Riviera Di Rimini Travel Notes Ancient Rimini Archaeology Trails by Land
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cop_archeo ENG 5-02-2009 17:43 Pagina 1 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K edizione inglese www.riviera.rimini.it www.cultura.provincia.rimini.it I - 47900 Rimini, piazza Malatesta 28 tel. +39 0541 716371 - fax 783808 Archaeology trails by land and sea trails Archaeology Ancient Rimini Provincia di Rimini Provincia alla Cultura Assessorato Turismo al Assessorato di Rimini Provincia alla Cultura Assessorato Turismo al Assessorato Riviera di Rimini Travel Notes Colori compositi cop_archeo ITA ok 3-06-2008 11:54 Pagina 2 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Colori compositi Provincia di Rimini Assessorato alla Cultura Assessorato al Turismo Angela Fontemaggi Orietta Piolanti Ancient Rimini Archaeology trails by land and sea Coordination: Valerio Lessi, Sonia Vico, Marino Campana, Francesca Sancisi Graphic design: Relè/Tassinari Vetta Photographs: Photo library, Assessorato al Turismo Provincia di Rimini (Provincial Tourism Department) Photo libraries of the Museums included in the Guide Fernando Casadei, Emilio Salvatori, Pierluigi Siena Cover: Rimini, Augustus Arch; Orpheus (detail of the mosaic in the Surgeon’s House) Page layout and printing plates: Litoincisa87, Rimini Licia Romani Translation: Gillian Forlivesi Heywood, Link-up, Rimini Printed 2009 Our thanks to Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Emilia Romagna (Regional Archaeology Superintendence) Contents Introduction page 5 Angela Fontemaggi, Orietta Piolanti The Mark of History page 7 Angela Fontemaggi In Search of Primitive Man page 7 The Etruscan Princes of the Marecchia Valley page 9 Ariminum: the Founding of a City page 12 Caput Viarum page 14 The Territory page 15 The city of Ariminum page 17 The Domus of Ariminum page 19 Itineraries page 22 Orietta Piolanti 1. In Search of Primitive Man page 23 2. Tokens of Power: the Etruscan Princes of the Marecchia Valley page 29 3. Tokens of Power: Military Leaders and Roman Emperors in the History of Ariminum page 32 4. Caput Viarum page 36 5. The Archaeological Site in Piazza Ferrari: a Miniature Pompei in the Heart of Rimini page 43 6. From One Domus to Another page 50 7. Natural Resources and the Labour of Man: a Modern Economy Rooted in Tradition page 57 The Ancient World Festival page 62 Museums and Archaeological Sites in the Province of Rimini included in the itineraries page 64 5 Ancient Rimini. Archaeology trails by land and sea. Introduction Angela Fontemaggi, Orietta Piolanti The itineraries in this guide will take you through the history and geography of Rimini and its territory, at times moving beyond the borders of Rimini Province to touch a broader horizon of human and cultural contacts. The byways of archaeology sometimes cross nature trails or food and wine routes, coming into contact with local economic and productive realities rooted in very old traditions, revealing little by little the real identity of places which the tourist industry has made known the world over. If we follow in the footsteps left by mankind throughout the long journey from pre-history to the late ancient age, we can discover the most genuine heart of Rimini (Roman Ariminum) and the nearby countryside, and gain understanding of that appearance and character which has always had a vocation for hospitality, being by turns a way stage and a crossroads for different cultures, or a gateway open to Imperial conquest and lively trade, or a major road junction linking the north to the south, a bridgehead between Rome and Europe. And as we follow the traces still remaining, we can admire monuments which take pride of place in any handbook of history or architecture; we can follow roads first trodden by ancient populations and later developed by Roman consuls and emperors, admire bridges built with immense engineering skill, and discover those treasures, great and small, which make each of the museums in the territory of Rimini the protagonist of a page of our human history. We can even go inside a Roman domus and discover its secrets. And when you stop for refreshment, you might like to remember how many hostelries and post houses could be found in the towns and along the roads in Roman times, and enjoy the pleasures of ancient hospitality and traditional flavours. Turning our attention from the land to the sea, the suggested itineraries make up a mosaic of opportunities promoting contact with local culture, enhancing human and natural resources, underlining the topical aspect of the ancient world and offering spaces for learning and for play, for enjoyment and for socialising, through the various visits and workshops organised by the local Museums. There is something for everyone: for families, for children, for adults, for lovers of cycling, and not forgetting the non-sighted or partially sighted. The proposals which follow are not an exhaustive overview (this would be impossible!) of the immense archaeological potential of the Province: our intention is just to hold a “magnifying glass” to the most lively and original aspects, suggesting paths of exploration to take you right to the heart of the origins and the authentic spirit of this far corner of Romagna. Above: border of the procession, from “Anubis” mosaic Palazzo Gioia (detail). (detail). Below: Rimini, Municipal mosaic showing a Museum. 