IT - EN

Daniel Diffendale

I am a classically-trained archaeologist of the ancient Mediterranean, with a particular interest in pre-Roman and Roman Italy. I have participated extensively in archaeological fieldwork, notably in Rome at Sant’Omobono, in Pompeii at the Temple of Venus, at Cumae, Metaponto, and Rossano di Vaglio, as well as outside of Italy at Mt. Lykaion in Arcadia and several sites in the United States. My doctoral dissertation focused on the Republican phases of the twin temples of Fortuna and Mater Matuta at Sant’Omobono in the Forum Boarium at Rome, from stratigraphic, architectural, and material points of view. The necessity of distinguishing between the numerous varieties of local volcanic tuff used in the various architectural phases at Sant’Omobono led me to a broader investigation of the quarries of Rome, which I began during a fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. In collaboration with colleagues in volcanology, my research includes geochemical quarry provenience studies of the tuffs used in ancient monuments. During a postdoc at the Scuola Superiore Meridionale in Naples, I pursued similar questions of tuff extraction and stoneworking in the Campanian context.



Within Work Package 4, as part of sub-project 1, which focuses on the landscape of productive, infrastructural, and commercial activities, I am studying the suburban extractive landscape particularly as regards quarrying of stone and pozzolana. The ancient inhabitants of the city of Rome and its immediate hinterland exploited their volcanic landscape for building materials, especially the numerous varieties of tuff and pozzolana deposited by the Monti Sabatini and Colli Albani volcanoes. While large tuff quarries, such as those along the Anio river, have long been known, they have remained understudied; meanwhile, over the past several decades the tireless work of rescue archaeology has uncovered numerous smaller-scale quarries, whose integration into the Roman socio-economic landscape is not yet well understood. Working with these existing datasets and beginning with the mapping of quarries, my project aims to offer an overview of the multiscalar economy of mineral resource extraction in the Roman suburbium.

orcid id:0000-0002-5508-9458

Mail: daniel.diffendale@sns.it

Deposited publications available 

  • S. Zink, D.P. Diffendale, F. Marra, J. Pflug, M. Gaeta, M. Ceci (2025). “The mid-Republican temples at Largo Argentina in Rome: quarry provenience and construction history of ancient Roman Lapis Albanus tuff.” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung.
  • C. D’Anna, D.P. Diffendale (2024). “Rossano di Vaglio: il sito, l’architettura e le indagini in corso.” Quaderni di ACMA 2, 173–190. https://doi.org/10.69590/qxy2yc34
  • C. Rescigno, D.P. Diffendale, F. Nomi, L. Salvaggio, I. Trafficante (2024). “Metaponto, Tavole Palatine. Cronaca e dati preliminari dalle campagne di scavo 2022-2023 della Scuola Superiore Meridionale.” Quaderni di ACMA 2, 191–220. https://doi.org/10.69590/88dk4g07
  • F. Accomando, M. Fedi, G. Florio, D.P. Diffendale (2024). “Drone borne magnetic gradiometry in archaeological applications: a Metaponto case-study.” Quaderni di ACMA 2 (2024), 221–232. https://doi.org/10.69590/9m66yh93
  • E. D’Ambrosio, D.P. Diffendale, F. Marra, O. Dally, A. Danti, C. Parisi Presicce (2023). “Geochemical proveniencing of the tuff used to build the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and other Archaic monuments (Rome, Italy).” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 51 (Oct. 2023), 104146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104146
  • F. Marra, O. Dally, A. Danti, D.P. Diffendale, C. Parisi Presicce (2023). “Studio geologico sulla provenienza del Tufo del Palatino (‘cappellaccio’) impiegato nella costruzione del basamento del Tempio di Giove.” Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 124 (2023), 275–286. https://doi.org/10.48255/0392-7636.BCAR.CXXIV.2023.16
  • M. Mogetta, I. Battiloro, I. Varriale, D.P. Diffendale, G. Iacomelli, M. D’Acri, C. Corbino, C. Comegna, G. Pardini (2022). “Archaeological Research at the Sanctuary of Venus in Pompeii: Interim Report of the 2018-2019 Seasons of the Venus Pompeiana Project.” Fasti Online Documents & Research (FOLD&R), no. 535. https://www.fastionline.org/docs/FOLDER-it-2022-535.pdf
  • D.P. Diffendale, F. Marra, M. Gaeta & N. Terrenato (2019). “Combining geochemistry and petrography to provenance Lionato and Lapis Albanus tuffs used in Roman temples at Sant’Omobono, Rome, Italy.” Geoarchaeology 34, 2 (March/April 2019), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21702
  • P. Brocato, D. Diffendale, D. Di Giuliomaria, M. Gaeta, F. Marra, N. Terrenato (2019). “A Previously Unidentified Tuff in the Archaic Temple Podium at Sant'Omobono, Rome and its Broader Implications, Rome.” Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 32,1 (2019), 114–136. https://doi.org/10.1558/jma.39330
  • D.P. Diffendale (2019). “Disiecta Fictilia: Republican-era moldmade architectural terracottas from the magazzino at Sant’Omobono.” In P. Brocato, M. Ceci & N. Terrenato (Eds.), Ricerche nell’area dei templi di Fortuna e Mater Matuta. Vol. II. Università della Calabria, pp. 159–175.
  • D.P. Diffendale, P. Brocato, N. Terrenato & A.L. Brock, (2016). “Sant’Omobono: an interim status quaestionis.” Journal of Roman Archaeology 29, 7–42. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1047759400072032
  • D.P. Diffendale (2016). “Five Republican monuments. On the supposed building program of M. Fulvius Flaccus.” In P. Brocato, M. Ceci & N. Terrenato (Eds.), Ricerche nell’area dei templi di Fortuna e Mater Matuta. Vol. I. Università della Calabria, pp. 141–166.
SNS
Sapienza Università di Roma
AIT
EU
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