Lorenzo Nigro

Lorenzo Nigro
Sapienza University of Rome | la sapienza · Italian Institute of Oriental Studies ISO

PhD - Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Phoenician Punic Archaeology

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304
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Publications

Publications (304)
Presentation
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Curriculum Vitae
Article
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In the westernmost region of the Ancient Near East, Syria-Palestine, the formation of cities is considered a secondary phenomenon both culturally and temporally. The city developed in these regions according to alternative models to those adopted at the dawn of urban civilization in the great alluvial valleys of Egypt and Mesopotamia. It is this ‘d...
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Dans le cadre de la coopération scientifique entre l’Institut National du Patrimoine et l’Université « La Sapienza » de Rome, la troisième campagne de fouille à Carthage eu lieu du 18 mai au 15 juin 2023 par l’équipe tuniso-italienne de la Mission Archéologique à Carthage (MAC). Les recherches ont concerné la nécropole phénicienne archaïque dite de...
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3D imaging is a powerful tool of high resolution and non-destructive imaging technology for the study of ancient weapons and military technology, which reveals the original microstructures and corrosion patterns that threaten these artefacts. Here we report quantitative analysis of the 3D distribution and the orientation of fractures, and uncorrode...
Article
During the XLII season (2022) of excavations in Zone D at Motya, under the floor levels of the “House of Triton’s Horn”, Sounding IVr eached a pit filled up with archaic ceramic fragments. Here a cut-out bottom of a Greek hydria inscribed on both sides with different scripts and languages was found. The finding spot, the associated ceramics,the cer...
Conference Paper
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The study of odontoskeletal remains of non-adult individuals provides important information on the cultural significance of childhood in past societies. Tophets, distinct burial areas for infant cremated remains found in several Phoenician-Punic colonies in the Mediterranean area, offer an ideal case study to test the potential of alternative analy...
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Multiscale X-ray Microscopy, SEM, HR-FESEM- EDS and EMPA techniques have been used to explore the corrosion behavior of copper-based artefacts from the Phoenician-Punic site of Motya (Sicily, Italy). The stress corrosion, due to forging conditions, and dealloying have been investigated using 3D-imaging. At sub-micro-scale the results highlighted gr...
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Sicily is one of the main islands of the Mediterranean Sea, and it is characterized by a variety of archaeological records, material culture and traditions, reflecting the history of migrations and populations’ interaction since its first colonization, during the Paleolithic. These deep and complex demographic and cultural dynamics should have affe...
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The ‘Motya Charioteer’ marble statue, a masterpiece of ancient Greek sculpting, was discovered in 1979 on the island of Motya, Sicily. A general assessment of the statue's conditions in 2008 revealed that the marble has lost its luster and started to show some microcracks. In 2019 and in 2020, microbiological surveys were conducted to assess the ma...
Article
This work is the first archaeometric investigation on copper and iron wastes from the Phoenician site of Motya (Sicily, Italy), dating back to 8th‐4th centuries BC. The samples were analyzed through micro‐Raman spectroscopy (μ‐RS), Optical Microscopy (OM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM‐EDS), High‐Resolution Field Emission Scanning Electron Micr...
Conference Paper
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Tell es-Sultan, the Early Bronze Age city of Jericho is one earliest urban centers of 3rd millennium BC Palestine. The 2015-2017 excavations carried out by Sapienza University of Rome and the Palestinian MoTA-DACH have yielded charred botanical finds ascribable to the destruction of the palace by a fire in 2350 BC ca. The most enigmatic retrieved p...
Conference Paper
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The archaeological site of Motya consists of a small island (ca. 40 ha) in western Sicily, between the present-day cities of Trapani and Marsala. Due to its strategic setting in the middle of the Mediterranean, within the Marsala lagoon, and to the presence of freshwater sources, the site was chosen by Phoenicians as a settlement in the 8th century...
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The archaeological investigations conducted by the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and by Regional Superintendency of Trapani on the island of Mozia, the Phoenician city that flourished on the cusp of western Sicily between the 8th and 4th centuries BC, revealed a great sanctuary enclosed by a circular Témenos in the center of which is the swimmin...
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The best strategy to tackle complexity when analyzing corrosion in iron artefacts is to combine different analytical methods. Traditional techniques provide effective means to identify the chemistry and mineralogy of corrosion products. Nevertheless, a further step is necessary to upgrade the understanding of the corrosion evolution in three dimens...
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The Phoenician island-city of Motya, off the west coast of Sicily, has long been a focus of archaeological research. Earlier excavations identified a large rectangular basin interpreted, by analogy with Carthage, as a ‘ kothon ’ or artificial inner harbour. Recent investigations of this feature, however, lead the author to a new interpretation. Rat...
