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Welcome to the webpage of the Accordia Research Institute

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Accordia is a research institute in the University of London. It operates in association with the Institute of Archaeology, UCL and with the Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. It is dedicated to the promotion and co-ordination of research into all aspects of early Italy, from first settlement to the end of the pre-industrial period. 

 

We organise lectures, research seminars, conferences and exhibitions on aspects of Italian archaeology and history, and publish a regular journal on the same theme; details of the 2024-2025 lecture series can be found here. 

 

Accordia also has an extensive programme of research publications. We publish specialist volumes, seminars, conferences and excavation reports. Our policy is to encourage and support research into early Italy, especially by younger scholars, to get new work disseminated as rapidly as possible, and to improve access to recent and innovative research. We believe our books and our journal represent a valuable contribution to the development of the subject area. Accordia publishes its own Journal, the Accordia Research Papers. 

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We also run - or are associated with - a number of research and fieldwork projects based in Britain and in Italy.

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Accordia operates on a voluntary, non-profit basis, supported by subscriptions and donations. Publications are self-financing. Everyone gives their services without payment.

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News and Recent Publications​

 

We are pleased to announce the creation of a new prize for the best paper in the Early Career Talks series. The winner will be chosen by an Accordia committee and the prize will consist of 10 Accordia books of the winner’s choice.  We are happy to share that Giacomo Fontana (now of Texas Tech University) is the winner for 2023-2024 for his talk on ‘Empty hillforts: challenging narratives on Samnite society beyond urban-centric views’. Congratulations, Giacomo!

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• The Accordia Research Papers 16 (2019-2023) was published in summer 2024.​
   

• A new book edited by Fabio Saccoccio and Elisa Vecchi, entitled, Who do you think you are? Ethnicity in the Iron Age Mediterranean was released in 2022.

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Accordia Events  2024-2025

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The full programme for this year's Accordia Lectures can be found here. This year we are continuing with in person lectures, held either at the Senate House or the Institute of Archaeology in Gordon Square.

 

The second series of Early Career Researcher seminars organised in conjunction with the University of Nottingham is held on Zoom.

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Accordia Lecture

Tuesday, May 6, 17.30​

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Joint Lecture with the Institute of Archaeology

Room 209, Gordon Square London WC1

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Regisvilla: excavations and research in the harbour of Vulci​​

Carlo Regoli, Fondazione Vulci

 

​ The site of Regisvilla, the mythical seat of the Pelasgian king Maleos mentioned by Strabo, appears in the historical cartography of Tyrrhenian Etruria in the late 16th century. However, it was only in the 1960s, thanks to the use of modern aerial photography and photo-interpretation techniques, that archaeologists identified the settlement on the Vulcian coastline, at ‘Le Murelle’, in the municipality of Montalto di Castro. In photographs taken by the Royal Air Force in 1943, some dark rectangular-shaped traces (cropmarks) indicated the presence of a large settlement measuring approximately 620 x 300m, oriented southeast/northwest with the long sides almost parallel to the coastline. The other two limits, orthogonal to the major axes, were of approximately the same length, perhaps with the western one slightly shorter. In the centre, there seemed to be a road that cut the settlement into two almost equal halves and then continued northwards in the direction of Vulci through an old earthen track identified in the Roman period with the Aurelia Vetus. The side facing south was instead flanked by a minor road route, which, coming from the east, continued north-west in a paralittoral direction towards the mouth of the river Fiora. Opposite, about 200m from the shore, there was a submerged structure parallel to the shoreline, interpreted as part of a harbour arrangement that provided a safe and temporary landing for loading and unloading goods. Subsequent reconnaissance and limited excavation campaigns undertaken in the years 1977–1980 by the Institute of Ancient Topography of the University of Rome La Sapienza brought to light part of a district with stone structures aligned along road axes, as well as thousands of ceramic fragments datable between the 6th and 5th centuries BC. These finds attest to how the site, which arose and developed during the period of greatest wealth and power of the ancient city of Vulci, was the terminal of important economic traffic as well as a meeting place for people from the inner Mediterranean basin, mainly from the Greek and Phoenician–Punic worlds. This is proven by the quantity and quality of the materials found, among which there is an abundance of imported fine pottery (mainly of Attic production) and transport containers, as well as some inscriptions with dedications in Etruscan or Greek. ​​​​

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Accordia Early Career Talks 

Tuesday, May 13 25, 2025  at 17:30 via Zoom 

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Weight-based bronze fragmentation in Italian Bronze Age hoards:

the first 160 years of studies

Giancarlo Lago, University of Bologna

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From mud to houses. The use of earth in building in building material in Nuragic Sardinia: domestic architecture and combustion structures

Marta Pais, University of Sassari

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