7 Ancient Rimini. Archaeology trails by land and sea. The Mark of History Angela Fontemaggi In Search of Primitive Man The history of Rimini begins … on the beach! Let us go back in time: close your eyes for a moment and then open them again … a million years ago: we would find ourselves in a lagoon setting, on a sandy beach with dunes; here and there the gravelly estuaries of rivers and streams. At our back, woodland: pine and fir trees alternating with dense grassy vegetation, then oaks, poplars, birches, spacious clearings all along the coast, the marks of a temperate humid climate, a world traversed by the shadows of large mammals (elephant, rhinoceros, bison), followed by groups of men, hunting. Our journey to discover the roots of the oldest population takes us inland, to an offshoot of the Romagna Apennine foothills, the present-day hill of Covignano. About a million years ago, this was coastline, washed by the sea covering that plain where the city of Rimini would later stand. The sea, advancing and retreating by turns, has determined the morphology and geology of the place, stratified in sandy and gravelly sediments. Against this background we follow the traces left by ancient Man in the most remote of the Stone Ages, the Lower Palaeolithic. So says the important deposit of worked stones found in 1968 by Stefano Sabattini and later examined by well- known scholars. This discovery confirms in many ways the palaeontological information brought to light in a number of sites in the region, chief among them Monte Poggiolo, in the Forlì area. The stones chipped on one or two sides (choppers and chopper-tools) are the products of a real “industry” set up by homo erectus, skilled in working the flints picked up at the river mouth or along the river beds as he travelled from one place to another: this is clearly shown by the numerous chippings produced by hard, decided blows given by hands obviously expert at converting ordinary stones into efficient hunting tools and rudimentary implements. Choppers and stone splinters off the nucleus become weapons and tools invaluable for survival in an age when Man was a hunter and a gatherer of the fruits offered freely by Nature. There are tokens confirming the presence of mankind throughout the territory of Rimini for the entire Stone Age, a vast stretch of time marked by changes in Chiselled flints. Riccione, Local History Museum. 8 climate and environment. The objects in worked stone found in Riccione and the Conca Valley, dating from a later period in the Lower Palaeolithic age (from 200,000 to 150,000 years ago), show more developed working techniques intended to differentiate the tools required for various everyday activities: from hunting to slaughter of the prey, from breaking bones to working skins, from gathering roots and fruit to building primitive shelters. The new Stone Age (Neolithic) which spread along the Adriatic coast and reached the Romagna area at the end of the sixth millennium B.C. brought with it a cultural revolution defined first by new ways of hunting food, using new techniques for working stone, which was no longer simply chipped but also polished and sharpened; and second by the introduction of pottery. In his millenary experience as a hunter and predator Man had learned the rules and rhythms of Nature, the practice of sheep-farming and primitive forms of agriculture. Alternating periods of nomadism with progressively longer periods of stability, determined by the rhythms of animal breeding and agriculture, individuals made up minute communities, simple conglomerates of huts equipped for the shelter of men and beasts. In these little villages which grew up along water courses, cheese making and agriculture developed, side by side with industry for the production of progressively more specialised tools and the manufacture of that pottery which had become indispensable for preserving and transporting milk, cheese and seeds. There are fragmentary but significant tokens giving a window on the daily life of Neolithic settlements: pottery decorated with engravings, baked clay (the plaster of huts built on wooden frame supports), tools made from flint (razors, sharpened points, scrapers), shells used to make necklaces and pendants. The archaeologically documented presence of Man along the coast (and especially near the one-time water’s edge) in the Neolithic Age confirms the vocation of the territory south of Rimini as a “hinge” between the cultural traditions of the Po Valley Plain and the peninsula, a lively scene where even in pre-historic times people from different traditions and cultures came together.