The fifth volume in the Institute of Classical Archaeology’s series on rural settlements in the countryside (chora) of Metaponto presents the excavation of a Greek farmhouse, illuminating the ...lifeways of fourth-century BC farmers of modest means.
Abstract
The Villa of Caddeddi, in the territory of Noto (Siracusa) is located on the south bank of the Tellaro river, about 3km from its mouth. The site, interpreted as a rural luxury residence ...dated to the 4th-5th century CE, was first discovered in 1972 and intermittently investigated in the subsequent decades and mostly studied from the perspectives of the splendid mosaic floors there uncovered. The excavated structure accounts for just a portion of the complex, which is partially covered by an 18th-19th century farmhouse. After a long period of neglect, the villa has been recently restored and opened to the public and become subject of new studies by the University of South Florida’s Institute for Digital Exploration (IDEx) which in 2019 and 2020 conducted a remote sensing campaign entailing terrestrial laserscanning and ground penetrating radar.
This volume in the Institute of Classical Archaeology's series on rural settlements in the countryside (chora) of Metaponto presents the excavation of the Late Roman farmhouse at San Biagio. Located ...near the site of an earlier Greek sanctuary, this modest but well-appointed structure was an unexpected find from a period generally marked by large landholdings and monumental villas. Description of earlier periods of occupation (Neolithic and Greek) is followed by a detailed discussion of the farmhouse itself and its historical and socioeconomic context. The catalogs and analyses of finds include impressive deposits of coins from the late third and early fourth centuries AD. Use of virtual reality CAD software has yielded a deeper understanding of the architectural structure and its reconstruction. A remarkable feature is the small bath complex, with its examples of window glass. This study reveals the existence of a small but viable rural social and economic entity and alternative to the traditional image of crisis and decline during the Late Imperial period.
In modern societies, changes in population patterns are often studied based on a rural vs urban duality. This dichotomous simplification overlooks the existence of a broad range of human settlements, ...especially in the rural world. In this work, we quantified and analysed southern Spain’s population and rural settlements from the late eighteenth century to the present, distinguishing three types of settlements: agrotowns, the villages and dispersed settlements. To do this, we drew on a littleused source, Spanish property censuses, published since the mid-nineteenth century, as well as other historical sources. We observed that in southern Spain, characterised by a large number of agrotowns and scattered settlements, the method selected to estimate the rural population largely determined the settlement results obtained. We found that since the mid-twentieth century, the rural population had fallen not only in numbers but also in diversity. Historically, the rural population was heterogeneous, adapting to the territory in a context of organic economy and a reduced amount of trading. Especially notable was the weight of dispersed settlements, which accounted for almost two-thirds of rural population growth until the mid-twentieth century and for almost half the rural population
•We quantified and analysed the evolution of different types of rural habitats in southern Spain between 1787 and 2017•Population living in villages (main rural nuclei) has remained relatively stable during the last 220 years•Dispersed population comprised up to 40 % of rural population and was responsible of ∼60 % rural depopulation between 1960 and 2000•Agrotowns have historically been located the Valley and reached ∼10 % of rural population by mid-20th Century•Geographical factors and legacies from the Reconquista process (initiated in 1212) explain the spatial distribution of settlements.
The biodegradable portion of solid waste generated in farmhouses can be treated for energy recovery with small portable biogas plants. This action can be done across the Netherlands and all around ...the planet. This study aims to appraise the performance of anaerobic digestion of different wastes (cow manure, food waste and garden waste) obtained from a regional farmhouse. Batch reactors were established under mesophilic conditions in order to investigate the impact of ternary mixtures on the anaerobic digestion process performance. Different mixing ratios were set in the batch tests. The upshots from the experiments connoted that ternary digestion with cow manure:food waste:garden waste mixing ratio of 40:50:10 yielded higher biogas amount. The kinetics’ results showed quite good congruence with the experimental study. The results from the kinetic analysis appeared to be in line with the experimental one.
Landscape is always the object of countless mutations: some of them disrupt its identifying features; others leave intact its original traits. Vernacular architecture is linked closely to the ...vocation of its landscapes, especially agricultural ones: this is the case of Pianura, a neighbourhood in the Phlegrean western suburban area of Naples, where the remains of vernacular architecture and its connections to agriculture are still traceable among the unstoppable process of building speculation which, since the 1960s, has torn up the rural fabric. In this uncontrolled development of the modern city, the architectural heritage of the farmhouse has shown its resilience: although parts of it appear to have been completely engulfed by the uncontrolled expansion of the city, in as many cases farmhouses have endured time, degradation, and indifference towards their historical value. In the heart of the neighbourhood, the masseria, with all its recurring features, remains the most widespread housing model, despite more recent interventions. Through the study of the history and architectural features of Masseria S. Lorenzo, this contribution aims to identify possible guidelines and strategies for the conservation of the material and immaterial values of these examples of vernacular architecture, putting them on a restoration and re-functionalisation path that is mindful of their past heritage and future potential.
Ein aktualisierter Blick auf Bauernhäuser offenbart diese als widerständige Ressource - überkommen, aber beeindruckend, voller Geschichte(n), aber nicht immer geschätzt, vermeintlich nicht mehr ...zeitgemäß und doch charakteristisch für eine Region. Ines Lüder zeigt in diesem Kontext heterogene Praktiken des Gebrauchs und das Ringen um Deutungshoheit auf. Sie erarbeitet anhand der Fachhallen- und Barghäuser der Steinburger Elbmarschen eine Zustandsbeschreibung und typologische Neuordnung. Dabei kontextualisiert sie die mehrdeutigen Gebäude mit ihren Interdependenzen als Bestandteil der Transformation ländlicher Räume und prüft sie auf ihr baukulturelles Potenzial für künftige Weiterentwicklung.
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