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Portuslimen: Rome’s Mediterranean Ports (RoMP)

Workshop 4 - 25th and 26th January 2017

Abstracts

New Geophysical Research in the Claudian Harbour at Portus: the Northern Mole

Sophie Hay, Stephen Kay, Simon Keay, Kristian Strutt and Renato Sebastiani

The study of the location, direction and type of construction of the northern mole of the Claudian harbour at Portus is an area of ongoing research of the Portus Project. The eastern end of the structure was excavated during construction work in 1957 (known as the Capitaneria) after which a further 800m was revealed in a westerly during works for Fiumicino airport (Testaguzza, 1970). In 2007, the then Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici di Ostia conducted a programme of cores in the area of Pesce Luna (Morelli et al 2011), immediately to the west of viale Coccia di Morte, in order to trace the mole in the direction of the hypothesised location of the Claudian lighthouse.

In 2016 the Portus Project conducted a first season of geophysical survey in the locality of Pesce Luna with the aim of using Ground-Penetrating Radar to follow the course of the mole, as indicated by the earlier research. The GPR survey did not record a single continuous anomaly as had been hypothesised, but rather a series of interspersed concentrations, suggesting the possibility of later spoliation or a different form of structure.

A second season of geophysical survey was undertaken in 2017 using the technique of Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) to further investigate at a greater depth the anomalies recorded by the GPR. A total of 24 straight profiles were collected, divided equally in two areas of investigation. Each profile measured 128m with a linear spacing of the electrodes at 2m and a traverse spacing of 4m. The results of the pseudo-sections were then used to guide the placement of 3 geo-archaeological cores to test the results.

Bibliography

Morelli, C., Marinucci, A. and Arnoldus-Huyzendveld, A. Il Porto di Claudio: nuove scoperte, in S.Keay and L.Paroli (eds) Portus and its hinterland, Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome 18, 2011: 47-65.

Testaguzza, O. Portus: illustrazione dei Porti di Claudio e Traiano e della citta di Porto a Fiumicino. Rome, Julia Editrice.

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Location of the GPR and ERT surveys (base map from Morelli et al 2011, Fig.4.6, p.57)

Geoarchaeological Research in the Northern Claudian Mole at Portus

Goiran Jean-Philippe¹, Simon Keay², Stoil Chapkanski¹, Winnie May Chan¹, Pierre Carbonel¹

The western spatial extent of the Claudius Harbour moles in Portus is well established after the collection and analysis of numerous sediment cores (Morelli et al., 2001) and geophysical surveys (Keay et al., 2009) conducted over the past fifteen years. Recent research focuses on determining whether ancient Roman harbour infrastructures were constructive, specifically the moles that were built to protect the harbour. The objective of this study is to provide a higher resolution sedimentological reconstruction of the western Claudian Northern Mole (NM) in order to ascertain the effectiveness of the structure and its impact on the regional coastal environment. This project will involve examining three sediment cores (CL32-10m, CL31-16m, and CL30-22m) collected around the NM (Figure). A combination of sedimentological analysis (e.g. grain size and mineralogical identification using Mid-Infrared Spectrometry [MIR]) and biostratigraphic analysis will be conducted as well as radiocarbon dating of macrofossils for age-depth modelling. This research is important for understanding the engineering complexities behind ancient Roman harbours and will provide further contextual background for archaeological research in Portus.

1Université de Lyon, CNRS, Archéorient, UMR 5133, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, 7 rue Raulin, 69007 Lyon, France.

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2 University of Southampton, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Avenue Campus,Southampton SO17 1BF, UK.

(A) Map of the study area. Portus is situated on the western Italian coast located ~25km from of Rome. (B) Inset map of the Claudian Harbour of Portus and its corresponding north and southern harbour moles.

A Photogrammetric Survey of the Grandi Magazzini di Settimio Severo

Stephen Kay, Simon Keay and Renato Sebastiani

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The large brick building known as the ‘Grandi Magazzini di Settimio Severo’ lies at the heart of the port complex at Portus, at the head of the Canale di Imbocco al Porto di Traiano that opened into the Trajanic hexagonal harbour. Traditionally identified as a warehouse of the later second-century AD (Rickman 1971, 129), its central position within the port, as well as its size (190m x 130m x 25m) suggests that it may have had several functions. The presence of a series of ramps connecting it with the Trajanic harbour and a staircase, as well as in-situ travertine thresholds (Fig. 1) reveal that the building was built over at least three floors.

