WRECK OF CAPO PICCOLO A. FIRST HALF OF V CENTURY B.C.
BLACK-PAINTED LEKANE
MUSAS Ref. No.
CAPCOL-39
Inv. No.
Description
Black-painted Lekane plate. Recessed rim, indistinct from the wall. Ear-shaped horizontal handles with a cylindrical section. Part of the bottom missing.
Dimensions
Materials
Terracotta
Location
National Archaeological Museum of Capo Colonna.
Origin
Wreck of Capo Piccolo A
Dating
First half of the V century B.C.
Biological degradation
The artefact does not present traces of biological degradation.
References
MEDAGLIA 2008, pp. 116-117; MEDAGLIA 2010, p. 338 ss., n. 421.
REFERENCES
Medaglia S., 2008, Per un censimento dei relitti antichi lungo la costa crotonese. Nota preliminare, in Ricerche archeologiche e storiche in Calabria: modelli e prospettive, “Atti del convegno di studi in onore di Giovanni Azzimmaturo (Cosenza 2007)”, Cosenza.
Medaglia S. 2010, Carta archeologica della provincia di Crotone: paesaggi storici e insediamenti nella Calabria centro-orientale dalla Preistoria all’Altomedioevo, Ricerche IV. Collana del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti, Università della Calabria, Rossano.
ANFORA GRECO-OCCIDENTALE 2 / SOURISSEAU FORME 2
MUSAS Ref. No.:
CAPCOL-16
Inv. No.
Description
Amphora with a spinning top-shaped body recomposed from various fragments, with some gaps. Beige paste.
Dimensions
cm 42 x max. width cm 40 x mouth tot. diam. cm 15
Materials
Terracotta
Location
Sandpit in the National Archaeological Museum of Capo Colonna
Origin
Wreck of Capo Piccolo A
Dating
Early – first half of V century B.C.
Biological degradation
The amphora shows a modest, whitish encrusting colonisation caused by the development of animal and vegetable organisms: red algae, Bryozoans, Polychaeta Serpulidae (sea worms).
References
MEDAGLIA, 2008, p. 116-117; MEDAGLIA 2010, pp. 338 and ff. n. 421; SOURISSEAU 2011, pp. 176 (fig. 6), 189-190; SACCHETTI F. 2012, pp. pp. 43-48.
REFERENCES
Medaglia S. 2008, Per un censimento dei relitti antichi lungo la costa crotonese. Nota preliminare, in Ricerche archeologiche e storiche in Calabria: modelli e prospettive, “Atti del convegno di studi in onore di Giovanni Azzimmaturo (Cosenza 2007)”, Cosenza.
Medaglia S. 2010, Carta archeologica della provincia di Crotone: paesaggi storici e insediamenti nella Calabria centro-orientale dalla Preistoria all’Altomedioevo, Ricerche IV. Collana del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti, Università della Calabria, Rossano.
Sourisseau J.-CH. 2011, La diffusion des vins grecs d’Occident du VIIIe au IVe s. av. J.-C., sources écrites et documents archéologiques, in La vigna di Dioniso: vite, vino e culti in Magna Grecia, Atti del 49 Convegno di Studi sulla Magna Grecia (Taranto 2009), Taranto, pp. 176 (fig. 6), 189-190.
Sacchetti F. 2012, Les amphores grecques dans le Nord de l’Italie. Échanges commerciaux entre les Appennins et les Alpes aux époques archaïque et classique (Bibliothèque d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne et Africaine 10), Aix-en Provence.
AMPHORA KOEHLER A’
MUSAS Ref. No.:
CAPCOL-17
Inv. No.
Description
Amphora of which the neck, a disc-shaped rim, circular-section handles and some portions of the shoulder are preserved.
Dimensions
cm 16 x max. width cm 33 x mouth diam. cm 16
Materials
Terracotta
Location
National Archaeological Museum of Capo Colonna
Origin
Wreck of Capo Piccolo A
Dating
Early – first half of V century B.C
Biological degradation
The amphora’s neck presents an epilithic (superficial) biological colonisation characterised by encrusting red algae (Corallinales, visible as a whitish patina), shells of Polychaete Serpulidae (sea worms) and colonies of Bryozoans.
