Recent archaeological researchs carried out in Canosa di Puglia (Italy) lead to the discovery of two Early Christian complexes: San Pietro, founded by Bishop Sabinus (VI century A.D.), and San Giovanni-Santa Maria-San Salvatore, restored by the same bishop. Near the monumental baptiste- ry of this second church, the excavations brought to light the more ancient cathedral in Canosa sacred to the Virgo. The archaeological research interested part of the central and left naves and a portion of a porticus, probably belonging to an atrium. In the X century A.D. the cathedral, by this time abandoned, was occupied by houses and by a new little church.

When considering Underwater Archaeology in the Western Mediterranean, Albania is without doubt one of the least developed areas, notwithstanding the extraordinary importance of its coastline, dotted with important ports, ancient, medieval and modern. The objectives of the Liburna Project include not only the formation of archaeological maps of the Albanian coast and the conduction of excavations, but also the creation of activities aimed at the training of young underwater archaeologists and the development of the archaeological patrimony beneath the sea. Based on the little information available to date and on technical-scientific considerations, the following four major areas will be the main focus of investigations, until such time as the entire coast can be studied: a) The natural bay of Porto Palermo, situated in the territory of Borsch, approximately 40km from Saranda. It is a natural point of anchorage and refuge for navigating ships. b) Orikum, in the bay of Valona, and the Acroceraunia promontory: an ancient city with an important port, noted in ancient sources as the location of the clashes between the fleet of Caesar and Pompey during the civil wars of the Roman Republic. c) The Bay of Dürres: home to one of the principle ancient ports of Albania and of the Adriatic. Given the geomorphologic characteristics of the sea floor and the scarce visibility of this area, it will most likely be necessary to conduct preliminary geophysical investigations.

La stagione di ricerche archeologiche sistematiche inaugurata a Canosa di Puglia agli inizi di questo decennio ha avuto un momento fondamentale nelle indagini di due complessi paleocristiani della città, entrambi legati alla figura del vescovo Sabino, operante nel secondo quarto del VI sec.: il complesso di San Pietro e l’articolato complesso di San Giovanni-Santa Maria-San Salvatore. In quest’ultima area le indagini più recenti hanno potuto verificare la presenza, accanto al monumentale Battistero, della prima cattedrale canosina, identificabile con la chiesa dedicata alla Vergine, di cui sono state intercettati i settori della navata centrale e della navata laterale sinistra, nonché parte di un portico, forse corrispondente al braccio porticato di un atrio. Forse già a partire dal X sec., probabilmente per tutto il Medioevo, le aree della chiesa, parzialmente coperte dai crolli, furono occupate, con finalità residenziali, da alcune unità abitative e da strutture precarie in materiale deperibile, queste ultime probabilmente con funzioni di servizio (ricovero degli animali, deposito di attrezzi o coperture provvisorie).

Multi-year field research at Campo della Fiera, which is located just south-west of the city of Orvieto, has indicated an unbro- ken occupation of the site from the 6th century BC to the 15th century A.D. The earliest building at the site, which has been recognised as the Federal Etruscan Sanctuary, that is the Fanum Voltumnae, experienced a severe destruction in the 264 BC during the devastation of Orvieto. A rural residence was built between the late 1st century BC and the early 1st century A.D. Furthermore, between the 6th and the 8th centuries A.D. this residential complex underwent significant transformations, as it was probably turned into a church. Finally, at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries A.D. a new church was built in the same eastern area of the site. Some cluste

