Tag Archives: geomorphology

(Italiano) La cloaca della valle stabiana a Pompei: struttura, funzione e cronologia di un apparato del sistema di smaltimento delle acque meteoriche e reflue della città tardo-sannitica e romana

Author: F. Giletti

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The study of the disposal system of Pompeii, and especially of the central-southern sector of the city, has shown the strong complementarity between the urban plan and the wastewater regulation. These aspects are strongly integrative and essential to the functioning mechanisms of the city itself. In the diachrony of the urban development of the city, the attention for the regulation and disposal of waters always remains one of the prerequisites of the urban and architectural evolution of Pompeii. The best solution to this need is reached starting at the end of the II century B.C. During a wide program of building renovation of the entire urban space of Pompeii, complex underground conveyance systems, functional to the extra moenia evacuation of waters, are built. In such a framework, the most eloquent and most illustrative artifact turns out to be the wide collector of the Stabian valley. For the first time we present here both an overall historical-archaeological study and a systematic analysis of the structure and its annexes, starting from its inception, along the via dell’Abbondanza, to the point of evacuation, identified between the Quadriportico dei Teatri and the Foro Triangolare.

Archaeology and geomorphology of an area: new interpretations of long-term settlement logics from Prehistory to the Byzantine period across the central-eastern slopes of the Etna volcano

Authors: D. Calderone, G. De Giorgio

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The archaeological analysis of Sicilian territories between the Ionian coast and the Etna central-eastern slopes has historically posed challenges for archaeologists. For a long time, it was believed that the interpretation of archaeological data was completely compromised by the marshy nature of the coastal areas, intense human activity through time, and the impact of numerous lava flows, especially in higher altitude areas like the municipality of Mascali (CT). This town was destroyed in the 1928 eruption. This study addresses these challenges by combining the extant archaeological evidence with the study of the geomorphology and geology of the area, especially the superimposition of the various settlements in the region from prehistory to Late Antiquity to shed light on how different human communities inhabited the area over the centuries. Combining information from known archaeological contexts with the geomorphological study of the landscape makes it possible to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between humans and their local environment. The presence of archaeological sites in correspondence with specific geological formations, such as essential deposits of blue clays, elucidates the relationship between natural resources, settlements, roads, and ports. This, in turn, enables the formulation of new hypotheses regarding the exploitation of the land, with particular reference to the Roman and Byzantine periods, highlighting the strong links between this area of Sicily and those further North, in correspondence with the port of Naxos (modern Giardini-Naxos, ME).