Excavations coordinated by Sapienza's Department of Ancient World Studies at Frattesina, south-east of the present-day centre of Fratta Polesine (Rovigo, northern Italy), have shown evidence of production activities, suggesting that this site was of primary importance for craft production and trade linking Europe, the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the 2nd millennium BC.

The work, carried out under the scientific direction of Andrea Cardarelli and in collaboration with Paolo Bellintani of the Centro Polesano di Studi storici archeologici etnografici (CPSSAE), is investigating a village sector where two large rectangular dwellings and much evidence of production and exchange activities have been identified. 

Among the main craft activities in Frattesina was the working of bronze - whose raw materials, copper and tin, came from eastern Trentino and Cornwall or eastern Germany respectively - and amber, of Baltic origin, which was used to make beads and ornaments and then exported to central and southern Italy and the Aegean. Instead, exotic products arrived from the eastern Mediterranean such as ostrich eggs for making ornaments and elephant ivory used for making combs.

In addition, thousands of multicoloured glass beads have been brought to light, together with other glass objects, testifying to an extraordinary production activity destined for the national and international market. Compositional analyses documented that the production technique was different from that used in the eastern Mediterranean, thus demonstrating the ability of the artisans of Frattesina to rework complex technologies in an original way. The excavation has also uncovered a furnace that was most probably used for glass production and therefore, together with other finds (crucibles, glass ingots), testify to the great importance of this craft production. The furnace for glass production is to date the oldest known in Europe.

In addition to the excavations, geophysical surveys (a technique that allows information to be obtained on the environment and on objects placed at a distance through a sensor) conducted by Wieke de Neef of the University of Bamberg and remote sensing surveys have clearly defined the extension, shape and internal organisation of the large village: the settlement of Frattesina extended over more than 25 hectares and occupied the right bank of a branch of the Po no longer existing (Po di Adria) with an organisation by blocks originally delimited by orthogonal canals. Within these blocks, hundreds of dwellings and production facilities were arranged in a very regular manner and with an equally regular orientation.

The excavation, which received fundamental financial support from the Fondazione Cariparo, is part of the Prima Europa. La Protostoria del Polesine project coordinated by the Soprintendenza archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio of Verona, Rovigo and Vicenza and involving not only the Department of Ancient World Studies of Sapienza University but also the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Padua. The National Archaeological Museum of Fratta Polesine, the University of Bamberg (Germany) and the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padua are also collaborating in the project.

Further Information
Andrea Cardarelli
Department of Ancient World Studies
andrea.cardarelli@uniroma1.it