Libarna Urban Landscapes Project

Photo of some tile and rock lying on argilla espansa. A yellow flower lies across a tile. One rock has been inscribed with chalk to read “Roma” and another says “Romanes Domus Eunt.”

The trenches are all but closed and the students have headed home. Just some post ex work to be done.

Drawing of the outside of the tablet by RSO Tomlin - only a couple of lines of Roman cursive are visible

Drawing by RSO Tomlin of the inside of the tablet - many more lines of cursive are visible

I’ve been reading through Latin curse tablets (defixiones) and thought this one from Roman-period Britain was neat: someone seemingly cursing the person who stole their beehive ‘vas apium’)! 🐝 (Brit. 48.10 10; text and images: romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions...; images by R.S.O. Tomlin)

A photo of six people sitting on the walls in a trench.

And of course our excellent staff who kept everything going and helped our students learn about all the various facets of archaeology.

A group of six BSU students with Director Katie Huntley sitting on the walls in a trench.

A group of four Utah students with Associate Director Alexis Christensen

It was the last day in the trenches for our 2025 season. Our students from @boisestate.bsky.social and @utah.edu were amazing!!

Dal Mar Nero al Piemonte: archeologi americani e inglesi raccontano gli scavi di Libarna di Alberto Ballerino. Quali erano le reali dimensioni dell’antica Libarna, la città romana che si trovava vicino all’attuale Serravalle Scrivia? Come vivevano i suoi abitanti? Come si sviluppò e quand...

And another write-up: www.laportadivetro.com/post/dal-mar...

Photo of a newspaper article. It includes a photo of students excavating in a trenchThe text reads: Ogni anno gli universitari soggiornano tra Arquata e Serravalle Così riscoprono oggetti di vita e reperti di oltre 2 mila anni fa Gli scavi di Libarna amati e analizzati da studenti americani. MAURIZIO IAPPINI Tra Boise, Idaho - profondo ovest americano quasi sulla costa del Pacifico - e Serravalle ci sono almeno 9 mila chilometri di distanza e oltre 11 ore di volo. Eppure da anni ogni estate studenti dell'universita della capitale dello Stato a stelle estrisce non mancano di essere a Libarna per una campagna archeologica che in questi giorni vive una fase crucia-le. Illegame frai resti della città romana di Libarna e 15 fra studenti e professori dell'università di Boise è vecchio di dieci anni, quando un nutrito gruppo di laureandi arrivò nel profondo Sud del Piemonte per conoscere da vicino un caso da manuale di archeologia. Perché Libarna è per almeno 1 80% sito ancora sotto terra e non approfondito. Il paese dei balocchi per chi studia archeologia. Dal 2015 quasi ogni anno professori e studenti americano soggiornano per un mese fra Arquata e Serravalle per una campagna di preparazione che quest'anno ha raggiunto il suo apice con una serie di scavi che hanno permesso di mettere in pratica studi teorici. Un progetto che nel corso degli anni ha permesso di saldare un rapporto di amicizia con i professori universitari americani eil territorio di Libarna. Se in passato le campagne erano di georeferenziazione e preparatorie agli scavi con georadar, sonar e droni, quest'anno i ragazzi di Boise hanno messo in pratica quei dati teorici. Così chi passa davanti al sito di Libarna lungo la strada statale 35 dei Giovi vedrà giovani vicino a una ruspa che lavorano su uno scavo in un campo: sono gli universitari americani che operano al di fuori del perimetro archeologico per riportare alla luce un area di Libarna dove erano presenti le «Domus» degliabitanti, un'area residenzi…

Our team gave a small conference covering our first 2 years of excavation last night in Serravalle Scrivia. A nice little piece on it in today’s La Stampa.

Hannah Russ points out some features on the bones while our students look on.

@dr-fishbones.bsky.social walks our students through an assemblage of young pig bones from last year’s excavations.

Check out @jevanwinn.bsky.social’s Instagram stories take over for #UofULanguages @uofuhumanities.bsky.social where he’s sharing his experiences on LULP this today and tomorrow.

www.instagram.com/stories/uofu...

Lovely! Libarna also has a Romano-Gallic temple in its forum opposite a more traditional Roman style temple.

Students washed some bone this morning while we opened trenches. Everyone was on site in the afternoon to clean trenches and put up safety fences.

#LULP #Libarna #archaeology #RomanArchaeology @boisestate.bsky.social @uofuhumanities.bsky.social

Katie reviews past excavations now part of the Libarna archaeological park for a group of students.

Richard reviewing the plan of features in his trench from last year.

Alexis reviewing the plan of features in her trench from last year.