The building appears in plans of Portus as early as 1827 (Luigi Canina) and follows a similar format in both the drawings of Gismondi (1933) and Testaguzza (1965), as a U-shaped structure that opened on to the Canale di Imbocco al Porto di Traiano as well as the hexagonal harbour. The most recent detailed plans of the building are those of the Parco Archeologico di Ostia which were used as the basis for an initial series of 3D visualisations that investigated both the southern façade and internal movement (Beale 2007; Earl et al 2011). More recently, other variations of the layout and height of the building have been investigated as part of an overall reconstruction of Portus (Keay 2016).

In 2017 an initial photogrammetric survey was made of the external southern façade of the building (Fig. 2) to provide both a precise scaled model of the building as well as a further resource for the didactic materials about the site. Likewise, a number of warehouses within the building were also recorded to illustrate the varying typology within the structure.

Bibliography

Earl, G., Beale, G. and Keay, S. Archaeological computing on the Portus Project, in S. Keay and L. Paroli (Eds) Portus and its Hinterland, Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome 18, 2011, pp. 101 – 125.

Travertine threshold blocks on the first floor of the Grandi Magazzini di Settimio Severo.

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Keay, S. La British School at Rome a Portus: ricerca, formazione e comunicazione, in Forma Urbis. Portus. Archeologia alle Porte di Roma, Anno Xxi, n.12, 2016, pp.14-15.

Rickman, G. Roman Granaries and Store Buildings, Cambridge University Press, 1971.

A section of the photogrammetry of the façade of the Grandi Magazzini di Settimio Severo.

Reconstructing the Harbourscape of Portus

Peter B. Campbell

The reconstruction of ‘seascapes’ – the navigational environment and maritime landscape composed of embedded meaning – has been widely explored in the Mediterranean. These studies identify the environmental and social factors necessary to understand how mariners physically navigated, as well as conceived and shared knowledge of marine spaces. However, this research has focused on open sea navigation or rivers, rather than the space within harbours, or what could be termed the ‘harbourscape.’ The large-scale research conducted on Portus provides the opportunity to reconstruct the harbour from the mariner’s perspective. Using the reconstruction of the ancient coastal morphology and the harbour structures, it is possible to model small-scale factors important for navigation, as well as examine more ephemeral aspects of what can be termed "harbour behaviours" such as floating infrastructure, lightering, maintenance, and utilization of space. Drawing on a variety of sources, this research examines the daily and seasonal rhythms within Portus.

Visualisation of Harbour produced by BBC for Rome’s Lost Empire in collaboration with Portus Project (www.portusproject.org)

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Results and Perspectives from the Geophysical and the Geoarchaeological Study of the Harbour of Baelo Claudia

Dario Bernal-Casasola, Universidad de Cádiz, Férreol Salomon, University of Strasbourg/Southampton, Nicolas Carayon, University of Southampton, Kristian Strutt, University of Southampton, José Juan Díaz-Rodríguez, Universidad de Cádiz and José Angel Expósito-Álvarez, Conjunto Arqueológico de Baelo Claudia. Junta de Andalucía, Simon Keay, University of Southampton.

Baelo Claudia (modern Bolonia, Tarifa, province of Cádiz) is one of the most well-known Roman cities in ancient Hispania, located on the coast to the north of the Strait of Gibraltar, in the Conventus Gaditanus. The settlement in its bay became important in the mid-second century BC, related to marine resource exploitation (salted tuna fish & garum production). In Augustan times the urban area of the city was defined with most of the classical elements of a provincial town, whose main prosperity continued until the mid-second century AD. From that time onwards the city declined until late antiquity, when it was abandoned before the Muslim invasion. No later occupation occurred in the area, leaving the site with a high state of preservation, and making it one of the most well preserved Roman municipia at a regional scale.

Two fieldwork seasons have now been conducted on the coastal area of the Roman city of Baelo Claudia. In May 2016, a two weeks fieldwork was performed including an archaeological survey of the maritime façade, a geophysical survey and 23 percussion core drillings. Among the discoveries were (1) a mooring stone found on the maritime façade, associated with a possible harbour buildings along the shore, (2) the identification of geophysical anomalies below the current beach possibly related to harbour structures like moles, and (3) a rough delineation of the harbour mud deposits area using core drilling. In July 2017, a second fieldwork was organised in order to drill all the way through the harbour deposits identified in the first season of fieldwork in 2016. A professional drilling company using a rotary corer was able to break the coarse material that was sealing the harbour and allowed us to drill

Location of the boreholes

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three new cores. Two out of the three cores record the full harbour sequences of Baelo Claudia. The harbour sequence corresponds to an alternation of stiff harbour mud, sand and pebbles deposits, and boulders. The core sequences are currently being analysed. Preliminary results of this work will be presented. However the definitive location of the harbour area having being found, archaeological excavations are now planned for uncovering the harbour basin structures.

New Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys at Pitane and Kane (Turkey)

Stephen Kay, Sophie Hay and Felix Pirson

Ground-Penetrating radar survey at Pitane

Since 2014 the University of Southampton and the British School at Rome have conducted a series of geophysical surveys at the sites of Pitane (Çandarli) and Kane in support of the regional harbour surveys of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Istanbul.

In 2014 gradiometery survey was conducted in a number of areas around the peninsular of Kane alongside surveys undertaken by the Christian-Albrechts Universität Kiel (Institut für Geowissenschaften). In the following season gradiometry was undertaken at the site of Pitane, exploring an open area on the central ridge running the length of the site. A small gradiometry survey was also undertaken at Kane with the aim of tracing the southwestern part of the city walls.

The geophysical survey campaign of 2017 used Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) to further investigate anomalies that had been recorded by the gradiometry survey, as well as investigate new areas where other techniques were inappropriate.

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Ground-Penetrating radar survey at Kane

The GPR survey at Pitane focused on two areas: the first a circular anomaly recorded by the magnetomtery at the northern end of the site, and the second a small woodland (Fig. 1) in the central area of the site.

Following the results of the gradiometry survey at Kane in 2015, the hypothesised line of the city wall was further investigated using GPR (Fig. 2). The preliminary results defined an area of high amplitude anomalies that coincide with the gradiometry results, aligned in a northwest-southeast direction across the site. The results are further supported by numerous pieces of rubble concentrated within the area.

The Outline of Pitane’s Roman Harbour, New Results from the Campaign 2017

Stefan Feuser, Eric Laufer and Felix Pirson

The Kane Regional Harbour Survey has been conceptualized as a multi-disciplinary archaeological project including geophysical prospection and geoarchaeological investigations. It aims at understanding the various ports, anchorages and landings along the Kane peninsula and the Bay of Elaia. For the interpretation of the harbor network of the region, the short closing campaign of 2017 revealed important information about the outline and facilities of Pitanes’s Roman harbour.

The start of large-scale Eastern Sigillata C production at Pitane from the late 1st c. AD onwards must have led to an increased usage of Pitane´s harbours in the Roman imperial age. The ready-made pottery not only had to be forwarded by sea, but firewood for the kilns had to be brought to the production-site, which was located right between the eastern and the western waterfront. While until recently Pitane’s harbor infrastructure was estimated as being modest and as only slightly altering the maritime topography by breakwaters, the results from the campaign in 2017 revealed a huge structure of opus caementitum within the modern harbour.

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The paper will present the documented structures in Pitane’s western harbour and their impact on the interpretation of the harbor network in the Roman era along the Kane peninsula.

Stefan Feuser, Institute for Classics / Classical Archaeology, Johanna-Mestorf-Straße 5, D-24118 Kiel. feuser@klassarch.uni-kiel.de

Eric Laufer, German Archaeological Institute Athens, Fidiou 1, GR-10678 Athens, eric.laufer@dainst.de

Felix Pirson, German Archaeological Institute Istanbul, Inönü Caddesi 10, TR-34437, Istanbul. felix.pirson@dainst.de

The Palaeo-geography of the Medjerda Delta and the Lead Palaeo-pollution Trapped in the Vicinity of Utica (Tunisia): First Results

Hugo Delile, Elisa Pleuger, Jean-Philippe Goiran, Abdelhakim Abichou, Ahmed Gadhoum, Imed Ben Jerbania, Faouzi Ghozzi,

Since 2011 geoarchaeological investigations have been carried out in the vicinity of Utica and in the northern part of the Medjerda delta in Tunisia in order to find the harbour infrastructure of the city. Indeed, following the deltaic progradation of the Medjerda River in antiquity, the ancient harbour of the city was buried under several meters of river sediment. The first step of this work was to determine the evolution of the coastline in this sector of the former Bay of Utica (Sinus Uticensis) based on a palaeo-geographical reconstruction of the Medjerda's deltaic progradation. It is in this context that several long cores were taken in the northern part of the Medjerda delta and at the end of the promontory of Utica in the immediate vicinity

Çandarlı. Port infrastructure of Roman Pitane in the modern harbour (photo: B. Ludwig)

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of the city. Based on the main palaeo-geographical and chronological results from this sector, several cores both around the city and at a greater distance from the urban center in the seaward direction have been the subject of a more in-depth analysis of the preserved lead pollution. The preliminary results of this geochemical study allow us (i) to evaluate certain phases of the development of Utica during ancient times, (ii) to characterize the spatial diffusion of this metallic contamination within the former Bay of Utica, as well as how it is stored in different sedimentary environments, (iii) to infer the sources of these lead pollutions, and to contribute to resolve question on the location the harbour infrastructure.

