Marina Covolan is a classical archaeologist, specialised in Roman architecture. Her work concerns the Campania region, particularly the cities and territory of Abellinum, Pompeii and Cumae. Marina's work deeply links archaeological methodologies with environmental sciences (e.g., geomorphology, geology, archaeoseismology).
Host University: Aix Marseille University, France
Host research group or department: Centre Camille Jullian - CCJ
Co-host University: Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy
Secondment institution: Central Institue for Archeology / Instituto Centrale per l'Archeologia - ICA
Advisor: Professor Sophie Bouffier
Co-advisor: Professor Paolo Carafa
Secondment mentor: To be defined
My research
Water distribution systems in the ancient world: forms of continuity, permanence and subsistence in contemporary society
Nowadays as in ancient times, the water systems and the structures connected to them, are of great importance for the population, the exploitation and the management of a territory. Through an analysis of the forms and dynamics of permanence, the study of important ancient infrastructures for water supply and distribution, allows to analyse the technical solutions adopted and to compare, with a diachronic perspective, continuity and discontinuity characters. Such research also enhances the role that aqueducts still play today as elements of attraction and aggregation of cultural and social realities, becoming a driving force of actions aimed at the recovery of historical vocations and sustainable development policies of the territories. The objective is to investigate, in a complete and exhaustive way, the so-called “Acquedotto Sannitico” between Serino and Benevento, but also all the structures connected with the distribution of water, first of all in the two major towns, Beneventum and Abellinum, and then also in the minor settlements that gravitate and depend strictly on the waterworks. The aqueduct is developed, since the 1st century BCE - 1st century CE, inside a rural and marginal Campanian area, and this can directly link the research with the current European and National polices about the valorisation of the marginal and rural territories through sustainable initiatives. To achieve these objectives, it is necessary to conduct on one hand a building archaeological study, on the other hand to integrate it in a multidisciplinary research, with geomorphological, hydrogeological and seismological analysis. To enhance the characteristics of continuity and permanence of good practices that are intimately connected with the water infrastructure, especially in a rural territory exploited from the antiquity to the present day, it is fundamental to relate this project to the study on the aqueduct Galermi of Syracuse, that already possesses these characteristics of interdisciplinary and diachronic perspective.
Date started – Date End
01.02.2023 - 31.01.2025
