We are very pleased to report that both our Field Supervisors in the first season at Monte Palazzi have given scholarly papers at the 1o8th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in San Diego (Jan. 4-7, 2007).

- Sara M. Palaskas (Ph.D. Candidate at UCLA) spoke on "Macedon's Mythic Propaganda in Sacred Spaces";

- Marian B. Visona`(BA with Honors, Brown University 2006) spoke on "Thin Walled Pottery from the ager Bruttius".

A copy of Marian's paper, which is based on the finds from The Mamertion Foundation's excavations at contrada Mella (Oppido Mamertina) until 2001, is available online.

In other news:  Dr. Paolo Visona` has been invited to join the Stanford Alpine Archaeology Project as the expedition's numismatist.  In August 2007, a team from Stanford University will conduct the first season of fieldwork aimed at locating Alpine campsites used by Hannibal's army before its descent into northern Italy.

Marian Visona will be giving a speech on thin walled pottery at the AIA annual meeting, on January 7th, 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm.

More information can be found here:

http://www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php?page=10300&action=display&sid=6A

Congratulations, Marian!

Here is an abstract of Marian's paper~

Thin-Walled Pottery from the Ager Bruttius

Thin-walled pottery began to be manufactured in the 2nd century BC, becoming increasingly popular in the Italian peninsula and elsewhere until its gradual disappearance in the 2nd century AD.  Yet little is known about the use and circulation of thin-walled wares in Italy south of the Bay of Naples. This paper aims to fill this gap in the archaeological record through an examination of the forms of thin-walled vessels from the late Hellenistic assemblages at contrada Mella (ancient Mamertion?) in southwestern Calabria.  It also seeks to establish a basis of comparison with thin-walled wares from other late Hellenistic and Roman sites within the region.  The ultimate goal of this project is to identify patterns of distribution and possible centers of production.

Located on a mountaintop at 1,215 meters above sea level, Monte Palazzi is one of the highest classical sites in the central Mediterranean.  The Greeks of Locri Epizephyrii built a fort here to watch the overland route from the Ionian to the Tyrrhenian seas.  This outpost seems to have been continuously occupied from the 5th to the 3rd centuries BCE.  Our goals for 2007 are to explore its layout and to gain new data on the life and culture of the settlers.



For more information on our 2007 dig, look under current opportunities in the "Volunteer Opportunities" section on the menu.

Dr. Paolo Visona` has issued a new report on the past archaeological investigations at the sites in Contrada Mella and Monte Palazzi.  The report can be found here for download as a Word file.  The report will be available for reading on the site in the coming weeks.


Please feel free to contact us with your questions at mamertion@prodigy.net

Between June 14 and July 4, 2005, The Mamertion Foundation completed the first archaeological investigations at the mountaintop site of Monte Palazzi, in southern Calabria. At 1,215 meters above sea level, Monte Palazzi is possibly the highest classical site within the region. 

Test excavations on the summit, which is thickly forested, have yielded the inner face of a perimeter wall built on granitic rock.  There is evidence that the site was disturbed by looters in recent years. 

The pottery finds suggest a period of occupation ranging between the late 6th and the mid- or late 3rd centuries BCE and consist largely of Greek finewares and storage vessels, including amphoras from Locri Epizephyrii, a major city c. 30 km. to the south on the Ionian coast.  Finds of kitchen wares and grinding stones seem to attest to the presence of a small Greek settlement, perhaps a garrison guarding the main overland trading route between the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian Sea. However, fragments of votive ceramics, figurines, and painted plaster do not rule out the possibility that Monte Palazzi may have been a frontier sanctuary in the Locrian hinterland.  We plan to test these hypotheses through a large block excavation next summer.