Claterna prima e dopo S. Ambrogio: dalla città al vicus tardoantico

A part of the history and archaeology of the roman city of Claterna (Ozzano dell’Emilia – Bologna) was reconstructed through the analysis of the so-called Domus of the Blacksmith. The excavations undertaken on this site in 2005 and still in progress, led to the discovery of a house whose history stretched from the 1st century BC to the 6th century AD, when it started being dismantled. In the first part of the paper we report the stratigraphic sequence of the eastern half of the domus, focusing on the Late Antique period; the two following sections are dedicated to the study of the material culture of the site (pottery and coins); the final part of the study analyses the results by comparing them with the general knowledge of the city and by conducting a diachronic review of the comparisons coming from the neighboring regions. The link between the stratigraphy of the Domus of the Blacksmith and the urban landscape of Claterna is the crisis that hit the ancient municipium during the 3rd century AD which caused its transformation into a vicus. Hence, throughout Late Antiqiuity Claterna lost its rank of civitas but retained the itinerary function and central place role that had encouraged its birth and growth. In fact, the crisis of the vicus at the beginning of the Early Middle Ages started precisely with the loss of that centrality, which had meanwhile been inherited by other settlements in this territory.