The ancient landscape of a Mediterranean island Franco Cambi, Laura Pagliantini Foto: Franco Cambi, Gianluca Pucci, Alessandro Puorro, Leonardo G. Terreni 1

The Isle of . The ancient landscape of a Mediterranean island

Aithale and the Elba Island excavation campaigns: Monte Castello di (A. Both the Isle of Elba and the whole , Maggiani, Soprintendenza Archeologica); Castiglione di which includes it, feature an extraordinarily rich ar- San Martino and Villa della Linguella at (O. chaeological heritage. But despite of such a richness in Pancrazzi, University of Pisa); archaeo-metallurgic site pieces of evidence, the studies are still incomplete and of Monte Serra at Rio nell’Elba (R. Francovich, Univer- lacking curatorial input. Moreover, there are just few sity of Siena). Excavations were carried out along with accomplished researches available, which haven’t been surveys (F. Cambi, A. Corretti, G. Traina), setting up of properly edited so far. One of the most prolific period museums and exhibitions. The Etruscan Study Con- in the history of archaeological research on Tuscan is- ference “L’Etruria mineraria”, taken place in 1979 (4), lands is that following great flowering of Enlighten- was the occasion to make the point on historical and ment thought , between the French Revolution and the archaeological issues of the Island, first of all the an- first years of Restoration (1). The spread of Positivistic cient cycle of iron production. The Conference was fol- thinking in the second half of the 19th century brought lowed by an exhibition organised by G. Camporeale in significant researches (mainly in prehistory) about Elba 1985 for the year of the Etruscans (5), which was the and . During the industrialisation period (open- first step for the planning of the future Museo Archeo- ing of the mines and of the blast furnaces in Portofer- logico of Portoferraio, inaugurated in 1988 thanks to raio, the two world wars and fascism) and throughout the second post-war period, research stuck. The re- sumption of archaeological research occurred with the excavation at the Roman villa of Le Grotte, conducted by Giorgio Monaco from 1960 to 1972 (2). In these years, leading archaeologist at the Isle of Elba was the honorary Inspector Gino Brambilla, mainly engaged in underwater archaeology (3). Since the late 1970’s there have been extensive researches, including the following

1 Panoramica dei menhir cosiddetti 2 Cuspidi di freccia in selce, calcare “I Sassi Ritti”, pendici sud del mon- e diaspro dalla Grotta di San te Capanne nei pressi di S. Piero Giuseppe, museo di Rio nell’Elba in Campo 2 12 MILLIARIUM The ancient landscape of a Mediterranean island

4-5 Tombe protostoriche con stele 3 Caratteristico vaso a “fiasco” ene- menhir della necropoli di Piane olitico, dalla “grotta di S. Giuseppe”, della Sughera, pendici sud occiden- museo di Rio nell’Elba tali del Monte Capanne 3 the indefatigable work of O. Pancrazzi. The opening of the Museo Archeologico del Distretto Minerario di Rio nell’Elba, some years later, drew the attention of schol- ars on issues about the eastern part of the island and its rich mineral field (6). This Museum houses important archaeological finds from the excavations of San Ben- nato (Cavo), Capo Castello and of Cima del Monte, con- ducted by S. Ducci (Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeo- logici della Toscana) with the cooperation of many and enthusiastic volunteers. A third Museo Archeologico, opened in the village of , was in recent years rearranged and updated. In the early 2000’s, the activities carried out by uni- versities slowed down, but luckily they were balanced by urgent work conducted under the supervision of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana (S. The ancient landscapes of the Isle of Elba. Ducci, M. Firmati) and by the laudable support of skilful volunteers. Prehistory and proto-history of the Isle of Elba The inconsistent archaeological research on the Isle of Elba seems to be much more marked if compared with The earliest traces of human habitation in the island the extraordinary blossoming of archaeological investi- were in the middle Paleolithic, as some settlements gations of the same years (1998-2010) in the opposite (probably camps) of the middle-eastern area would area around , in the sectors of preservation, confirm. research and enhancement, but with particular concern The little presence of neolithic settlements might be due for communication (7). to weak research protocols utilized. Though, this scarce data shows how, right in this period, the island had its first, more permanent habitation and better developed trade exchanges. 4 The great technological innovations of metallurgy in the 3rd millennium started an age marked by deep eco- nomic and social changes. The eneolithic communities of the island seem to have early exploited the mineral

