Recent Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Pian di Mealla, Umbria (20 min)

Presenters

Joey Williams, University of Oklahoma; Susan E. Alcock, University of Oklahoma; Amanda Regnier, Oklahoma Archeological Survey; Scott Hammerstedt, Oklahoma Archeological Survey; and Claudio Bizzarri, CEE Orvieto

Abstract

As part of a renewed initiative in Mediterranean archaeology, researchers from the University of Oklahoma launched a new project in Umbria in the summer of 2023 under the auspices of the comune of Ficulle (Terni) and the Italian Ministry of Culture. Integrating LiDAR data, geophysical prospection, and targeted excavation, our project investigates Pian di Mealla, located on the banks of the Chiani River (the ancient Clanis, a once-navigable tributary of the Tiber), and its surrounding landscape between the Chiani and the Via Cassia. Umbria is gaining in scholarly attention (and tourism!), including an increasing recognition of the Chiani as a major player in transport and communications routes of the Italian peninsula (the famed spa at San Casciano dei Bagni also sits on the Chiani).

Excavations were undertaken at Pian di Mealla in 1883, at which time a dedication to Diana by the freedman Tiberius Claudius Thermodon and numerous (sadly now missing) artifacts were discovered and briefly published. An inscription to Sol Invictus Mithras by the same dedicant was also recovered in the site’s general vicinity. Magnetometry and ground penetrating radar was conducted in 2023 with multiple anomalies identified, after which test trenches were opened in three different areas. Preliminary results suggest the presence of a first century bath associated with a villa, grain production facilities, a late antique cemetery and an as-yet-unidentified structure that appears to have been constructed below the ancient surface level. The presence of an abundant spring on the site both complicates fieldwork and opens new avenues of research into potential ritual and industrial activities. Additional fieldwork is planned for summer 2024; LiDAR analyses are ongoing as are conversations with other regional projects in order to promote understanding of the long-term network histories of the Chiani River landscape.