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Within the framework of the scientific cooperation agreement between the Institut National du Patrimoine and the University of Rome«La Sapienza», the secondarchaeologicalseason of excavationtook placefrom 31stMay to 15thJune 2022.In the area of the archaeological parkof Antonin’s thermal Baths beside the Borj-Jedid hill, under the remains of a dome...
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Micro‐Raman spectroscopy (μ‐RS) has been used to characterize mineralogical phases of corroded iron materials, buried in lagoon‐like and calcarenitic hypogea environments. A set of samples from the Phoenician site of Motya (8 th –6 th centuries BC, Sicily) and from the Punic Necropolis of Lilybaeum (4 th century BC, Sicily) were analyzed combining...
Article
This study examined a set of Red Slip Ware (RSW) from Cánovas del Castillo and a sector of the Phoenician necropolis of San Severiano/Guardia Civil (Cádiz, Spain), dating back to the 8th – and 6th century B.C. Optical Microscopy (OM), X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) and Electron Microscopy coupled with EDS system (SEM-EDS) allowed to characterize t...
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Dans le cadre de la coopération scientifique entre l’Institut National du Patrimoine et l’Université de Rome « La Sapienza », une première campagne de fouille a eu lieu dans un secteur de la nécropole punique de Dermech à Carthage, dans l’enceinte du parc des thermes d’Antonin et aux abords de la colline de Borj-Jedid, du 17 octobre au 10 novembre...
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The copper head of a sovereign found by the archaeologists of the British Museum during the excavation of the Temple of Ishtar on the citadel of Quyunjik at Nineveh in 1931, and now kept in the Iraq Museum at Baghdad (I.M. 11331), was immediately recognized as a masterpiece of Akkadian art. Countless studies have described its stylistic and iconogr...
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This study examines a set of bronze arrowheads involved in the Siege of Motya (Italy) and aims to determine their microstructures, corrosion patterns and production techniques using Scanning Electron Microscope, X-ray maps, Electron Microprobe Analysis and X-ray diffraction. The arrowheads characterized by plane and conical shapes are made from Cu-...
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The present study concerns the Phoenician-Punic site of Motya, a small island set in Western Sicily (Italy), in the Marsala Lagoon (Stagnone di Marsala), between Trapani and Marsala. A big disposal pit, datable to between the first half of the 8th and the mid-6th century bc, was identified in Area D. This context was sampled for plant macro-remains...
Article
The present study aims to contribute to the investigation of the role of Phoenicians in the spreading and trade of the grapevine through the morphometric analysis of grape pips. Waterlogged and charred samples were selected from three Iron Age sites in the Western Mediterranean: Motya (Sicily, Italy), Nuraghe S’Urachi (Sardinia, Italy) and Huelva (...
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During the 15 th season of excvations and restorations (2019) at Tell es-Sultan, ancient Jericho, in Palestine, a spouted vase was found in a section, laying on the floor of a room in a very clear stratigraphic location. The vessel belongs to a renowned pottery type of the Early Bronze Age IV/Intermediate Bronze Age (2300-2000 B.C.E.), named "teapo...
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Fifteen seasons of systematic excavations carried out by Sapienza University of Rome and the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Dept. of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, Palestine (MoTA- DACH) over almost twenty years (1997–2019) at the site of Tell es- Sultan/ancient Jericho were mainly focused on the Early Bronze Age (EB) period;...
Conference Paper
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Grapevine (Vitis vinifera) is one of the most important fruit crops of the past and present world, both economically and culturally. The wild and domesticated forms, respectively Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris and V. vinifera subsp. vinifera , differ by an array of traits, including the form of their seeds that may be retrieved in archaeological...
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Archaeobotanical remains from the Phoenician – Punic site of Motya, set in the Marsala Lagoon in Western Sicily (Italy), were collected through flotation and sieving during the excavation campaigns of 2017–2019. Analyses focused on a sacrificial favissa, on the SW side of the Temple of Cappiddazzu, dedicated to Melqart/Herakles, where the buried re...
Article
This study is focused on the Red Slip Ware from the archaeological site of Sulky (Sardinia, Italy), dated back to the end of 9th to the early 8th centuries B.C. Optical Microscopy (OM), X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with an EDS system (SEM-EDS) were used to characterize both the body and the external Red S...
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Plant records reveal remarkable evidence about past environments and human cultures. Exploiting dental calculus analysis and using a combined approach of microscopy and gas chromatography mass spectrometry, our research outlines dietary ecology and phytomedicinal practices of the ancient community of Motya (Sicily, eight to sixth century BC), one o...
