Villa Magna: an Imperial Estate and its Legacies: Excavations 2006-10 (Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome)

The evocative site of Villamagna, rising in lovely solitude against the steep wooded backdrop of the Monti Lepini, has enormous importance; but its imperial villa, known from the letters of Marcus Aurelius, has been largely ignored until recently, with interest focusing upon the medieval monastery that occupied the site. This volume presents the fascinating story of the site, from imperial villa, to a late antique successor, monastic complex, village, cemetery and late medieval castrum. Detailed, systematic study of the site and setting by noninvasive techniques and excavation has offered the scope to address a series of major questions; and the results are interpreted, setting them in the context of the documentary history of the site and its immediate neighborhood, and of the broader history of central Italy, from around the first century through to the fourteenth. Each period of the site is considered separately, with the buildings described and the related finds (including pottery, glass, bones and environmental data) discussed.
The volume will be of great importance for all scholars of Roman and medieval Italy.

Table of Contents

List of figures. List of plates. List of tables. Conventions used in the text; basic chronology of phases. CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION; Elizabeth Fentress. Acknowledgements. CHAPTER 2. HISTORY, MEANS AND ENDS. Previous work on the site and the origins of the current project; Sandra Gatti. The history of the excavation; Elizabeth Fentress. The means: how the data were recovered. Geophysical survey; Sophie Hay. Excavation techniques; Elizabeth Fentress. The excavation and dating of the cemetery; Corisande Fenwick. Environmental sampling; Kevin Williams. ARK and the digital record; J. Andrew Dufton. The publication; Elizabeth Fentress, Caroline Goodson and Marco Maiuro. CHAPTER 3. DOCUMENTS RELATING TO VILLAMAGNA, ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL AND MODERN. The letters of Marcus Aurelius and other Roman sources for the villa and its territory; Marco Maiuro. The Villa Magna letters of Marcus Aurelius to Fronto; translated by Margaret Andrews. Documents relating to the monastery of San Pietro in Villamagna; Caroline Goodson. The earliest document relating to Villamagna; translated by Margaret Andrews. Textual sources for the study of Villamagna in the early modern period; Gioacchino Giammaria. . CHAPTER 4. THE SETTING. Field survey and the landscape of the villa; J. Andrew Dufton and Raffaele Laino. The environment of Villamagna through time; Robyn Veal. Previous structures in the area of the villa; Elizabeth Fentress. CHAPTER 5. THE VILLA. The estate of Villa Magna. The evidence for the plan of the villa. The geophysical survey; Sophie Hay. The plan of the villa; J. Andrew Dufton. Water supply and drainage; Ismini Miliaresis and Nicola Cavalieri De Pace. The southern cistern complex at site FIV; Ismini Miliaresis. The eastern cistern complex; Nicola Cavalieri De Pace. The drains; Ismini Miliaresis. The nymphaeum; Nicola Cavalieri De Pace. The building materials. The dating of the villa: brickstamps and masonry styles in the winery and the residence; Seth Bernard. Timber; Robyn Veal. Other building materials; Margaret Andrews. The sculpture; Ann Kuttner. The imperial winery, Area A. The plan of the building: layout, circulation, decoration and changes over time; Dirk Booms, Andrea Di Miceli, Elizabeth Fentress, Roberta Ferritto, Federica Pollari and Janine Young. The architecture of the winery; Dirk Booms. Objects from the winery; Beatrice Cernuta. The dolia; Candace Rice. The glass from the winery; Birgitta Hoffmann. The barracks, Area D. The history of the building; Margaret Andrews and Serena Privitera. The road; Serena Privitera. The barracks; Margaret