An overview from the Utica promontory of the northern part of the ancient gulf of Utica, today filling by the Medjerda delta

Results from the Geoarchaeological Study of the Harbour of Roman Tarraco

Ferreol Salomon, Jose Maria Macias-Solé, Kristian Strutt and Patricia Terrado

Since geoarchaeological fieldwork was undertaken at the end of 2015, laboratory analyses have been carried out on the two sedimentary core sequences drilled in the Roman harbour Tarraco (Cores TAR-1 and TAR-2). New palaeoenvironmental results will be presented concerning the harbour of Tarraco/Tarragona. This new data records the degree of closure of the harbour (grain-size analysis, C/M diagram, organic matter content), the freshwater / marine water balance and the proximity of the Roman mole (macrofauna). Radiocarbon dates have been performed and allow to reconstruct the evolution of the harbour from the Roman period until the 19th c. Based on this data, a Palaeoenvironmental Age-Depth Model (PADM chart) has been built to reconstruct the harbour potentials across time and the water column available since the Roman period.

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Additionally, GIS analyses has been performed on the harbour area using ancient maps, geological data from the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya. Results gives supplementary data to confine the location of the Roman harbour and to reconstruct its evolution until the 19th c. together with the new chronostratigraphic obtained in the context of the PortusLimen Project.

Portus in Context. Computational Approaches to the Study of the Port System of Imperial Rome

Maria del Carmen Moreno Escobar

This paper explores the system of supply of Rome during Imperial times (late 1st century BC to middle 3rd century AD), specifically focussing on the organisation and development of its port system. Although parts of Rome's port system have been known since the early 20th century (e.g. Ostia), elements such as the river Tiber itself have been overlooked by historical and archaeological research until recent times. Furthermore, the acknowledgement of the complexity of Rome's supply and port system (e.g. Keay, 2012) has made evident the need to apply holistic and integrated approaches to these questions, aiming at surpassing the local scale of analysis (applied so far) and at a fuller understanding of its organisation and temporal and territorial development.

Location of the two cores drilled in the Roman harbour of Tarraco.

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In this organisation, the Tiber played a major role in articulating and making possible the transport and movement of people and goods between its major nodes (i.e. Portus, Ostia, and Rome). However, this role can only be understood if the Tiber is recognised as a living and changing entity, whose potential for navigation and transport were enhanced through infrastructural developments and institutional interventions that ensured that the needs of Imperial Rome were met and satisfied. For this reason, the river Tiber will be explored from the perspective of geoarchaeology and archaeological spatial analysis, making use of tools such as database management systems and Geographic Information Systems that will facilitate the application of integrated approaches to Rome's port system. Such approaches will make possible to focus (firstly) on the changes on its course and immediate surroundings and (secondly) on how these could have influenced the organisation of the traffic along the river between Rome and Ostia/Portus.

The Harbours of Ainos (Thrace) – Ongoing (Re)search

Helmut Brückner, Martin Seeliger, Sait Başaran, Anca Dan, Thomas Schmidts

Satellite image of Ainos (modern Enez) and its environs. Some 5000 years ago, the later castle hill of Ainos was an island. During the following millennia, a beach-barrier-lagoon complex has evolved. Piri Reis‘ map of the early 16th century shows that the Hebros (Mariza/Meriç) delta had not yet reached the city. The river is now the border between Turkey and Greece. Potential harbour sites of Ainos are in the north-eastern part of the (later) Dalyan Gölü, in the northern part of the (later) Taşaltı Gölü, near a rock sanctuary north of the city, and in the former marine embayment to the north-east of the city.

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The ancient harbour city of Ainos (modern Enez) at the Aegean Sea in Turkish Thrace was an important trading centre from Classical Greek to Byzantine times. In order to locate the city’s harbours, geophysical measurements and vibracorings were carried out and combined with archaeological and literary evidence. In a multi-proxy approach, the cores were studied with regard to sedimentology and micropalaeontology (Foraminifera, Ostracoda). The postglacial marine transgression had reached its maximum landward extension some 5000 years ago; by then the (later) castle hill had turned into an island. Later a beach-barrier-lagoon complex evolved. During early Roman Imperial times at the latest, the lagoons were separated from the sea. The Hebros delta reached the northern part of the city only after the 16th century AD. When taking into consideration (i) the Holocene sea-level evolution; (ii) the water depths; and (iii) the connectivity with the sea, potential harbour sites could be identified (cf. Fig. 1): One is in the larger lagoon (later Dalyan Gölü) from early Imperial Roman to late medieval times; another one in the northern area of the Taşaltı lagoon; a third one at the so-called rock sanctuary in the north; and a fourth one in the north-eastern embayment, for which the so-called tumulus of Polydorus may have served as a landmark. Unfortunately, no harbour installations have been unearthed to date. However, the lecture will outline the pros and cons of the mentioned sites for having served as anchoring sites.

