Research

Punta di Zambrone: A Fortified Bronze Age Settlement on the Tyrrhenian Coast of Calabria

Punta di Zambrone is a Bronze Age harbour site on the western coast of Calabria in southern Italy, excavated by a joint Italian-Austrian team. It was founded at the end of the 3rd millennium BCE and abandoned around 1200 BCE. Especially in the early Recent Bronze Age during the 13th century BCE, its community, which was economically connected to other settlements in its hinterland, maintained relationships with remote regions in Italy, continental Greece and Crete.

Punta di Zambrone von Norden (© M. Pacciarelli, R. Jung)
Minoan ivory statuette (© M. Pacciarelli/R. Jung)

This excavation and research project is a cooperation between Reinhard Jung and Marco Pacciarelli (Università Federico II di Napoli, Italy) as main partners. R. Jung and M. Pacciarelli are both directors of excavation and conduct two independently funded projects in Austria and Italy.

The settlement site Punta di Zambrone was inhabited during different phases of the Bronze Age in the second millennium BCE. Its most distinctive features are the numerous artefacts of Aegean type (ceramics, earthenware, metal and ivory objects) uncovered in three excavation campaigns from 2011 to 2013 and supplemented by several campaigns of finds processing and analysis.

The five main objectives of the research project are

  1. Description of the spatial organisation and reconstruction of the natural environment surrounding a coastal settlement (Punta di Zambrone) as a case study, based on results of geological studies, geophysical prospection and selective excavations.
  2. Reconstruction of the development of the local Bronze Age culture groups in Tyrrhenian Calabria and their contacts to neighbouring groups (on the mainland, on the Aeolian Islands and on Sicily) and the establishment of an accurate relative and absolute chronology (by historical-archaeological analysis and radiometric data).
  3. Reconstruction of the Bronze Age economy of the excavated settlement: agriculture, hunting and animal husbandry based on archaeobotany and archaeozoology, organic chemistry, and isotopic analyses of zoological remains; crafts and trade based on the functional analysis of artefacts as well as chemical and
  4. Definition of the function of the excavated settlement in the local settlement system.
  5. Reconstruction of the role of coastal areas in the south-west of Italy in Mediterranean networks of economic and political connections during the Bronze Age.

These issues are discussed in a number of interdisciplinary research collaborations with scientists from Austria, Italy and Germany.
The main funding of the Austrian project was part of a three-year stand-alone project grant from the FWF (P23619-G19). It was based at the University of Salzburg (Department of Classical Studies) from June 1st 2011 to July 31st 2013, and continued at the former OREA from August 1st 2013 to November 30th 2015. A separate part of the project on mobility of humans and animals was funded in 2013 by the Gerda Henkel Foundation (project director R. Jung). The Italian part of the project was financed in the framework of a PRIN (Progetto di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale – Ministry of Education and Science) and by the Università Federico II (project director M. Pacciarelli).

