Category: Short interviews

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

Metal artefacts, whether iron, copper alloy or lead, present a number of methodological and conservation issues when compared to other classes of archaeological materials and although they cannot always provide the necessary chronological footholds offered by well-established pottery seriations, they can however offer significant insight on other aspects of day-to-day life as well as past technological practices. In the short interview we will follow Alexander Agostini, research grant assignee in the ERC nEU-Med project, in his study of the over… Continue reading

Where does the silver used to mint coins for Kings and Emperors and circulating in Tuscany between the 7th and the 12th century come from? Did the district of the Colline Metallifere, located in the regions western center and rich in polymetallic sulphide deposits, play a role in the mining of silver for coinage during the Medieval period? The work carried out by Cristina Cicali, research grant assignee in the ERC nEU-Med project, aims at answering these very questions. By… Continue reading

How can one tackle the study of over 40,000 pottery fragments? Luisa Russo, ERC nEU-Med team member and PhD student, will show us how this can be done in her study of the Early Medieval assemblage of ceramic finds from Vetricella. Ceramic, as a guide fossil, is of paramount importance for tracing the history of production, commerce and consumption in southern Tuscany during that period. By identifying the fragment, Luisa reconstructs its shape, obtains a minimum number of forms and… Continue reading

Photos! Photos! Photos! Many pictures are needed to elaborate 3D models of archaeological excavations. Giulio Poggi shows us how to record stratigraphic units by way of digital photogrammetry in order to reconstruct the chronological sequence of archaeological deposits from the excavations at Vetricella: capture methods and data processing. All of course compatible with the times and needs of an extensive archaeological research agenda.       Continue reading

Lorenzo Marasco, scientific coordinator of the archaeological field investigations, accompanies us at Vetricella, a medieval central place located on the coast of southern Tuscany that between the 8th and 12th century was connected to the central power of the Kingdom of Italy and the royal fisc, contributing towards the socio-economic dynamics in the region.       Continue reading