Fossae Marianae : New Results of the 2017 Campaigns Held on the Areas of the Harbour and of the Assumed Marius Channel

Souen Fontaine, Mourad El- Amouri, Frédéric Marty and Corinne Rousse

The 2017 FOSSAE MARIANAE field campaigns were conducted on the monumental submerged complex of the port area (Saint-Gervais Bay) and on the presumed area of the Marius Canal. Under the waters of St. Gervais Bay, the trenches made on the Structure A revealed that the north wall at least, was built on land even though it is now under three

Underwater archaeology at St Gervais Bay (© Loic Damelet, CNRS)

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meters of water. Near the beach, a new structure was unveiled: a typical Roman foundation made of hundreds of wooden poles, well dated from the first century AD. On the other hand, the geophysical survey carried out on the humid hinterland gives an image of a canal. Even if we are not yet able to say if it could be the one that was dug by the General Marius, these results, superimposed on the previous elements of pedestrian survey, indicate that we are perhaps on the trail of Fossae Marianae.

The Port of Leptis Magna and its Evolution

Pascal Arnaud, Arthur De Graauw and Simon Keay

In a section whose sources are likely dated of the early mid-Augustean Age, the Stadiasmus Maris Magni describes Leptis Magna as deprived of limèn, or harbourless and situates the nearest hormos – berth – at Homs. But Leptis Magna used to be an important port as early as the hellenistic period when it was still called Neapolis by the Greeks, according to the record of Strabo. A misunderstanding of the words used by ancient sources, a partial or erroneous record of archaeological remains and a bad knowledge of ancient port infrastructure has led to a highly debatable view of the history of Leptis Magna as a port. This paper will put together all available evidence and propose a new scheme of evolution of the port of the city.

The urban site first developed at some distance north-west the mouth of a small river. There existed a sheltered area, protected from the prevailing Western winds by a group of islands and islets. This group of islands is where the Stadiasmus suggests that the Hermaïon should be located. Hermaion is a name that usually characterizes boundary-stone-like capes or islands. Its location at Homs, 4 kms north-west would need severe emendations of the text and is to be excluded. Mooring stones belonging to a quay and the associated platform have recently been identified in the oldest part of the city. They form a layout very similar to that of the so-called choma at Classical and Hellenistic Carthage. The pre-Roman organization of the port of Lepcis seems to have consisted of this platform and quay, which would have been devoted to loading and unloading ships, while the sheltered area at the mouth of the wadi could have been used for berthing them.

In the Augustan period, or slightly later, a port – maybe a private one – was built at Homs and was entirely silted-up and replaced by a villa during the 2nd c AD. It is likely that the area between the mouth of wadi and the islets (Hermaion) was organized as a continued port area prior to the reign of Nero, with quays and likely warehouses, including a flushing canal to prevent the sheltered area from silting-up. Unfortunately, no precise dating of the pre-Severan structures is possible. The monumental form given to that area by the building of a portico (probably at the expense of the city) under Nero, and known from an inscription (IRT 341 = LBIRNA 45), just provides us with a terminus ante quem for this reorganization, but the regular shift of the city’s heart towards the port area is likely a consequence.

Severus reorganized the port area as an artificial basin surrounded by warehouses thanks to a dam that diverted the course of the wadi. This seems to have been disastrous and caused the silting of the port. A recent geo-archaeological core was drilled into the basin, which suggests that it may have been c. 3.50 deep; if this is the case it is surprisingly shallow when compared to other deep-water harbour basins.

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At some stage prior to the Byzantine period, a new port-area was built after the wadi returned to its old course through the silted Severan harbour, along its western bank. Furthermore, high resolution aerial photographs have revealed that some kind of substantial building was built within it the silted-up expanse of the Severan harbour basin. The date of this is uncertain but is presumably Byzantine or later. Lastly, high-resolution satellite imagery and recent underwater survey shows that the mole that projects into the sea on the eastern side of the entrance to the silted-up Severan port is a late embankment, probably Byzantine in date.

Investigations of the Port at Dreamers Bay, Akrotiri, Cyprus

Simon James, Férreol Salomon, Lucy Blue, Helen Farr, Calian Hazell, Cécile Vittori, Matthew Pound, Emma Hocking & Miltiadis Polidorou

Currently collaborative research undertaken by the Universities of Leicester and Southampton is seeking to address questions about the harbour potential along the coast of the Akrotiri Peninsula, at the southernmost tip of Cyprus. The Leicester team has conducted three seasons of shoreline excavation at Dreamers Bay on the southern shore, to determine the nature, extent and chronology of the apparent harbour facilities.

