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Underground Drainageways in Southern Etruria and Northern Latium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

Sheldon Judson  and
Anne Kahane
Sheldon Judson
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Princeton University.
Anne Kahane
Affiliation:
British School at Rome.
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Extract

The River Tiber at Rome flows between the gentle, converging slopes of two extinct volcanoes, the M. Sabatini to the northwest and the complex known as the Alban Hills to the southeast. On the southern flanks of the M. Sabatini lie the Etruscan cities of Veii and Caere (modern Cerveteri) as well as many smaller Etruscan settlements. To the south on the western and southern slopes of the Alban Hills are such ancient towns of northern Latium as Ardea, Lanuvio and Velletri. In these same areas is an extensive development of underground passageways locally known as cuniculi, structures which are the subject of this report.

The cuniculus was widely used for a variety of purposes during classical and pre-classical antiquity in central Italy. Livy reports on cuniculi driven as military devices to gain access to besieged cities. The traditional account of the lowering of the Alban Lake, as reported by Livy, dates from the early 4th century B.C. Excavations in urban centres have demonstrated that the Etruscans and later the Romans used cuniculi for drainage purposes, and also as lateral collectors of underground water in wells.

This report deals with extensive systems of cuniculi found in the Roman Campagna but not directly related to urban or domestic development.

Type
Articles
Information
Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , November 1963 , pp. 74 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © British School at Rome 1963

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References

1 The Latin form, cuniculus, -i, is retained throughout, as is its meaning, underground passage. The Italian cuniculo, -i, has the same meaning.

2 For a valuable discussion of cuniculi in general see Plinio Fraccaro, ‘Di alcuni antichissimi lavori idraulici di Roma e della Campagna’ reprinted from Bolletino della Societa Geografica Italiana, s. 5, vol. viii, 1919, pp. 186–215, reprinted in his collected Opuscola (Pavia, 1957Google Scholar) with four appendices commenting on work published since the original article. About the cuniculi that are the subject of this article, Fraccaro was wrong and Ashby (The Roman Campagna in Classical Times, 1927, pp. 239–40) right. Among the 19th-century publications we have found of most value ‘Cuniculus’ by De La Blanchère, R. in Daremberg and Saglio, , Dictionnaire des Antiquités, vol. ii, Pt. 2, pp. 1589–1594Google Scholar, 1887, Paris. See also Ward-Perkins, , Papers of the British School at Rome, xxix, 1961, pp. 47–57Google Scholar, and in Hommages à Albert Grenier, vol. iii (Collection Latomus, vol. lviii, 1962), pp. 1636–1643Google Scholar.

3 Terminology can be confusing. In English usage tuff=volcanic ash; tufa=soft, spongy deposit of limestone, usually laid down in streams and springs. Travertine in both English and Italian refers to a form of limestone, usually permeable, and usually deposited in fresh water. As such it is. akin to the English tufa, but differs in being much more solid.

4 The most authoritative information available on the soils of Italy is Fiorenzo Mancini's ‘Carta dei Suoli d'ltalia’, Agricoltura, No. 7, July 1960, Roma, and we rely heavily upon this article and its accompanying map.

5 In pedologic (soil science) terms the Mediterranean Brown Earth of the Mesophytic Forest develops a textural B-horizon. The Mediterranean Brown Earth of the Xerophytic Forest does not develop a B-horizon. In the typical Brown earth the B-horizon is either feebly developed or lacking.

6 ‘Left’ and ‘right’ refer to position in relation to the valley bottom as the observer faces down stream.

7 This site is known to have been occupied from pre-Roman through Imperial time. See Ashby, op. cit., p. 235.

8 The ancient Emissary was re-used in 1928–29 to lower the level of Lake Nemi during the recovery of sunken Roman ships. Itinerari dei Musei e Monumenti d'Italia No. 72, Libreria dello Stato, and Ucelli, G., Le Navi di Nemi, Libreria dello Stato, 1950, pp. 41–56Google Scholar.

9 R. De La Blanchère, ‘Emissario’ in Daremberg, and Saglio, , op. cit., vol. 2, Pt. 1, p. 599–600Google Scholar.

10 Jones, , PBSR, xxx, 1962, pp. 143–4Google Scholar, fig. 9, pl. XXVII.

11 Davies, Oliver, Roman Mines in Europe, Oxford, 1935, p. 31Google Scholar.

12 Thomas Ashby, Mappa della Compagna Romana del 1547 (Eufrosino della Volpaia) Rome, 1914.

13 Ward-Perkins, op. cit., 1961.

14 The road patterns of the Veii area will be discussed in a future report in this series. The gates and roads of the City of Veii itself are reported by Ward-Perkins, op. cit.

15 Andren, A., “Scavo sull' acropoli di Ardea”, in Opuscula Romana, Swedish Institute, Rome, 1954Google Scholar.

16 Galieti, , ‘Il castello di Civita Lavinia’, Bull. Comm. Arch. Com., lxi, 1933, p. 159Google Scholar.

17 Banti, Luisa, Il Mondi degli Etruschi, Primata Rome, 1960, p. 15Google Scholar.

18 Pallottino, M., The Etruscans, Penguin Books, 1955Google Scholar. Bloch, R., The Etruscans, Thames and Hudson, 1961Google Scholar.

19 Santangelo, Maria, Musei e Monumenti Etruschi, Novara, 1960, p. 9Google Scholar.

20 Ashby, op. cit., and Ward-Perkins, op. cit.

21 Fraccaro, op. cit.

22 Ward-Perkins, op. cit.