Michele Abballe

Open Access PDF eBook available at https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/download/9781803274645

Remote sensing has been a fundamental tool in reconstructing the urban landscape of the abandoned Late Antique city of Classe, near Ravenna (Italy). However, much of Classe urban plan is not yet known, while the vast area north of Ravenna has been generally ignored for the presence of thick alluvial deposits. The number of freely available aerial and satellite images has increased exponentially in the past decade, yet no study has exploited these sources. The features mapped by analysing these sources allowed us to identify new structures in Classe and shed new light on water management and land-use practices around Ravenna.

Despite several studies have already focused on the palaeogeographical reconstruction of the Po Delta, many questions remain unanswered. Indeed it is not easy to locate on the ground the few data known from ancient sources, while medieval and modern alluvial transformations hide previous landforms and fluvial traces. Starting from a reanalysis of existing palaeogeographical reconstructions and known archaeological data from the southern Delta, it was possible to frame the new geoarchaeological data collected north of Ravenna. Interpreting the different geological layers identified in coring PCR02, carried out near the archaeological site of Butrium, it was possible to reconstruct landscape changes at the local level and hypothesize ones occurred at a broader scale. Especially for the latter, this was possible thanks to XFR analysis on targeted samples and 14C dating of the change from lagoonal to marshy environment recognized in the core. Contextualizing these data with historical, archaeological and geological knowledge, it was possible to suggest a phase of coastline progradation that must have happened within the 2nd or 3rd century AD. This change may be linked to a new southern branch of the Po river, possibly flowing not so far from Ravenna, but that only future investigation may be able to map.

The “Bassa Romandiola” project was promoted by the University of Bologna and the “Centro di Studi sulla Romandiola Nord Occidentale” with the aim of investigating the north-western part of the Ravenna region (Italy), the so-called Bassa Romagna. In this paper, we present the synthesis of the results of the 2018 field campaign, which focused on the area of Cotignola (RA) and included an artefact survey and five targeted manual auger cores. Despite the biases that affected the data collected, the results shed light on a general transformation that involved this part of the Ravenna region between the 12th and the 14th centuries CE, which caused a settlement selection process and the alteration of the rural landscape and its landforms.

In this paper, we aim to present the results of interdisciplinary research focusing on the surroundings of Lugo, a town in the hinterland of Ravenna. The area is known for the extraordinary preservation of the centuriated field system, although its ‘Roman’ origin has been rightly questioned in the last three decades. Our data show how this seemingly homogenous area has a complex history due to intense alluvial events. If artefact surveys have been helpful in studying the main trends in the evolution of settlement patterns, only a systematic geoarchaeological investigation has allowed us to better understand the physical transformations occurring in the landscape, their potential effect on the settlement suitability of the area, and the mechanisms that led to the complete reclamation of a former wetland known as Orizzonte Veggiani. About the latter, archaeobotanical analysis of seeds, fruits, and charcoal starts to help us understand its land use/land cover.

In this paper we used archaeological and geological data and information from the written sources to understand how socio-ecological systems reacted to several ecological crises that occurred after the Roman period. The region investigated is the northwest hinterland of Ravenna, a sub-region known today as Bassa Romagna. Like other parts of the Po Valley, this area was primarily characterised by the presence of wetlands and woodlands, ultimately reclaimed only in the 20th century. A multidisciplinary approach allowed us to understand better which phenomena of anthropic persistence and practices of land reclamation were put in place after ecological crises, often linked to flood events. In particular, water management processes emerge as a key element for the success of the socio-ecological systems acting in the area, starting from late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages. Furthermore, we investigated the relationship between local systems and larger urban ones, like Ravenna and its hostile commune of Faenza, and how these directly influenced the countryside.

