Coastal lagoons and their hidden cultural heritage: the exploitation of lagoonal environments in Roman Italy

Areas: Humanities and Social Sciences

Abstract:
This project investigates how coastal lagoons—environments characterized by high biodiversity and several natural resources—were used, settled, and exploited in Roman Italy. It addresses a debated topic in ancient studies, i.e. what role lagoons had in the settlement hierarchy and economy, and uses as case study the northern area of the Venetian lagoon and the archaeological site of Lio Piccolo. While today several lagoons are protected natural habitats, only rarely are their rich cultural and historic heritage and the added value awareness of this heritage could offer to modern local communities recognized. The case study area was chosen because of the good archaeological and paleoenvironmental data arising from the Ca’ Foscari ongoing archaeological investigations, the availability, in the Altino Museum, of unpublished fishing implements, and the need to offer to the local communities a more complete reconstruction of their cultural heritage, which in turn may contribute to new modes of sustainable tourism. The case study will also offer the opportunity to assess the degree of continuity between past and present in the case of activities centred on this lagoonal landscape. This project aims to bring a new approach to the study of lagoons in Roman time, focusing on their socio-economic role and environmental context, thus bridging the gaps between subdisciplines.

Duration of the project: 30/11/2023 – 30/11/2025

Principal investigator: Prof. Annalisa Marzano

Partnership: Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia

Budget of the University of Bologna: 148.836 EUR

ERC sectors: SH6_2 Classical archaeology, history of archaeology; SH6_5 Ancient history; SH6_3 General archaeology, archaeometry, landscape archaeology