From Hut to Elite Complex: The Transformation of the North Slope of the Palatine in Archaic Rome (20 min)

Presenters

Amelia Eichengreen, University of Michigan

Abstract

In the 1980s, Andrea Carandini excavated a large city block at the north slope of the Palatine and discovered some of the most complete domestic remains for archaic Rome. Carandini’s reconstructions of these homes, however, leaned heavily on literary sources and extrapolated too much from the actual archaeological evidence. As a result, these reconstructions have often been dismissed by the academic community. Still, the residences remain to this day the only semicomplete archaic domestic site in Rome, as has been noted as such by Bradley, Fulminante, and Hopkins, and the site’s impact has reached as far afield as Ellis’s discussion on the Roman imperial economy. Since Carandini’s excavation in the 1980s, the excavation of a number of new sites including San Giovenale and the Auditorium Site now allow for a reassessment. My analysis uses only archaeological evidence to provide a new reconstruction for this housing block in Rome. In contrast to Carandini who suggests four houses, I reconstruct this area as one palatial archaic complex. This reconstruction illuminates new details concerning the urbanization process of early Rome. This progression from a hut in the previous phase to a monumental, two-story elite complex reveals a staggering rate of urban transformation. Additionally, while contemporary peers lived in huts of wattle and daub, the residents at this complex lived in stone homes with terracotta roofs, and multiple wells to provide easy access to water. Ultimately, I argue for an increasingly marked social inequality and a more rapid transition from mud huts to palatial urban residences.