I dolia della villa tardoantica di Aiano (San Gimignano, Siena)

Since 2005, a Belgian-Italian mission of the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) has been working on the excavation of an impressive late antique villa at the site of Aiano, within the municipality of San Gimignano (Siena, Italy). The complex, founded between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century AD, was enriched between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th century AD by a polylobate ambulatio surrounding a hexalobate hall. This room underwent various building phases that led it to its current triapsidal appearance. The villa was abandoned at the end of the 5th century AD and after a short time, some productive workshops were established in its disused rooms, which recycled all the decorations of the previous residential complex with a great organisation. The site was then definitively abandoned in the mid-7th century AD. Since 2019 excavation campaign, a new sector of the complex has been partially explored. Three in situ dolia were uncovered in this area. These were emptied and filled with earth, in which some pottery was found, providing a terminus post quem date for the defunctionalisation to the 6th century AD. This contribution will present unpublished data on the presence of dolia in the late roman villa of Aiano, between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, both in fragments and in situ. It will also be an opportunity to examine the large central pillared room where the dolia were discovered and to examine its functions.