The Architectural Reuse of Roman Marble and Stone Spolia in the Early Medieval Monte Sorbo Church (Sarsina,Central Italy)

We present the results of a multi‐method archaeometric study concerning the architectural elements reused in Monte Sorbo church (Sarsina, central Italy) between the eighth and ninth centuries AD . The provenance study has focused on classical marbles and stones, which clearly do not originate from the local Apennine geological formations and are thought to come from extra‐regional sources. A large fraction of the tested marbles is from Asia Minor, coming from both the Proconnesian district on Marmara Island and, probably, the Hasançavuslar site near Ephesus (Greco scritto). Of the four remaining marbles investigated, one is from the Carrara district and three are from different Greek quarrying areas, such as Mount Pentelikon (Athens) and the Thasos and Paros islands. The data also highlight the reuse of decorated gravestones made of Pietra di Aurisina as architectonic elements. This limestone is a fossiliferous carbonate stone outcropping in the Trieste Karst region (north‐eastern Italy), which was exploited by both the Romans and the Byzantines. The assignment of all of the columns of the central nave to the same source area provides an argument in favour of their provenance from a single monument, which was probably located in Sarsina or Ravenna, with the ‘colourful taste’ that is typical of the late Antonine and Severian periods.     

Exploring the Dynamics of Delegation Over Time: Insights from Italian Anti-Corruption Agencies (2003–2016)

According to classical literature on delegation in the regulatory state, independent regulators are established to enhance the credibility of regulatory policies. In that regard, anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) are peculiar not only because they deal with extremely salient issues, but also because they receive delegated competencies from the government as the “principal” while, at the same time, the government is their regulatory target. How do governments manage regulatory reforms to strike a balance between gaining credibility as “principals” and possibly losing credibility as targets? Drawing from insights on historical institutionalism, this article undertakes a qualitative longitudinal analysis of organizational change regarding ACAs in Italy, where these kinds of agencies are particularly relevant to political leaders. The findings shed light on delegation as a dynamic process for which multiple factors intersect over time.     

Provenance of marble sculptures and artifacts from the so-called Canopus and other buildings of “Villa Adriana” (Hadrian's villa – Tivoli,Italy)

The results of a minero-petrographic and isotopic study carried out on the marbles of statues and architectural elements belonging to several buildings on the “Hadrian's Villa” site (the so-called Canopus, the Peschiera, the Sala dei Pilastri Dorici and the Serapeum) are presented here as part of an ongoing archaeometric project which considers the determination of the provenance of all the marble decorations of the Villa complex. Analytical data indicate the prevailing presence of marmor lunense and the use of Pentelic and Thasian marbles for architectural elements in a few parts of the Sala dei Pilastri Dorici, the Peschiera and the Serapeum; no significant use is made of Proconnesian marble, probably the most inexpensive of the time. Analysis of sculptures from the Canopus showed that those of the Tiber and Nile gods were made of Parian marble, the Caryatids and Telamons of Pentelic marble and the Amazons of the precious white Dokymaean marble.     

3D reality-based artefact models for the management of archaeological sites using 3D Gis: a framework starting from the case study of the Pompeii Archaeological area

This work describes the procedures, the different techniques and the pipeline used for creating a digital framework that should assist the Superintendence of Pompeii in the digital reconstruction, classification, management and visualisation of archaeological finds inside an advanced 3D web-based repository of reality-based data. Specific topics have been focused on the quality assessment procedures adopted to ensure consistency and reliability of data throughout the whole 3D models acquisition and pipeline creation, as well as on the particular semantic reality-based structure adopted to develop an information system into a knowledge one. The main purposes of our framework have been the usage of 3D digital models as a restitution of the real object and as a metaphor for navigating through the data; 3D models were used as archaeological cognitive systems and developed as a collection of structured objects, identified through a precise terminology that allows to easily extend the concept of 2D GIS to 3D GIS. In addition, the system was developed as a scalable application that allows the use of the same database by different users, simply filtering the data according to the specific requirements, and can operate both as standalone and web-based application.     

Lidar mapping and surface survey of the Izapa state on the tropical piedmont of Chiapas,Mexico

Recent lidar and pedestrian surface surveys have remapped the well-known Mesoamerican site of Izapa and the surrounding Soconusco piedmont. These data document: 1) occupation from the surrounding piedmont environment, 2) significantly larger estimates of the site's size during both the Formative and Classic periods as well as 3) new architectural features from the monumental site core. Methodological issues are outlined for combining high precision lidar mapping with ground truthing and pedestrian survey that focuses on surface collection of temporally diagnostic artifacts. Results are presented for 670 mounds documented in an area of 43.1 sq km in and around the ancient capital of Izapa.     

