Nuove comunità lagunari tra l’età di transizione e l’altomedioevo: i casi di Jesolo e Cittanova

The lagoon of the northern Adriatic represents an interesting space where we can study the birth and evolution of settlements between the Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. The paper wants to highlight these processes, analyzing the first results of an archaeological project led by the University Ca' Foscari of Venice in two sites: Jesolo, a proper lagoon community during the Middle Ages, and Cittanova, properly a river community, strictly connected to Jesolo and the Venetian lagoon.

The lagoons of the northern Adriatic Sea represent an interesting space where we can study the birth and development of settlements between the Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. This paper aims to highlight these processes, analysing the preliminary results of an archaeological project, led by Ca' Foscari University of Venice at the site of Jesolo. The ancient Equilus was inhabited by a lagoon community between Antiquity and Middle Ages, strictly connected to the Venetian lagoon. The study of environmental transformations is the key to understanding the economic role of the settlement in the region and its interaction with inland and other lagoon sites. The archaeological data give essential information to develop future interdisciplinary research on this kind of site.