The Project Liburna Archeologia Subacquea in Albania, created in 2006 by a synergy between Italian and Albanian institutions, has developed over the 2007-2010 period through the scientific coordination between the Department of Human Sciences of University of Foggia and the National Institute of Albanian Archaeology Research Centre. The project has set as its main goal the preparation of an archaeological map of the Albanian coast based on the research data from surveys and excavations. It will provide a Geographic Information System able to manage different investigation areas, through a complex activity of data “systema- tization”, directing the analysis of the spatial location of the underwater evidences through the review of the published and unpublished literature. In this first phase the investigations were concentrated in four main areas spread from N to S along the western coast: Durres Bay, the area of Butrint, the Valona Bay and the Porto Palermo Bay. The realization of an analytical and queried archaeological map, that could provide a storage and allow the search and the rapid contextualization of the scientific data in the territory under investigation, has facilitated the creation and strengthening of analytical tools and data storage in use. The first part of the IT project ended with the implementation of a relational database based on PostgreSQL and a web-based appli- cation developed on PHP platform.The need of a unified approach in the research activities carried out by the archaeological team of the University of Foggia was reflected in a strategy aimed not at implementing a dupli- cation of the resources and tools available. It is therefore currently a restructuring of the repository IREMAS for a regional scale data management. Based on proven methodology used in the landscape archaeology the underwater topographic units (UTS) is the minimum element of the grid for the information standardization, the data collection and their projection in the space. The UTS sheet was divided into generic and descriptive- interpretative sections. It has been related to the tables realized for the storage of the graphic and photographic documentation, underwater finds and literature and historical sources.

L’analisi della produzione e della circolazione delle ceramiche nella fascia meridionale dell’attuale Umbria in età tardoantica e altomedievale è un’acquisizione relativamente recente. Le indagini di ricognizione e scavo condotte a partire dagli anni Ottanta, relative agli insediamenti posti nei pressi dei grandi centri abitati e lungo le principali vie di comunicazione fluviale (alto Tevere, Nera) e terrestre (via Flaminia e via Amerina), se hanno consentito da un lato la ricostruzione di un quadro, relativamente dettagliato, della geografia insediativa tra l’età della romanizzazione e gli inizi del IV sec. d.C., dall’altro hanno lasciato poco spazio alle fasi più tarde decretando, in molti casi in maniera frettolosa e spesso sulla sola base dei reperti numismatici o sulla presenza/assenza di fossili guida come le ceramiche di importazione, un abbandono generalizzato di numerosi siti già agli inizi del V sec. d.C., in concomitanza con le grandi invasioni barbariche e, tranne qualche rara eccezione come le ristrutturazioni di VI sec. della villa di Pennavecchia, alcune riprese agli inizi del IX sec. Il riconoscimento di questo gap cronologico sembra essere fortemente condizionato da diversi fattori, prima fra tutti la difficoltà di isolare le stratigrafie del periodo di transizione, spesso scarsamente visibili e, quindi, di identificare le produzioni ceramiche relative (di contesto), inserite in periodizzazioni ancora troppo ampie; a tal proposito un ulteriore problema riguarda la difficoltà di giungere a una necessaria, più precisa seriazione crono-tipologica delle ceramiche comuni, in particolare per il V, il VI e il VII secolo, dal momento che non è sempre agevole isolare contesti chiusi o non contaminati. Questo problema risulta ancor più significativo, come vedremo, in alcune aree dell’Umbria, dove alcune forme riprendono tipologie di antica tradizione. In tal senso la conoscenza ormai diffusa delle classi ceramiche tardoantiche, soprattutto nell’ambito delle produzioni locali, dovrebbe portare ad una rivisitazione delle seriazioni stratigrafiche edite e dei relativi materiali, le cui cronologie meriterebbero di essere riesaminate. Nel tentativo di ricostruire i caratteri della cultura materiale di questo comparto territoriale non si possono dunque sottovalutare la disomogeneità della situazione documentaria, lo stato degli studi e l’eterogeneità delle tipologie insediative prese in esame e, soprattutto, non si può prescindere dalla complessità dei rapporti estremamente diversificati che queste ultime ebbero con l’esterno. In un clima di generale contrazione degli scambi su larga scala, che si traduce in una graduale marginalizzazione dei siti più remoti dell’interno, si riconoscono poli di attrazione che riescono ancora ad acquistare, seppur in maniera ridotta e diversificata, prodotti esteri. La maggior parte delle ville note (ad esempio Lugnano in Teverina, Alviano e Penna in Teverina), gravitanti economicamente e culturalmente su Roma, e per questo dislocate convenientemente lungo i principali assi di collegamento con la capitale (la via Amerina, la via Flaminia e soprattutto il tratto alto del Tevere), dismettono gli impianti produttivi, in taluni casi precocemente, intorno al II-III sec. d.C., importando olio e vino prima dalla Gallia e dalla Spagna e successivamente, a partire dal III-IV sec. d.C., dall’Africa Proconsolare, con forme di rioccupazione e frequentazione ridotta, fino all’abbandono definitivo intorno al V e VI d.C. (più raramente). Sembra ripercorrere lo stesso percorso evolutivo, confermando nelle linee generali un trend ormai noto, il sito manifatturiero di Scoppieto, nel territorio di Baschi, distante pochi km dal Tevere e dall’importante struttura portuale di Pagliano, specializzato nella produzione di sigillata italica e lucerne tra età augustea e traianea e frequentato, con connotazioni diverse, almeno fino alla metà del V sec. d.C. Senza dub

