Solarolo (Ravenna)

Archaeological mission coordinator/director

Maurizio Cattani, Claudio Cavazzuti

Research Area and ERC Panels

• Archaeology from pre and proto history to medieval age
• SH6 The Study of the Human Past: Archaeology and history

Starting date of the campaign and duration

Fieldwork activities at Solarolo started in 2005, as a collaboration between the University of Bologna and the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Emilia Romagna (currently SABAP per le province di Ravenna, Forlì-Cesena e Rimini) and the Municipality of Solarolo.
Since 2015, the excavation is authorized with a formal permission of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (MiBACT).

Overview

Since 2005, more than 20 years after the discovery of the site by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Emilia Romagna, the University of Bologna has been investigating the Bronze Age village. The research activities have provided a detailed picture of the settlement size and characteristics. Thanks to the intense surveys, topographic analyses, and excavation of several sectors, the research team has been able to detect a village that spans from a final stage of the Middle Bronze Age 1 to the Recent Bronze Age 2, located on the top of a riverbank of the ancient Santerno, which touches the southern and western sides of the settlement.

The village is formed by different cluster of houses, distributed in an area of around 7 hectares. The excavation of sector 1 has brought to light a complex stratigraphy dated to the Middle Bronze Age 2: the first phase is characterized by rectangular pile-dwelling, similar to the traditional model of the Terramare area. Subsequently, the structure changes towards rectangular houses built directly on the ground. A recent expansion of the sector 1 has allowed to identify a new stratification related to the advanced phases of the settlement, dated to the Middle Bronze Age 3 and to the Recent Bronze Age.

Material culture from the excavations is copious, alongside with productive structures, among which a workshop for ceramic manufacture and another for metalworking activities (casting pit, bronze slags, ashes and charcoal) dated to the Recent Bronze Age 1. Ceramic finds indicate the co-occurrence of the typical forms of the Grotta Nuova Culture (Central Italy) and of the Terramare Culture (central Po Plain), as well as various elements of hybridization which seem to point towards an original local production.

Fieldwork activities include stratigraphic excavation, topographic documentation, sampling for archaeobotanical and micromorphological analyses, and the study of material culture. Moreover the area of the excavation is used for laboratories and activities of experimental archaeology for a wider audience (school and public)

Information for students

Solarolo is easily reachable from Bologna and Ravenna. A limited number of accommodations is also provided by the Municipality of Solarolo, while food costs are covered by the University. The activities include excavation and documentation on the field, as well as in the laboratory.

For further information, please contact, prof. Maurizio Cattani (maurizio.cattani@unibo.it) or Dr. Claudio Cavazzuti (claudio.cavazzuti3@unibo.it).

References

Cattani M., a cura di, 2009, Atti della Giornata di studi “La Romagna nell’età del Bronzo” Ravenna, Solarolo, 19 settembre 2008, Ipotesi di Preistoria 2, 1, ISSN a stampa: 2038-2898.

Cattani M., Miari M. 2018, La Romagna tra antica e recente età del Bronzo, in M. Bernabò Brea, a cura di, Studi di Preistoria e Protostoria 3,2 Preistoria e Protostoria dell’Emilia Romagna. L’età del Bronzo e del Ferro, Atti XLV Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Modena, 26-31 ottobre 2010, pp. 33-52.

Cattani M., Miari M., Debandi F., Guerra L., Peinetti A., Vaccari B., Vinci G., 2018, Gli scavi nell’abitato dell’età del bronzo di via Ordiere - Solarolo (RA), in M. Bernabò Brea, a cura di, Studi di Preistoria e Protostoria 3,2 Preistoria e Protostoria dell’Emilia Romagna. L’età del Bronzo e del Ferro, Atti XLV Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Modena, 26-31 ottobre 2010, pp. 523-528.