French researchers visit Bitonto Archaeological Museum

A team of four French scholars from the Dominique Vivant Denon expedition visited the De Palo-Ungaro Archaeological Museum in Bitonto, Italy, to study ancient artifacts from the Via Traiana necropolis.

The group, including professors Claude Pouzadoux and Évelyne Prioux from Paris Nanterre University, researcher Marlène Nazarian-Trochet, and illustrator Rozenn Douaud, is working on the ACuTe (Antiquity in a Cup of Tea) project. Their research aims to link the Sèvres National Museum of Ceramics with the historical paths of Dominique-Vivant Denon, who transported over 500 ancient vases from Italy to France in 1785.

The researchers focused on Peucetian society, examining material culture, funerary practices, and daily life. A primary point of interest was a collection of red-figure vases decorated with female profiles, attributed to the Sèvres Painter. These artifacts were part of an emerging social class's funerary kit, notable for being found suspended from walls by iron nails during excavation.