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One of the earliest domesticated organisms is perhaps the eukaryote microorganism known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or more simply "the yeast". Its decisive role in triggering fermentation as a process useful for agricultural products preservation and transformation into consumable food, though known from the Palaeolithic in the ancient Near East,...
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A recently found terracotta figurine of a naked lady from Ruseifah, in central Jordan, allows to illustrate a widespread type in the Levant during the 2nd millennium BC and to identify it with the Syrian – Levantine goddess Ishtar/Khepat during the Late Bronze Age.
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Tell es-Sultan ist der Standort der Stätte, die man heute als das «antike Jericho» bezeichnet. Sie liegt 250 m unter dem Meeresspiegel, etwa 9 km nördlich des nördlichen Ufers des Toten Meeres und 7 km westlich des Jordan, am Fuße des Ǧabal al-Qurunṭul (Berg der Versuchung), des höchsten Berges der Judäischen Wüste im südlichen Jordantal (Nm 26,3....
Article
Charred botanical finds from the excavation of the Early Bronze Age city of Jericho (Tell es-Sultan), one of the earliest urban centers of 3rd millennium BC Palestine, were collected during the 2015-2017 excavation seasons carried out by Sapienza University of Rome and the Palestinian MoTA-DACH. Among other plant macro-remains, a round fruit was fo...
Chapter
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The promontory of Jbeil which dominates the northern coast of Lebanon, squeezed between the mountains and the sea, was the place where from the 7th millennium BCE a human community of fishermen and agriculturalists gave rise to one of the most durable settlements of the Levant. The dominating position of the mound, over the easily landing great sea...
Chapter
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The study of the Ancient Near East and of its cultures had started in the Renaissance from the 15th to the 16th century and continued for four centuries, always coped with the intrinsic Biblecentric, Hellenocentric and Romanocentric nature of the dominating sources of the “Western culture”. Almost all of the basic literary, historical, and archaeol...
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14 th season of excavation at Khirbet al-Batrawy in north-central Jordan, and completed in 2019. In the entrance hall of the palace, a square space with ceilings supported by four pillars, an Egyptian green schist palette, a cyan gemstone of amazonite and a pierced bead of fluorapatite were found buried under the destruction layer, while a barrel-s...
Article
Rescue excavations undertaken by Sapienza University of Rome and the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Department of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (MOTA-DACH) revealed a huge necropolis in the site of Khalet al-Jam'a, south-east of Bethlehem. Tombs were used during the Early Bronze IV (2300–2000 BCE) to Middle Bronze I–III (2000–...
Conference Paper
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The site of Motya, also called Mozia or Mothia, is a small islet in the middle of the Mediterranean, found in the Marsala lagoon, along the western coast of Sicily. Due to its strategic and harboured position, as well as the presence of a freshwater source, the site has been constantly occupied since the 17 th century BCE. Motya is best known for i...
Article
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An Iron Age bronze axe was found in Motya (Sicily, Italy) in a prehistoric layer dating from the 10 th century BC underneath the 4 th century BC patrician residency known as "Casa dei mosaici". The axe belongs to the double-looped socketed type well known in central Mediterranean in the time span 1200-900 BC, and it is comparable with some coeval S...
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L'esplorazione archeologica di Betlemme ha rappresentato una vera sfida per le ridot-te dimensioni di questa cittadina palestinese e, soprattutto, per via del fatto che l'abitato moderno si estende in gran parte sopra a quello antico. Nonostante la sua popolarità e diversamente rispetto ad altri Luoghi Santi della Palestina, Betlemme non è mai stat...
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On the walls of Motya. Stratigraphy and Chronology in light of renewed Sapienza excavations (2014-2019) · During the last six seasons (2014-2019) of archaeological excavations at Motya, the Expedition by Sapienza University of Rome resumed the exploration and study of the fortifications system of the ancient Phoenician city in Western Sicily. This...
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The absolute chronology of Early Bronze Age in the Levant has been the object of a major revision (Regev et al. 2012a), which implied an increase of at least two centuries in respect of traditional chronology. Such a shift back was based upon two sites (Tel Yarmouth, Megiddo) which were the backbone of the "reform," but actually do not offer comple...
Chapter
This volume brings together scholars in religion, archaeology, philology, and history to explore case studies and theoretical models of converging religions. The twenty-four essays presented, which derive from Hittite, Cilician, Lydian, Phoenician, Greek, and Roman cultural settings, focus on encounters at the boundaries of cultures, landscapes, ch...
Article
A bronze axe of the Iron Age found in Motya (Sicily, Italy), in prehistoric strata dating from the 10th century BC (before the foundation of the Phoenician colony), has been characterised using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM-EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Electron Microprobe Analysis (EMPA). The axe was studied using micro-and invasive analys...