5

Article in english Artikle auf deutsch ubersetzt www.milliarium.it/elba/art2.html MILLIARIUM 13 6

resources, in particular the copper deposits found in several places of the island. The copper was probably used to make numerous bronze artefacts, like the ones unearthed in the burial cave of San Giuseppe, at Rio nell’Elba (fig. 1). The cave is the burial site used by sev- eral generations of a village between the late 3rd and the early 2nd millenniums BC. The population seems to have a culture very similar to that of the Italic commu- 7 nities of and Upper Latium. The anthropologi- cal study of the remains (about 90 individuals) helps set based on farming, aimed at producing milk, meat and this people in a society, whose wealth originated from a leather as well as at exploiting the small copper veins, as thriving economy. indicated by the presence of some bronze artefacts near The early and the middle Bronze Age seem to be lacking the settlements and of real “storerooms” with axes and on the island. The human presence is remarkable in the decorative objects found in areas with copper outcrops. last centuries of the Bronze Age. Numerous settlements Their geographical and altitude position is a sign of the are known thanks to surface surveys. The highest density great strategic importance of these conurbations, whose of villages in on the western side, with a particular con- inhabitants had the control of the area and of the sea, centration in the area of Monte Capanne and of Monte since they must have been involved in trade exchanges Giove. The economy of the small villages was mainly with the seamen of the Mediterranean.

8

14 MILLIARIUM The ancient landscape of a Mediterranean island

9

6 Veduta della spiaggia delle Ghiaie a Portoferraio/porto Argon 7 Spiaggia delle Ghiaie, particolare dei ciottoli costituiti dalla rarissima 9 Discarica di scorie di ferro nel aplite con inclusioni di tormalina quartiere manifatturiero della nera spiaggia di 8 Panoramica di Punta Capo 10 Museo della Linguella, reperti Bianco, Portoferraio etruschi dal relitto di Montecristo

closer. The Ellenic imprint on the island results from the many objects of Greek production or origin, which were found both in the excavations and in the ship- wrecks as well as in some place names. The name of the island is certainly of Greek origin: Aethalia, or Aithale, is the “sooty” island, with a clear allusion to the fumes of the smelting furnaces or at the colour of the dark bulk of the island that could be easily seen from the Between the Bronze and the Iron Age, when towns sea by the seamen of the past. The chromatic element originate away from here is even more important in other place names featuring the opposite colour. In fact, on Elba there are two Capi Already the Phoenicians, the Etruscans and, among Bianchi, “White Capes” (Portoferraio and Porto Azzur- the many peoples travelling in the Mediterranean, the ro), a Punta Bianca , “White Point” (Capoliveri) and a first Greek settlers saw the extraordinary importance of Spiaggia delle Pietre Albe, “Beach of the White Stones” this basin both for the mineral resources and for sail- (Pomonte). These ‘white’ places must have clearly stood ing. As early as the 8th century BC, when merchants out to those who sailed in the archipelago, for a con- from Euboea settled on Ischia, contacts got closer and trast effect with the “soot-coloured” shore (8). Moreo-

10

MILLIARIUM 15 The ancient landscape of a Mediterranean island

11 Museo della Linguella, boccale- attingitoio in bronzo di epoca 12-13 Tratti murari della fortezza etrusca dalla necropoli del Profico, d’altura etrusca di Monte Castello Capoliveri di Procchio 11

ver, the ancient literary tradition features a Porto Argoo, which has often been identified with the present town of Portoferraio. Diodoro Siculo and Strabo explain the origin of the place name with Jason and the Argonauts, who stopped their ship Argo at Aithaleia in search of the golden fleece. The Greek heroes are said to have given the island a name (Porto Argo) in a place character- ised by a particular white stone, and there they might have performed sport competitions. The sweat released from their bodies should have flecked the white stone with black spots, making it unique. Actually, this type of stone is to be found not only in the historical centre of Portoferraio but also in its vicinity: on the promontory of Capo Bianco, on delle Ghiaie beach and on the hill of Lazzeretto, situated in the port area. This rock, aplite with inclusions of black tourmaline, is area and of Sardinia started to look for both sources very rare in the Mediterranean, which would confirm of mineral supply and for the techniques necessary to that myth and geology match (fig. 2). But the interest- improve the veins and to transform the minerals into ing point is that the attribute “argo”, in Greek, actu- semi-finished products and so into objects and tools ally refers to the reflecting or shining white colour of (9). Another important aspect is that as early as the ori- arg-ento (silver), so not to a neutral bright colour (for entalising age the copper of the Campigliese area at- which they would have used the adjective “leukòs”) but tracted the Greek merchants, boosting the trade of the to a sort of silvery surface. The hypothesis of an early iron from Elba. exploitation of the iron of the island by the Greek set- tlers seems to be quite likely, possibly through the pres- ence of some noble Etruscan families from Caere. Any- way, the Greeks as well as the peoples of the Phoenician

