The ancient City of Spina

A Greek-Etruscan harbour from the Adriatic coast with extremely good  preserved  wooden structures and organic finds from the 6th to the 3rd century bc.

Lecture by Lorenzo Zamboni, Post.Doc. Department of Human Studies, University of Pavia and of Milano-Bicocca, Italy.

Spina was an international hub and the main trading partner of Athens in the West Mediterranean, bridgehead of  the  Greek  commercial  interests  towards  continental  Europe.  For  almost two thousand years the city laid forgotten under the mud of the Po lagoon and was discovered only during land reclamations in the ’60ies. The excavations have thus brought to light an impressive  wetland  settlement,  with  regular Greek-style urban  planning,  including  rectangular blocks and houses, entirely realized with timber and logs.

A new project aims to apply for the first time a wide program of materials analysis on these extra-ordinarily preserved wooden structures and perishable goods.