Building public baths outside Rome: the case study of Nora (Sardinia)

The paper focuses on the study of the logistics and economics of Roman construction sites, addressed through the analysis of the public Baths of the city of Nora (Sardinia). Different buildings will be examined and compared in order to define the organization and the management procedures applied in public architectural projects carried out in a city located far from Rome. In particular, the buildings remains will be used to reconstruct the dynamics of building materials supply, to define the technical knowledge applied in the project and to determine the cultural background of the workers involved in the construction process. In this way it will be possible to analyze the relationship between the spread of Roman construction techniques across the Mediterranean area and the persistence of local architectural traditions.