Roman Baths at Carsulae (Italy): Field School
“The field school at the Roman baths at Carsulae will commence its seventh season this summer, and applications for students and volunteers are still being accepted.
The Roman city of Carsulae was founded along the via Flaminia, when that road was cut through Umbria in the late third century BC. Located near the town of San Gemini, the area has been associated with healing waters since Umbrian times. The Roman baths, which lie at the threshold of southern entrance to the city, were excavated in the 1950s by the then-superintendent of archaeology, Umberto Ciotti. The site has lain exposed since then. The goals of the project are to consolidate the exposed remains and to explore the structure further in order to determine its full plan and the form of its earliest phase, which, if contemporary with the founding of the city, may be one of the oldest Roman baths in existence. In fact, our most recent excavations have revealed Roman reuse of massive structures that appear to be earlier than the traditionally accepted date of the founding of the city.
Recent seasons have also focused on a wall of opus polygonale to the east of the bath structure. It consists of two arms at right angles to each other, one leading toward a cistern in opus caementicum, which served the baths in the Imperial period, and the other toward a flight of five steps, which appear to lead up to the Via Flaminia. The former has revealed an extension in wattle and daub: a transitional wall between the polygonal wall and the concrete-built cistern. The latter arm is overlaid with a shallow pool in tile-paved concrete, which may be a public fountain at the southern entrance to the city. All three zones within the current excavation area have revealed various forms of masonry construction, which indicate long use and many centuries of rebuilding.
Participants will be instructed in:
• excavation strategies, techniques and recording
• handling and conservation of artifacts
• drafting of site plans
• analytical rendering
Additional details:
• Minimum age: 16 years
• Minimum stay: 3 weeks
• No experience necessary
• Cost $800/week (includes housing & weekday meals)
• Participants will be housed in various apartments, monasteries or palaces in San Gemini
• Application deadline: April 2, 2011
• Application available on our website
• Academic credit available through Valdosta State University
Further information:
website: www.valdosta.edu/~jwhitehe/Carsulaeweb/Carsulae_home.htm
Excavation Director: Prof. Jane Whitehead (jwhitehe@valdosta.edu)
For information Contact: Wendy Hallman at wchallman@gmail.com”
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