Books by Giovanni Ligabue
Capena. La necropoli di Monte Cornazzano. Identità e memoria di una comunità, 2024
Il percorso iniziato con l’edizione dei contesti orientalizzanti e alto-arcaici della necropoli d... more Il percorso iniziato con l’edizione dei contesti orientalizzanti e alto-arcaici della necropoli di San Martino trova una sua naturale prosecuzione in quella dei materiali provenienti dal sepolcreto di Monte Cornazzano che, assieme al suo circoscritto insediamento, chiude a SE la corona di siti che compongono l’enclave di Capena. Le indagini condotte a più riprese agli inizi del ‘900, sulle due alture su cui si distende il sito, portarono in luce 67 tombe, tra fosse e camere ipogee, sviluppatesi, con un’articolata occupazione del territorio, dalla metà dell’VIII secolo a.C. sino alla prima età imperiale.
Tutte le strutture individuate erano interessate da cedimenti strutturali e dalla manomissione dei corredi, cui si deve sommare l’assenza di una documentazione consona ai moderni criteri della ricerca scientifica. Nonostante le difficoltà, la ricostruzione filologica dei contesti, attuata attraverso l’uso delle fonti documentali disponibili e dei materiali conservati, ha consentito di ricomporre nel suo insieme un quadro culturale alquanto esaustivo della comunità qui sepolta. Ne sono emerse non solo le prevedibili analogie che l’assimilano alla collettività sepolta nell’adiacente, e più estesa, necropoli-specchio di San Martino, ma anche alcune discontinuità che mettono in evidenza la vitalità e l’estro creativo delle maestranze artigiane locali.
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This work is articulated on two levels: archival and archaeological, which are closely connected.... more This work is articulated on two levels: archival and archaeological, which are closely connected. The object of the research is the most ancient burial ground of Falerii Veteres (since a continuity of settlement is recognized in the area: VIII-VII century B.C.) which, although excavated at the end of the nineteenth century, has not yet been thoroughly analyzed. More than 1700 finds have been preserved, which form the catalog of 67 funerary contexts. Those objects are mostly preserved at the Museo dell’Agro Falisco of Civita Castellana, but also at the Museum of Villa Giulia and at the Pigorini Museum in Rome, at the National Museum of Florence and at the Civic Museum of Bologna. These tombs were studied between 1886 and 1891 by the DGAABBAA of the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione as part of what was the first major archaeological enterprise of the newborn Italian State: a sort of “pilot excavation” in the years when Italian institutions were working on the legislation concerning the management and protection of the national cultural heritage. Such investigations were well received by the scientific community. The materials found at the site constituted the initial core of the Museum of Villa Giulia collection and were about to be published in the fifth volume of the series Monumenti Antichi dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei when the work of the Ministero was involved in one of the first scandals in the history of Italy, fueled by the the antiquities market and by leading exponents of foreign academies active in Italy. Doubts were raised concerning the correctness of correlation among the grave goods presented at Villa Giulia. A special commission was appointed by the ministry to investigate the matter and it succeeded putting the uncomfortable problem to rest. Precisely because of these premises, the work is preceded by a careful analysis of the available documentation, which over the years has merged into various archival collections. The volume opens with a reconstruction of the historical background and the events that led to the investigations and the acquisitions of the objects. This section is followed by an analysis of the materials and the funerary contexts, the latter examined in the light of the administrative acts of the Ministry. Synthesized in synoptic tables, the review of each single item through the collation of the preserved documents has allowed the archaeological analysis to be carried out on a basis as close to the truth as possible. This has allowed to better define the characteristics of the most ancient phases of Falerii and to highlight the chronological and cultural relations with the close territories (Etruscan, Capenate, Latium and Central-Italic).
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Papers by Giovanni Ligabue
Bollettino di Archeologia OnLine , 2022
This contribution stems from the need to provide scholars with a written and visual synthesis of ... more This contribution stems from the need to provide scholars with a written and visual synthesis of the classification of the finds from approximately 260 tombs, which were excavated between 1904 and 1913 in the necropolis of San Martino in Capena. A summary framework that aims to be a useful link to the main edition published in 2018 and a handy tool for their consultation.
