A Classical Landscape: Rural Archaeology at Metaponto Author(S): Joseph Coleman Carter Source: Archaeology, Vol
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A Classical Landscape: Rural Archaeology at Metaponto Author(s): Joseph Coleman Carter Source: Archaeology, Vol. 33, No. 1 (January/February 1980), pp. 23-32 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41726815 Accessed: 28-07-2015 18:41 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Archaeology. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Tue, 28 Jul 2015 18:41:57 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Plan ofthe late fourth century B.C.phase of Fattoria Stefan , thebest preserved farmhouse excavatedto date in thechora of Metaponto.It is locatedabout eightkilometers from the city wallsalong the central division lineof the territory between the Bradanoand BasentoRivers. Reconstructiondrawing of FattoriaStefan. The farmhouse plan,like contemporary ones, reflectsthe practical demands of agriculturalproduction and providedcomfortable living space.Bedrooms would have occupiedthe second story. A Classical Landscape Rural Archaeology at Metaponto by Joseph Coleman Carter rural life has aroused littleenthu- tryside.The pictureis variegatedand complex. siasm among classical archaeologists,who, The territorywas home for the homestead Greek reinforcingthe bias of the ancientsthem- farmer,the wealthyaristocrat and veryprobably selves,continue to emphasize the importanceof the slave. Yet rural life was not merelya pale re- the city.Consequently almost nothingis known flectionof citylife. Countrydwellers here, al- about those who lived outside the walls of the though theyhad strongcultural ties to the city, polis.After five years of intensivework at sites in developed distinctiveways which show up clearly the territory- the choraaround the Greek colonial in theircemeteries and sanctuaries. site of Metaponto in Basilicata,southern Italy- Metaponto was certainlynot unique in the I am convincedthat this city-centeredview is seri- Greek world. Other citiesalso had inhabitedter- ously one-sided. What is emergingfrom excava- ritories.A few archaeological studies over the tions of rural sanctuaries,farm sites, industrial years have recorded the human imprinton the establishmentsand burial grounds is considerable classical landscape in widelyseparated regions of - evidence of permanentsettlement in the coun- the Greek world on Delos in Atticaand the Januaiy/February 1980 23 This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Tue, 28 Jul 2015 18:41:57 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Plan ofthe terrority orchora of Metaponto between the Bradano and BasentoRivers. The grid of division lines has been datedin itsfirst phase to about 585 B.C.At a laterdate the territory expanded to the southwest. The dots indicate rural sites. Crimea (Black Sea), and in southern Italy and Sic- to correspond to regular parallel depressionsin ily.They stronglyindicate that permanentfurai the ground some 200 metersapart, stretching settlementwas a major factof Greek life fromthe back fromthe citywalls about 1 1 kilometersinto sixthcentury b.c. onward. The idea of citiesand the interior.Although intensiveagricultural de- major sanctuaries,however, has remained firmly velopmentin the area has removed many traces, rooted in the minds of classical archaeologists.As theycan stillbe observed in certainareas. A dozen a resultone shall continue to read in general years ago, Dinu Adamesteânu, then Superintend- studies,perhaps for a verylong time to come, that ent of Antiquitiesfor Basilicata,organized a com- Greek farmersdid not live on the land, but com- prehensiveexploration of the territoryusing the muted daily fromtheir homes in the cityor village photographs as a framework.In addition to the (home)to the fields.Although no historianignores division lines, he noted a large number of smaller it entirely,few admit that rural settlementswere dot-likeanomalies. Surveyof the areas indicated anythingmore than an occasional phenomenon by the dots revealed concentrationsof ancient roof resultingfrom special circumstancesof economic tiles and potterywhich he believed to be the re- change or geographical conditions.The coun- mains of farmhouses.The total area covered by tryside,it is persistentlyargued, did not have these sites was approximately6,500 hectares(or enough springsto support a large population, and 15,600 acres), which includes the originalterritory thereforeonly the lowestclasses Would have lived between the Bradano and Basento Riversand