We headed out the Provincial Archeological museum. It was a pretty small museum but the high quality of the items made up for small size of the museum. The museum is housed in the old St. Benedict complex of buildings, first mentioned in historical documents around 900 CE. It was used as an abbey and a monastery, but the monastery was abolished by Napoleonic Law in 1807. We found the interior to be unique and on the exterior there is what remains of a second story bridge that spanned the street. The lower floor was filled with iron age materials, mostly grave goods, from the 10th century BCE. The second story has more grave goods from pre-Roman times and are similar to many of the funerary jars we saw in Greece. After that we headed a few blocks over to the aqueducts. These structures were contemporaneous with the creation of the Abby. Very interesting stuff. We saw a puppet show going on down by the waterfront on our way back to the place.
Some graffiti on the way
A fox terrier!
An ogival window is of anticultural interest
Some statuary outside
From the Roman times
These arches used to extend across the street and to the buildings there
A decorated coffin
Inside we find very detailed stone and iron objects
Pottery and iron sear heads
Many necklaces, pins,, and metal spirals
Found with the remains of a female
Displayed with a plexiglass human form
Amphora
Some very unique pottery shapes
Bronze jewelry
More bronze pieces
These earrings would make your ears hurt
Amber necklace
Chain mail?
An ornamental ax head
Three containers for different ceremonial liquids
Clay figurines
Even clay feet
Inside the another row of arches
Photos of the grave goods in situ
Rams head vessel
Whet looked like a coat rack
Fish dish
Implements of destruction
Lots of little heads, probably offerings to the gods
All very well preserved
A beautiful winged item
Such high quality
An oil lamp
More amber
This piece was polished
Very similar to the Greek pottery we saw in Athens
Lots of winged people
This is a type of pottery we have not seen before, a black background with brightly colored decorations
Bring on the little bronzes
So many little shapes
Duck!
Earrings
Some one got busted
Ears to spare
This boars head was the so detailed and lifelike
A timeline of the discoveries
Greco-Roman wrestling
Looking out the window
These artifacts are the most recent, only 2000 years old
Cremains were placed in some of these jars
Lion vs. wild boar
More wrestling
Mermen
It is hard to see the mermen from this angle
These floors were so noisy!
One of the types of burial structures
He has lost his mind
This is an animation of a 1st century BCE bust found in the waters off Salerno in 1930
Across the street
Walking to the aqueducts
Peeking in at fine tile work of the Mediterranean sea
Tiny little flowers
We stopped in at a bakery and these pies were all spoken for
Big steaks at the butchers
More street art
This residential area was very quiet
The aqueducts!
900 meters of these raised archways are still standing
They were built from 900 CE to 1300 CE
We only explored this area
Our picnic lunch was calling to us
So we found a pizza shop that was closed and ate at their outdoor table
Nice ivy covered arches
It is called the Arches of the Devil due to an old story where they were built overnight by physician-wizard Pietro Barliario with the aid of the devil. it was said to be his greatest achievement.
One part of the story that is true turns out to be more interesting. While taking shelter here from a storm the several men gathered around an injured man. The physician-wizard Pietro Barliario and three other men all had medical expertise and they discussed how best to treat the injured man. these four men, all from different cultures and nations went on to found the first Medical School in the Western world.
Some lost keys were hanging off the sign
A large sign on the aqueduct
It is quite a labyrinth
The way to the sea
Cute kids clothes
Awwwww
A cute dog with spotted feet
Foul play is afoot
If only we could understand the Italian dialoge
A priest and a commoner walk into a puppet show
His bald head id beat up from the slapstick humor
Whales to the starboard
Later this week we will ride this ferry to Amalfi