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LEGGERE IL PASSATO, COSTRUIRE IL FUTURO GLI ETRUSCHI E GLI ALTRI POPOLI DEL MEDITERRANEO Scritti in onore di Gilda Bartoloni (Mediterranea XVIII/2021), a cura di Valeria Acconcia, Alessandra Piergrossi, Iefke van Kampen, 2022
Already at the end of the 19th century, after the discovery of the specimens of the Tomba del Duc... more Already at the end of the 19th century, after the discovery of the specimens of the Tomba del Duce, the so-called scudi
fittili aroused the interest of scholars. However, it is in the Seventies of the last century that they became the object
of a debate culminating in the article of Prof. Bartoloni (Archeologia Classica 1993, pp. 276-283). Her work defined
the diffusion area and the chronological limits, clarifying the different ritual declinations that, on a geographical scale,
marked the presence of terracotta shields in funerary contexts. Almost 30 years after that important contribution, I
have undertaken a reappraisal of the issue. The analysis of a sample now almost doubled, consisting of more than one
hundred specimens, has highlighted new variables that have made even more articulated a picture already complex in
itself. At any rate, the elitist value attributed to those simple artifacts appears undisputed; even if for a short time, they
were fully part of the language of power shared by the Middle Tyrrhenian aristocracies
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M.C. Biella, J. Tabolli (a cura di), Lo strano caso di Francesco Mancinelli Scotti, Documenti e approfondimenti dal workshop internazionale, 2021
This chapter discusses the activity of the controversial figure of Francesco Mancinelli Scot-
ti,... more This chapter discusses the activity of the controversial figure of Francesco Mancinelli Scot-
ti, who acted as a sort of “archaeology entrepreneur”, in the area of Capena, a territory that
he had known very well for at least a decade before the official investigations began in 1904.
The starting point for our research is the very end of the 19th century, when Francesco
Mancinelli Scotti sells a group of random artefacts from Capena to the Villa Giulia Mu-
seum. This earliest phase of excavations in Capena was revealed by a series of interesting
historical documents found at the Archivio Centrale di Stato, the Museo di Villa Giulia
archive, and at the Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte in Rome. The reconstruction
of the events of this purchase, which is part of the larger and complex series of acquisitions
by the Museo di Villa Giulia in those years, helps to outline the ambiguous personality of
Mancinelli Scotti, casting lights and shadows on who has been, for better or for worse, the
undisputed protagonist of the rediscovery of the ancient Capena.
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Lo strano caso di Francesco Mancinelli Scotti, Documenti e approfondimenti dal workshop internazionale , 2021
A key figure in the central Italian archaeological scene during the decades between the 19th
and ... more A key figure in the central Italian archaeological scene during the decades between the 19th
and 20th centuries, initially Francesco Mancinelli Scotti barely carried out his activities
in Civita Castellana, his hometown, as is proven by his absence during the research season
for the project of the “Carta Archeologica d’Italia" (1886-1890). His links with ancient
“Falerii" mainly came later. These are testified by materials and tomb groups sold to for-
eign institutions, and by a series of unclear events that are enumerated in the heated legal
scandal that raged in those years and which he himself fomented. The analysis of a series
of unpublished archive documents has given substance to his allegations, opening a door
through which it is possible to review, from a new and unexpected perspective, the Faliscan
archaeological contexts, or at least part of them.
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Le vite degli altri. Ideologia funeraria in Italia centrale tra l’età del Ferro e l’Orientalizzante. Giornata in ricordo di L. Drago Troccoli (Scienze dell'Antichità 24.2), 2018
This paper focuses on the ritual of cremation in the ancient Ager Faliscus between the 8th and th... more This paper focuses on the ritual of cremation in the ancient Ager Faliscus between the 8th and the 7th century BCE. For the first time data from Falerii and from Narce are combined in order to discuss the similarities as well as differences between the two major Faliscan centres, following the earliest development of the two communities through the filter of funerary ideology. The result is a complex narrative, which shows significant differences between the two cities and also among the same necropoleis, which demonstrates the complexity of the formation of the Faliscan identity. Inter-site and intra-site analyses revealed how cremations can be related to phenomena of continuity or major transformations within the community and especially among the leading groups. Although this paper cannot be considered as a definitive account on the ritual of cremation in the Ager Faliscus, it demonstrates the potential of the combination of data (mainly material culture and archival documents) from different cities as well as the importance of keep looking at data coming from old excavation in this area.
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Scavi d’Etruria, in AnnFaina, 2018
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M.G. BENEDETTINI (a cura di), Il Museo delle Antichità Etrusche e Italiche. III. I bronzi della collezione Gorga, 2012
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Books by Giovanni Ligabue
Tutte le strutture individuate erano interessate da cedimenti strutturali e dalla manomissione dei corredi, cui si deve sommare l’assenza di una documentazione consona ai moderni criteri della ricerca scientifica. Nonostante le difficoltà, la ricostruzione filologica dei contesti, attuata attraverso l’uso delle fonti documentali disponibili e dei materiali conservati, ha consentito di ricomporre nel suo insieme un quadro culturale alquanto esaustivo della comunità qui sepolta. Ne sono emerse non solo le prevedibili analogie che l’assimilano alla collettività sepolta nell’adiacente, e più estesa, necropoli-specchio di San Martino, ma anche alcune discontinuità che mettono in evidenza la vitalità e l’estro creativo delle maestranze artigiane locali.