In the footsteps of George Orwell: Patrick McCarthy as Italian correspondent for Tribune, 1978–1980

Abstract

This paper examines Italy's contribution to the United Nations (UN) and how effective this has been in protecting Italian interests. The first part outlines the areas where Italy's input to the UN has been most relevant in terms of ideas, policies and participation, such as for example the campaign to ban the death penalty and its participation in collective security through participation in UN peacekeeping missions. This paper also highlights the critical role that Italy's long-standing positions on UN reform and the enlargement of the Security Council have played in defining Italy's status in the international community, and asks whether there have been significant changes in the traditional Italian position and its loyalty to the UN and, more generally, to the multilateral system. The second part analyzes the origin and rationale of Italy's policies toward the UN and their effectiveness in defining and defending the national interest. It explores the idea that these policies have been determined by the ‘institutional multilateralism’ of the Italian Constitution, the ‘genetic multilateralism’ of the Italian society and the ‘forced multilateralism’ of Italy as a middle-range power. Italy's positions on the UN and its reform are examined in the light of claims that Italy's foreign policy reflects its ‘complex of exclusion’ and presumed lack of influence in the ‘major stakes’ in world diplomacy.     

Roman Millstones from Orvieto (Italy): Petrographic and Geochemical Data for A New Archaeometric Contribution

The probable site of extraction and production of Pompeian‐style leucite‐bearing millstones, singled out by Peacock (1980, 1986) in the vicinity of Orvieto, and the outcropping of the ‘Leucitophyre’ lava have been systematically studied employing standard petrographic and geochemical methods (optical microscopy and ICP–AES/MS spectrometry). The combination of petrochemical data, previously very poor, allowed us definitively to exclude the possible ‘overlap’ of phonolitic and tephri‐phonolitic lavas from other Quaternary Volcanic Districts of Latium, and provides a helpful tool for future work on leucitite millstones. Consequently, the databank obtained has been used to attribute the origin of five Roman millstones discovered in three archaeological sites in central Italy (Latium and Marche). It has also been useful to verify the geological provenance of some Sicilian and French leucitite millstones analysed by previous workers. The results point to a provenance from the Orvieto area, with the exception of the millstones from Sicily, for which a different origin was hypothesized.     

The use of white marbles for sculpture in Roman Gortyn (Crete) as revealed by archaeometric analyses

Gortyn was an important Cretan town from the late Archaic to the Hellenistic period and then became one of the provincial capitals of the Roman Empire. It controlled the whole of Crete and Cyrenaica and was a flourishing centre of trade and agricultural products in the first centuries of our era. In more than 100 years, many portions of the Greek and Roman town were unearthed under the supervision of the Italian Archaeological School of Athens and a considerable number of stone artefacts found, many of them made of imported marble since the local variety was grey and of poor quality. Statuary and other prestigious marble sculpted artefacts found in Gortyn were sampled and subjected to archaeometric examination (by way of optical microscopy in thin section, powder X-Ray diffraction and mass spectometry for the determination of the C and O isotopic ratio) in order to identify the quarries they came from. The results obtained from the analysis of several dozen white marble objects have indicated the use of a quite wide variety of species including Parian (from Lakkoi), Pentelic, Thasian (dolomitic and calcitic) and (occasionally) Proconnesian marbles. The first three, especially Pentelic, were used for most of the statuary.     

Representative archaeological finds of <Emphasis Type="Italic">pietra ollare</Emphasis> from Comacchio (Italy): identifying provenance and high-T mineral breakdown reactions hindering lithotype classification

Three different lithotype groups have been recognized in representative fragments of pietra ollare artefacts found in the mediaeval archaeological excavations of Comacchio (Italy). Petrographic, mineralogical and chemical compositions clearly show that Valchiavenna and Valmalenco, in the Central Alps, represent the provenance areas of two of the pietra ollare groups, i.e. grey carbonate talc schist (also known as soapstone) and green chlorite schist, respectively. The third representative pietra ollare group consists of whitish-yellowish rocks inferred to be Alpine talc schists that have suffered some artificial pyrometamorphic transformation hindering their classification in the framework of pietra ollare lithotype categories and source localities reported in literature. A distinguishing feature of these high temperature-fired (HT-fired) talc schist samples is the occurrence of talc and chlorite dehydroxylation and subsolidus reaction products, mainly protoenstatite/enstatite + forsterite, together with relatively low loss on ignition values. These talc schists might have been exposed to temperatures >900 °C (with the resulting talc dehydroxylation producing a void-rich texture), but never reaching 1200 °C, which is the sintering temperature for soapstones. The whitish-yellowish artefacts were definitely not used as containers for cooking food at temperatures below or around 500–600 °C (as instead shown by the preservation of the original physical features of the grey pietra ollare lithotypes), but in some kind of higher-T pyrotechnological processes.