The Chora of Metaponto 5: A Greek Farmhouse at Ponte Fabrizio
by Elisa Lanza Catti and Keith Swift edited by Joseph Coleman Carter
University of Texas Press, 2014 Cloth: 978-0-292-75864-3 | eISBN: 978-0-292-76102-5 Library of Congress Classification DG70.M52L358 2014 Dewey Decimal Classification 937.773
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
This volume in the Institute of Classical Archaeology’s series on rural settlements in the countryside (chora) of Metaponto is a study of the fourth-century BC farmhouse known as Fattoria Fabrizio, located in the heart of the surveyed chora in the Venella valley (at Ponte Fabrizio). This simple structure richly illustrates the life of fourth-century BC Metapontine farmers of modest means.
Thorough interpretations of the farmhouse structure in its wider historical and socioeconomic contexts are accompanied by comprehensive analyses of the archaeological finds. Among them is detailed evidence for the family cult, a rare archaeological contribution to the study of Greek religion in Magna Grecia. The entire range of local Greek ceramics has been studied, along with a limited number of imports. Together they reveal networks within the chora and trade beyond it, involving indigenous peoples of southern Italy, mainland Greeks, and the wider Mediterranean world. Along with the studies of traditional archaeological finds, archaeobotanical analyses have illuminated the rural economy of the farmhouse and the environment of the adjacent chora. Abundant Archaic pottery also documents an important occupation, during the first great flowering of the chora in the sixth century BC. This study provides an ideal complement to the four volumes of The Chora of Metaponto 3: Archaeological Field Survey—Bradano to Basento and an eloquent example of hundreds of farmhouses of this date identified throughout the chora by their surface remains alone.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Elisa Lanza Catti is Chair of the Departments of Humanities and Fine Arts at St. John International University. She has collaborated with the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin and with the University of Turin since 2007.
Keith Swift is a research fellow for the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a former Raleigh Radley scholar at the British School at Rome and lecturer at Brasenose College, University of Oxford.
Joseph Coleman Carter is Director of the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a former fellow of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the American Academy in Rome.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments (Elisa Lanza Catti)
Illustration Credits
Preface (Joseph Coleman Carter)
Introduction (Keith Swift with Elisa Lanza Catti)
Part I
1. Overview: Excavations, Chronology, and Site Phasing (Keith Swift with Elisa Lanza Catti)
2. The Rooms, Areas, and Soundings: Excavated Units and Assemblages (Elisa Lanza Catti and Keith Swift)
3. Fattoria Fabrizio Site Assemblage (Keith Swift)
4. Farmhouse Structure and Plan (Elisa Lanza Catti and Keith Swift)
Virtual Reconstruction of the Farmhouse (Massimo Limoncelli)
Comparable Farmhouse Plans (Elisa Lanza Catti)
5. Aspects of the Rural Economy (Elisa Lanza Catti and Keith Swift)
6. The Domestic Cult at Fattoria Fabrizio (Elisa Lanza Catti and Joseph Coleman Carter)
Domestic Cult (Joseph Coleman Carter)
The Material Evidence (Elisa Lanza Catti)
The Nature of the Cult: Animal Sacrifice and Libation (Joseph Coleman Carter)
Domestic Cults Elsewhere in the Chora (Joseph Coleman Carter)
Domestic Cults Elsewhere in the Greek and Indigenous Worlds (Elisa Lanza Catti)
Part II
7. Archaeobotany at Fattoria Fabrizio (Assunta Florenzano)
8. Animal Bones (Anna Zsófia Biller)
9. Marine Shells (Cesare D’Annibale)
Part III
10. Archaeological Materials: Introduction to the Pottery and Finds (Elisa Lanza Catti and Keith Swift)
11. Pottery Fabrics (Keith Swift)
Fine Ware Fabrics from Fattoria Fabrizio (Keith Swift with Elisa Lanza Catti)
Plain and Banded Ware Fabrics from Fattoria Fabrizio (Keith Swift with Anna Cavallo)
12. Figured Wares (Francesca Silvestrelli)
13. Archaic and Black-gloss Fine Wares (Elisa Lanza Catti)
14. Miniatures (Anna Cavallo)
15. Banded Ware (Anna Cavallo)
16. Wheel-made Painted Ware (Elisa Lanza Catti)
17. Plain and Coarse Wares (Anna Cavallo)
18. Louteria (Anna Cavallo)
19. Mortaria (Anna Cavallo)
20. Cooking Ware (Maria Francesca Blotti)
21. Transport Amphorae (Oda Teresa Calvaruso)
22. Opus Doliare (Anna Cavallo)
23. Terracottas (Rebecca Miller Ammerman)
24. Loom Weights (Lin Foxhall)
25. Roof Tiles (Francesco Perugino and Eliana Vollaro)
Ab Laconian System (Francesco Perugino)
Ba Pan Tile System (Eliana Vollaro)
26. Metal Objects (Lorena Trivigno and Marta Mazzoli)
27. Coins (Anna Rita Parente)
28. Lithic Material (Cesare D’Annibale)
Appendices
Appendix A—Assemblage Tables (Keith Swift)
Appendix B—Quantification of the Site Assemblage (Keith Swift)
Appendix C—Census of Farmhouses (Elisa Lanza Catti)
Appendix D—Archaeobotanical Analyses: Pollen, NPPs, and Seeds/fruit (Assunta Florenzano)
The Chora of Metaponto 5: A Greek Farmhouse at Ponte Fabrizio
by Elisa Lanza Catti and Keith Swift edited by Joseph Coleman Carter
University of Texas Press, 2014 Cloth: 978-0-292-75864-3 eISBN: 978-0-292-76102-5
This volume in the Institute of Classical Archaeology’s series on rural settlements in the countryside (chora) of Metaponto is a study of the fourth-century BC farmhouse known as Fattoria Fabrizio, located in the heart of the surveyed chora in the Venella valley (at Ponte Fabrizio). This simple structure richly illustrates the life of fourth-century BC Metapontine farmers of modest means.