Three hand augering campaigns were carried out between 2018 and 2020 in the hinterland of Ravenna to gain new insights into the physical transformations that occurred in the area during the last 3000 years. Understanding these changes is crucial to be able to fully reconstruct past settlements patterns in alluvial landscapes, such as the lowlands around Ravenna. Based on known archaeological and geomorphological data, and historical sources available, six case studies were selected to carry out targeted geoarchaeological research. The paper introduces the main research questions behind these campaigns, the methodology used (hand augering), and the format of data recording for facilitating their future reuse. Finally, two case studies will be used to show the effectiveness of this approach in understanding landscape changes caused by alluvial phenomena, relying not only on archaeological data but also on stratigraphic markers (i.e. palaeosols) buried below the present-day ground. Thanks to this approach, targeted geoarchaeological research can quickly point out the main landscape changes caused by rivers avulsions and flooding processes. In particular, the first geological pieces of evidence will be presented on the existence of medieval wetlands in both areas of Massa Lombarda and Villafranca di Forlì in the Middle Ages, and their subsequent reclamation occurred around the 13th century CE.

The Multi-Scale Relief Model (MSRM) is a novel algorithm developed for the visual interpretation of landforms. This was tested within the Romagna plain, the south-eastern part of the Po Valley (Italy), to establish whether it was able to detect fluvial ridges within this alluvial landscape. Since the MSRM is not the only method to carry out morphometric analysis, it was compared with other techniques previously used in landscape archaeology, such as the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI), the Topographic Position Index (TPI), and the Deviation from mean Elevation (DEV). At the same time, the SRTM 1 Arc-Second Global was compared with a Local DEM based on ground control points. Subsequently, the result of the MSRM algorithm was tested through targeted desktop- and field-based research. This validation phase proved essential to test the accuracy of the DEM-derived products. Furthermore, it allowed us to verify the existence of the detected fluvial ridges, to propose a chronological range for some of them, and, finally, to collect new archaeological evidence.

In this paper, I will present an approach to create digital elevation models of the palaeolandscape (palaeoDEMs) for a test area within the larger Romagna plain. The many landscape transformations that occurred in the area during the last few millennia greatly limit our archaeological knowledge and historical reconstruction of the human presence, so a better understanding of how the topography changed represents a fundamental step. However, relying only on the finite archaeological data would have greatly limited the level of accuracy of the reconstructions. To try to overcome these limitations, the archaeological data have been integrated with information regarding palaeosols identified both during targeted fieldwork campaigns and in pre-existing data collected by archaeological and geological investigations. The depths of archaeological sites and geological layers have been interpolated to produce palaeoDEMs for four different chronological periods, confirming the feasibility of this approach, that could potentially be enlarged to nearby areas or applied to other regions with similar characteristics. Furthermore, through the analysis of the models created, it has been possible to elucidate the evolution of the study area, confirming several previously expressed hypotheses but also to propose a new one.

In this paper we are presenting the preliminary results of an ar- chaeological landscape project started by the University of Bologna in 2009, focusing on the north-western part of the Ravenna province, an area called Unione dei Comuni della Bassa Romagna. The main aim of the project is to investigate the medieval settlement patterns of a territory never systematically studied before, and, possibly, to relate these with the pre-existing ones of the Roman period. For this reason, artefact survey was carried out on a sample area, selected on the basis of the existing archaeological and geomorphological knowl- edge. During the first 4 campaigns, 62 sq. km were investigated, out of a total of 150 of the sample. Thanks to the collected results, it is now possible to question the previous hypotheses, that used to see this territory as “static”, considering both the settlement patterns and the socio-economic structures. Indeed, the survey allowed us
to identify rural nucleated settlements from the IX-X centuries, and then, a selection of these sites during the XIII century, when many were abandoned in favour of larger villages. This process was due to the intervention of the major powers of the time, like counts, bishops and communes, powerful enough to modify the pre-existing settlement patterns.

Keywords: landscape archaeology, scattered settlements pattern, medieval villages, incastellamento, Romagna.

