Peter Attema
Biographic Data
| ID | 383387 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Peter Attema |
| GIVEN NAMES | Peter |
| FAMILY NAME | Attema |
| SIGNATURE | ATTEMA P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Groningen |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1360-5757 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Living with the volcano: Distal responses to the Early Bronze Age Avellino eruption
Around 1900 BC, a powerful eruption of Vesuvius covered a large part of central Tyrrhenian Italy in volcanic ash. Based on the results of the research project The Avellino Event: Cultural and Demographic Effects of the Great Bronze Age Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, completed in 2020, we discuss the environmental and societal impacts of the so-called Avellino eruption on the Early Bronze Age societies of central Italy, with special reference to the …
Sodium Chronicles… Grain by Grain. New Methods for Quantifying Ancient Salt Demand
Salt played a crucial role in ancient societies, serving both dietary and industrial purposes. Despite its importance, direct quantification of salt demand remains challenging due to limited archaeological evidence and the complexity of variables involved in salt production. This study proposes an indirect approach to estimating salt consumption through a reconstructive model of agropastoral landscape exploitation. By assessing the maximum number…
Early Use of Lime Mortar at the Early Iron Age Piscina Torta Salt Production Site (Tiber Delta, Ostia, Italy)
This study presents new evidence for the early use of lime mortar during the Early Iron Age at the Piscina Torta site (Ostia, Italy), situated on the earliest Holocene beach ridges in the southern Tiber delta. The site, which was earlier described as a briquetage site, dates from between the late 8th and 6th century BCE and consists of a large complex of dumps, holding kilns and working floors. Lime mortar‐like materials were abundantly present i…
Evaluating the potential of in-depth chrono-cultural and functional analysis of pottery in European cave archaeology: A case study from the prehistoric Grotte Di Sant’angelo Cave Complex (Cassano allo…
This paper evaluates the potential of in-depth chronological and functional analysis of prehistoric pottery (4th millennium BCE) from the Grotte di Sant’Angelo Cave Complex, located in the municipality of Cassano allo Ionio (Calabria, Southern Italy). The underground system, formed by sulfuric acid speleogenesis, features a floor scattered with depressions, holes, and fractures of different depths hosting archaeological materials. A number of the…
Film, fotografie, feit en fictie in het Pollino-gebergte (Zuid-Italië)
Film, photography, fact and fiction in the Pollino Mountains (Southern Italy). The film “Il Buco” (The Hole, 2022) by Michelangelo Frammartino is about a speleological expedition in the Pollino mountains (northern Calabria, Italy) in 1961. It won the Special Jury Award at the 2022 Venice Film Festival and received excellent reviews in the Dutch press (Volkskrant, Trouw, NRC, VPRO Cinema). In the film, an old shepherd at the end of his life observ…
Salt in Late Iron Age Italy. A multidisciplinary approach to the exploration of Italy’s coastal exploitation sites: Piscina Torta (Ostia, Rome) case study
During the Copper Age and onwards, unique archaeological sites emerged throughout Europe. These sites exhibit distinct features such as the absence of typical household pottery, the presence of kilns, and extensive layers composed solely of fragments of reddish-brown jars. Scholars generally interpret these sites as specialized locations for salt production through the technique of boiling saltwater, known as briquetage. In Italy, many of these s…
Het Pollino Archaeological Landscape Project (Palp)
The Pollino Archaeological Landscape Project. The authors report on a new project, the Pollino Archaeological Landscape Project (PALP) that focuses on landscape and archaeological research of the Pollino mountains. This range is located on the border of the provinces of Basilicata and Calabria in southern Italy and is part of the Pollino National Park, founded in 1993 and declared a UNESCO Geopark in 2015. The objective of the PALP is to reconstr…
Ontwikkelingen in de mediterrane landschaps-archeologie aan het GIA. Waar komen we vandaan en waar gaan we naartoe
Developments in Mediterranean landscape archaeology at the GIA: Where have we come from and where are we heading? In this paper, I discuss in brief the development of Mediterranean landscape archaeology in Italy as this has taken shape at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA) from the 1980s onwards in the Pontine Region Project, in southern Lazio, in central Italy, and in the Raganello Archaeological Project, in northern Calabria, in south…
The Roman Hinterland Project: Integrating Archaeological Field Surveys around Rome and Beyond
This article presents the background to and prospects for a new initiative in archaeological field survey and database integration. The Roman Hinterland Project combines data from the Tiber Valley Project, Roman Suburbium Project, and the Pontine Region Project into a single database, which the authors believe to be one of the most complete repositories of data for the hinterland of a major ancient metropolis, covering nearly 2000 years of histor…
