 1). SG T11000 was expanded on the north and south sides in order to determine the eastern extent of the structure. The hillside on which the site of San Giovanni is located has been subjected to periodic, high-energy erosion events, mainly caused by the regular downward movement of water and soil. Excavations in 2016 focused on the removal of the colluvial soils that were deposited directly over the structure by these rapid erosional events. These deposits most likely represent infill events after the structure went out of use, as they contained a series of dumped or washed-in materials that probably came from nearby middens.

Fig. 1. Plan of San Giovanni.

The material recovered from these fills is mixed and representative of household refuse, with evidence of burning throughout. There is a large quantity of pottery associated with the preparation and eating of food, as well as the notable discovery of a rare miniature impasto cup (SF 414). The bronze age ceramics from the San Giovanni site are currently under study. Their forms are typologically homogeneous and attributable in style to the end of the Early Bronze–beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, consistent with the 2014 and 2015 C-14 analyses for the site, with parallels to forms of a similar period from other areas of the Adriatic coast and south–central Italy.

Evidence for household industries includes spinning and weaving (spindle-whorls SF 433 and SF 436; loom weight SF 424), bone working, flint knapping (flint arrowhead SF 37; flint scrapers SF 29 and SF 425), butchering (a quantity of burnt, butchered bone fragments), and food preparation (charcoal and burnt seeds). Some pieces of ochre (one piece measuring 50 mm) were also found in these deposits. A fragment of a copper age hammer axe (SF 443) provides evidence for even earlier activity in this area.

Excavations in 2016 ended just above potential in situ deposits on the floor of Structure 2, which may provide evidence for the latest occupation levels of the site. About 50% of Structure 2 has now been excavated and its basic external shape and eastern extent can be extrapolated. The remainder of the deposits overlying Structure 2 will be removed in 2017.

Foundation for the platform of a Roman villa

The eastern extent of the 2016 excavations exposed a massive foundation wall and drain that are part of the western edge of a large villa platform belonging to an unexcavated Roman villa previously identified during the 2014 field survey. This Roman platform may have helped to protect Structure 2 from erosion. A double radiate coin (SF 419; diameter 2.5 cm+; weight 3 g) of the Aequitas type belonging to the Emperor Florianus, who ruled for only three months in ad 276, was found in the upper colluvium covering the platform (cf. Dearing, Reference Dearing2007).

Roman cistern

A Roman cistern that cuts through the middle of Structure 2 and that was partly excavated in 2015 was reopened in 2016. Its fill contained layers of building debris, roof tiles, and fragments of coarse- and cooking-wares, as well as some regional fine-wares (Italian terra sigillata and black gloss). A sherd of Pompeian internally red-slipped cook-ware, datable to the late second century bc–first century ad, was found in the lowest level of the cistern. The upper levels of the fills contained sherds of colour-coated ware that date from the first to third centuries ad.

To the west of Structure 2, test sondages revealed a number of Roman features (SG T12000, SG T13000, SG T14000) that could belong to outlying structures of the villa. These features had been truncated by modern plough action and hydrological erosion.

The two bronze age structures at the San Giovanni site, of transitional date between the Early Bronze and Middle Bronze Ages, are an important discovery for the southern Abruzzo where few bronze age sites have been identified.