Papers by Giovanni Ligabue
fittili aroused the interest of scholars. However, it is in the Seventies of the last century that they became the object
of a debate culminating in the article of Prof. Bartoloni (Archeologia Classica 1993, pp. 276-283). Her work defined
the diffusion area and the chronological limits, clarifying the different ritual declinations that, on a geographical scale,
marked the presence of terracotta shields in funerary contexts. Almost 30 years after that important contribution, I
have undertaken a reappraisal of the issue. The analysis of a sample now almost doubled, consisting of more than one
hundred specimens, has highlighted new variables that have made even more articulated a picture already complex in
itself. At any rate, the elitist value attributed to those simple artifacts appears undisputed; even if for a short time, they
were fully part of the language of power shared by the Middle Tyrrhenian aristocracies
ti, who acted as a sort of “archaeology entrepreneur”, in the area of Capena, a territory that
he had known very well for at least a decade before the official investigations began in 1904.
The starting point for our research is the very end of the 19th century, when Francesco
Mancinelli Scotti sells a group of random artefacts from Capena to the Villa Giulia Mu-
seum. This earliest phase of excavations in Capena was revealed by a series of interesting
historical documents found at the Archivio Centrale di Stato, the Museo di Villa Giulia
archive, and at the Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte in Rome. The reconstruction
of the events of this purchase, which is part of the larger and complex series of acquisitions
by the Museo di Villa Giulia in those years, helps to outline the ambiguous personality of
Mancinelli Scotti, casting lights and shadows on who has been, for better or for worse, the
undisputed protagonist of the rediscovery of the ancient Capena.
and 20th centuries, initially Francesco Mancinelli Scotti barely carried out his activities
in Civita Castellana, his hometown, as is proven by his absence during the research season
for the project of the “Carta Archeologica d’Italia" (1886-1890). His links with ancient
“Falerii" mainly came later. These are testified by materials and tomb groups sold to for-
eign institutions, and by a series of unclear events that are enumerated in the heated legal
scandal that raged in those years and which he himself fomented. The analysis of a series
of unpublished archive documents has given substance to his allegations, opening a door
through which it is possible to review, from a new and unexpected perspective, the Faliscan
archaeological contexts, or at least part of them.
Tutte le strutture individuate erano interessate da cedimenti strutturali e dalla manomissione dei corredi, cui si deve sommare l’assenza di una documentazione consona ai moderni criteri della ricerca scientifica. Nonostante le difficoltà, la ricostruzione filologica dei contesti, attuata attraverso l’uso delle fonti documentali disponibili e dei materiali conservati, ha consentito di ricomporre nel suo insieme un quadro culturale alquanto esaustivo della comunità qui sepolta. Ne sono emerse non solo le prevedibili analogie che l’assimilano alla collettività sepolta nell’adiacente, e più estesa, necropoli-specchio di San Martino, ma anche alcune discontinuità che mettono in evidenza la vitalità e l’estro creativo delle maestranze artigiane locali.
fittili aroused the interest of scholars. However, it is in the Seventies of the last century that they became the object
of a debate culminating in the article of Prof. Bartoloni (Archeologia Classica 1993, pp. 276-283). Her work defined
the diffusion area and the chronological limits, clarifying the different ritual declinations that, on a geographical scale,
marked the presence of terracotta shields in funerary contexts. Almost 30 years after that important contribution, I
have undertaken a reappraisal of the issue. The analysis of a sample now almost doubled, consisting of more than one
hundred specimens, has highlighted new variables that have made even more articulated a picture already complex in
itself. At any rate, the elitist value attributed to those simple artifacts appears undisputed; even if for a short time, they
were fully part of the language of power shared by the Middle Tyrrhenian aristocracies
ti, who acted as a sort of “archaeology entrepreneur”, in the area of Capena, a territory that
he had known very well for at least a decade before the official investigations began in 1904.
The starting point for our research is the very end of the 19th century, when Francesco
Mancinelli Scotti sells a group of random artefacts from Capena to the Villa Giulia Mu-
seum. This earliest phase of excavations in Capena was revealed by a series of interesting
historical documents found at the Archivio Centrale di Stato, the Museo di Villa Giulia
archive, and at the Biblioteca di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte in Rome. The reconstruction
of the events of this purchase, which is part of the larger and complex series of acquisitions
by the Museo di Villa Giulia in those years, helps to outline the ambiguous personality of
Mancinelli Scotti, casting lights and shadows on who has been, for better or for worse, the
undisputed protagonist of the rediscovery of the ancient Capena.
and 20th centuries, initially Francesco Mancinelli Scotti barely carried out his activities
in Civita Castellana, his hometown, as is proven by his absence during the research season
for the project of the “Carta Archeologica d’Italia" (1886-1890). His links with ancient
“Falerii" mainly came later. These are testified by materials and tomb groups sold to for-
eign institutions, and by a series of unclear events that are enumerated in the heated legal
scandal that raged in those years and which he himself fomented. The analysis of a series
of unpublished archive documents has given substance to his allegations, opening a door
through which it is possible to review, from a new and unexpected perspective, the Faliscan
archaeological contexts, or at least part of them.