A guide to good practice in Mediterranean surface survey projects
This article deals with a relatively new form of archaeological research in the Mediterranean region – intensive surface survey, coverage of the landscape by teams walking in close order, recording patterns of human activity visible on the landsurface as scatters of pottery and lithics, or building remains. Since 2000, archaeologists from Dutch and Belgian universities working on Mediterranean survey projects have gathered annually to discuss met…
A multidisciplinary study of an exceptional prehistoric waste dump in the mountainous inland of Calabria (Italy): Implications for reconstructions of prehistoric land use and vegetation in Southern It…
The mountainous inland of northern Calabria (Southern Italy) is known for its sparse prehistoric human occupation. Nevertheless, a thorough multidisciplinary approach of field walking, geophysical survey and invasive research led to the discovery of a major archaeological archive. This archive concerns a rich multi-phased dump, spanning about 3000 years (Late Neolithic to Late Imperial Roman Age) and holding two Somma-Vesuvius tephra. Of these, t…
Protohistoric briquetage at Puntone (Tuscany, Italy): Principles and processes of an industry based on the leaching of saline lagoonal sediments
A protohistoric (c.10th–5th c. BC) briquetage site at Puntone (Tuscany, Italy) was studied to unravel the salt production processes and materials involved. Geophysical surveys were used to identify kilns, pits, and dumps. One of these pits and a dump were excavated, followed by detailed chemical and physical analyses of the materials encountered. The pit had been used for holding brine, obtained by leaching of lagoonal sediment over a sieve, that…
Questioning the Concept of Marginality: Early Modern Ethnography and Bronze Age Archaeology of the Foothills and Uplands of the Raganello Basin (Northern Calabria, Italy)
For nearly 20 years now, the uplands and foothills of the Raganello basin in northern Calabria have been the subject of landscape archaeology research by the Groningen Institute of Archaeology. Recently, the authors started documenting the area's rich early modern ethnographic past to improve their interpretive framework. This article will present two key arguments, one theoretical and one methodological, that demonstrate why the study of early m…
Holocene vegetation record of upland northern Calabria, Italy: Environmental change and human impact
Earlier studies on Holocene fills of upland lakes (Lago Forano and Fontana Manca) in northern Calabria, Italy, showed that these hold important palaeoecological archives, which however remained poorly dated. Their time frame is improved by new 14 C dates on plant remains from new cores. Existing pollen data are reinterpreted, using this new time frame. Two early forest decline phases are distinguished. The earliest is linked to the 4.2 kyr BP cli…
Cropmarks in het Tiberdal: Onderzoek naar gebruik en bewoning van de Tibervallei nabij Crustumerium in de Romeinse tijd
Cropmarks in the Tiber valley: research into the use and occupation of the Tiber valley near Crustumerium in Roman times. This paper reports on a short field campaign aimed at investigating an extensive crop-mark identified in aerial photography by the first author. The cropmark is situated in the Tiber floodplain near the ancient settlement of Crustumerium, north of the centre of Rome and close to old riverbanks of the river Tiber. Surface finds…
Early states, territories and settlements in protohistoric Central Italy: Proceedings of a specialist conference at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology of the University of Groningen, 2013
Sedimentation as geomorphological bias and indicator of agricultural (un)sustainability in the study of the coastal plains of South and Central Italy in antiquity
Minor Centres in the Pontine Plain: The Cases of Forum Appii and Ad Medias
Although both the urban and rural landscapes of Roman Italy have received due attention in current debates on the Roman economy, this is less true for the highly variable group of intermediate sites, here conveniently labelled as ‘minor centres’, and their role within economic networks. This contribution focuses attention on two such sites, Forum Appii and Ad Medias , situated in the Pontine plain (Lazio, central Italy) along the Via Appia. After…
Case Studies in Indigenous Developments in Early Italian Centralization and Urbanization: A Dutch Perspective
The authors discuss results of long-term Dutch field projects in three regions in Italy and review case studies taken from these study areas in the light of indigenous developments in early Italian centralization and urbanization. By looking at regional developments in the domains of economy, religious and funerary practice as well as that of social relationships, they arrive at the conclusion that material culture was actively used in indigenous…
Inside and outside the landscape: Perceptions of the Pontine Region
