Alexandra Chavarría Arnau

Heart of darkness: an interdisciplinary investigation of the urban anthropic deposits of the Baptistery of Padua (Italy)

Archeological excavations beside the Baptistery of the Dome of Padua (north-eastern Italy) unearthed anthropic deposits formed between the seventh- and tenth-century ad. These were analyzed using soil micromorphology, soil chemical analyses (especially aimed at the definition of organic matter properties and dynamics), and GC/MS analyses of fecal biomarkers, the latter corroborated by principal component analysis. This inter-disciplinary study allowed differentiating between units resulting from in situ accumulation of trampled domestic waste and other, more frequent, units derived from repeated dumping or backfilling episodes. Fast accumulation of organic-rich domestic waste, coupled with an incomplete evolution of organic molecules appears as a fundamental formation process of these anthropic deposits. The overall level of fecal contamination in the Padua Baptistery sediments proved to be very low or absent.

The Late Antique Church of Saint Lawrence, Banjol (Island of Rab, Croatia) - Results of the First Two Archaeological Campaigns (2015-2016)

Preliminary results of the first excavation campaigns at the site of Saint Lawrence in Banjol on the island of Rab are presented. These excavations revealed the remains of two consecutive churches, a large Late Antique and a smaller medieval one. An in situ grave and a secondary skeletal mass burial were also discovered. Finds of stone sculptural decoration belonging to the first church and contemporary metal finds from the mass burial are also discussed.

Riflessioni sul rapporto tra sepolture e cattedrali nell’alto medioevo

In this work we analyze using the archaeological evidence the use of early medieval northern italian cathedrals as burial places, trying to understand above all: 1) from which moment these complexes began to be used as funerary space; 2) who was buried in these places and finally 3) what motives brought the population to abandon the suburban cemeteries to be buried inside of the cathedrals and other urban churches.