Rosignano Marittimo (LI)
Project Camaiano
Coordinator/ Excavation Director
Enrico Cirelli
Field of research and ERC level II sectors
Excavation activation date and duration
02/09/2024 – 27/09/2024
Description
The site of the parish church of Camaiano, located in the hamlet of Castelnuovo della Misericordia, municipality of Rosignano Marittimo (LI), is mentioned since the mid-tenth century in the written sources. From the material point of view, however, since the end of the nineteenth century are known findings of Roman times. The intense agricultural activities of the last two centuries and the previous activity of dispossession have suggested in recent decades the complete disappearance of any structural evidence of the parish church of San Gerusalemme e San Giovanni Battista, so much so that the position of the parish was only supposed by the sporadic discovery of archaeological material. A recent satellite photo, however, questioned this belief. The recent systematic research carried out in Camaiano has allowed us to gather a fair amount of information but at the same time has highlighted a number of questions still unanswered. The analysis of historical cartography together with the examination of satellite photos has allowed to define the ancient viability (now disappeared) and the exact location of the church, abandoned from the end of the fourteenth century. During the reconnaissance activity, more than 350 ceramic, metallic and lithic fragments were recovered, belonging to the classical, medieval, modern and contemporary period, allowing to more precisely outline the macro-phases of frequenting the area. The aim of this project is therefore to deepen these unresolved aspects that only archaeological excavation can try to delineate. One of the main objectives is to understand how much of the structure of the church has actually been preserved. In this regard, the investigation will try to deepen the possible construction phases and refine the chronology of the religious building in accordance with the mentions in the sources. In the second place, another important aspect is the search for any early medieval phases, to be connected both with the evidence of the Low Middle Ages and with those of the Classical period. In fact, the complex passage between the Roman villa and the birth of the religious attraction pole is to be defined. In addition to the study of the remains of the parish and of any pre-existing below, the project provides in this first excavation campaign, to try to identify additional structures relevant to the religious building and located in its vicinity, according to the results of surface reconnaissance.
The site of Camaiano can therefore represent a stratigraphic observatory unique in the territory of Rosignano and especially in that of the mountains of Livorno, to allow you to study the evolution of the landscape of the last two millennia.