Portieri, a Hellenistic Fattoria in the Foothills of the Sibaritide (Calabria, Italy), site report and shard catalogue

Abstract

In the October 2004 campaign of the Raganello Archaeological Project (RAP) of the Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA), a survey team headed by the first author located the remains of a Hellenistic site in the foothills of the Sibaritide plain in northern Calabria (Italy). The size and nature of the artifact scatter that was mapped indicated a different type of site than the subsistence farms known so far from previous surveys. Study of the ceramics suggests that the storage of wine played a prominent role on the site. From this, it may be deduced that we are dealing with a site that specialized in viniculture and produced for the market of the Greek town of Thourioi, located in the plain at a distance of 20 km. Through the ceramics, the Portieri site can be dated in the period from approximately mid 4th until mid 3rd century BC (c. 350-250 BC).