Andrews and Serena Privitera. The infant burials; Margaret Andrews. The area of the barracks over time: a gate and Room 17 (c. 350–450); Margaret Andrews. The interpretation of the building; Margaret Andrews and Serena Privitera. Objects from Area D. Metal and bone objects; Elizabeth Fentress and Ryan Ricciardi. An imperial gem; Giuseppe Castellano. The dolia; Candace Rice. Querns, weights and food production; Tyler Franconi. Coins; Marco Maiuro. The pottery. Assemblage chronology and character, with a detailed consideration of the coarse-wares; Mihaela Ciausescu. The lamps; Elizabeth Fentress and Gioia Gaianigo. The African Red Slip ware; Candace Rice. Roman glazed pottery; Ilaria De Luca. The Roman amphorae; Mihaela Ciausescu. Consumption and trading connections; Mihaela Ciausescu. The glass; Birgitta Hoffmann. The faunal remains; Emily Holt. The infants: osteology; Samantha Cox. Roman buildings in Area B: the imperial residence. The courtyard and the buildings to the north of it; Elizabeth Fentress. The brick building; Corisande Fenwick. Conclusions: the Roman villa in its context. Villa Magna and the agrarian landscape: second to fifth centuries; Marco Maiuro. The Emperor and his estate; Elizabeth Fentress. CHAPTER 6. THE ESTATE IN THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH CENTURIES. The reconstruction of the estate. The sixth-century church and cella vinaria; Elizabeth Fentress. The reoccupation of the barracks (sixth and seventh centuries); Margaret Andrews. The sunken-floored buildings; Elizabeth Fentress. Timber structures in Area D; Margaret Andrews. The pottery. Pottery of the sixth and seventh centuries; Darian Marie Totten. The Byzantine amphorae; Mihaela Ciausescu. The Late Roman and Byzantine glass; Birgitta Hoffmann and Barbara Lepri. The faunal remains; Emily Holt. The Byzantine estate; Elizabeth Fentress. CHAPTER 7. THE MEDIEVAL SETTLEMENT. Villamagna in the Middle Ages; Caroline Goodson. Villamagna in the Early Middle Ages; Caroline Goodson. The reoccupation of the winery; Caroline Goodson. The church and its context in the Early Middle Ages; Caroline Goodson. Early medieval liturgical fragments; Megan McNamee. Pottery of the ninth century; Giorgio Rascaglia. The monastery of San Pietro in Villamagna and its village. The monastery and its church in their context; Caroline Goodson. The excavated buildings; Caroline Goodson. The cosmatesque pavement; Megan McNamee. The villa of Villamagna between the tenth and thirteenth centuries; Darian Marie Totten. Pottery of the tenth to thirteenth centuries; Giorgio Rascaglia. Glass from the area of the church, monastery and cemetery; Barbara Lepri. The faunal remains from the medieval village; Emily Holt. The castrum; The buildings of the Later Middle Ages; Caroline Goodson. Pottery of the fourteenth century; Giorgio Rascaglia. Objects from the castrum; Tyler Franconi. Medieval coins; Marco Bianchi. The medieval cemetery. The cemetery and burial practices; Corisande Fenwick. Objects from the church and the cemetery; Caroline Goodson and Archidio Mariani. The human remains; Francesca Candilio, Samantha Cox and Erika Nitsch. Demography; Francesca Candilio and Samantha Cox. Population variability; Francesca Candilio. Palaeopathology; Francesca Candilio. Infants and children; Samantha Cox and Francesca Candilio. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis; Erika Nitsch. Conclusions. A peasant village in a world of castles (eleventh to thirteenth centuries); Sandro Carocci. Villamagna in the Middle Ages; Caroline Goodson. CHAPTER 8. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS: THE VILLA AND ITS WORLD; Elizabeth Fentress. APPENDIX 1. THE NOTES OF HENRY STEVENSON JR, BAV, VAT. LAT. 10573, FOLS 114–15; Sandra Gatti. APPENDIX 2. THIN SECTION ANALYSES OF POTTERY FROM VILLAMAGNA; Claudio Capelli, Roberto Cabella and Michele Piazza. References. Editors’ addresses. Index.