Colleagues from Southampton have been conducting geomorphological work on the peninsula, and in September 2016 four cores were drilled in the Akrotiti salt lake that initially formed and now exists between two tombolo beaches. Coastal survey of the Akrotiri Peninsula Region and the first results of the palaeoenvironmental analyses, will be presented. Preliminary results of the laboratory analyses of the sedimentary cores include grain-size, organic content, geochemical data, OSL and radiocarbon dates, will also be presented. These surveys and the geoarchaeological analyses contribute to a reconstruction of the formation of the double tombolo of the Akrotiri Peninsula and provide information about the harbour

The Port of Leptis Magna

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potential along the coasts of Akrotiri Peninsula and between the former Akrotiri Island and Cyprus mainland.

Exploring the Harbour Systems of the Western Greek Colonies Siracusa and Catania ElenaFlavia Castagnino Berlinghieri,

In the exploration of the colonial maritime cities of Western Greece, the harbour systems of Siracusa and Catania are of key importance and provide a crucial reference point for the entire urban and territorial system of planning.

On the one hand, this paper will show how the harbour systems were strongly influenced by the constraints imposed by the location itself (i.e. geographic conformation, geo-

Location of the cores in Dreamer’s Bay, Akrotiri

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morphological features and meteorological marine conditions). On the other hand, the paper will attempt to clarify how the design of the harbour systems may reflect political and economic strategies.

Research in the Great and the Small Harbours of Siracusa, first undertaken by Gargallo and Kapitän in the 1960s, provided a scientific framework for their coastal and submerged morphology. However, new evidence gained from the reinterpretation of geo-archaeological data, literary sources, and historical-iconographical documentation suggests that there may be other ways to interpret the relationship of ancient maritime topography and harbour systems to the city’s military and mercantile logistical needs.

These advances have occasioned a fresh context in which to plot “new” and “old” archaeological data for a re-examination of the ancient maritime topography.

The results of this exploration will be presented and will show how an interdisciplinary approach can help us to better appreciate two of the most significant harbors in the Greek colonial world.

Source: "Map of Syracuse", Gallery of Maps, Vatican City State.

CONTACT: elfcb@tiscali.it

Evaluating the Maritime Potential of Ports and Harbour Systems in Roman Times

Nicolas Carayon (RoMP, University of Southampton)

In this paper, we aim to develop a systematic way for evaluating the maritime potential of Roman ports and harbour systems. We will focus on the criteria defined and used within the

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ERC Rome’s Mediterranean Ports project and try to show how to use them in order to produce a comparative analysis. These criteria are related to the maritime activities at ports located at three distinct areas composing the port: the water body, the interface and the land area. Each of these areas are characterised by specific contexts and activities, natural features and anthropic development that enhanced the natural potential. As well, we will focus on the nature and the function of the harbour infrastructures emphasizing the transformation of the potential they provide. Our study is based on different examples and recent results of the RoMP project, which underline the impact of the Romanisation of portscapes and the issues encountered during application of such criteria to harbour systems.

Watering and Port Systems in an Arid Zone: a Look at the Ports of the Coast between Alexandria and Greater Syrtis.

Pascal Arnaud, Université Lumière-Lyon2 and Institut Universitaire de France.

Water has always been an issue for people involved in sailing. If conditions of wind become less favourable and travel times longer than expected, then the question of drinkable water could become a serious matter. The quantity of water was but an aspect of the issue. The quality of water was also essential. We learn that a ship, departing from Apollonia in Cyrnaica and sailing to Alexandria made only one stop on her way to her destination. This happened on the very day of departure and had one reason: the quality of the springs to be found.

The Stadiasmus Maris Magni pays special attention to the quality, quantity and location of water resources along the shores. No less than nine qualities of water are described. This paper will analyse the map of waters along the arid coast of Marmaikè and Cyrenaica, based on the evidence of the Stadiasmus Maris Magni and archaeological exploration. The waters are a key-element for understanding the port-systems of this area, and we will place them in the context of the sheltered areas where ships had to anchor, looking forward to favourable sailing conditions at connecting points between coastal and offshore sailing routes.

