Satricum Excavation Flashcards
What do we know about the Volscans from the literary source?
The Volscan people arrived from the Lepini mountains, happebed after the Etruscan rule ended in 509 BCE. Rome turned into a republic.
346 BCE, Satricum destroyed by the Romans.
329 BCE, last Volscan town conquered by Romans.
Volscan people are unknown at this point
Why is it important to know about the geology of a site?
Important as it affects how artifacts are preserved, tells us which tools can be used for excavation and what can be found in those layers.
Ex. Limestone from Lepini tells us it must have been transported over a long distance at some point. Requires money, cart transportation, organization, etc.
Describe the topography of Satricum.
Town was south of Rome, had an earthen wall surrounding the city.
- Astura river flows around the city by the eastern wall.
- Town contains the SW and NW acropolis
Sediment types:
- Volcanic sediments of Volcano Laziale phase (700-300 thousand years old). Seen on both sides of Astura.
Stone types:
- Red tufa (volcanic) stone, yellow-greyish tufa stone, and limestone from Monti Lepini
Describe the excavation history (until 1996) of Satricum.
- Discovered 1896, excavated by Italians 1896-98 and 1907-10.
- 1977, Dutch excavations first done by university of Groningen and Dutch Institue of Rome.
- 1991, done by University of Amsterdam.
Mainly focused on temple of Mater Matuta on the acropolis
- Mater Matuta = Latin goddess, worshipped by Latini, Volsci, and Romans.
Italian teams discovered:
- Terracotta roof decoration of the temple.
- Archaic and Hellenstic votive deposit.
Excavation of the different phases of the temple only done in 1970s by the Dutch.
MOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERY = Lapis Satricanis
- Oldest known Latin description.
“The fellows of Publius Valerius have placed me here for Mars”
Describe the methods and techniques used in the 1997 excavation of Satricum.
Used a combination of wheeler box grid and open area excavation.
- Layers were not dug all the way down, instead 20cm was dug and then recorded, repeat.
- Field was divided into 5x5m (open area).
- No baulks used.
- Also had a large boulder to track the vertical time dimension.
Describe the results of the Satricum dig.
Redefined Chronology (4th-5th century)
Gained information on the construction of the roads and the building phases.
Found a bomb from WW2
What have the 1997 excavations taught us about the people of the Volscans, who supposedly occupied Satricum in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE?