Riassunto
Nel contributo verranno presentati i risultati preliminari di un progetto di archeologia dei paesaggi avviato nel 2009 dal Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà dell’Università di Bologna nel territorio dell’U- nione dei Comuni della Bassa Romagna, la parte nord-occidentale della provincia di Ravenna. L’obiettivo dello studio era quello di valutare le forme del popolamento di Età medievale di un territorio fina a ora non indagato in modo estensivo e, se possibile, di individuarne il rap- porto con le forme del paesaggio antico. La metodologia ha previsto la ricognizione sistematica di una campionatura ragionata del territorio; finora sono state svolte 4 campagne di indagine, investigando 62 km2 dei 150 totali previsti. Lo studio ha permesso di mettere in discussione la visione storiografica tradizionale, secondo la quale il territorio roma- gnolo sarebbe stato caratterizzato da una semplice sopravvivenza delle forme del popolamento antico di tipo sparso, staticità interpretata anche come indice di scarsa vitalità socio-economica. Infatti nel corso del progetto è stato possibile documentare sia la comparsa di insediamenti rurali nucleati già dal IX-X secolo, sia una selezione dei siti nel corso del XIII secolo, in parte abbandonati a favore dei villaggi più grandi, sorti presso i castelli; quest’ultimo processo fu dovuto all’intervento dei principali poteri territoriali del tempo, come le dinastie comitali, i vescovi e i comuni cittadini, in grado di modificare le forme del popolamento rurale preesistenti.

Parole chiave: archeologia dei paesaggi, popolamento sparso, villaggi, incastellamento, Romagna.

The paper presented here is an extraction of my MA dissertation and falls within the landscape project Bassa Romandiola. Considering the biases present in the dataset at disposal, predictive modelling has been chosen as a methodology potentially useful to gain more information about the medieval settlement patterns of the area. Both environmental and “socio-cultural” variables have been considered, to make the most of the data available. A first predictive map has been created using the Dempster-Shafer theory and possible future directions highlighted to improve the result obtained.

SUCCESSIVA PUBBLICAZIONE DISPONIBILE A https://doi.org/10.19282/ac.32.1.2021.07

Per lungo tempo l’analisi geomorfologica si è basata sull’utilizzo di punti quotati, registrati manualmente da operatori sul territorio, interpolati tra loro per creare un modello digitale del terreno da cui poter estrarre delle curve di livello, dalle quali infine poter individuare le varie aree morfologicamente più elevate o più depresse. Nonostante questo rimanga un metodo ancora valido e molto usato per la redazione delle carte geomorfologiche dei piani paesaggisti locali, l’enorme disponibilità di dati satellitari disponibili oggigiorno per la creazione di DEM apre nuove prospettive.
In questo lavoro vogliamo presentare un confronto tra i metodi che prevedono l’applicazione di tools morfometrici e idrologici implementati in SAGA GIS con l’algoritmo Multi-Scale Relief Model (o MSRM, Orengo & Petrie 2018)  con l’obiettivo di rendere più veloce e automatizzata la procedura di analisi della micromorfologia di un territorio alluvionale e il riconoscimento di eventuali landforms.
La zona prescelta come caso di studio è la pianura romagnola, un’area pianeggiante con quote comprese tra i 50 e - 5 m s.l.m., dove piccole variazioni altimetriche sono solitamente dovute ai corsi dei fiumi appenninci o ai cordoni litoranei, sia attuali che fossili. L’area è da anni oggetto di studio di vari progetti, archeologici e non, dell’Università di Bologna.
Il modello utilizzato come dato di partenza è l’SRTM DEM con risoluzione 30 m.