Publications

Publikationen

  • A. Rumolo – G. Forstenpointner – P. Rumolo – R. Jung, Palaeodiet Reconstruction Inferred by Stable Isotopes Analysis of Faunal and Human Remains at Bronze Age Punta di Zambrone (Calabria, Italy), International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 30, 2020, 90–98. DOI: 10.1002/oa.2836
  • I. Matarese – S. Conte – R. Jung – M. Pacciarelli, Ornamenti in materiale vetroso dell’età del Bronzo dall’Italia meridionale e dall’area siciliano-eoliana: un inquadramento d’insieme alla luce di nuovi dati. Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche 68/2018, 2019, 385–424.
  • R. Jung – M. Pacciarelli, Greece and Southern Italy 1250–1050 BCE: Manifold Patterns of Interaction, in: M. Fotiadis – R. Laffineur – Y. Lolos – A. Vlachopoulos (Hrsg.), Έσπερος/Hesperos – The Aegean Seen from the West. Proceedings of the 16th International Aegaean Conference, University of Ioannina, Department of History and Archaeology, Unit of Archaeology and Art History, 18–21 May 2016. Aegaeum 41 (Leuven, Liège 2017) 185–204.
  • R. Jung, Le relazioni egee degli insediamenti calabresi e del basso Tirreno durante l’età del Bronzo, in: L. Cicala – M. Pacciarelli (eds), Centri Fortificati della Calabria dalla protostoria all’età ellenistica. Atti del convegno, Napoli 2014 (Naples 2017) 51–68.
  • R. Jung – M. Pacciarelli, Gli scavi 2011–2013 a Punta di Zambrone, in: L. Cicala – M. Pacciarelli (eds), Centri Fortificati della Calabria dalla protostoria all’età ellenistica. Atti del convegno, Napoli 2014 (Naples 2017) 313–324.
  • I. Matarese – S. Conte – R. Jung – M. Pacciarelli, Vaghi di provenienza egea a Punta di Zambrone (VV): una riflessione crono-tipologica, in: L. Cicala – M. Pacciarelli (eds), Centri Fortificati della Calabria dalla protostoria all’età ellenistica. Atti del convegno, Napoli 2014 (Naples 2017) 467–469.
  • S. Conte – I. Matarese – R. Jung – M. Pacciarelli, Vaghi in materiale vetroso da Punta di Zambrone (VV): un approccio archeometrico, in: L. Cicala – M. Pacciarelli (eds.), Centri Fortificati della Calabria dalla protostoria all’età ellenistica. Atti del convegno, Napoli 2014 (Naples 2017) 471–473.
  • R. Jung, Chronological Problems of the Middle Bronze Age in Southern Italy, in: Th. Lachenal – C. Mordant – Th. Nicolas – C. Véber (eds), Le Bronze moyen et l’origine du Bronze final en Europe occidentale (XVIIe–XIIIe siècle av. J.-C.). Colloque international de l’APRAB, Strasbourg, 17 au 20 juin 2014. Mémoires d’Archéologie du Grand-Est 1 (Straßburg 2017) 621–642.
  • A. D’Auria – M. P. Buonincontri – E. Allevato – A. Saracino – R. Jung – M. Pacciarelli – G. Di Pasquale, Evidence of a Short-Lived Episode of Olive (Olea europea L.) Cultivation During the Early Bronze Age in Western Mediterranean (Southern Italy), The Holocene 27, 2017, 605–612. DOI: 10.1177/0959683616670218
  • R. Jung – M. Pacciarelli, A Minoan Statuette from Punta di Zambrone in Southern Calabria, in: E. Alram – F. Blakolmer – S. Deger-Jalkotzy – R. Laffineur – J. Weilhartner (Hrsg.), Metaphysis. Ritual, Myth and Symbolism in the Aegean Bronze Age. 15th International Aegean Conference held at the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, and at the Institute of Classical Archaeology, University of Vienna, 22–25 April 2014, Aegaeum 39 (Leuven, Liège 2016) 29–36.
  • R. Jung – M. Pacciarelli – G. Forstenpointner – G. Slepecki – G. E. Weissengruber – A. Galik, Funde aus dem Müllhaufen der Geschichte im Befestigungsgraben von Punta di Zambrone – Angeln am spätbronzezeitlichen Mittelmeer, in: M. Bartelheim – B. Horejs – R. Krauss (Hrsg.), Von Baden bis Troia. Ressourcennutzung, Metallurgie und Wissenstransfer. Eine Jubiläumsschrift für Ernst Pernicka, Oriental and European Archaeology 3 (Rahden/Westfalen 2016) 175–206.
  • M. Pacciarelli – T. Scarano – A. Crispino, The Transition between the Copper and Bronze Ages in Southern Italy and Sicily, in: H. Meller – H. W. Arz – R. Jung – R. Risch (Hrsg.), 2200 BC – Ein Klimasturz als Ursache für den Zerfall der Alten Welt? 7. Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag vom 23. bis 26. Oktober 2014 in Halle (Saale) / 2200 BC. A Climatic Breakdown as a Cause for the Collapse of the Old World? 7th Archaeological Conference of Central  Germany, October 23–26, 2014 in Halle (Saale), Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle 12, (Halle/Saale 2015) 253–281.
  • R. Jung – M. Pacciarelli – B. Zach – M. Klee – U. Thanheiser, Punta di Zambrone (Calabria) – a Bronze Age Harbor Site. First Preliminary Report on the Recent Bronze Age (2011–2012 Campaigns), Archaeologia Austriaca 99, 2015, 53–110.
  • R. Jung – H. Mommsen – M. Pacciarelli, From West to West: Determining Production Regions of Mycenaean Pottery of Punta di Zambrone (Calabria, Italy), Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 3, 2015, 455–463.
  • S. Conte – I. Matarese – S. Quartieri – R. Arletti – R. Jung – M. Pacciarelli – B. Gratuze, The Bronze Age Vitreous Materials of Punta di Zambrone (Southern Italy), European Journal of Mineralogy 27, 2015, 337–351.
  • P. Fragnoli – C. Capriglione – R. Jung – M. Pacciarelli, Before Sampling: Systematic Procedures of Macroscopic Pottery Classification within the Punta di Zambrone (VV) Research Project, in: G. Greco – L. Cicala (Hrsg.), Archaeometry. Comparing Experiences, Quaderni del Centro Studi Magna Grecia 19 (Neapel 2014) 293–310.