References
MEDAGLIA, 2008, p. 116-117; MEDAGLIA 2010, pp. 338 ff. n. 421 with references; SACCHETTI F. 2012, pp. 27-32.
REFERENCES
Koehler C.G. 1981, Corinthian Developments in the Study of Trade in the Fifth Century, in Hesperia 50, pp. 449-458.
Medaglia S. 2008, Per un censimento dei relitti antichi lungo la costa crotonese. Nota preliminare, in Ricerche archeologiche e storiche in Calabria: modelli e prospettive, “Atti del convegno di studi in onore di Giovanni Azzimmaturo (Cosenza 2007)”, Cosenza.
Medaglia S. 2010, Carta archeologica della provincia di Crotone: paesaggi storici e insediamenti nella Calabria centro-orientale dalla Preistoria all’Altomedioevo, Ricerche IV. Collana del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti, Università della Calabria, Rossano.
Sacchetti F. 2012, Les amphores grecques dans le Nord de l’Italie. Échanges commerciaux entre les Appennins et les Alpes aux époques archaïque et classique (Bibliothèque d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne et Africaine 10), Aix-en Provence, pp. 145-252.
The Greek wreck of Capo Piccolo A was found by a fisherman from Crotone, M. Fortezza, and then surveyed during the 1990s by Cooperativa Aquarius on behalf of the Archaeological Superintendency of that time (1).
The wreck is located in front of the promontory of Capo Piccolo, in the gulf between Capo Rizzuto and Le Castella, at a depth of 34 meters. The two interventions of Cooperativa Aquarius were carried out with a suction dredge and allowed for recovering various materials from the load, especially amphorae and tableware pottery.
The former are all of Greek style and belong to the ancient Corinthian B and Ionic-Massalian types. The amphora Koehler A1 should be added to this group (see 3D artefacts). Nearly all amphorae are pitched inside.
As far as tableware is concerned, it is not clear whether the pieces belonged to the cargo or it were part of on-board provisions.
Among these, a small achromatic pitcher with one handle, an olpe with a missing foot and a vertical elevated handle, a one-handled and partially black-painted bowl, and a black-painted Lekane without the bottom (2) are worth mentioning.
On the one hand, even though the wreck has been dated back between the end of the VI century and the beginning of the V century B.C. (3), the presence of the amphorae of Corinthian A type (Koehler A1) indicates a slightly later dating, i.e. in the first half of the IV century B.C. (8). In addition, on the other hand, the smaller pieces of pottery do not provide us with further data for defining the history or the route of the ship. Up to now, no remains of the hull have been found (4).
The artefacts recovered from this wreck are kept at the National Archaeological Museum of Capo Colonna. The data cards for some artefacts, complete with 3D renderings, are available directly on this page.
NOTES
1 MEDAGLIA 2010, pp. 338-339.
2 For a review of types and references about pottery, see Medaglia 2010, p. 339.
3 LATTANZI 1994, p. 21; LATTANZI 1995, pp. 184-185; RACHELI 2006, p. 67.
4 MEDAGLIA 2010, p. 340.
REFERENCES
Lattanzi E. 1994, Attività della Soprintendenza Archeologica in Calabria nel 1994, in Magna Graecia XXIX, 4-6, pp. 20-22.
Lattanzi E. 1995, Attività della Soprintendenza Archeologica della Calabria nel biennio 1993-1994, in Klearchos 35-37, 1993-1995, pp. 179-193.
Medaglia S. 2008, Per un censimento dei relitti antichi lungo la costa crotonese. Nota preliminare, in Ricerche archeologiche e storiche in Calabria: modelli e prospettive, “Atti del convegno di studi in onore di Giovanni Azzimmaturo (Cosenza 2007)”, Cosenza, pp. 93-120.
Medaglia S. 2010, Carta archeologica della provincia di Crotone: paesaggi storici e insediamenti nella Calabria centro-orientale dalla Preistoria all’Altomedioevo, Ricerche IV. Collana del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti, Università della Calabria, Rossano.
Racheli A. 2006, I relitti del vino, in Capo Colonna, p. 67.