New (and freely accessible!) contributions on Vesuvian sites

I would like to draw your attention to some new contributions authored by the Apolline Project research group. For those who are not acquainted with this project, it operates since 2004, mostly on the ancient territories of Neapolis and Nola.

Its flagship component is the full excavation and study of the Roman villa with baths in the town of Pollena Trocchia. The main publication of the artefacts found there is now out, others on trade patterns have been submitted a long time ago and will be out soon. A glimpse of what we are up to recently can be seen here.

Since many years though, the project operates on many other sites as well. The Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples, which is one of the hosting institutions, requested some quick reports which recently have been published (unfortunately the composition done there has not been very careful, thus we are providing our error-free versions as well). These contributions include:

- A general report on the dig in Pollena Trocchia, with new data on the burials.
- A preliminary report on a suburban villa of Nola, noticeable especially for the pottery analysis.
- The study of a Medieval church (with Roman spolia) in the Nolan countryside.

We are also making accessible a contribution on the conservation and future planning for the archaeological sites of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae, and the so-called Villa of Augustus in Somma Vesuviana. The articles dates back to 2007, but I think it is still thought-provoking.

For those who are enjoying the British Museum exhibition and are curious about the Dionysiac relief from Herculaneum, my thoughts on that are available in this contribution (towards the end of it).

The complete list of our publications is available here, more frequent updates on what we are up to are on our channels in the social media.

The Apolline Project is an open network, if you want to join, contact us.

N. De Carlo, V. Castaldo, "Roccarainola, località Cammarano: una chiesa altomedievale e i resti di una villa romana",Annali. Università degli Studî Suor Orsola Benincasa 2011-2012: 245-278 [ISSN: 2037-5867] (official version) (error-free version)

M. Lubrano, G. Boemio, S. Sannino, “Note preliminari sulla villa romana di via Saccaccio a Nola”, Annali. Università degli Studi di Napoli Suor Orsola Benincasa 2011-2012: 219-243 [ISSN 2037-5867] (official version) (error-free version)

C.S. Martucci, G. Boemio, G. Trojsi, G.F. De Simone, "Pollena Trocchia (NA), località Masseria De Carolis. L'analisi dei reperti per la ricostruzione del contesto economico e sociale della villa romana", Amoenitas II (2012): 87-117 [ISBN: 978-88-240-1335-2]

G.F. De Simone, M. Lubrano, M. Torino, A. De Luca, A. Perrotta, C. Scarpati, La villa con terme di Pollena Trocchia in località Masseria De Carolis: architettura, abitanti, eruzioni, Annali. Università degli Studî Suor Orsola Benincasa 2011-2012: 195-217 [ISSN: 2037-5867]

So- called Villa of Augustus - Updates and Open Days

To celebrate the results of this year's fieldwork and share the new discoveries with the general public, the so-called Villa of Augustus will be open this weekend (6-7 Oct, 9am-5pm).
Since 2002, this annual event has constantly increased in importance among the locals and last year roughly 3,000 people visited the site in just two days.

The most interesting discovery of the year is probably the presence of ploughing furrows and footprints of animals which were escaping the eruption in AD 472.

If you are unfamiliar with the site, you can find a brief introduction (in Italian) here.
If you want to visit the site, you can its localisation here.
If you are curious about the local legends about the site, we collected them in this page.

Amoenitas - Journal on Roman Villas

The second issue of Amoenitas, the journal on Roman Villas published by the Istituto Poligrafico Zecca dello Stato, is finally out. This issue encompasses several articles on Vesuvian villas (click on the pictures below to read the table of contents).
The journal can be bought here, send a message to info@apollineproject.org if you want to receive a copy of Martucci et alii's contribution on the pottery assemblage from the villa with baths of Pollena Trocchia.

Vesuvinum 2012 - ancient and modern wine on the slopes of Vesuvius

Tomorrow, the 5th of September, will start the 5th edition of "Vesuvinum - I Giorni del Lacryma Christi", which is the most important event organised by Vesuvian wine producers.
Significantly, the opening ceremony will take place at the so-called Villa of Augustus in Somma Vesuviana, near the 2nd c. AD Dionysiac frescoes and stuccos and next to the late antique cella vinaria. On Saturday, a small conference on Roman agriculture around Vesuvius will take place at the Medici castle in the town of Ottaviano where also a photography exhibition on the archaeological sites of Somma Vesuviana and Pollena Trocchia is set. On Saturday and Sunday, visitors can book a visit to both archaeological sites.

With this event, we hope to create a stronger connection with wine producers and work together to engage the general public in preserving and promoting this neglected area.

On Dionysos and Vesuvius on this side of the volcano, see this contribution on Academia.edu

Two papers on Campanian late antique pottery

I would like to draw your attention on two papers we delivered recently. At the Late Roman Coarse Ware Conference in Thessaloniki, we used new evidence from the excavations in Naples and our sites on the North Slope of Vesuvius and Nola to reconstruct patterns of production and distribution of goods in Late Antiquity.
More recently we delivered another paper on social habits and cultural practices through the study of pottery and faunal remains (Keramos 2011).

Vesuvius' North Slope sites open today (Sunday)!

Sorry for the very late notice. In collaboration with the FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano), today (Sunday the 27th) I'm opening to the public the archaeological sites on the North Slope of Vesuvius, i.e. the post-79 Roman baths at Masseria De Carolis in Pollena Trocchia (see photo below) and the so-called Villa of Augustus in Somma Vesuviana. If you're around Vesuvius, please come. If you're not there yet, but you'd like to visit either or both sites in the next weeks or months, please get in touch with me and I'll open them for you (3395671190). If you want to see us in action, please come during the dig at Pollena, this Summer we'll run from the 13th of June to the 15th of July, with the usual nice mix of Oxford and Italian students.
All the best,

Girolamo Ferdinando De Simone

St. John's College, University of Oxford

North Slope of Vesuvius

I've recently edited a book on the NORTH slope of Vesuvius:

Apolline Project vol. 1. Studies on Vesuvius' North Slope and the Bay of Naples

You can read it for free on Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=O3mDanbZyI8C

or buy it:

http://www.ibs.it/code/9788896055007/apolline-project-ediz.html

I hope you'll enjoy it, if you want to know more about the excavations in Pollena Trocchia and Somma Vesuviana, please ask and I'll be glad to send more notes, articles, and pictures.

Vesuvius OnLine October 2009

The latest VesuviusOnLine is out, and includes the following:

• Pompei. "Torna la vite" negli Scavi archeologici
• Scavi di Oplonti: rivive il "verde" nella Villa di Poppea
• Pompei. Villa dei Misteri, nuove scoperte archeologiche
• Marigliano (NA): Alla luce un tratto della Via Popilia
• Somma Vesuviana (NA), Occhiali multimediale per la villa Augustea
• Un altra capanna preistorica a Nola (NA)

Vesuvius Online, March round-up

There's an interesting newsletter published on line once a month by this month's edition includes a few finds that passed me by. This is the table of contents:

• Boscoreale. Ritrovato affresco pompeiano di Villa Regina (Yes, they got the wrong villa!)
• Colorata l''Amazzone' di Ercolano
• A Pompei riciclavano i rifiuti (on proposed recycling facilities at Pompeii)
• L'ultimo 'garum' di Pompeii (recent analyses have shown that approx. 90% of Pompeian garum was made mostly from bogue - a type of sea bream)
• Un'altra capanna preistorica a Nola
• Somma Vesuviana, Nuova statue dalla Villa Augustea (incl. brief description of excavations at the villa by the University of Tokyo - looks really interesting)