Lectures and Workshops

Vorträge und Veranstaltungen

  • 7.7.2015 – Vortrag „Punta di Zambrone (Kalabrien) und die Interaktion zwischen Griechenland und Italien im 2. Jahrtausend v.u.Z.”, gehalten an der Freien Universität Berlin, Berlin, Deutschland.
  • 16.–18.4.2015 – Workshop „1200 B.C.E. A Time of Breakdown – a Time of Progress in Southern Italy and Greece“, Österreichisches Historisches Institut in Rom. > Details
  • 5.12.2014 – Vortrag „News about Italo-Aegean Contacts at the Time of the Sea Peoples“, gehalten an der Université Catholique de Louvain, Institut des Civilisations, Arts et Lettres, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgien. > Details
  • 4.12.2014 – Vortrag „Punta di Zambrone and the Italo-Aegean Contacts at the End of the Bronze Age“, gehalten an der Universiteit Gent, Vakgroep Archeologie, Gent, Belgien.
  • 6.6.2014 – Vortrag „Deutung der Ascheschichten im jungbronzezeitlichen Befestigungsgraben von Punta di Zambrone“, gehalten im Rahmen des Workshops „Abfallhaufen oder kultische Ablagerungen? Werkstattgespräche zum Interpretationsspektrum archäologischer Deponierungen“ am Institut für Orientalische und Europäische Archäologie, ÖAW, Wien, Österreich. > Details
  • 27.4.2014 – Workshop „Punta di Zambrone“ am Institut für Orientalische und Europäische Archäologie, ÖAW, Wien, Österreich.

 

 

Principal investigator

Co-Director,
Main Cooperation Partner

Marco Pacciarelli (Università di Napoli Federico II)

Cooperations

  • Emilia Allevato (Università di Napoli Federico II)
  • Jan Cemper-Kiesslich (Universität Salzburg)
  • Sonia Conte (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia)
  • Gerhard Forstenpointner (Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien)
  • Pamela Fragnoli (Modena)
  • Fabian Kanz (Medizinische Universität Wien)
  • Marlies Klee (Freiburg)
  • Mathias Mehofer (Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science – VIAS)
  • Hans Mommsen (Universität Bonn)
  • Alistair Pike (University of Southampton)
  • Ernst Pernicka (Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie Mannheim)
  • Leopold Puchinger (Technische Universität Wien)
  • Paola Romano (Università di Napoli Federico II)
  • Fabio Scarciglia (Università della Calabria)
  • Gerald Weissengruber (Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien)
  • Bernhard Weninger (Universität Köln)
  • Ursula Thanheiser (Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science – VIAS)
  • Barbara Zach (Bernbeuren)

Duration

06/2011–11/2015

Funding