This paper on perceptions of the Pontine Region in Central Italy starts out with a discussion of a map by the Renaissance artist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci which he made of the Pontine marshes in the early 16th century A.D. Since this map is the earliest rendering known of this former wetland, it is an important document for the reconstruction of the wet areas of the Pontine Region, a landscape unit that falls within the wider survey area of …
The Roman Hinterland Project: Integrating Archaeological Field Surveys around Rome and Beyond
This article presents the background to and prospects for a new initiative in archaeological field survey and database integration. The Roman Hinterland Project combines data from the Tiber Valley Project, Roman Suburbium Project, and the Pontine Region Project into a single database, which the authors believe to be one of the most complete repositories of data for the hinterland of a major ancient metropolis, covering nearly 2000 years of histor…
Case Studies in Indigenous Developments in Early Italian Centralization and Urbanization: A Dutch Perspective
The authors discuss results of long-term Dutch field projects in three regions in Italy and review case studies taken from these study areas in the light of indigenous developments in early Italian centralization and urbanization. By looking at regional developments in the domains of economy, religious and funerary practice as well as that of social relationships, they arrive at the conclusion that material culture was actively used in indigenous…
Protohistoric briquetage at Puntone (Tuscany, Italy): Principles and processes of an industry based on the leaching of saline lagoonal sediments
A protohistoric (c.10th–5th c. BC) briquetage site at Puntone (Tuscany, Italy) was studied to unravel the salt production processes and materials involved. Geophysical surveys were used to identify kilns, pits, and dumps. One of these pits and a dump were excavated, followed by detailed chemical and physical analyses of the materials encountered. The pit had been used for holding brine, obtained by leaching of lagoonal sediment over a sieve, that…
Holocene vegetation record of upland northern Calabria, Italy: Environmental change and human impact
Earlier studies on Holocene fills of upland lakes (Lago Forano and Fontana Manca) in northern Calabria, Italy, showed that these hold important palaeoecological archives, which however remained poorly dated. Their time frame is improved by new 14 C dates on plant remains from new cores. Existing pollen data are reinterpreted, using this new time frame. Two early forest decline phases are distinguished. The earliest is linked to the 4.2 kyr BP cli…
Salt in Late Iron Age Italy. A multidisciplinary approach to the exploration of Italy’s coastal exploitation sites: Piscina Torta (Ostia, Rome) case study
During the Copper Age and onwards, unique archaeological sites emerged throughout Europe. These sites exhibit distinct features such as the absence of typical household pottery, the presence of kilns, and extensive layers composed solely of fragments of reddish-brown jars. Scholars generally interpret these sites as specialized locations for salt production through the technique of boiling saltwater, known as briquetage. In Italy, many of these s…
A multidisciplinary study of an exceptional prehistoric waste dump in the mountainous inland of Calabria (Italy): Implications for reconstructions of prehistoric land use and vegetation in Southern It…
The mountainous inland of northern Calabria (Southern Italy) is known for its sparse prehistoric human occupation. Nevertheless, a thorough multidisciplinary approach of field walking, geophysical survey and invasive research led to the discovery of a major archaeological archive. This archive concerns a rich multi-phased dump, spanning about 3000 years (Late Neolithic to Late Imperial Roman Age) and holding two Somma-Vesuvius tephra. Of these, t…
Questioning the Concept of Marginality: Early Modern Ethnography and Bronze Age Archaeology of the Foothills and Uplands of the Raganello Basin (Northern Calabria, Italy)
For nearly 20 years now, the uplands and foothills of the Raganello basin in northern Calabria have been the subject of landscape archaeology research by the Groningen Institute of Archaeology. Recently, the authors started documenting the area's rich early modern ethnographic past to improve their interpretive framework. This article will present two key arguments, one theoretical and one methodological, that demonstrate why the study of early m…
Sedimentation as geomorphological bias and indicator of agricultural (un)sustainability in the study of the coastal plains of South and Central Italy in antiquity
Inside and outside the landscape: Perceptions of the Pontine Region
This paper on perceptions of the Pontine Region in Central Italy starts out with a discussion of a map by the Renaissance artist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci which he made of the Pontine marshes in the early 16th century A.D. Since this map is the earliest rendering known of this former wetland, it is an important document for the reconstruction of the wet areas of the Pontine Region, a landscape unit that falls within the wider survey area of …