L’Università di Bologna, in collaborazione con l’Università del Bosforo - Boğaziçi University (Turchia), l’Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia e il Centro di Studi sulla Romandiola nord occidentale, ha promosso nuove ricerche archeologiche nelle pianure a nord di Ravenna. Nel corso di questo evento, organizzato in collaborazione con la Soprintendenza, l’associazione Amici di Olindo Guerrini e il Museo NatuRa - Centro Visite del Parco del Delta del Po di Sant’Alberto, si presenteranno i risultati di questo progetto e delle indagini recenti condotte in questa zona dalla Soprintendenza.

n this paper we will present the results of an interdisciplinary research focused on the lowlands around Ravenna, north-eastern Italy, the capital of western part of the Empire in Late Antiquity. The research has been carried out by the University of Bologna since the 2002, with the projects Deci- mano (2002-2006), Bassa Romandiola (2009-present), Cervia Vecchia-Ficocle (2019-present), and Faventia (2019-present).
In almost twenty years of investigations approximately 90 squared kilometres have been surveyed, analysing various areas, each one different from the other from the geomorphological point of view: wetlands, coastlands and lowlands characterized by different degrees of stability in the re- cent history.
Each zone is characterised by different trends in the settlement patterns evolution after the end of the Roman Empire, a heterogeneity caused by environmental and socio-historical factors.
The results of this research allow us to completely reconsider the traditional historiographical view on the evolution of settlements patterns in an area of byzantine tradition, as it is Ravenna hinter- land, showing localised and original trends.

Programma della terza edizione di Faentival - Archeologia e storia della pianura faentina. L'edizione 2021 si terrà online con dirette su Facebook e Youtube, tra il 15 e il 22 Dicembre 2021, ore 21:00.
La manifestazione è organizzata dal progetto Faventia, all'interno del Progetto di Archeologia dei Paesaggi di Ravenna promosso dal DISCI dell'Università di Bologna.

Ulteriori informazioni sul sito: www.faentival.it

Nuove scoperte a Faenza: presentazione dei risultati della prima campagna di ricognizione archeologica del Progetto Faventia. Quest'ultimo rientra all'interno del "Progetto Archeologia dei Paesaggi di Ravenna: una capitale e il suo territorio". Presentazione tenuta a Faenza (RA) in data 26 Ottobre 2019.

Nel corso dell’ultima generazione l’archeologia si è confrontata con il progresso tecnologico e scientifico, adottando nuovi strumenti di ricerca e innovando le sue metodologie.
Nel corso della serata si cercheranno di presentare le tecniche di documentazione utilizzate nelle ricerche che hanno avuto luogo negli ultimi anni nella pianura padana, concentrandosi in particolare sulle indagini degli archeologi dell'Università di Bologna, ma non solo, e focalizzando l’attenzione su come sia stato possibile innovare gli strumenti tradizionali, pur senza stravolgerli.

The Ravenna coastland has been characterized by remarkable dynamism which considerably transformed the local landscape over time. The key factors of this transformation included both natural elements - such as geological and geomorphological processes, climate fluctuations, sea level variations, and extreme events - and anthropogenic factors, encompassing all processes related to settlements and production systems. These natural and anthropogenic factors have engaged in a particularly intense dialogue, resulting in diverse and sometimes unique forms of occupation and exploitation.
In this context, this paper aims to present the results of the research carried out by the University of Bologna since 2019, investigating the wetlands and the lagoons located in the Ravenna Greater Region. This area comprises the wetlands created by the Apennine rivers and the Po to the north of the city, as well as more geologically stable areas located further south, such as the Cervia salt ponds.
On the one hand, the variety of post-depositional processes that have characterized the archaeological deposits of the two areas has required partially different methodological approaches.

