DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE: translation

   The best direct evidence for domestic architecture has been found in some of the more extensive excavations of smaller settlements, most notably at Acquarossa and San Giovenale, as well as Marzabotto. The earlier structures of the eighth and seventh centuries BC are generally curvilinear in form with walls constructed of wattle and daub and roofs covered with thatch (most notably at San Giovenale and Tarquinia), whereas from the seventh century BC, the form became rectilinear (most clearly at San Giovenale and Acquarossa) with a change in construction materials. The footings are made of tuff (or other local) bedrock, the walls of wood and plaster, and the roof of tiles over a wooden frame. These changes reflect both practical concerns of maintenance and also socially embedded concerns of urban order.At the same time, courtyards, with wells ensuring private water supplies, became popular. Some courtyarded buildings were of higher status and were decorated with more elaborate terracotta plaques and roof tiles. These courtyards were originally external but later became internalized within the structure of the house at Roselle and Marzabotto. Over the same period of time there was an increase in the number and complexity of internal domestic spaces, accompanied by increased order. By the fifth century BC, the buildings at Marzabotto were generally simple rectilinear structures with between one and four adjoining rooms. The later Marzabotto houses fit precisely into the planned grid of the settlement and are a more complex group of rooms around a courtyard. Similarly organized groups of houses have been found at Musarna and Regisvilla. Increasingly the larger cities of Veii, Caere, and Tarquinia are being excavated, showing the range of building size in the larger settlements. There is very little knowledge of rural domestic architecture, although excavation of the site of Podere Tartucchio gives an idea of a rural farmstead and evidence of a more village-like context is available from Accesa Lake (Lago di Accesa).