Case Studies in Indigenous Developments in Early Italian Centralization and Urbanization: A Dutch Perspective
The authors discuss results of long-term Dutch field projects in three regions in Italy and review case studies taken from these study areas in the light of indigenous developments in early Italian centralization and urbanization. By looking at regional developments in the domains of economy, religious and funerary practice as well as that of social relationships, they arrive at the conclusion that material culture was actively used in indigenous…
Minor Centres in the Pontine Plain: The Cases of Forum Appii and Ad Medias
Although both the urban and rural landscapes of Roman Italy have received due attention in current debates on the Roman economy, this is less true for the highly variable group of intermediate sites, here conveniently labelled as ‘minor centres’, and their role within economic networks. This contribution focuses attention on two such sites, Forum Appii and Ad Medias , situated in the Pontine plain (Lazio, central Italy) along the Via Appia. After…
Early states, territories and settlements in protohistoric Central Italy: Proceedings of a specialist conference at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology of the University of Groningen, 2013
Sedimentation as geomorphological bias and indicator of agricultural (un)sustainability in the study of the coastal plains of South and Central Italy in antiquity
Cropmarks in het Tiberdal: Onderzoek naar gebruik en bewoning van de Tibervallei nabij Crustumerium in de Romeinse tijd
Cropmarks in the Tiber valley: research into the use and occupation of the Tiber valley near Crustumerium in Roman times. This paper reports on a short field campaign aimed at investigating an extensive crop-mark identified in aerial photography by the first author. The cropmark is situated in the Tiber floodplain near the ancient settlement of Crustumerium, north of the centre of Rome and close to old riverbanks of the river Tiber. Surface finds…
Questioning the Concept of Marginality: Early Modern Ethnography and Bronze Age Archaeology of the Foothills and Uplands of the Raganello Basin (Northern Calabria, Italy)
For nearly 20 years now, the uplands and foothills of the Raganello basin in northern Calabria have been the subject of landscape archaeology research by the Groningen Institute of Archaeology. Recently, the authors started documenting the area's rich early modern ethnographic past to improve their interpretive framework. This article will present two key arguments, one theoretical and one methodological, that demonstrate why the study of early m…
Holocene vegetation record of upland northern Calabria, Italy: Environmental change and human impact
Earlier studies on Holocene fills of upland lakes (Lago Forano and Fontana Manca) in northern Calabria, Italy, showed that these hold important palaeoecological archives, which however remained poorly dated. Their time frame is improved by new 14 C dates on plant remains from new cores. Existing pollen data are reinterpreted, using this new time frame. Two early forest decline phases are distinguished. The earliest is linked to the 4.2 kyr BP cli…
A guide to good practice in Mediterranean surface survey projects
This article deals with a relatively new form of archaeological research in the Mediterranean region – intensive surface survey, coverage of the landscape by teams walking in close order, recording patterns of human activity visible on the landsurface as scatters of pottery and lithics, or building remains. Since 2000, archaeologists from Dutch and Belgian universities working on Mediterranean survey projects have gathered annually to discuss met…
A multidisciplinary study of an exceptional prehistoric waste dump in the mountainous inland of Calabria (Italy): Implications for reconstructions of prehistoric land use and vegetation in Southern It…
The mountainous inland of northern Calabria (Southern Italy) is known for its sparse prehistoric human occupation. Nevertheless, a thorough multidisciplinary approach of field walking, geophysical survey and invasive research led to the discovery of a major archaeological archive. This archive concerns a rich multi-phased dump, spanning about 3000 years (Late Neolithic to Late Imperial Roman Age) and holding two Somma-Vesuvius tephra. Of these, t…
Protohistoric briquetage at Puntone (Tuscany, Italy): Principles and processes of an industry based on the leaching of saline lagoonal sediments
A protohistoric (c.10th–5th c. BC) briquetage site at Puntone (Tuscany, Italy) was studied to unravel the salt production processes and materials involved. Geophysical surveys were used to identify kilns, pits, and dumps. One of these pits and a dump were excavated, followed by detailed chemical and physical analyses of the materials encountered. The pit had been used for holding brine, obtained by leaching of lagoonal sediment over a sieve, that…
Ontwikkelingen in de mediterrane landschaps-archeologie aan het GIA. Waar komen we vandaan en waar gaan we naartoe
