Alum landscapes. Archaeology of production and network economy

  By

Luisa Dallai (edited by), Giovanna Bianchi (edited by),        Francesca Romana Stasolla (edited by)  Download eBook     Alum is an extremely versatile and precious raw material, used since classical times in alchemy, pharmacy, leather tanning and in various fields of metallurgy. Since the Middle Ages, the best known use of alum obtained from the processing of alunite has been linked to dyeing; it is in fact an excellent mordant, and even today, artisan dyestuffs make extensive use of it.… Continue reading

The nEU-Med WEBinars: a series of on-line lectures

  By

The nEU-Med WEBinars are a series of on-line lectures held and recorded for the publication of the book The nEU-Med Project: Vetricella, An Early Medieval royal property on Tuscany’s Mediterranean, Giovanna Bianchi and Richard Hodges editors (Firenze, All’Insegna del Giglio, 2020).   Download eBook   The WEBinars present the multi-disciplinary research focussed upon the key site of the project, Vetricella, and its territory. Vetricella is thought to be the site of Valli, a royal property in the Tuscan march. Located… Continue reading

The nEU-Med project: Vetricella, an Early Medieval royal property on Tuscany’s Mediterranean

  By

            Giovanna Bianchi (edited by), Richard Hodges (edited by)      Download eBook           This volume presents the multi-disciplinary research focussed upon the key site of the project, Vetricella, and its territory. Vetricella is thought to be the site of Valli, a royal property in the Tuscan march. It is the only Early Medieval property to be extensively studied in Italy. Located on Italy’s Tyrrhenian coast, the archaeology and history of this site provide… Continue reading

Archeology of public goods. At the origins of economic growth in a Mediterranean region (IX-XI centuries)

  By

Giovanna Bianchi Download eBook     Over forty years of research in the Tuscan Maremma, one of the best archeologically investigated territories in Europe; an ERC-Advanced project, nEU-Med, which made it possible to re-read old data and produce new ones thanks to intense multidisciplinary research; a theme, public goods, in recent years at the center of the interest of the historians of documentary sources, here declined through the material data. These are the starting points of the volume, in which… Continue reading

Multidisciplinary Survey in the Pecora river Valley

  By

Registrations are now open for the multidisciplinary survey of the Pecora river Valley ( Massa Marittima, Grosseto, Italy) which will take place on September 2022 (5th-30th). The survey integrates different methodologies to reconstruct the archaeo-mining and archaeo-metallurgical features of the mining landscape of the Pecora river Valley. Main activities include: archaeological field walking campaigns LiDAR data analysis Historical mining cartography evaluation GIS management Planning of fieldwork activities with mobile GIS and dedicated portable applications   For further information, don’t hesitate… Continue reading

Journal Articles

  By

Chiarantini, L., Benvenuti, M., Bianchi, G., Dallai, L., Volpi, V., Manca, R. 2021. Medieval Pb (Cu-Ag) Smelting in the Colline Metallifere District (Tuscany, Italy): Slag Heterogeneity as a Tracer of Ore Provenance and Technological Process. Minerals, 11(2), 97. doi:10.3390/min11020097 [URL] [pdf] Chiarantini, L., Villa, I.M., Volpi, V., Bianchi, G., Benvenuti, M., Cicali, C., Donati, A., Manca, R., Hodges, R. 2021. Economic rebound versus imperial monopoly: Metal provenance of Early Medieval coins (9th–11th centuries) from some Italian and French mints. Journal of… Continue reading

3-6 September 2021: International Conference

  By

From Friday 3 to Monday 6 September 2021, the Centro di Studi per la Storia delle Campagne e del Lavoro Contadino in Montalcino (Tuscany, Italy) will host the 22nd International Laboratory of Agrarian History:   Politiche per la campagna Agricoltura, insediamenti e lavoro   The nEU-Med project team will present the talk: 6 September Giovanna Bianchi, Mauro Buonincontri (Università di Siena), Politiche regie e signorili nelle campagne toscane (IX-XII secolo): una lettura attraverso le fonti materiali       Continue reading

La ceramica a vetrina sparsa nella Toscana altomedievale – produzione, cronologia e distribuzione

  By

Arianna Briano Download eBook     The sparse glazed pottery is a single-fired glazed ceramic class which has not been studied in Tuscany due to the general lack of archaeological finds. The volume presents the “case study” of the castle of Donoratico (LI), which has returned a truly exceptional quantity of sparse glazed ceramics. In addition to the study of this context, it has been analysed also the sparse glazed ware from other Tuscan sites located in the area investigated… Continue reading

Arianna Briano – Early Medieval Sparse Glazed Pottery in Tuscany

  By

In the framework of the ERC nEU-Med, Arianna Briano’s PhD project focused on the study of single fired sparse glazed pottery. The research aimed at identifying types and production techniques, defining the chronology and productive sites in Tuscany during the Early Middle Ages. The research method was twofold, involving a conventional study approach, humanistic and taxonomic, and a more technical and scientific one with archaeometric analyses. In fact, 75 specimens were analyzed, in addition to the cataloguing of each individual… Continue reading