Alessia D'Auria

University of Naples Federico II | UNINA · Department of Agriculture

Since 1738, archaeological sites in the area around Mount Vesuvius have produced large quantities of botanical remains, constituting the Collezione dei Commestibili e degli Avanzi organici (i.e. Collection of Edibles and Organic Remains), currently housed in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples. It is considered as one of the most extensive c...

The cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) is characterized by a very ancient history linked to the wide employment for the technological properties of its wood and for its symbolic value. Although this tree was often considered as a species introduced in Italy, the first genetic studies showed, instead, the presence of an autochthonous population of C....

Using a range of chromatographic, spectroscopic, and mass spectrometric analytical techniques, we characterized one of the “edible items” found at the Vesuvius archeological sites and guarded at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN) in Naples, Italy. We authenticated the specimen contained in a glass bottle (Mann-S1 sample) as origina...

The objective of this research is to reconstruct the recent Holocene history of Cupressus sempervirens from the Bronze to the Roman Age in Italy. Our work consisted both in a review of published data and in the identification of novel archaeobotanical remains stored in the deposits of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples and of the Archaeol...

Anthracological analysis was carried out in the archaeological site of Punta di Zambrone on the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria in southern Italy. Archaeological excavation documented at the site settlement deposits dated mainly to Early Bronze Age (EBA, 21st–18th century BC) and the Recent Bronze Age (RBA, 13th to early 12th century BC). In the phase...

This paper presents the preliminary results of the analysis of charcoal remains from the Neolithic cinnabar mine of Spaccasasso. Cinnabar is a mineral that was used as a pigment by different cultures worldwide since the Neolithic period. Firesetting was one of the most common mining techniques used for breaking rock to extract ores and minerals fro...

This paper presents the results of inter-disciplinary work drawing on archaeobotanical and archaeometric studies to trace the agroforestry landscape and the supply economy at the vicus of Thamusida in north-west Morocco at the border of the Roman Empire. The available data indicate the self-sufficiency of the settlement in both forestry and agricul...