Housing slaves on estates: a proposed ergastulum at the Villa of Rufio (Giano dell'Umbria)

In the framework of archaeological surveys conducted in 2002-3 for the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Umbria around the Via Flaminia, the Società Cooperativa Kronos discovered the site known as the “Villa of Rufio” (the name comes from an inscription dedicated to Caius Iulius Rufio). After 4 excavation campaigns (2003-6) the monumental character of a large villa was established, and in 2007 a team from the University of Alicante led by the first-named author began fieldwork, focusing on the analysis of agricultural and commercial production patterns through an examination of the type of manpower in use during the Augustan era. The site lies in the village of Giano dell'Umbria (Perugia), in the foothills of Gualdo Cataneo-Montefalco of southern Umbria (fig. 1). To the north is the Roman town of Mevania (Bevagna), to the south the Martani mountains, at the foot of which lies Mansio Ad Martis (Massa Martana).The research project “Archaeological fieldwork in the Villa of Rufio: Production and Territory in the Via Flaminia” was developed by invitation from the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Umbria and the Comune di Giano dell’Umbria and co-funded by the Ministry of Culture, Spanish Institute of Cultural Heritage and the University of Alicante Grants ACIE 2008-2013 (ACIE 08-07; 09-02; 11-06; 12-05; 13-12), and HAR2015-65168-P and HAR2015-64601-C3-2-R