Developments in Mediterranean landscape archaeology at the GIA: Where have we come from and where are we heading? In this paper, I discuss in brief the development of Mediterranean landscape archaeology in Italy as this has taken shape at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA) from the 1980s onwards in the Pontine Region Project, in southern Lazio, in central Italy, and in the Raganello Archaeological Project, in northern Calabria, in south…
The Roman Hinterland Project: Integrating Archaeological Field Surveys around Rome and Beyond
This article presents the background to and prospects for a new initiative in archaeological field survey and database integration. The Roman Hinterland Project combines data from the Tiber Valley Project, Roman Suburbium Project, and the Pontine Region Project into a single database, which the authors believe to be one of the most complete repositories of data for the hinterland of a major ancient metropolis, covering nearly 2000 years of histor…
Het Pollino Archaeological Landscape Project (Palp)
The Pollino Archaeological Landscape Project. The authors report on a new project, the Pollino Archaeological Landscape Project (PALP) that focuses on landscape and archaeological research of the Pollino mountains. This range is located on the border of the provinces of Basilicata and Calabria in southern Italy and is part of the Pollino National Park, founded in 1993 and declared a UNESCO Geopark in 2015. The objective of the PALP is to reconstr…
Salt in Late Iron Age Italy. A multidisciplinary approach to the exploration of Italy’s coastal exploitation sites: Piscina Torta (Ostia, Rome) case study
During the Copper Age and onwards, unique archaeological sites emerged throughout Europe. These sites exhibit distinct features such as the absence of typical household pottery, the presence of kilns, and extensive layers composed solely of fragments of reddish-brown jars. Scholars generally interpret these sites as specialized locations for salt production through the technique of boiling saltwater, known as briquetage. In Italy, many of these s…
Film, fotografie, feit en fictie in het Pollino-gebergte (Zuid-Italië)
Film, photography, fact and fiction in the Pollino Mountains (Southern Italy). The film “Il Buco” (The Hole, 2022) by Michelangelo Frammartino is about a speleological expedition in the Pollino mountains (northern Calabria, Italy) in 1961. It won the Special Jury Award at the 2022 Venice Film Festival and received excellent reviews in the Dutch press (Volkskrant, Trouw, NRC, VPRO Cinema). In the film, an old shepherd at the end of his life observ…
Living with the volcano: Distal responses to the Early Bronze Age Avellino eruption
Around 1900 BC, a powerful eruption of Vesuvius covered a large part of central Tyrrhenian Italy in volcanic ash. Based on the results of the research project The Avellino Event: Cultural and Demographic Effects of the Great Bronze Age Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, completed in 2020, we discuss the environmental and societal impacts of the so-called Avellino eruption on the Early Bronze Age societies of central Italy, with special reference to the …
Sodium Chronicles… Grain by Grain. New Methods for Quantifying Ancient Salt Demand
Salt played a crucial role in ancient societies, serving both dietary and industrial purposes. Despite its importance, direct quantification of salt demand remains challenging due to limited archaeological evidence and the complexity of variables involved in salt production. This study proposes an indirect approach to estimating salt consumption through a reconstructive model of agropastoral landscape exploitation. By assessing the maximum number…
Early Use of Lime Mortar at the Early Iron Age Piscina Torta Salt Production Site (Tiber Delta, Ostia, Italy)
This study presents new evidence for the early use of lime mortar during the Early Iron Age at the Piscina Torta site (Ostia, Italy), situated on the earliest Holocene beach ridges in the southern Tiber delta. The site, which was earlier described as a briquetage site, dates from between the late 8th and 6th century BCE and consists of a large complex of dumps, holding kilns and working floors. Lime mortar‐like materials were abundantly present i…
Evaluating the potential of in-depth chrono-cultural and functional analysis of pottery in European cave archaeology: A case study from the prehistoric Grotte Di Sant’angelo Cave Complex (Cassano allo…
This paper evaluates the potential of in-depth chronological and functional analysis of prehistoric pottery (4th millennium BCE) from the Grotte di Sant’Angelo Cave Complex, located in the municipality of Cassano allo Ionio (Calabria, Southern Italy). The underground system, formed by sulfuric acid speleogenesis, features a floor scattered with depressions, holes, and fractures of different depths hosting archaeological materials. A number of the…
Archaeology (14 works) · Geography (13 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (11 works) · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology (8 works) · Archaeological Research and Protection (7 works) · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History (6 works) · Geology (6 works) · History (6 works) · Bronze Age (4 works) · Context (archaeology (4 works)