Welcome to the portion of our website dedicated to the finds (artifacts). On this page you can find information related to the artifacts found at all three of our sites: the Gioiella Villa, Ranciano, and Via Belvedere. The goal of this section of the TRAP digital museum is to explain how we find and document artifacts, along with an explanation of each find’s category, including pottery, building materials, and small finds.
During excavation, archaeologists are always finding some kind of cultural material left behind by the people who used to occupy the space. Each material can tell the archaeologists specific information relating to the nature of the site and the time of its use. In order to get accurate information about the site from these artifacts it is important for archaeologists to have a good system for documenting them in the field.
If someone pulls a coin out of the area where they are digging, they can’t just put the coin in their pocket and take it to the museum later. If that happened then the context of where the coin was found might be lost. Instead, there is a system in place for what to do with finds in the field. At every trench there is a finds bin, which is a plastic tray with information marked on it like the site name, the trench name, the current layer that is being excavated, and the date. This way anyone going through the finds in this bin later at the museum knows exactly where it came from.
Then, in the bin the artifacts are placed in separate bags. A coin, for example, would be in a bag all on its own, with further information marked on a slip inside. The site, the trench, the layer, the date, along with more specific information like a description of the coin and a description of the layer it was found in, along with a marking of where exactly in the trench it was found. If all of this information is recorded immediately in the field, then there is no chance of confusion later on.
Once a finds bin is complete—meaning when the layer in the trench has been fully excavated—then the bin can be taken up to the museum where the finds will be washed and sorted. Then they will be entered into the cataloging system so that if someone in the future wants to go back and look at a find from a previous year, they can easily find it.
To learn more about each specific type of find, you can explore the tabs below.
Pottery comprises the vast majority of objects recovered on any archaeological site. Roman pottery can be divided into several categories based on the quality of the clay, the thickness of the vessel, its decoration and surface treatment, and its shape. Combines, these features can indicate a vessel’s function, and its date and place of manufacture. Pottery styles changed over time, and workshops in different locations used different clay and styles. Thus, even a fragment of pottery—especially a part of a rim, handle, or base— can tell us about trade and social relations, and about the chronology of the site.
Roman Fine Wares: Vernice Nera, Sigillata, and Pareti Sottili
Fine ware pottery was generally used for dining and display. About 10% of the pottery recovered from the Gioiella Villa can be considered fine wares. From 400 BC to the end of the Roman Republic, vernice nera or black-gloss ware was the preferred table ware in Italy. The presence of vernice nera at the Gioiella-Vaiano Villa is an indication that the site was originally occupied in the 2nd century BC.
Around 40 BC, a glossy red-slipped ware is introduced at Arretium. This is commonly referred to as Sigillata Italica and eventually various workshops emerge in Italy and the provinces. In addition to applied and relief decoration, sigillata italica, is often stamped with the name of the workshop. We have several examples of such stamps from workshops in Arretium. Sometimes the stamps are in the shape of a foot, called an in planta perdis.
Despite the proximity of sigillata workshops at Arretium, the Gioiella-Vaiano Villa was also importing sigillata from North Africa (sigillata africana). This variation became popular in the 2nd Century AD. Its presence at our Villa is another indication of the owners interest in acquiring luxury items from across the empire.
Another type of table-ware represented at the Villa is, pareti sottili, or thin-walled pottery. This type of pottery is made from fine clay with few inclusions and the surface usually has only a simple slip or varnish (not the glossy treatment of vernice nera or sigillata). The most common forms are drinking cups and bowls. Further study of the examples from the Gioiella-Vaiano Villa is necessary to determine where this type of pottery was made.
Common Wares: Serving and Storage Vessels, and Cooking Pots
The most prevalent pottery at the Gioiella-Vaiano Villa are Common or Coarse wares. These are undecorated functional vessels produced of a clay matrix mixed with temper, i.e., inclusions of crushed rocks and minerals. The nature of the temper depends on the intended function of the vessel. For example, cooking pots, which need to resist high temperatures, will have a high quantity of volcanic material in the clay matrix.
The combination of the clay and the temper forms a unique fabric. Common wares are usually made locally, with local clay, and it is possible that there was a kiln at the Villa itself. In 2019, we initiated a project to analyze the fabrics used for the common wares found at the site. This involved making thin-sections from a variety of pottery fragments (over 300). These are now being studied at DePauw University to identify both the petrographic and chemical composition of the fabrics. The results will allow us to determine which pots were made locally and which ones were imported and whether this changed over time, and the methods of production employed (for example the temperature of the kiln).
Amphora
In the Roman period, large amphora were used to transport agricultural products across the Mediterranean, in particular wine, oil, and grain. While the general shape of the amphora is standard across the Mediterranean—a narrow rim and neck, a wide body, a pointed toe, and two handles for carrying—the specific style of the handles, the rim, and the toe, as well as stamps on the handles or neck, indicate its place of origin. The amphora fragments from the Gioiella-Vaiano Villa are still being studied, but a few pieces stand out. For example, in 2019, just above the floor of the nymphaeum, we found the preserved rim and partial handle of a Rhodian wine amphora; evidence that the owners connections with the luxury world of the high Imperial period.
During excavation, it is common that we find pieces of brick and stone that used to be a part of the building. Over time the building collapsed, and the pieces ended up inside. Sometimes we might find building materials from other parts of the site. For example, Via Belvedere is on the side of a hill, and material tends to move down slope, so building material from one terrace might end up on the one below it. But what types of building materials are they, and what can they tell us?
Walls The walls of the Roman buildings at the TRAP sites are made out of a mix of brick and stone material. Romans used multiple different materials for their walls, and the use of each material varied depending on the style of the structure. One example is the opus reticulatum style which is made out of stone cut into a diamond shape called cubilia; walls made with these stones would have had a diagonal grid pattern. Romans also mixed the cubilia with long somewhat thin bricks, which often signals to archaeologists that the architecture is changing. So, along with cubilia, bricks can be found in the fill from collapse of the structure above. The Etruscans on the other hand used larger stones than the Romans in building their walls, and while the stones were cut by the builders, they tended to have more irregular shapes. Examples can be seen in images below.
Roofs Another building material that we commonly find while excavating are roof tiles. These tiles were made out of terracotta and were efficient in keeping the interior of buildings clear and dry. There are two types of roof tiles: tegulae and imbrices. The tegulae were large flat pieces of terracotta with raised edges on two parallel sides. They would have been lined up on the roof with the bottom edge overlapping the top of the next one going down. Then the imbrices, long slender pieces shaped in a semicircle, were placed over the raised edges of the tegulae. Thus there was no way for water to get inside, as every crack between tiles was covered. The buildings at our sites no longer have roofs; however, during excavation we find roof tiles which are evidence of the roofs that were once there.
Floors The final building element found during excavation are floor tiles. These are made of terracotta, just like roof tiles. The difference is that they are flat, heavy, and much thicker than roof tiles.
An important note about tiles is that they can have stamps on them, and we have found examples of this at our sites (see below).
The “Small Finds” category is broad as it includes any small find beyond pottery and building material that contributes to our understanding of the site.
Coins
Tesserae
Worked Bone
Gems
Explore Finds from the Gioiella-Vaiano Villa:
Explore Finds from Ranciano:
Explore Finds from Via Belvedere:
Trasimeno Archaeology Digital Museum 