Opening the Frontier: The Gubbio–perugia Frontier in the Course of History

Abstract

The frontier between Gubbio (ancient Umbria) and Perugia (ancient Etruria), in the northeast part of the modern region of Umbria, was founded in the late sixth centurybc. The frontier endured in different forms, most notably in the late antique and medieval periods, as well as fleetingly in 1944, and is fossilized today in the local government boundaries. Archaeological, documentary and philological evidence are brought together to investigate different scales of time that vary from millennia to single days in the representation of a frontier that captured a watershed of geological origins. The foundation of the frontier appears to have been a product of the active agency of the Etruscans, who projected new settlements across the Tiber in the course of the sixth centurybc, protected at the outer limit of their territory by the naturally defended farmstead of Col di Marzo. The immediate environs of the ancient abbey of Montelabate have been studied intensively by targeted, systematic and geophysical survey in conjunction with excavation, work that is still in progress. An overview of the development of the frontier is presented here, employing the data currently available.

Compositional characterization of Etruscan earthen architecture and ceramic production

“…The bedrock of the site of Col di Marzo consists of alternating layers of clay shales with calcareous sandy marls interbedded with Miocene sandstones (Regione Umbria 2013; Stoddart et al . 2012) (Fig. 1).…”

“…A significant example of the frontier of Perugia, 10 km north from Arna, is offered by the settlement of Col di Marzo, located on a hilltop 645 masl overlooking the valley of Montelabate, which was excavated as part of the Montelabate Project (Stoddart et al . 2012; Stoddart and Redhouse 2014, 113–14; Malone et al . 2014; Ceccarelli and Stoddart in press) (Fig.…”

“…A detailed survey (Stoddart et al . 2012; Malone et al . 2014) has shown scattered rural farms towards the Tiber Valley that started in the third century bce and continued into later periods.…”

Production and Trade in Central Italy in the Roman Period: The Amphora Workshop of Montelabate in Umbria

“…An initial field walking survey conducted in 2010 as part of the Montelabate Project (Stoddart et al ., 2012) revealed the presence of a production area on the top of a hill at 340 m above sea level, located within walking distance of a rich clay deposit 4 and a series of streams at the foot of the hill (Fig. 14, site 6, further below).…”

Pre-Colonial Latin Colonies and the Transition to the Mid-Republican Period in the Faliscan Area and South Etruria: Orientalizing, Archaic and Late Archaic Settlement and Funerary Evidence From the Nepi Survey

“…Becker, 2002; Cambi, 2012) are known from the literary sources (for example, Livy 10.12.8) 21 and subject to increased research interest (cf. Cerasuolo, 2012; Stoddart et al ., 2012). They are poorly understood in the Faliscan area where the medieval incastellamento sites (cf.…”