The publications of the roof-tiles from Acquarossa, Poggio Civitate and San Giovenale have left a number of issues in need of further discussion. Besides three sections of special character (1, 4, 6) and two concentrated on tile dimensions (3, 5), the article centres around five questions of more general interest: contacts between the early Etruscan/Latial and Campanian terracotta industries (2), problems connected with the eaves (7), damage to and repairs of the roofs (8), manufacture and price of the tiles (9) and the socio-economic background of the diffusion and breakthrough of the tile-roof (10).
Carl Fredrik Fredenheim’s excavation in the Roman Forum in 1788−1789, which paved the way for the discovery of the Basilica Giulia in 1848, has been acknowledged as the first modern archaeological work in Rome. Although his findings had been published by 1795 in an essay by the Alsatian scholar Jérémie-Jacques Oberlin, the project’s innovative methods were only recognized and appreciated in the 20th century. This article questions why this is so by exploring the way in which Fredenheim’s project was printed and illustrated. It concludes that the impact of the publication as originally planned was compromised because of the effects of the French Revolution on the lives of the three men involved: Fredenheim himself in Stockholm, the printmaker Francesco Piranesi in Rome, and Oberlin in Strasbourg. As a result, not only were the publications difficult to access, but some were without illustrations. This article argues that these illustrations were seminal in making Fredenheim’s science-based archaeological process visible. They utilize novel graphic conventions that indicate the process of measured digging and the position of the most valuable or useful artifacts.
The recently discovered traces of an Etruscan wooden bridge may reveal the oldest known bridge construction on the Italian peninsula. The Spina bridge at San Giovenale holds significant importance for understanding early architecture, building techniques and infrastructural practices. Functioning as a vehicular viaduct, the 30-m-long structure spanned the Dogana gorge, connecting the Casale Vignale necropolis with the Spina area on the settlement plateau. Etruscan remains along the roads leading to the bridge were utilized to establish its chronology. Tentatively dated to the second half of the 7th century BC, the bridge is contemporaneous with Rome’s legendary Pons Sublicius—a structure traditionally recognized as Italy’s oldest bridge, though no extant archaeological evidence corroborates its existence. This context renders the San Giovenale site unparalleled. Early scholars doubted the existence of such a long bridge, positing that access to the Spina plateau was achieved via a ramp. Proponents of the bridge hypothesis, meanwhile, faced a lack of physical proof. The present study confirms the existence of these remains and demonstrates how they illuminate both the original construction and perhaps the bridge’s diverse functions.