Ravenna became a major Roman political and military center in the 1st c. CE, when the Emperor Augustus established the Empire's military fleet, the classis Ravennatis, in the city. In 402 CE, Ravenna was chosen as the capital of the Western Empire, and it remained a central place throughout the following centuries as part of Byzantine Exarchate and, after the 8th c. CE, as the center of one of the most powerful Archbishoprics in Italy.
The dynamic landscape around Ravenna, geomorphologically unstable and mainly composed of wetlands, deeply influenced the political and economic fortunes of the city over these periods.
In this paper, we present the results of several archaeological investigations (artifact surveys, extensive geophysics, manual and mechanical coring, excavations, archaeobotanical investigations, and archival document analysis), which shed new light on the relationship between Ravenna and its hinterland during Late Antiquity and the first half of the Middle Ages (5th-11th c. CE). In particular, we focus on the complex dynamics between the urban and rural communities in relation to environmental factors and socio-economic change; contrary to recent deterministic interpretations, our preliminary results clearly show that environmental change was only one of many elements that influenced the history of this local socio-ecological system.

Cervia Vecchia is an abandoned medieval city located near the Adriatic coastline in northern Italy, around 20 km south of Ravenna. The city was relocated towards the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century CE. The inhabitants moved into a new planned settlement positioned in a healthier location closer to the coast.
The site was associated with marine salt production at least since the 10th century CE, and probably even before that. This production relied on the presence of the numerous inland wetlands which have always characterised the territory in the past. Then, after the intense reclamation activity that interested the Modern period, which significantly transformed the land cover of the area, agriculture became the most relevant economic activity. It is undoubted that, over the course of the centuries, the interactions between the human presence and this peculiar waterscape have been sometimes mutual (such as the preservation of natural wetlands for exploitation), other times of contrast (intense land reclamation).
Also to better understand these interactions, the University of Bologna launched the Cervia Project in 2019, within the “Ravenna Landscapes” archaeological project. This project aims to investigate the Cervia Vecchia site and its surroundings and to i) reconstruct the paleoenvironmental evolution of the area over a large chronological span, from the Bronze Age to the Modern period; ii) define the relationship between local communities and the environmental factors, specifically focussing on the exploitation of natural resources (i.e. salt); iii) determine the economic and cultural relationship with the dominant centre (Ravenna); iv) specify the organisation of the urban and rural space and the water infrastructures created.
This communication aims to present the preliminary results of this project, which were obtained applying an integrated approach including several methodologies such as artefact surveys, archaeological excavations, extensive geophysics, geoarchaeological analysis, archaeobotanical investigations, and historical maps interpretation.

The idea that the centuriation is something more profound than a colossal infrastructure is slowly becoming more and more established, thanks also to the integration of several methods of investigation in addressing the topic. Moreover, in recent years, we are finally moving away from the dualistic view of what the fate of a centuriation may be: whether or not it has been preserved to the present day. In fact, more studies are giving importance to the impact these structures had on the landscape since they were created and then used, and finally, their fate once the Roman period was over. Focusing primarily on the latter aspect, we would like to present some results from the multidisciplinary research we have been conducting on the hinterland of Ravenna in the last few years. Integrating field surveys with remote sensing, geoarchaeological and environmental studies, we were able to shed more light on what happened here after the Roman period. The area is undoubtedly exceptional because of the continuity of use of the centuriation system and the creation of new field systems in the medieval period (perhaps as early as Late Antiquity). These works bore in mind the heritage left behind, maybe also in terms of knowledge, but especially considering the original infrastructure's preservation. This approach indeed paid off, ensuring the success of these new systems that still characterize the present landscape.

In this paper, we aim to present the results of an interdisciplinary research project focusing on the hinterland of Ravenna, more specifically in the surrounding of the town of Lugo. The area is known for the extraordinary preservation of the centuriated field system, although its “Roman” origin has been rightly questioned in the last three decades. Our data show how this seemingly homogenous area has instead a very complex history, due to frequent flooding events often connected to river avulsions. Artefact surveys have been useful to study the main trends in the evolution of settlement patterns, which show resilience after the end of the Roman period for at least part of the study area, and archaeological and historical sources have revealed the strong impact that urban Communes and other contemporary powers had in the 12th-13th centuries. This was a moment of generalized population growth, during which these powers were able to change the existing settlement patterns, even modify river courses and build large-scale drainage systems. Only thanks to a multidisciplinary approach it has been possible to clearly understand these processes. Indeed, a geoarchaeological investigation has allowed to better understand the extension of a former wetland and the mechanisms that led to its complete reclamation. Finally, the area has also been ecologically characterized by archaeobotanical analysis (seeds, fruits, charcoal and pollen) to better understand the evolution of this reclaimed landscape also in terms of land use and land cover.