Exploring Commerce of Roman Mediterranean Ports through Scripta Commercii and Law: Some Results

Emilia Mataix Ferrandiz

One of the elements that speaks most strongly about a relatively high level of integration of the Roman Imperial Mediterranean is the commerce performed along its different shorelines. Commerce in the Roman Empire of the first three centuries AD operated within a well-established legal framework provided by Roman law, and used non-institutional tools to cope with the risks embedded in long distance trade. This framework was the product of both legal theory and practice. Thus long distances and cultural differences indicate some common practices in order to have developed commercial networks. Effective distribution permitted the creation of an elaborate symbolic system which promoted the legitimacy and commercial customs of the empire. Consequently, a revision of what the epigraphy of merchandise (scripta commercii) meant in a particular context helps understand many traits of commerce (buying, selling and controlling cargoes), because it summarizes many traits of commercial agreements or bureaucratic requirements of commerce. The analysis of the different

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epigraphic materials has led to the creation of a model for the procedures taking place through shipping routes, revealing different kinds of sale and transport employed in distribution. From this, we have been able to trace a more defined picture of the people involved in these routes, selling, controlling, transporting or acquiring goods in the different Mediterranean areas. In this way, we come closer to understand, along with their role in commerce, their perception of the empire and the influence of imperial identity on the different trade routes.

Diagram illustrating the different scripta commercii and their implications for the functions of sale (blue circles), transport (green circles) and control (yellow circles)

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The Materialization of Ideology in Roman Portscapes

Stéphanie Mailleur-Aldbiyat

Under the Roman Empire, harbours played an important role for the image of the city. They were more than a simple interface between the land and the sea as they were the display front of the city. Consequently, buildings and monuments were organised throughout port space with particular attention and a programmatic way. They formed a real urban landscape that can be described under the term “portscape” derived from Zanker’s townscape concept. In this paper, we propose to define the portscape concept understood as the urban aspect, layout and design of Roman ports but also as a lived environment with cultural meanings reflecting society. This study aims to explore the urban syntax of the portscape and examine the relation between port architecture/spatial organisation and society/politics. Since Augustus, ports appeared quite often in iconography as Pliny and Vitruvius described it. Throughout the Empire, port images seem to be more than a pictorial genre as they largely emphasize the monumental features of port. What does it mean? This paper aims to understand the process of the materialization of ideologies in Roman portscapes such as imperial policy, euergetism, local authorities, communities or ethnic groups, religion etc. For this, we will focus on the examples of votive, honorific or commemorative single monuments (e.g. freestanding columns, honorific arches or trophies) and analyse their functions as well as their symbolic importance in port topography.

Painting depicting a portscape view. Stabiae, Villa San Marco (room 52). AD 1st century. 26 x 24.5 cm. Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, inv. n° 9514.

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Ritual Movement in a Port Context: The Case of Ostia

Katherine Crawford

Processions were carefully choreographed rituals that linked disparate spaces and people together within a cityscape. However, evidence of this form of ritual movement is rarely discernible within the archaeological record. Transient events, like processions, were primarily held in the memories of those that attended, heard, or read about the ritual. While occasionally marked with commemorative architecture, these sources of evidence to do not provide insight into how processions traversed an ancient cityscape. This paper presents a novel approach to studying ritual movement by questioning how urban architecture and social activity structured ritual movement at Ostia. The application of a multi-layered computational approach, which includes urban network analysis and agent-based modelling, enables the visualization of possible ritual movement areas that correspond to specific temples. Rather than trying to map definite routes, this approach considers processions as dynamic events that engaged with both the people and the built environment of Ostia. Examination of the intra-site relationships between space and ritual movement provides one way to assess the ways in which ritual activity was disseminated across the city and the larger ritual landscape that is constructed.

Meandering Street of Ostia

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Supplying Water to the Ports on the Bay of Naples: a Cautionary Tale in Uncertainty

Duncan Keenan-Jones, George Vazanellis, Adrian Bowman, John Hellstrom, Russell Drysdale

Supply of water for embarking ships and for inhabitants is a key consideration for any port. This paper considers how and how much water was supplied to the key ports around the Bay of Naples, including Pompeii, Puteoli, Naples, Cumae and Misenum, during the Roman and late antique periods. Our research seeks to determine:

1. The amount of water brought by aqueducts to these ports;

2. the source of the water that supplied Pompeii, and in so doing evaluate the previous studies of Ohlig (2001) and Matsui and co-workers (2009);

3. whether contamination by any elements, such as tin, antimony (Charlier, Bou Abdallah, et al., 2017) or copper, other than known contamination from lead (Keenan-Jones, Hellstrom, et al., 2011), arose from Pompeii's lead pipe distribution system; and

4. whether trace-element concentrations show promise as a technique to provenance the source of the water in past supply systems.

We have integrated analysis of limestone deposits (travertine or sinter) formed from the water supplied to these ports with relevant historical and archaeological data. As well as measurement of travertine morphology, we have investigated the micro-stratigraphy and

Travertine deposits on the walls of the Piscina Mirabilis, one of the sites analysed in this study.