Article
Solid state electrochemistry based on the voltammetry of immobilized microparticles (VIMP) methodology is applied to a series of 80 Phoenician Red Slip samples from the archaeological sites of Motya (Sicily, Italy), Mogador (Morocco), Ramat‐Rahel (Israel), Sulky (Sardinia, Italy), Tas Silg (Malta), Pantelleria (Italy), and Cádiz (Spain), dated from...
Article
This study is focused on the Phoenician Red Slip Ware, a cultural and chronological marker, unearthed in the archaeological site of Motya. The vessels are dated back from the 8th to early 5th century B.C. The ceramics were investigated using Optical Microscopy (OM), X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Electron Mi...
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In this study, we analyze the impact of the sea level rise induced by climate change on the coastal cultural heritage site of Motya, the Phoenician colony (IV–III millennium B.P.) located in the San Pantaleo island, NW corner of Sicily (southern Italy). In particular, we assessed the effects of this phenomenon on the human settlement in the past 24...
Conference Paper
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The archaeobotanical analyses carried out at the archaeological site of Motya (Sicily, Italy), a small island found in the Marsala Lagoon, in Western Sicily (Italy), are presented. Although the Phoenician-Punic period (late 8th century BC-397 BC) represents the main occupational phase of the archaeological settlement, the island was occupied by ind...
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In Spring 2019 the Italian-Palestinian joint team of Sapienza University of Rome and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Palestine Dept. of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage resumed rescue excavations at the Necropolis of Khalet al-Jam’a, 2.2 Km south-east from the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. Works were focused on Tomb A7, identified in...
Article
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The site of Qalet Hamra was well known in Zarqa but it never attracted archaeologists and surveyors until a few years ago, possibly due to its location on a spur dominating the bifurcations between Wadi az-Zarqa and Wadi Shomar, a sort of shortcut leading straight ward to the west, in direction of the Jordan Valley. Moreover it was nearby a major f...
Conference Paper
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The comparison of two sites of Tell es-Sultan and Tall al-Ḥ ammām, facing each other on the opposite sides of the Jordan, needs a reliable cultural and chronological correlation. Something which has been pursued by archaeologists with different methods and approaches: synchronization in time and culture is never easy. This leads to the issue of rel...
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Recent excavations at Motya by the Sapienza University of Rome and the Sicil-ian Superintendence of Trapani have expanded our information on the Phoenician goddess Astarte, her sacred places, and her role in the Phoenician expansion to the West during the first half of the first millennium BCE. Two previously unknown religious buildings dedicated t...
Article
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The site of Qalet Hamra was well known in Zarqa but it never attracted archaeologists and surveyors until a few years ago, possibly due to its location on a spur dominating the bifurcations between Wadi az-Zarqa and Wadi Shomar, a sort of shortcut leading straight ward to the west, in direction of the Jordan Valley. Moreover it was nearby a major f...
Article
Full-text available
Tell es-Sultan, ancient Jericho, represents an almost unique case study of Early Bronze Age urbanization in Southern Levant. The site has been extensively excavated with a favourable set of data from Early Bronze Age II-III well stratified contexts. The results of four different excavations projects, started since the beginning of the 20 th century...
Article
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In Spring 2019 the Italian-Palestinian joint team of Sapienza Universityof Romeand the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Palestine Dept. of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage resumed rescue excavationsatthe Necropolis of Khalet al-Jam’a,2.2 Km south-east fromthe Church of Nativity inBethlehem. Workswerefocused on Tomb A7, identified in 2015, a...
Article
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Since the Mesolithic period (Sultan Ia, ca. 10,500 BCE), and especially from the Neolithic period onwards, Tell es-Sultan at the foot of the Mount of Temptations by the spring of ‘Ain es-Sultan (Prophet Elisha’s Spring of the Bible), 7 km north of the Dead Sea, was the dominant site in the southern Jordan Valley on the western bank of the river (Ni...
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À l’heure où la disponibilité et la gestion des ressources en eau de la planète sont au cœur des discussions internationales sur l’avenir de l’humanité, on peut s’interroger sur la manière dont les sociétés antiques ont contrôlé cet enjeu, en particulier en Méditerranée. Dans une tradition historiographique qui exalte la civilisation romaine de l’e...
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Abstract Ibiza was permanently settled around the 7th century BCE by founders arriving from west Phoenicia. The founding population grew significantly and reached its height during the 4th century BCE. We obtained nine complete mitochondrial genomes from skeletal remains from two Punic necropoli in Ibiza and a Bronze Age site from Formentara. We al...
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Rescue excavations in Bethlehem undertaken by the Sapienza University of Rome and the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities-Department of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage-have revealed four Bronze Age necropolises. These newly discovered sites illuminate the development of pre-Classical Bethlehem.