12

16 MILLIARIUM The ancient landscape of a Mediterranean island

13

The Etruscans at the Isle of Elba the materials of the coeval tombs in Populonia, seem to demonstrate that permanent Etruscan settlements As early as the 8th-7th centuries BC, the Isle of Elba oc- originate from the military control of Populonia. Har- cupies a prominent position in the geopolitical context bours like Marciana Marina and Portoferraio seem to of the Mediterranean area, where it is disputed by the be closely linked to Populonia. Fragments and traces main powers. of iron from Elba appear more and more frequently in The documents about the Etruscan frequentation of the many sites of the Tyrrhenian coast and in Campania as island between the mid-7th and the mid-6th centu- early as the 6th century BC. The mining activity prob- ries BC need further in-depth analysis. From cultural ably started in the previous century. The uncertainty evidence, it results that this frequentation was linked about dating these remote activities is due to the in- to the towns of the coastal Etruria, first to Vetulonia dustrial excavations for the recovering of old slag, which later to Populonia. Due to the lack of well-established throughout the 20th century were performed on the information from excavations of built-up areas, which relics of the ancient iron and steel productions, often are of uncertain location up to the classical age, the damaging and altering the material and archaeological reconstruction of the landscapes in the archaic age can traces. only be based on the cultural elements inferable from Around the end of the 5th century BC people from the grave goods. The objects found at the necropolis Populonia started to build fortresses on high ground of of Magazzini, which feature strong similarities with both the mainland and of the island. They represent a very important element to understand what the land- scape of Elba was like in the classical and Hellenistic ages. These small, but important defensive structures rise in a period of military and political uncertainty. In the mid- 5th century, the expeditions of the Syracusans to the northern Tyrrhenian Sea represented a clear sign of the loss of control over this sea by the Etruscans and of the decline of many towns of coastal Etruria. In this

14 Museo della Linguella, Kylix etrusca 14 MILLIARIUM 17 The ancient landscape of a Mediterranean island

15 Museo di Rio nell’Elba, brocche etrusche sovradipinte

15

depressing time, Populonia, along with its territory, is the only town that still thrives. This enduring prosperity is likely to be the waterways. At the present state of knowledge, result of a new negotiation with the town of no built-up area has been located. So it is likely Syracuse. The fact itself that Populonia starts the that the population concentrated in small settlements issue of coins in the mid-5th century with a weight gravitating around the fortresses. system very similar to the one of Syracuse reinforces The horizon of the fortresses on high ground of Elba the belief that the town had its important place in this is closely related to those of the mainland, and in both context and in this period, maybe entrusting Populonia cases the phenomenon originated from the need to with the control and the defence of the mines. control the coastal and insular supply fields, sailing, the The need of a military defence of the area led to the circulation and the distribution of goods. establishment of a network of small fortresses built on The first phase of the fortresses seems to end with high ground and linked one to another. The purpose of their structures burnt and collapsed in a fire, occurred this system was to defend all the internal communica- between the beginning and the middle of the 3rd cen- tion channels of the island as well as the harbours and tury BC. It is difficult to state whether these dramatic the sea routes. The surveys conducted on settlements of events are a consequence of a Carthaginian action right this type have often been difficult and unsatisfactory before the first Punic War against Rome, or more likely, both because of low visibility and of the great changes a Roman intervention during the conquest of northern that the landscape of Elba underwent. The fortresses Etruria. being stratigraphically investigated, Monte Castello at The landscapes of the Roman period Procchio and Castiglione at San Martino, must have The Romans called the Island “Ilva”, from which the been the hubs of small areas and districts. In the vi- present name derives through the medieval term Ilba, cinity of the fortresses are small iron production areas, since according to tradition, the Ilvates, a people of Lig- as evidenced by the presence of big slag heaps both urian origin, would colonize it in ancient times. near the coast and in the small valleys or along the