Thorough interpretations of the farmhouse structure in its wider historical and socioeconomic contexts are accompanied by comprehensive analyses of the archaeological finds. Among them is detailed evidence for the family cult, a rare archaeological contribution to the study of Greek religion in Magna Grecia. The entire range of local Greek ceramics has been studied, along with a limited number of imports. Together they reveal networks within the chora and trade beyond it, involving indigenous peoples of southern Italy, mainland Greeks, and the wider Mediterranean world. Along with the studies of traditional archaeological finds, archaeobotanical analyses have illuminated the rural economy of the farmhouse and the environment of the adjacent chora. Abundant Archaic pottery also documents an important occupation, during the first great flowering of the chora in the sixth century BC. This study provides an ideal complement to the four volumes of The Chora of Metaponto 3: Archaeological Field Survey—Bradano to Basento and an eloquent example of hundreds of farmhouses of this date identified throughout the chora by their surface remains alone.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Elisa Lanza Catti is Chair of the Departments of Humanities and Fine Arts at St. John International University. She has collaborated with the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin and with the University of Turin since 2007.
Keith Swift is a research fellow for the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a former Raleigh Radley scholar at the British School at Rome and lecturer at Brasenose College, University of Oxford.
Joseph Coleman Carter is Director of the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a former fellow of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the American Academy in Rome.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments (Elisa Lanza Catti)
Illustration Credits
Preface (Joseph Coleman Carter)
Introduction (Keith Swift with Elisa Lanza Catti)
Part I
1. Overview: Excavations, Chronology, and Site Phasing (Keith Swift with Elisa Lanza Catti)
2. The Rooms, Areas, and Soundings: Excavated Units and Assemblages (Elisa Lanza Catti and Keith Swift)
3. Fattoria Fabrizio Site Assemblage (Keith Swift)
4. Farmhouse Structure and Plan (Elisa Lanza Catti and Keith Swift)
Virtual Reconstruction of the Farmhouse (Massimo Limoncelli)
Comparable Farmhouse Plans (Elisa Lanza Catti)
5. Aspects of the Rural Economy (Elisa Lanza Catti and Keith Swift)
6. The Domestic Cult at Fattoria Fabrizio (Elisa Lanza Catti and Joseph Coleman Carter)
Domestic Cult (Joseph Coleman Carter)
The Material Evidence (Elisa Lanza Catti)
The Nature of the Cult: Animal Sacrifice and Libation (Joseph Coleman Carter)
Domestic Cults Elsewhere in the Chora (Joseph Coleman Carter)
Domestic Cults Elsewhere in the Greek and Indigenous Worlds (Elisa Lanza Catti)
Part II
7. Archaeobotany at Fattoria Fabrizio (Assunta Florenzano)
8. Animal Bones (Anna Zsófia Biller)
9. Marine Shells (Cesare D’Annibale)
Part III
10. Archaeological Materials: Introduction to the Pottery and Finds (Elisa Lanza Catti and Keith Swift)
11. Pottery Fabrics (Keith Swift)
Fine Ware Fabrics from Fattoria Fabrizio (Keith Swift with Elisa Lanza Catti)
Plain and Banded Ware Fabrics from Fattoria Fabrizio (Keith Swift with Anna Cavallo)
12. Figured Wares (Francesca Silvestrelli)
13. Archaic and Black-gloss Fine Wares (Elisa Lanza Catti)
14. Miniatures (Anna Cavallo)
15. Banded Ware (Anna Cavallo)
16. Wheel-made Painted Ware (Elisa Lanza Catti)
17. Plain and Coarse Wares (Anna Cavallo)
18. Louteria (Anna Cavallo)
19. Mortaria (Anna Cavallo)
20. Cooking Ware (Maria Francesca Blotti)
21. Transport Amphorae (Oda Teresa Calvaruso)
22. Opus Doliare (Anna Cavallo)
23. Terracottas (Rebecca Miller Ammerman)
24. Loom Weights (Lin Foxhall)
25. Roof Tiles (Francesco Perugino and Eliana Vollaro)
Ab Laconian System (Francesco Perugino)
Ba Pan Tile System (Eliana Vollaro)
26. Metal Objects (Lorena Trivigno and Marta Mazzoli)
27. Coins (Anna Rita Parente)
28. Lithic Material (Cesare D’Annibale)
Appendices
Appendix A—Assemblage Tables (Keith Swift)
Appendix B—Quantification of the Site Assemblage (Keith Swift)
Appendix C—Census of Farmhouses (Elisa Lanza Catti)
Appendix D—Archaeobotanical Analyses: Pollen, NPPs, and Seeds/fruit (Assunta Florenzano)