Between mid-eighties of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium, archaeology in Pisa experienced a thriving period of investigations in urban context that profoundly redesigned the appearance and redefined the role of the city in the pre-Roman age. In fact, Pisa, long believed to be a Ligurian settlement although with tardive Etruscan cultural acquisitions, it has instead turned out to be an Etruscan centre since its most ancient origins. The city was fully integrated into the commercial traffic of the entire Mediterranean basin thanks to its strategic position and the immediate availability of valuable resources, such as the Apuan marble. Among the investigations, which are still largely unpublished, a work of particular relevance is the one done between 1985 and 1988 in Piazza del Duomo in the sector called saggio D (sounding D), located just to the east of the Leaning Tower: this area constituted the core of the urban settlement in Etruscan and Roman times, lapped northwards by a river today disappeared, the Auser. The excavation, carried out by the Archaeological Superintendence for Tuscany in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Pisa, brought to light a stratigraphy articulated without interruption between the Archaic age and the end of the Imperial age (6th century BC - 5th century AD). This archaeological deposit included a complex sequence of buildings, oriented according to the cardinal axes along a north-south road axis, and physically superimposed on each other in more than one occasion. The site was occupied at least since the second half of the 5th century BC with structures and installations compatible with an area with a sacred vocation. Between 3rd and 2nd century BC, a series of transformations to which natural and anthropic factors seem to concur are recorded: this change corresponds to the period when Rome definitively took control of northern coastal Etruria, following the wars against the Ligurian populations. In terms of archaeology, the excavations allowed to identify a modification in the use destination of this sector of the ancient city as the main consequence: the area now acquires a residential connotation, although respecting the ancient road axis and the orientation of the previous buildings. The aim of this work is to provide systematic analysis and to catalogue the archaeological findings of the Hellenistic age recovered within the saggio D, in addition to a more detailed reconstruction of the stratigraphic sequence in the period between the mid-4th and the mid-1st century BC. With regard to the ceramic repertoire, there is significant novelty compared to the data available up till now: on one hand, ceramics classes still unknow for Pisa are attested for the first time, especially, the Etruscan early-Hellenistic fine productions and some categories of amphorae; on the other hand, in more general terms, the specimens recovered in the excavations between 1985 and 1988 significantly supplement the quantitative data relating to all the ceramics productions already documented in the urban and territorial context. From the above evidences, it is possible to confirm that the Hellenistic age represented a very prosperous period for the city. Firstly (half IV-mid-III century BC), Pisa played a vital role whitin the Etruscan commercial circuit known as facies dei porti, where it did not constitute simply a stage, but a pole of redistribution towards the Etruscan and Ligurian centers of Versilia and of the internal territory. Subsequently, following the maritime domination of Rome obtained at the end of the first Punic war, the city’s role continued to be relevant and strategic for the wars against Gauls and Ligurians, and for the trades directed towards the western Mediterranean.
Uno sguardo su Pisa ellenistica da piazza del Duomo. Lo scavo del saggio D 1985-1988
Emanuele Taccola
2019-01-01
Abstract
Between mid-eighties of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium, archaeology in Pisa experienced a thriving period of investigations in urban context that profoundly redesigned the appearance and redefined the role of the city in the pre-Roman age. In fact, Pisa, long believed to be a Ligurian settlement although with tardive Etruscan cultural acquisitions, it has instead turned out to be an Etruscan centre since its most ancient origins. The city was fully integrated into the commercial traffic of the entire Mediterranean basin thanks to its strategic position and the immediate availability of valuable resources, such as the Apuan marble. Among the investigations, which are still largely unpublished, a work of particular relevance is the one done between 1985 and 1988 in Piazza del Duomo in the sector called saggio D (sounding D), located just to the east of the Leaning Tower: this area constituted the core of the urban settlement in Etruscan and Roman times, lapped northwards by a river today disappeared, the Auser. The excavation, carried out by the Archaeological Superintendence for Tuscany in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Pisa, brought to light a stratigraphy articulated without interruption between the Archaic age and the end of the Imperial age (6th century BC - 5th century AD). This archaeological deposit included a complex sequence of buildings, oriented according to the cardinal axes along a north-south road axis, and physically superimposed on each other in more than one occasion. The site was occupied at least since the second half of the 5th century BC with structures and installations compatible with an area with a sacred vocation. Between 3rd and 2nd century BC, a series of transformations to which natural and anthropic factors seem to concur are recorded: this change corresponds to the period when Rome definitively took control of northern coastal Etruria, following the wars against the Ligurian populations. In terms of archaeology, the excavations allowed to identify a modification in the use destination of this sector of the ancient city as the main consequence: the area now acquires a residential connotation, although respecting the ancient road axis and the orientation of the previous buildings. The aim of this work is to provide systematic analysis and to catalogue the archaeological findings of the Hellenistic age recovered within the saggio D, in addition to a more detailed reconstruction of the stratigraphic sequence in the period between the mid-4th and the mid-1st century BC. With regard to the ceramic repertoire, there is significant novelty compared to the data available up till now: on one hand, ceramics classes still unknow for Pisa are attested for the first time, especially, the Etruscan early-Hellenistic fine productions and some categories of amphorae; on the other hand, in more general terms, the specimens recovered in the excavations between 1985 and 1988 significantly supplement the quantitative data relating to all the ceramics productions already documented in the urban and territorial context. From the above evidences, it is possible to confirm that the Hellenistic age represented a very prosperous period for the city. Firstly (half IV-mid-III century BC), Pisa played a vital role whitin the Etruscan commercial circuit known as facies dei porti, where it did not constitute simply a stage, but a pole of redistribution towards the Etruscan and Ligurian centers of Versilia and of the internal territory. Subsequently, following the maritime domination of Rome obtained at the end of the first Punic war, the city’s role continued to be relevant and strategic for the wars against Gauls and Ligurians, and for the trades directed towards the western Mediterranean.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