16

16 Museo della Linguella, ancora in piombo di epoca romana, dal relitto di S. Andrea 18 MILLIARIUM The ancient landscape of a Mediterranean island

17 Museo della Linguella, macine di epoca romana, dal relitto di S. Andrea

The data of the excavation on the beach of Baratti (11), where a district inhabited by blacksmiths and met- alworkers was located, allows to assume the existence of a well-organized iron cycle, ranging The fortresses on high ground destroyed were rebuilt, from ore roasting to reduction and from this to the pro- and according to survey data it is likely that their net- duction of semi-worked bars, probably working tools. work increased and became better organised, still con- This almost complete cycle on Elba is proven by the trolling the coasts for at least another century. excavation of the settlement at San Bennato near Cavo, In the first half of the 3rd century BC, the archipelago but the context needs further investigation. is probably in the sphere of Roman influence. The con- After the hardest stage of the first Punic War and of quest and the subjection of Populonia are to be related the conflict against Hannibal (218-202 BC), in the early with the victory of Lucio Cornelio Scipione over Volt- 2nd century BC, the island of Elba and Populonia are erra in 298 BC. Following this victory, Cornelio might the core places of a further industrial revolution. The have headed towards the coastal areas and so towards end of the second Punic War starts renewed Roman ex- Populonia. In 283 BC another Cornelio (Publio Cornelio pansionism in the Mediterranean Sea, so increasing a Dolabella) defeats the Gauls and the Etruscans at Lake feverish demand for iron. The blacksmith district in the Vadimone and in 282 Q. Emilio Papo (10) defeats the Gulf of Baratti, devastated by the installation of fur- Boi tribe, allies of the Etruscans, probably near Vetu- naces for the reduction of iron ore, would work for the lonia. Roman expansionism on coastal Etruria, which whole 2nd century BC (fig.3). The activity is so hectic is reflected on trade goods of Roman and Latium pro- that it results in an astonishing dumping ground. On duction found in the excavations, led to demolish the the Island, metalworking is as feverish and disorganised, Etruscan defensive system. while the mines are more and more exploited and the The first Punic War, broken up some years later rep- island has lost most of its woods. resented a crucial event for many reasons: the naval The difference with the past is that now the working cy- and mercantile character of the conflict; the closeness cle, both on Elba and in Populonia, includes ore roast- of the Punic bases of Sardinia; the instability of the institutions of Etruria due to the Roman conquest. In 259 documents record some raids of Roman ships in 18 Corsica, led by a Cornelio, son to the consul victorious at Volterra forty years before. The role of the big noble descents has still an important weight in the rule of the imperialistic strategies. As the Aemilii, the Fabii, the Aurelii, the Valerii, for some time also the Cornelii are the leading gentes in the political and military actions against Etruria. From the 4th century BC the furnaces for the produc- tion of iron mineral seem to be of a certain importance on the mainland. The production areas concentrate in the region of the Gulf of Baratti, while the built-up areas seem to be located farther, at about two Roman miles from the wall circuit of the town. From the second half of the 4th century up to the late Republican Age, the hinterland features a growing number of people, who dwell in relative large houses or in hamlets, a sign of the widespread exploitation of farming in the plains.