Italia settentrionale e regioni dell'arco alpino tra V e VI secolo (Aquileia, 15-17 aprile 2021)

L’evoluzione geomorfologica in età storica del delta padano meridionale, in particolare per quanto riguarda la cronologia dei suoi vari rami fluviali, è un problema ancora piuttosto aperto, per una definizione equilibrata del quale è da tener anche in debito conto della capacità di adattamento del sistema uomo-ambiente. È quindi molto importante l'integrazione delle informazioni geologiche (stratigrafie e analisi paleoambientali dei sedimenti, datazioni radiometriche, analisi di immagini satellitari, ...) con un approfondimento parimenti mirato dei dati archeologici e dei documenti storici.
Se dal punto di vista paleoidrografico generale è da un lato da considerarsi un punto fermo l’identificazione del ramo meridionale principale del Po in piena Età Romana con il paleoalveo di Spina, che borda a nord le attuali Valli di Comacchio, sono d’altra parte obiettivamente più incerte le cronologie di attività degli altri rami occidentali e meridionali. Inoltre, risultano anche più complesse da comprendere le interferenze di questi rami padani con i fiumi di origine appenninica con terminazione a nord di Ravenna, in primis il Santerno proveniente dal territorio imolese (per il quale rimane dubbia la corrispondenza con il Vatreno citato da Plinio e Marziale) e il Lamone da quello faentino.
Un momento storico chiave per comprendere l’interazione tra la dinamica paleoidrografica del delta padano con gli equilibri territoriali della bassa pianura romagnola corrisponde con l’attivazione, tra tarda Antichità e alto Medioevo, del tratto di Po di Primaro a valle di Argenta (parzialmente disattivatosi poi nel XII secolo e dal 1783 ereditato artificialmente dal Reno) come ramo deltizio principale. Questo evento comportò drammatiche conseguenze per gli equilibri idraulici dei fiumi meridionali, che si manifestarono con estesi sovralluvionamenti e impaludamenti i cui depositi rendono oggi difficoltosa la lettura delle morfologie precedenti.
Questi processi ebbero pesanti ripercussioni sui sistemi socio-economici coevi, divenendo uno dei fattori fondamentali che, nel corso della tarda Antichità, determinarono una serie di trasformazioni. Innanzitutto a livello di modalità insediative, sia nelle campagne, sia negli abitati della bassa pianura; poi, in secondo luogo, a livello economico, con la ridefinizione degli assetti e dei percorsi commerciali, secondo nuove direttrici e modalità; infine, nelle forme di sfruttamento dei suoli (aumentando, forse, la rilevanza dell’economia silvo-pastorale) e delle risorse in ampie porzioni della bassa pianura padana.
Tutto ciò determinò un nuovo rapporto tra uomo e ambiente, scaturito comunque da una rilevante capacità dei sistemi socio-economici di trovare un nuovo e sollecito equilibrio con il paesaggio circostante.

38th International Mediterranean Survey Workshop - Groningen Institute of Archaeology, Friday 29 – Saturday 30 November 2019

The main aim of this paper is to present new data collected by the Ravenna Landscape Project, which was started as Decimano Project (2002-2005), to study the southern hinterland of Ravenna (Italy) using mainly artefact survey as method to document changes in settlement dynamics across time around this ancient capital. Afterwards, the Bassa Romandiola Project was started (2009-present), in the north-western part of Ravenna province. In 2019, a rebranding of the project was carried out to include two new subprojects that focus on the countryside around the cities of Cervia and Faenza. Major differences exist in this large study
area, both on the historical level and in the physical landscape, that influence the methods to use and the interpretation of the results. Briefly: 1. Bassa Romagna is a low plain where no Roman towns are known; 2. Cervia is situated along the coastline, where a city arose between the V-VIII centuries CE; 3. Faenza was a Roman municipium born along the Via Aemilia, at the edge between the Apennines and the Po plain. The results of these two new subprojects, presented here, allowed to document several sites, ranging between the Bronze Age until the Modern Age showing different local settlement dynamics.

