Von Hyele zu Velia

Overview & Synopsis

Comprehensive research, undertaken by a multidisciplinary team from the University of Vienna between 1974 and 2001 in the Lower town of Velia, studied the evolution of the city walls in relation to the urban development of the Phocaean polis on the Tyrrhenian coast and provided new information on the development of the city mainly between the 5th and the 2nd c. BC. The contextualization and processing of the finds from these excavations (pottery, small finds and coins) allowed for a new, precise dating of the individual periods of the urban development, ultimately changing older approaches. Furthermore, it helped to reconstruct the development of local pottery production in a new, comprehensive way. By means of an innovative determination of production centers for imported ceramics, Velia's socio-economic relationships could be followed on both a regional and supraregional level.