Now
that I have stacked this blog with interesting, recycled bits, it’s time that I
write something now (as in April 7, 2020 at 5:03 p.m.). I want this blog to
focus mostly upon my experiences as an archaeologist and traveler, but I am
sure I will divert into music, ancient plagues, food, and other matters that
come to mind. Today, I want to write about one of my favorite archaeological
discoveries, a six-foot deep pile of rocks.
In
2005, I became involved in an archaeological project in central Italy, Ostia
Antica. Set at the mouth of the Tiber River as it empties into the Mediterranean
Sea, Ostia was the port-city of ancient Rome. The Romans used primarily concrete
and brick in their constructions in the 1st-5th centuries
AD; therefore, Ostia is very well preserved and well worth a visit once we can
all travel again.
The
project was organized by friends from the École Française de Rome. Our overall
mission was to study the construction history of the aqueduct and the history
and function of adjacent buildings. My role was to study all the archaeological
materials (pottery, glass, animal bone, etc.) and also to assist in supervising
the excavations. In the 2005 season, I recruited 6 students from John Cabot University,
where I taught for 10 years.
At
a certain point, one of my JCU students came over to me and complained that
they had a layer of rocks. I walked over to the trench, jumped in, and had a look.
There were indeed some rocks, all about 9-12 inches in rough diameter, but
there were also similarly sized chunks (yes, that is a technical archaeological
term) of concrete with patches of mosaic as well as portions of walls with
frescoes on the surface. Architectural rubble. OK, we were working in what was
a large city; this is something you might expect, but…. many of the fragments
were charred. I had an idea and instructed our students to keep digging.
Part
of my role as a materials specialist is to determine the date of archaeological
layers. A former colleague from Pompeii once said that I was like a slot
machine – insert a piece of pottery into my hand and cha-ching, you get a date.
So, as the students were excavating through the rubble, I had a look at the
material we unearthed from the layer just above the rubble. It was consistently
from about AD 80-90. My suspicion was right and I asked the students to keep
digging…ultimately to a depth of about 6 feet. In order to inspire them, I told
the students what they were digging and spent time helping them to clear the
rubble. One of them thought it was cool, the others not so much. I was thrilled
and told my French colleagues. They were interested, but clearly not as
thrilled as I was.
In
the year AD 80 there was a horrible fire in Rome (as devastating as the more
famous fire of AD 64 for which Nero blamed the Christians). The emperor at the
time was Titus and he began clean up efforts, but he died the next year and his
brother Domitian continued to clear Rome in order to build anew. What to do
with the thousands of cubic yards of rubble? Because Ostia was near a major
river at sea level, it was prone to flooding. Some genius administrator in Rome
thought to haul the rubble 15 miles downstream and raise the ground level of Ostia.
In
the many years working on archaeological projects, it was the first time I had
excavated a historical event. When I teach classes in Roman art and
architecture, I always tell this story and get the same reaction from students –
they are all amused, but one or two think it’s cool.
As
a post-script, this Castellum Aquae project was outstanding. We came up with
many important results and discoveries. We learned about the water supply of
the city and that some of the architectural spaces were shops, including a
butcher’s shop. In my study of the archaeological materials, I learned more
about ancient Roman trade patterns. One mystery remains…we never could explain
well the skull we found at the bottom of a trash pile.
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