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trace-element composition of the travertine through laser-ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA -ICP-MS). The trace-element concentration is heavily dependent on localized heavily metal contamination and deposition of detrital material, rather than source-water composition. Hence, the trace-element composition of ancient travertine deposits around the Bay of Naples is not suitable for source-water provenancing, calling into serious question the results of previous studies. The amount of water supplied to these ports was well below that normally supplied to Roman towns by aqueducts. The results of this research will lay the foundation for consideration of the populations that could have been sustained by the artificially augmented water supply of this poorly-watered area.

References

Charlier, P., Bou Abdallah, F., Bruneau, R., Jacqueline, S., Augias, A., Bianucci, R., Perciaccante, A., Lippi, D., Appenzeller, O., Rasmussen, K.L., 2017. Did the Romans die of antimony poisoning? The case of a Pompeii water pipe (79 CE). Toxicol. Lett. 281, 184–186. doi:10.1016/j.toxlet.2017.07.876

Keenan-Jones, D.C., Hellstrom, J.C., Drysdale, R.N., 2011. Lead contamination in the drinking water of Pompeii, in: Poehler, E.E., Flohr, M., Cole, K. (Eds.), Pompeii: Art, Industry and Infrastructure. Oxbow, Oxford, 131–148.

Matsui, S., Sorrentino, L., Sakai, S., Shimizu, Y., Iorio, V., 2009. La provenienza dell’acqua potabile nell’antica Pompeii: un’ipotesi basata sull’analisi chimica dei residui calcarei degli impianti idrichi. J. Fasti Online 162.

Ohlig, C., 2001. De Aquis Pompeiorum - Das Castellum Aquae in Pompeji: Herkunft, Zuleitung und Verteilung des Wassers., Circumvesuviana. Books on Demand, Nijmegen.

Duncan Keenan-Jones (Collegium de Lyon, Laboratoire Archéorient UMR 5133 CNRS/Université Lyon 2, Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon UMR 5276 CNRS/Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon)

George Vazanellis, Adrian Bowman (University of Glasgow)

John Hellstrom, Russell Drysdale (University of Melbourne)

Roman Horrea in the Ports of Hispania: Typology, Construction Techniques and Commercial Circuits

Javier Salido Dominguez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

The advances of the research of the last few years on the Roman ports of Hispania allow us nowadays to identify the granaries and storebuildings devoted to the storage and preservation of perishable foods and other manufactured products. In this paper, we intend to analyse from the constructive point of view the horrea located both in the Mediterranean coasts and in the fluvial channels and rivers that maintained a very close economic relationship with the Mediterranean shore. This study allows us to define the typology of the buildings and recognize the construction techniques to pose as hypothesis the conserved products, and relate these port structures with other important archaeological remains of the Western Mediterranean. The objective is to recognize the commercial circuit in which the ports of the Iberian Peninsula operated. In addition, the epigraphic documentation offers us the opportunity to delve into important aspects such as the ownership and management of the horrea of Hispania.

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Epigraph of horrearius Hyacintus of the Roman city of Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza, Spain). J. Salido Domínguez

Interpretating Some Rectilinear Moles with Ending Platforms in the Ports of Africa Proconsularis

Pauline Morgillo, Université Lumière-Lyon2

Archaeological research carried out until today has improved our understanding of the port systems from the Mediterranean to Antiquity. However, some geographical areas, such as North Africa and especially the former Africa Proconsularis, provide relatively few vestiges. Ports such as Carthage, Thapsus or Leptis Magna have been analysed many times but even so, the interpretation of these ports is still uncertain. It is therefore difficult to understand the way these interfaces between land and sea did actually work, and what their infrastructure and layout had been conceived for.

This paper will focus on some ports of Eastern Tunisia and Libya, mainly Leptiminus (Lamta), Gigthis (Sidi Salem Bou Grara) Ras Segala (Gidaphta), and Leptis Magna (Lebda), where linear moles, sometimes very impressive, advancing towards the open sea and terminated with ending platform (of variable shape according to the sites) were discovered. Their dating remain very imprecise. They were first interpreted as breakwaters used to limit and shelter a harbour basin. However, these port features are mostly located in areas where characterized by tides and shallow waters. Only ships or boats with a very shallow draft could enter. The hypothesis of a structure delimiting a basin could therefore be erroneous.

Another interpretation seems plausible. The rectilinear moles may be wharves or causeways providing access from the shore to deeper waters, where bigger ships with significant draft would berth or moor. The ending platforms would be the places where merchant ships or lighters would load and unload their cargoes. Accessible to mules and even to chariots that could turn on the platform (it seems obvious when their shape is semi-circular), these would

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be an artificial interface between land and sea projected into deeper waters, when shallow waters made the shore inaccessible.

Aerial photograph of Leptiminus rectangular terminal platform jetty, Tunisia (Source: http://www.ancientportsantiques.com/)