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Keeping the Sea Out: Early Medieval Structures at ca' Foscari University, Venice, Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

John Meadows ,
Nicoletta Martinelli ,
Olivia Pignatelli ,
Rossella Cester ,
Luigi Fozzati  and
Bernd Kromer
John Meadows*
Affiliation:
Zentrum für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie, Schloss Gottorf, 24837 Schleswig, Germany; Leibniz-Labor für Altersbestimmung und Isotopenforschung, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Max-Eyth-Str. 11–13, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Nicoletta Martinelli
Affiliation:
Dendrodata s.a.s., via Cesiolo 18, Verona 37126, Italy
Olivia Pignatelli
Affiliation:
Dendrodata s.a.s., via Cesiolo 18, Verona 37126, Italy
Rossella Cester
Affiliation:
Studio Associato Bettinardi Cester Archeologi, S. Croce, 2259, Venezia 30135, Italy
Luigi Fozzati
Affiliation:
Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Friuli Venezia Giulia, viale Miramare 9, 34135 Trieste, Italy
Bernd Kromer
Affiliation:
Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, c/o Institut für Umweltphysik, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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In 2004, the courtyard of Ca' Foscari University, Venice, was excavated in advance of building work, revealing an unbroken sequence of archaeological deposits. The earliest layers consisted of redeposited natural sediment, packed into wattle structures, a system of land reclamation first described by Cassiodorus in AD 537–8, and now known from several other sites in the city. The ground level was built up and extended several times with successive wattle structures, before the eventual construction of a stone waterfront. We have used Bayesian modeling of dendrochronological, radiocarbon, and stratigraphic dating evidence to obtain a precise chronology for the earliest phases of occupation, and to compare it to the chronology of land reclamation at similar sites elsewhere in Venice.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 54 , Issue 3-4 , 2012 , pp. 567 - 579
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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