The project has the ambitious aim of integrating classical archaeobotany with innovative analyses on strontium isotopic composition of plant remains to assess the provenance of plant materials. Another fundamental aspect of the research is the comprehension of the chemical composition of plant remains through a spectroscopic approach, in order to assess the processes that made fossilization of plant materials possible.
The case-study is provided by the plant materials from Alba Fucens (AQ, Abruzzi region). Alba Fucens, presumably founded by the Equi, an Italic tribe, became an important Roman colony at the end of the 4th century B.C. Inscriptions testify its prosperity during the Imperial period. Its splendor ceased in 537 A.D. during the Gothic war. The materials, deriving from years of excavations, are until now poorly investigated from a scientific perspective. Thanks to a scientific cooperation with the Abruzzo archaeological superintendence, the materials unearthed during years and years of excavations are now available and will be investigated scientifically. We will start with the content of a of a Roman cistern. Abruzzo is a nearly virgin land for this kind of study and the expectation to achieve important results is quite high. The expected results involve: 1) classical archaeobotany (which plants were used -for food, timber- or naturally present in the area); 2) analytical chemistry (which are the processes and the chemical compounds that made conservation of seeds and wood possible); geochemistry (were the plants locally grown or did they come from other areas?).
All the obtained data will obviously result in scientific articles that will partially fill the gap of archaeobotanical studies for the region. A final aim of the project is to disseminate the results with a threefold event, comprehending a scientific congress/workshop, a summer school for master and PhD students, and a divulgative seminar to outreach the local population.
