Etruria

Maria Bonghi Jovino

Studia Archaeologica, 251
2021, 190 pp., 4 ill. b/n
Brossura, 17 x 24 cm
ISBN: 9788891323439
Nel volume si propone una ricostruzione tematica della storia di Tarqui-nia dalle origini fino alla soglia del periodo arcaico. Le scelte politiche della città etrusca incisero nella storia dei popoli mediterranei in un continuum di reciprocità. Emerge una visione di insieme della vita socio-culturale tra i poli del potere e dell’orgoglio che furono le fonti remote del suo straordinario sviluppo.
ISSN: 0081-6299

"Nel 1991, durante i lavori per il risanamento idrico-sanitario della rupe di Orte, è stato intercettato un complesso sistema di cavità ipogee interamente scavato nel tufo ed articolato secondo una galleria principale da cui si dipartono, su entrambi i lati, diramazioni laterali in comunicazione con pozzi e cisterne. L’indagine speleologica condotta ha permesso di interpretare queste strutture come un complesso sistema idraulico sotterraneo, strettamente collegato al tessuto insediativo urbano, sfruttato fin dall’ età più antica del centro etrusco e romano e riutilizzato per tutto il periodo medievale, rinascimentale e moderno e, pertanto, profondamente modificato nei secoli. A seguito dei lavori intrapresi dal Comune di Orte, in collaborazione con la Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Etruria Meridionale, per la valorizzazione e fruizione del sottosuolo, è possibile oggi visitare alcuni tratti della rete idraulica ipogea.

In 1991, during the intense activities for the water-sanitary reorganization of the cliff of Orte, it has been intercepted a complex system of undergroung cavity entire dug in the tufus and articulated along a main gallery from which start, on both sides, lateral water distributions in communication with pools and reservoirs. Lead speleological surveying has allowed to interpret these structures as a complex underground hydraulic system, closely connected to the city urban structure, exploited since the more ancient age of the etruscan and roman centre and then used for all the medieval, renaissance and modern period and, therefore, deeply modified through the centuries. As a result of the intense activities undertaken from the Municipality of Orte, in collaboration with the Superintendence for the Archaeological Assets of the Southern Etruria, for the valorization and fruition of the archeological remains, it is now possible to visit some features of the underground hydraulic network."

Questo intervento si pone l’obbiettivo di fornire un quadro di sintesi dei rinvenimenti di oggetti ornamentali nell’Italia centrale riferibili all’età del rame. Grazie ad una analisi tipologica dei manufatti e a uno studio della loro distribuzione è stato possibile riconoscere aree di diffusione di alcuni ornamenti, suggerendone l’appartenenza ad ambiti culturali specifici. Gli ornamenti si sono rivelati inoltre ottimi indicatori di scambi tra le diverse comunità dell’Eneolitico italiano e hanno permesso di rilevare contatti anche con ambiti culturali molto distanti dalla penisola, mettendo in luce per alcuni elementi l’aderenza a ideologie diffuse ben al di là dei confini nazionali.
In considerazione soprattutto dei manufatti venuti alla luce in area rinaldoniana è stato possibile ipotizzare che tali oggetti dovevano far parte del corredo personale dei defunti, e quindi risultare simboli di autorappresentazione del defunto. Gli ornamenti, che dai pochi casi di studio disponibili, sembra fossero indossati al momento del  seppellimento, appartengono alla schiera di oggetti che dovevano servire a conservare l’identità del defunto dopo la morte, in
un’ottica di culto degli antenati.

This paper has the objective to provide an overall picture of the findings of ornamental objects in central Italy related to the Copper Age. Thanks to a typological analysis of the artifacts and a study of their distribution has been possible to identify areas of diffusion of some ornaments, suggesting membership in specific cultural contexts. The ornaments have proved also excellent indicators of exchanges between the different Italian Eneolithic communities and allowed to
detect contacts with cultural areas very distant from the Peninsula, highlighting for some elements adherence to certain ideologies spread far across national borders.
Considering this type of object unearthed in the area of Rinaldone Culture, it could be assumed that these objects had to be part of the personal equipment of the deceased, and then be symbols of self-representation of the deceased. The ornaments, which from the few cases available for study, it appears, were worn at the time of the burial belong to that group of items that would be used to preserve the identity of the deceased after death, with a view to ancestor worship.