During the last campaign in the site of Campo della Fiera, in Orvieto, new tessellated floors were brought to light. In the domus, the room located at north of the atrium is decorated with a mosaic composed of black tesserae and marble inserts. These crustae, with different cuts and size, are mostly imported. In the centre of the mosaic there is a squared pseudoemblema bordered by listels of giallo antico marble, in which a four petalled flower of black tesserae on white background is inscribed. Comparing this to other mosaics, marble types and stratigraphic data, it is possible to date this evidence between the end of the 1st century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD. Another mosaic was discovered in the frigidarium of the thermal bath “B”. The tessellate is made by black and white tesserae and decorated with aquatic fauna and sea monsters swimming around a central figure of Scylla. The mosaic shows evident traces of an ancient resto- ration mostly made with marble slabs. The stratigraphic and stylistic data allow to date the mosaic around the 2nd century AD, and its repairs approximately between the 3rd and the 4th century AD, right before the abandonment of the building (second half of the 4th century AD).

The relationship between islands and mainland, revealed by agrarian and artisan productions, trade routes and transport- ed goods, represents a problematic topic that needs to be insert- ed within a more general context for the Late Antique Western Mediterranean. Primarily, a methodological consideration is required. Conclusions relevant to a generalizing picture can be drawn exclusively through a global archaeology approach with its own peculiar interdisciplinary perspective. Sicily and Sar- dinia show common traits in their respective agrarian setting for Late Antiquity, but also differences possibly caused by their different historical developments. The landscapes are nonethe- less characterized by large properties with an elevate productiv- ity and an articulated settlement network, which prosperity is related to a trade lively but in transformation, not strictly justi- fied by the demands of the Annona. In this picture the Church plays a determining role regarding, both productive and arti- sanal activities, and trades. It is also clear how, in the conti- nuity of the Mediterranean trade routes, as testified by many shipwrecks and written sources, the Mediterranean islands, not only Sicily and Sardinia but also minor islands, assumed a fundamental role in moving differentiated goods often produced in the same islands.

Multi-year field research at Campo della Fiera, which is lo- cated just south-west of the city of Orvieto, has indicated an unbroken occupation of the site from the 6th century BC to the 14th century A.D.The earliest building at the site, which has been recognised as the Federal Etruscan Sanctuary, that is the FanumVoltumnae, experienced a severe destruction in the 264 BC during the devastation of Orvieto. A rural residence was built between the late 1st century BC and the early 1st cen- tury AD. Furthermore, between the 6th and the 8th centuries AD this residential complex underwent significant transfor- mations, as it was probably turned into a church. Finally, at the end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th century AD a new church was built in the same eastern area of the site. On the ground of archive documents this structure has recently been identified as the church of San Pietro in Vetera, whose exact location was thought to be lost.

Within the framework of the systematic research project on late antique and medieval landscapes of North Apulia region, chemical analyses were conducted over organic residues on 50 selected pottery sherds, coming from the archaeological sites of San Giusto, Faragola, San Giovanni in Canosa, San Lorenzo in Carmignano, Montecorvino. These chemical investigations have significantly contributed to gather new information on the contents of potteries, revealing previously unknown data for the reconstruction of food consumption (animal fat derived from meat cooking, substances of vegetable origin, oil, fruits, wine, milk and cheese) and suggesting new perspectives through the comparison with the archaeobotanical and archaeozoological analyses’ results in the same sites. Furthermore, new functions have been detected due to the presence of pitch traces in a pot from Faragola, and of red lead traces in samples from San Lorenzo in Carmignano, very likely attesting painting or miniature activities.