18 Museo di Marciana, anfore di epoca romana dal relitto di

MILLIARIUM 19 Elbafortificata

19 20

ing and reduction but not production of semi-worked San Giovanni were members of the powerful gens of tools, which on the contrary are made in other manu- the Valerii, who had properties and economic interests facturing areas (12). on the opposite coast between Populonia and Vetulo- This improved stage of iron production lasts for about nia. The property probably belonged to Marco Valerio a century up to the end of the 2nd or the first two Messalla, a typical aristocrat of his time: first a brave decades of the 1st centuries BC. By the end of the 2nd warlord, then a princeps senatus and finally guardian of century BC, when the fortresses are abandoned, new the arts in the Augustan Rome. Later the property must settlements are founded in the plain, which is now per- have passed to his foster son Aurelio Cotta Massimo manently inhabited: the presence of these sites, where Messalino, adopted by one of the exponent of the Aure- iron production goes with farming, seems to indicate lii, once builders of the most ancient Roman road in the a transition phase, in which the areas with the ancient Tyrrhenian region and probably related with the Aemilii military fortified centres took on the political and ad- for long. Cotta Massimo hosted Ovidio before the poet ministrative control. went in exile to the Black Sea in 8 AD. At the beginning of the 1st century BC, mining activity These villae were meant for otium and delectatio rather undergoes a considerable fall and later a suspension of than for fructus and diligentia. Enormous and perpoli- activity due to a variety of factors: the purchase of new tae, the maritime villae built on the island from the mid- mines (Spain, Norico, Sardinia); the erection of villas; 1st century BC clearly represent the outcome of a long the supposed decision made by the Roman Senate to period of extremely favourable economic conditions for prohibit mining activity on Italic ground. The strong the senatorial aristocracy, who flourished thanks to ore slow-down and the interruption of ore iron working are mining and iron production that declined right when evident in the excavation layers on the beach of Baratti the construction of villae started. The end of intensive as well as at San Giovanni, in the harbour of Portofer- exploitation of the mines in the region around Cam- raio. piglia and of Elba along with the fall of demand for The latest research was started in 2012 with the purpose vegetal fuel and for coal led to the extinguishment of to prove the presence and the incidence of the ancient iron manufactures on the island and on the mainland. furnaces for the reduction of iron ore, as recorded in The only evidence of a Roman village on the island is many archive documents. But the excavation has not the little town of Fabricia, so called by scholars of the yet brought to light the remains of the furnaces, which 18th century, now mostly buried below the present his- presumably are still buried under the late-Republican torical centre of Portoferraio. layer. After 100 BC, in this important part of the gulf of From the late 1st century BC, the ancient sources at- Portoferraio a farm or a rustic villa was built (researches test the establishment of a first housing unit in the area are still ongoing) for the production and storage of wine now occupied by Portoferraio (Fabricia), whose major (fig.4-5-6). It might be the pars rustica of the above ly- urban development during the middle imperial age, in ing Villa delle Grotte, constructed, according to the De conjunction with considerable expansion and restora- re rustica, before the pars urbana. In the wine cellar of tion of the Villa della Linguella, seems to be related to San Giovanni the wine meant for the table of eminent the exploitation and trading of granite, outcropping in figures of the Senate fermented, who built and used the the western part of the island. Villa delle Grotte for their otia: readings, conferences, The dynamism of sea trade, with the Isle of Elba and its shows, philosophical lectures, refined banquets. The ports, is evident as early as the mid-3rd century AD: the villa was abandoned following a fire the 1st century AD. islands of the archipelago still represent a fundamental The owners of the Villa delle Grotte and of the farm of hub for the trade routes between Rome and the western

19 Portoferraio, i resti della villa 20 Cavo, , il promontorio 21 Il promontorio della villa ro- 22 Resti di canalizzazione di epoca romana della Linguella visti dal della villa romana di Capo Castello, mana delle Grotte visto dalla villa romana dal poggio del Lentisco, traghetto visto dal traghetto della Linguella a Portoferraio villa di Capo Castello a Cavo

20 MILLIARIUM I paesaggi antichi di un’isola mediterranea

21 provinces, along which travelled the wine produced in the Narbonese Gaul, the oil and the fish sauces from southern Spain, oil, garum and dried fruit from north- ern Africa. The presence of materials imported from Africa, Spain and from the Provence region in the vicinity of harbours and of small settlements developed on the remains of Roman villas attests the still vital activity of Elba’s sea- ports in the overseas routes up to the late 6th cen- tury AD and a continuous inhabitation of some areas, probably due to their morphological features and to the closeness of landing places. The Roman villae of Linguella, of Le Grotte and of Capo Castello, abandoned at the end of the 3rd century AD, were still inhabited in the late antiquity, as attested by the discovery of ceramic finds datable to the late 4th and the early 6th centuries AD, by the traces of some structures built in non-durable materials and by some burials. This evidence can be attributed to small com- munities settled in the ruins of the villas, whose main activity was farming and probably robbing too, but also, considering the monastic evidence and the type of inhabitation on other is- lands of the archipelago, to groups of hermit monks, whose arrival might be related to the escape of St. Cerbone on the island.

MILLIARIUM 21