In this paper, we want to tackle some questions regarding the rural socio-ecological systems existing in the north-west countryside of Ravenna, in the period following the post-Roman crisis that affected the area: how these systems reacted to this ecological crisis in term of resilience mechanisms; how they managed their “hostile” and rapidly changing landscape. From an historical point of view, the study area gains its importance being part of the hinterland of the city of Ravenna, which was appointed by Augustus as seat of one of the two Roman imperial fleets. Later, it became capital of the Western Roman Empire since AD 402, capital of the Exarchate after its end and finally seat of one of the most powerful Archbishops in medieval Italy. From a geographical point of view, the area is an alluvial plain, part of the Po Valley, created by the deposition of sediments over a long period of time. Therefore, flooding events have always characterized this territory, but both human activities and natural phenomena have played a role influencing their frequency, intensity and duration, including factors like deforestation, artificial regimentation of river networks or the alternation of climatic periods. This is also true for the extension of marshlands, features of the landscape that are now almost completely reclaimed, but that had a crucial economic and ecological role in the past.
The focus will be on the changes that the landscape has faced after the Roman period, but especially on how humans reacted to these, whether if we consider catastrophic events or slower processes. For this purpose, we will introduce different methods and data that are currently being used to study an historical area known nowadays as “Bassa Romagna”. A first focus will be on the geomorphological setting, which is currently under investigation by a recently started PhD project (Ghent University/University of Verona), which aims to reconstruct how the landscape looked like in medieval times, integrating morphological analysis of digital elevation models, study of aerial and satellite images and geoarchaeological fieldwork. A second focus will be on archaeological data (post-doctoral research), mainly collected by the ongoing “Bassa Romandiola” project, that was started in 2009, to specifically study the settlement patterns during the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and how these related with the ones existing before. After five campaigns, some differences in the rural settlement patterns have been identified, both geographically and chronologically. Lastly, the analysis of the written sources available, started in 2015, that ensures information about past land use, but also about political powers and major landowners were active in the area.
The combination of these will allow us to discuss themes like anthropic persistence and land reclamation practices after ecological crises, with a focus on the managing of the water drainage systems from Late Antiquity to Middle Ages. The relation between these phenomena will be investigated considering also social factors, like the direct influence on the countryside of a powerful city like Ravenna and the rise of hostile Communes during the Middle Ages.

http://www.workshop-gshdl.uni-kiel.de/wp-content/uploads/International-Workshop-Programm-2019-Part-1.pdf
In this paper we aim to present different data collected since 2002 during several research projects carried out by the Bologna University and focused on the rural and urban landscapes of the city of Ravenna (Northern Italy), the capital of the Western Roman Empire since A.D. 402. The main purpose is to analyze the transformations of an urban/rural complex network through different kinds of data and methods. The areas investigated are the lowlands of Ravenna, in the southeastern part of the Po Valley, between the Apennine Mountains and the Adriatic coast; this part of the Italian Peninsula has been characterized by intense geomorphological transformations in the past. The chronological range taken into consideration is short but significant: from the Roman period to the modern era. There are four main topics selected, analyzed with different types of sources: land use and land cover, evolution of rural settlement patterns, urban identity and its significance through history and palaeoenviron- mental transformations. One of the aims of the project will be to enlighten limits and potentials of using different kind of sources in the areas of interest: - Land use and land cover from XVI to XXI centuries will be investigated using historical cartography (e.g. using Pontifical Cadaster); - The evolution of the rural settlement patterns will be discussed looking at the data collected by two landscape archaeological projects, the “Decimano project” (2002-2006) and the “Bassa Romandiola project” (2009-2018); - Urban identity is well known in historical studies based on the written sources, but a different interpretation could be reached just analyzing historical evidence in relation to a wider network, including rural landscapes, geographic context and natural environment; - The palaeoenvironmental transformations will be studied through geoarchaeological and palaeobotanical approaches (e.g. coring and macro- and microplant remains analysis). The final aim of this project is to define a comprehensive management and interpretation method for different kinds of raw data. A multiscale approach will allow the use of those information to achieve a single framework for the evolution of a complex network, namely a capital city and its hinterland during the last two millennia.

