This paper presents the excavation data from the 2017 field season at Roman Salapia and Medieval Salpi, towns which occupied a similar location along the Salpi Lagoon, a salty lake on the Adriatic Coast of northern Apulia. Heretofore,... more
This paper presents the excavation data from the 2017 field season at Roman Salapia and Medieval Salpi, towns which occupied a similar location along the Salpi Lagoon, a salty lake on the Adriatic Coast of northern Apulia. Heretofore, details of the progression from the Roman to medieval settlement have remained elusive. To clarify this history, we opened two trenches, one atop the topographical feature of the Monte di Salpi, long-believed to encase the remains of the medieval castrum, and one immediately below, along the plain, where evidence of the Roman and Late Antique town is most apparent. From the settlement adjacent to the lagoon, we determined these patterns: already in the mid-5th c. CE, the remains of what was a Roman utilitarian structure were re-inhabited by a series of huts within the preserved walls. A village occupation continued into the 7th c. CE, with a new occupation in the 8thc. CE. Abandonment occurred in the 9th c. CE, a break in settlement that persisted for perhaps two centuries until the foundation of Salpi in the early 11th c. (date from episcopal records). The excavation on the Monte has revealed structures of the 13th and 14th c. Through the stratigraphic section of a late 15th c. well, extending to the bottom of the Monte to about 5 m, we have convincing proof that the medieval castrum was constructed atop the remains of the Roman town. Additionally, these buildings, close to the western gate into the city, might offer details of urbanism near the Porta dei Calabri, before their destruction by an earthquake in 1456.