Storia e civiltà di un popolo dell'Etruria preromana dai materiali e dai documenti del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze

History and culture of a pre-roman Etruria ethnos from finds and documents of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze

Over the last decade, field research has mainly focussed on the Ceremonial Quarter at the intersection between the urban track of the Caere-Pyrgi road and a pebbled road leading to the oriental port-basin. This area includes public buildings adorned with decorated roofs, that possibly played an important political and economic function in relation to the harbour, even before the foundation of the Monumental Sanctuary.
Between 2016-2020 the excavation area was enlarged to a total extension of 1600 square meters, following the GPR survey conducted in 2017 by the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile e Ambientale (Sapienza University of Rome) in collaboration with the company IDS GeoRadar s.r.l. Geophysics indicated the presence of a dense urban grid to the North of the excavation area, which has been ground-truthed to bring to light the corner of a new building complex opposite the so called Edificio in opera quadrata. Excavation in the area of the latter building has revealed the presence of a porch and a courtyard. The courtyard is characterised by the presence of a large open-air circular cistern, that was filled in during the imperial period, as also happened in the case of the water-pit on the opposite side of the pebbled road.
In the nearby urban lot, the peculiar furniture and the performance of ritual acts in room A suggest its function as a domestic shrine from the second half of the 5th century onwards. Noteworthy finds form this area
include the metal offerings found both inside and outside a gray tuff container, which was located inside a previous precinct and associated with evidence for metallurgic activities. Moreover, the substantial raising
of the floor level was marked by the ritual deposition of a red figure Attic cup at the eastern corner of the room, which was sealed by a pile of tuff blocks.
As regards the building complex to the South of the pebbled road, fieldwork has increased our understanding of its layout and hydraulic features (drainage channels, pits) throughout its various phases and even further highlighted its ceremonial function. It is noteworthy that ritual acts seem to have been performed to sacralise specific building interventions, such as the exceptional offering of a stone anchor (comparable with cases from the Near-East and Phoenician Sicily) in relation with the central courtyard and the burial of an Etruscan amphora containing animal bones in the porch. A further significant feature in the area occupied by the porch, is the surfacing of mud bricks structures that presently outline a small precinct including a basement, which once again is comparable with examples from the Levant.
The chance discovery a new ashlar masonry wall in 2018 led to the resumption of field activity in the Monumental Sanctuary, which focussed on the entrance area and the surroundings of Temple A. The new wall,
which runs parallel at a distance of 20 meters from Temple A, is the kerb of a road that departs from the Caere-Pyrgi track, while at the same time providing a delimitation to the Sanctuary on its northern side,
where the apparent lack of a témenos wall is thus far problematic.
It must be added that the whole of the Monumental Sanctuary, as well as the Ceremonial Quarter, has undergone restoration activities (in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture of Sapienza University of
Rome) and has undergone 3D (both laser scanning and drone flight) documentation.

The district North of Temple A, intermediate between the Monumental Sanctuary, the settlement and
the harbour, played a fundamental role in the urbanistic development of the Etruscan site of Pyrgi. It includes
the intersection between the terminal trait of the main road connecting Caere to the coastline and
the large pebbled road leading towards the harbour, and different buildings erected along the latter track.
Recent fieldwork (2011-2016) has shed light on the layout of the district and its progressive transformation,
starting from the 7th century BC. Its peculiar function is proved by the many ritual actions performed
to stress meaningful events, such as the deposition of a dissected dog for the foundation of a trapezoidal
tower-building North of the pebbled road and the deposition of selected imported items (5 phoenician oil
lamps, the gorgonic mask of a campanian antefix and ionian pottery shapes) inside the so called “Edificio
porticato”, erected at the intersection between the two roads. Extremely meaningful is the sequence of archaic
decorated roofs (ionian, campanian and caeretan style) attested by several fragments of architectural
terracottas, highlighting the fundamental role of Caere (and Pyrgi) in the reception/elaboration of architectural
decorative systems, thanks to its strict cultural contacts with Latium and Campania/Cuma.

Scavi e ricognizioni effettuati nella zona viterbese dell’Etruria meridionale interna hanno individuato importanti aree sacre extraurbane che permettono, anche alla luce di nuovi e recenti ritrovamenti nella zona, di meglio cogliere la “topografia sacra” di centri minori quali Barbarano Romano e Blera, dove sono situati rispettivamente il piccolo santuario e l’area sacra in grotta qui presentati, che vanno ad aggiungersi ai luoghi di culto già noti a Grotta Porcina e a Macchia delle Valli presso Vetralla, confrontabili tra loro per ambito sacrale e modalità cultuali.

Zwischen dem 31.07. und dem 03.09.2022 führen die Abteilung für Klassische Archäologie der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg und der Arbeitsbereich für Klassische Archäologie der JGU Mainz in Kooperation mit der Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la provincia di Viterbo e per l‛Etruria meridionale und dem Parco Naturalistico Archeologico di Vulci die zweite Ausgrabungskampagne am neuen Tempel in der etruskisch-römischen Metropole Vulci (Latium, Italien) durch.