Il Complesso tardo-antico ed alto-medievale dei SS. Cosma e Damiano, detto Le Centoporte, Giurdignano (LE). Scavi: 1993–1994 (review)

One of this book’s editors, Paul Arthur, is a well-known authority on the archaeology of Late Antiquity and Byzantium in the Mediterranean region. He introduces this detailed monograph of a unique site in Salento (southern Italy) with a history of archaeological and topographical research in the hinterland of Otranto. A quick review of Giovanni Stranieri’s report on the field surveys of that region, particularly those conducted around Giurdignano, reveals the significance of the late Roman occupation of several sites located near the basilica (and later monastery) of Le Centoporte.

The book is divided into five parts, which are further subdivided into chapters. Following the introduction, part two describes the history of the site on the basis of the phases of occupation revealed by the excavations conducted at Le Centoporte by a team of archaeologists from the University of Salento in Lecce led by Arthur. Part three consists of a list of all the stratigraphic units identified during the excavation, while part four treats the artifacts and eco-facts resulting from the excavation: pottery, glass, coins and seals, stone artifacts, and animal bones. The most significant part of this monograph is the conclusion, coauthored by the editors, which relates the stratigraphic analysis and archaeological assemblages to the history of the hinterland of Otranto in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.

In the early sixth century, a three-aisled basilica with a polygonal apse was erected less than 4km west of the city of Otranto. It was a relatively large basilica, almost 30m long, built entirely of blocks of so-called Lecce stone recuperated from the ruins of an edifice of Hellenistic age, probably located somewhat to the east in the direction of Otranto. The epigraphic analysis of the Greek letters carved into the blocks confirms the late antique use of spolia from a much earlier building of unknown nature. Although no other structures have been identified archaeologically on the site, the large number of ceramic remains resulting from excavations around the basilica suggests the existence of a rural settlement. The basilica, to which a rectangular room was added on the northern side, next to the narthex, was most likely never finished. After being abandoned for a while, the site was reoccupied during the seventh and the eighth centuries, when the nave was closed off and divided into a little chapel (the eastern segment and apse) and another portion (the western segment) may have been used as a refectory, as suggested by the numerous finds of fresco fragments. At the same time, the narthex was blocked from the west, with a new door opening on the northern side. A few graves in the former northern aisle, around the church, and in the rectangular room on the northern side of the former basilica complete the picture of what has been interpreted as a monastic complex. To be sure, not all graves seem to be of the same time period. Radiocarbon analysis of the skeletal remains from a grave in the rectangular room produced a date within the eleventh century. By contrast, the graves around the church, all carved in the natural rock, have produced two early Byzantine buckles, one of the Corinth class, the other with an insect-shaped plate. On the basis of their analogies in the eastern Mediterranean region and in Crimea, both may be dated to the seventh century, which indirectly supports the dating of the entire monastic complex. That the early medieval occupation of the site was monastic is also supported by the evidence of graffiti on stone blocks from the late antique building. Brunella Bruno believes one of them to represent St. John the Theologian. Another stone block is decorated with the interlaced motif, which often appears on window frames in early medieval churches in the Adriatic region.

Arthur’s analysis of the late...