Tour virtuale dello Scavo del Castello di Zagonara (Ravenna), campagna dell’anno 2018, indagato dal Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà dell’Università di Bologna a partire dal 2017 . Il castello venne fondato dal Comune di Faenza agli inizi del XIII secolo ai margini settentrionali del distretto cittadino . Naviga nello scavo del Castello, campagna 2018, al seguente link: http://bit.ly/Zagonara360°

Three hand augering campaigns were carried out between 2018 and 2020 in the hinterland of Ravenna, within the doctoral research of the executor,  to gain new insights into the physical transformations that occurred in the last 3000 years. Based on known archaeological and geomorphological data, and historical sources available, six case studies were selected to carry out targeted geoarchaeological research. The research was successful  in understanding landscape changes caused by alluvial phenomena, including rivers avulsions and flooding processes, which often led to the  reclamation of pre-modern marshlands.

DATA DI INIZIO DELLA CAMPAGNA 23 settembre 2019 DATA DI CONCLUSIONE DELLA CAMPAGNA 18 ottobre 2019 NUMERO MASSIMO DI PARTECIPANTI PREVISTO 8 REQUISITI DI PARTECIPAZIONE: CARRIERA STUDENTE Sono ammessi alla ricognizione gli studenti di Scuola di Specializzazione, Laurea Magistrale e Laurea Triennale, ma solamente se in possesso di: 1) attestato di frequenza dei corsi sulla sicurezza nei cantieri archeologici; 2) certificato d'idoneità alla mansione di archeologo (visita medica). RIMBORSO SPESE ALLOGGIO / VITTO / TRASPORTO Le spese per alloggio, vitto (colazione e cena nella struttura ospitante; pranzo al sacco) e trasferimenti interni saranno sostenute direttamente dall'organizzazione. Non è previsto alcun rimborso per le spese di viaggio o altre spese personalmente sostenute dai singoli partecipanti. SCADENZA PER L'INVIO DELLA CANDIDATURA 20 luglio 2019 MODALITÀ PER L'INVIO DELLA CANDIDATURA Compilare il modulo allegato e inviarlo all'indirizzo michela.defelicibus2@unibo.it DOCUMENTAZIONE DA ALLEGARE ALLA CANDIDATURA Oltre al modulo di domanda compilato e firmato, allegare: attestati di frequenza corsi sicurezza; certificato d'idoneità alla mansione; scansione carta d'identità. DATA DI PUBBLICAZIONE DEGLI ESITI DELLA SELEZIONE 31 luglio 2019 MODALITÀ E TERMINI PER ACCETTAZIONE O RINUNCIA Via e-mail entro il 10 agosto 2019 NOTE La campagna prevede un unico turno, con lavoro sul campo dal lunedì al venerdì compresi. Oltre alla ricognizione superficiale, vi saranno laboratori per la catalogazione e studio dei reperti e per la digitalizzazione su GIS dei dati raccolti sul campo. Coordinatore scientifico: dott. Marco Cavalazzi; Coordinatori delle attività sul campo e in laboratorio: dott. Michele Abballe; dott.ssa Michela De Felicibus.