Archaeology in Sardinia and South Italy 1995-2001

Abstract

INTRODUCTION General. Although post-Hellenic matters are excluded by definition from the following pages, I feel bound to begin my last Italian contribution to AR by commenting on the clarion call that concludes a survey by E. Curti, E. Dench and J.R. Patterson of recent trends and approaches in the Roman archaeology of Central and S Italy (JRS 86 [1996] 170-89): 'We have been forcibly struck ... by the sheer volume of publication on the archaeology of the regions of Italy and are conscious that this survey only covers a small part of it, both in geographical and in chronological terms, and before long will in part have been made obsolete by new publications. The regular [emphasis in original] publication of a volume of Archaeological Reports on Italy (on the model of those on Greece produced by the Hellenic Society) by an appropriate scholarly body or journal would be of immense value to all those working in the field and beyond.' The first sentence transcribed above can still, six years on, be applied with no change to my own survey of pre-R affairs in the two areas considered here. The second is less easy to transplant. The experience of many years suggests that Romanists who work in Italy know their own business best, but I suspect that for them, as for their colleagues with protohistoric and C interests, the last few years will be remembered above all for a considerable increase an authentic and (let us hope) irreversible sea-change in general access to reliable news and well-informed discussions. For some, increased accessibilty is symbolized by the wealth of relevant and seriously informative websites (of which I have indicated a selection in the pages that follow), and by the detailed and reliable news that is often yielded by the submission of an archaeological toponym to any good search-engine. Others will rejoice in the continuation of the invaluable bibliographical service provided by BTCGI (AR 1994-95, 75), under the direction now of U. Fantasia (since 1999) and C. Ampolo (since 2001). Vols. xiv (1996) and xvi (2001) take the site-index from Pitigliano to Roncoferraro, via a number of major and minor centres that have been treated here over the years (e.g. Pomarico, Poseidonia [Paestum], Reggio Calabria, Riace), and more besides (e.g. Pompei, Ravenna, Regisvilla [the port of Etruscan Vulci], Roma limited, exceptionally, to matters arising from the traditions surrounding the urbs as polis hellenis; xvi, 343-54; and see too G. Vanotti, MEFRA 111 [1999] 217-55); vol. xv (1999) classifies the 1991-1995 crop of general works by subject and author. Also on the practical front, while G. Colonna's longstanding regional 'Scavi e Scoperte' rubric in the Florentine journal Studi Etruschi has now ceased publication (StEtr 61 [1995] 421), the effectively similar service offered by the official Ministerial Bollettino di Archeologia (AR 1994-95, 75) goes from strength to strength, although its immediate usefulness is now seriously impaired by the persistent time lag between its dates of issue and of 'finito di stampare': BdArch 13-15 (1992 [1995]); 16-18 (1992 [1995]); 19-21 (1993 [1996]); 22 (1993 [1996]); 23-24 (1993 [1998]); 28-30 (1994 [1999]); 35-36 (1995 [2000]); the fascicules not listed here consist of monographs that are not relevant to the areas covered below.