Ricerc@Sapienza

The archaeological excavation of town of Cencelle, which began twenty-five years ago, has been an opportunity to reflect on the methods of lighting in a medieval town. In fact, both public and religious neighbourhoods and those with residential and craft functions have been excavated; moreover, documents and archaeological data have allowed the reconstruction of the places where daily life and work took place.

The study of complex archaeological systems through the new Arti cial Intelligence and Natural and Neural Computing is a research project which evaluates the historical meaning of the relationships between records of the past as an essentially human construction. It repeats a strong position of Analytical Archaeology, but updates it on the basis of the progress which neurosciences and physics have made in simulating the principles which regulate memory, orientation, classi cation and mapping of reality.

This paper inserted within a geoarchaeological study, provides a model for the investigation and the support of past dynamics of a mountainous landscape in the Aures region (Algeria) during the Holocene. It introduces the first analysis based on the detailed mapping of morphological features of the study area in relation with a typomorphology theoretical model that was confronted with data from archaeological research.

The paper examines the building techniques and decoration of the Royal Palace G of Early Syrian Ebla (ca. 2300 BC), as well as its building phases, between 2500 and 2300 BC.

The Italian archaeological project at Tell Zurghul is a joint archaeological expedition of Sapienza Università di Roma and the Università degli Studi di Perugia and started working at the site in 2015; three seasons of excavation have been conducted with three operations (Area A, Area B, and Area D) and a survey on the western edge of the site (Area C) (Figure 1).

The volume collects studies on architecture, art and material culture from the Ancient Near East, dedicated to Frances Pinnock

Tell Zurghul, the ancient Sumerian Nigin in the ancient State of Lagash, is currently excavated by a joint Italian archaeological expedition of Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Perugia since 2014. The paper presents the results of the most recent excavation campaigns carried out in 2017, covering two areas (A and B). Recent agreements with the Departments of Geology of both Perugia and Rome aimed at the study of the hydrogeological morphology of the site with a special focus on the investigation of the areas once covered by water, i.e.

Ongoing excavations at Arslantepe in south-eastern Turkey are revealing settlement continuity spanning two crucial phases at the transition from the second to the first millennium BC: the post-Hittite period and the development of Syro-Anatolian societies.

The Etruscan site of Pyrgi extended over 10 ha along the Tyrrhenian coastline. Fieldwork has so far brought to light the sanctuary and a ceremonial complex at the southern edge of the settlement, whereas additional evidence is provided by a section cut by sea erosion across the site. The archaeological layer is about 2 m thick and includes dry masonry buildings arranged into lots; the most superficial features are disturbed by deep agricultural activities and the top layer includes scattered building material (limestone and tuff blocks).

Recensione volume The archaeology of Western Sahara: a synthesis of fieldwork, 2002 to 2009, editors Joanne Clark and Nick Brooks, Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2018