its there far fromthe city'scomforts. later extension to the Cavone River in the direc- The resultsof excavation at Metaponto pose tion of ancient Herakleia near the coast, some 20 the most serious challenge, so far,to the accepted miles to the southwest.Full or partialexcavations view. As early as 1959 aerial photographyof the of over two dozen of these sites,as well as of some territoryhad revealed an almost unique survival which did not appear on the photographs,have of Greek land divisionsimilar to Roman centuria- confirmedAdamesteanu's hypothesisthat they tion: a grid of lines, parallel "anomalies," proved were ancient farmhouses.Originally there may 24 Archaeology This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Tue, 28 Jul 2015 18:41:57 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions have been as many as 400 farmsitesin the terri- unpublished work of our colleagues at other sites tory.Although a number of the excavationshave in the territory,the resultsof the University'sex- been salvage operations,representative sites were cavations at Pizzica, Saldone, Incoronata and Sanť chosen at varyingdistances from the cityin order Angelo Vecchio begin to suggest the complex to document the historicalgrowth of settlementin patternof Greek rural life. the territory.The majorityof them date between Colonists fromAchaea in the northern the middle of the sixthcentury b.c. and the end Peloponnesos came to the land between the of the fourthcentury. Those of Roman date are Bradano and Basento Riversabout 650 b.c. to less numerous.The sites at the greatestdistance found theircity Metapontion - Metaponto is the fromthe cityare surprisinglyamong the earliest. modern name. The interestsof some earlier Greek settlersin southern Italy were primarily commercial,for example, the pre-Colonial Euboean tradingpost at Ischia or the recentlydis- W ho were the inhabitants?Again, excavation covered eighth-centuryb.c. site at Incoronata in has begun to supply the clues to that important the Territoryof Metaponto,which is being exca- problem,but there is stillmuch to be done. For- vated by Piero Orlandini of the Universityof tunately,the explorationof the Territoryof Milan. Unlike these settlers,the concern of the Metapontowas a projectof internationalcollab- Metapontinesabove all was to carve out farmsin oration fromthe start,involving British, Cana- a land which was not easily wrenched fromits na- dian, French,Romanian as well as Italian and U.S. tive inhabitants.Ancient sources such as the histo- teams,guided and directed by the Superintendent rian Antiochosof Syracuse emphasize the bitter- of Antiquitiesfor Basilicata. Since 1974, the Uni- ness of these early encounters.The Metapontines versityof Texas, withgenerous support frompri- had to battlenot only against the natives,whom vate donors in Texas and the National Endow- the Greeks called "Oenotrians,"but also the ment forthe Humanities,has been a part of this Tarentine Greeks to the east who had come to collaboration.When combined withthe stillmostly the region earlier. But by the second half of the Aerialview of the spring-reservoir siteat Pizzica(top center). On the hill above (right center) arose a tilefactory in about 150B.C., perhaps the most impressive testimony tothe continuity oflife in thechora from Greek to Roman times. The NeolithicyLate Roman and Byzantineperiods are also documented bysignificant finds on thesite. Occupation of this ruralsite spanned approximately 4,000 years and for about 1,000 years paralleled that of nearby Metaponto. Januaiy/February 1980 25 This content downloaded from 128.83.205.78 on Tue, 28 Jul 2015 18:41:57 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Excavationin progress of the spring-reservoircomplex ai Pizzica. Thefigure in theforeground , the excavationarchitect , stands on the reservoirpavement; the springhouse is in theright center and thewell point's collectingtube runs across the site diagonculyfrom the lower left corner. Theinstallation ofa wellpoint at Pizzicais a difficultand rather dangerousoperation necessitated by groundwater which flooded the ancientspring and turnedtrenches intobreeding grounds for frogs. Once installed, however , this device made the excavationalmost as simpleas digging on dryland. beside a spring at San Biagio in the valleyof the Basento predates the farmhousesby perhaps 50 years and has female votivefigurines in the Daedalic style.These terracottafigures have been dated to the late seventhcentury b.c. Al- though theyhave the primitivefeatures of the earliestmonumental Greek sculpture-