Yesterday our students got an overview of excavations at #Libarna from our Director Katie Huntley, and our trench supervisors Alexis Mosley and Richard Chadwick before laying out this year’s trenches.

A group of people sit around a table looking at trench plans.

Talking trenches! Picking the placement for this year's trenches using data from our last two dig seasons to help us fill in more of the story of ancient #Libarna
#archaeology #fieldschool #romanarchaeology

Our students arrive today!! And excellent group from @boisestate.bsky.social and @uofuhumanities.bsky.social

Photo of a damaged mosaic with grape vines and the figure of Ambrosia reaching out to Lycurgus with her right hand beseechingly

Reconstruction drawing of the mosaic

For #MosaicMonday - Lycurgus and Ambrosia from Silvana Finocchi’s excavations of the houses near Libarna’s amphitheater.
📸: Silvana Finocchi (a cura di), 1996, Libarna, Maxmi Editore, Castelnuovo Scrivia.

a trowel with a wooden handle is on a black background with the words let 's dig again Alt: a trowel with a wooden handle is on a black background with the words let 's dig again

One week from today! Staff team will be arriving in Arquata Scrivia to set up for our third excavation season!!!

Libarna Urban Landscapes project Investigating antiquity in northern Italy.

Some small updates to the LULP website libarnaarchproject.wordpress.com and more in the works.

Our season starts June 21st and we’ve got a great team, including students from @Boisestate.bsky.social & @utah.edu

In honor of #InternationalArchaeologyDay here’s our 2024 team of amazing archaeologists.

Students backfilling a trench in a field.

A mechanical excavator packing down the soil over a trench.

And just like that our trenches are closed. A few more days of post-ex work and our second season will end. #archaeology

Photo of 9 archaeologists standing in a trench.

Our amazing 2024 crew!! Students from @boisestateuniversity & @uofutah have done a brilliant job this season with their amazing trench supervisors Richard Chadwick and Alexis Mosley.

Dr. Christensen sits on green grass beside an orange safety fence gesturing at several piles of tile. Two black buckets sit beside.

Our Associate Director Alexis Christensen really loves tile! And this is a good year for tile!! #LULP #Archaeology #UofU #BoiseState

Aerial shot of the site showing the amphitheater, theatre, and two city blocks.

Since it’s #AncientSiteSunday here’s a nice view of Libarna, a Roman colony established ca. 148 BCE when the Via Postumia was built to connect Genoa to Aquileia across the Po Valley. Read more: the-past.com/feature/liba... 📸 M Boyles

A group of students gather outside the museum to learn about the Roman theater

A group of students gather round an Augustan era bronze bust of a man

Field trip to the antiquities collection in the Musei Reali in Torino today. Our pottery expert Melania Semeraro gave our @boisestate.bsky.social and U of Utah student an excellent tour.

Three students draft a trench plan while the supervisor looks on.

Students clean a trench in preparation for planning and photography

Another good day in the trenches. Our @UUtah and @BoiseState students finished cleaning trenches and learned how to draw a trench plan. #Archaeology #LULP 🏺

View of a trench surrounded with orange safety fence and some flower pit on the post at the entrance.

We have blue skies and flowers at Libarna!! An excellent first day in the trenches.

Four students bail the water from a tarp-covered trench

A student throws water from a bucket over a safety fence.

A group of students using the Pythagorean theorem to lay out the grid for a trench.

A group of students gridding out a trench.

Finally made it into the field to bail the trenches and lay out the grids.

A #LibarnaFact: Pliny the Elder mentions Libarna (3.49). “ab altero eius latere ad Padum amnem Italiae ditissimum omnia nobilibus oppidis nitent, Libarna, Dertona colonia,…”

…toward the River Po, the richest of Italy, all the region abounds in well-known towns: Libarna, the colony of Dertona,…

Photo of students taking notes in a darkened room while Dr. Huntley looks at a slide projected on the wall.

Starting our second rainy morning with a talk by our Director, Prof. Huntley, on Libarna and it’s place in ancient Italy/Liguria. #LULP #archaeology

Our afternoon was then filled with exercises on measuring and mapping in the gym.

Photo of seven students standing in front of a mall entrance.

When it’s chilly and the rain is filling up your trenches you make a run to the local designer outlet mall to get some sweatshirts and rain gear. #ArchaeologyLife #LULP #SerravalleScrivia #McAurthurGlenOutlet #BiggestDesignerOutletMallInEurope

A group of archaeology students looking over the remains of a Roman town

Dr. Huntley talking about the Roman theater.

Field trip to Libarna Archaeological Park on a rainy Sunday.