This summer Dr Erica Rowan travelled to Italy this June along with staff and students from both the Classics and Geography departments to core a lake for sediment samples.
Partially funded by a grant from the Association for Environmental Archaeology, and done in collaboration with the Villa of Titus excavations, they collected cores from the Lago di Paterno near Rieti. In antiquity, it was called Lacus Cutiliensis (Lago di Paterno) and it was considered by the Romans to be a sacred lake and the geographical centre of Italy (Pliny HN 3.109). Located in the Velino valley, the region has a history of human occupation and modification from the Neolithic onwards. Despite its proximity to Rome, the environmental impact of major periods of transition, such as the Roman conquest (4th – 3rd c. BC), the 1st c. BC – 1st c. AD restructuring of the countryside, and shifting demographics in Late Antiquity and the early Medieval periods, remain poorly understood. The cores, and the spores, pollen and tephra within them, are currently being studied by our PhD student Erika Zane and 3rd year student Holly Bennett as part of their thesis/dissertation. It was a fun trip full of hard work, good food, and only one member of our team fell in the lake!
