La prime testimonianze della metallurgia nei colli albani (Roma, Italia Centrale)

The earliest evidence of metallurgy in the Alban Hills (Latium, central Italy), dated between the Eneolithic and the Recent Bronze Age (c. IV – end of II millennium B.C.), is described through a review of the published materials and the study of unpublished finds. The analysis allows to understand the technological capabilities and cultural, social and economic aspects of the local communities in the pre-protohistoric period

Exploring mobility in Italian Neolithic and Copper Age communities

As a means for investigating human mobility during late the Neolithic to the Copper Age in central and southern Italy, this study presents a novel dataset of enamel oxygen and carbon isotope values (δ18Oca and δ13Cca) from the carbonate fraction of biogenic apatite for one hundred and twenty-six individual teeth coming from two Neolithic and eight Copper Age communities. The measured δ18Oca values suggest a significant role of local sources in the water inputs to the body water, whereas δ13Cca values indicate food resources, principally based on C3 plants. Both δ13Cca and δ18Oca ranges vary substantially when samples are broken down into local populations. Statistically defined thresholds, accounting for intra-site variability, allow the identification of only a few outliers in the eight Copper Age communities, suggesting that sedentary lifestyle rather than extensive mobility characterized the investigated populations. This seems to be also typical of the two studied Neolithic communities. Overall, this research shows that the investigated periods in peninsular Italy differed in mobility pattern from the following Bronze Age communities from more northern areas

La tomba 12 dalla necropoli di Barberi a Colonna (Roma)

Presentazione del corredo della tomba 12 dalla necropoli di Barberi, a Colonna (Rm)

Pantano Borghese (Montecompatri, Roma). Deposizioni di cane in un sito di facies Laterza

ItIl sito eneolitico di Pantano Borghese è stato individuato e indagato durante i lavori preliminari per la realizzazione di un parcheggio multipiano collegato al Terminal della nuova tratta metropolitana Metro C di Roma. Sono state individuate cinque fasi di frequentazione contraddistinte da strutture abitative, aree di attività e lavorazione, sepolture e fosse con deposizioni animali. Il campione faunistico analizzato (carcasse e frammenti ossei) proviene sia da contesti abitativi sia dalle fosse e rileva la presenza, quasi esclusiva, di animali domestici (ovicaprini, bue, maiale e cane). Due deposizioni di cani adulti in connessione anatomica sono state individuate nelle fasi 2 e 4. Nella fase 2, all'interno di una struttura in acciottolato, è stata ricavata una fossa ellittica (US 1158) nella quale era deposto un cane di dimensioni medio-grandi. Nella fase 4, corrispondente al livello di frequentazione maggiormente indagato e attestato sull'intera superficie dello scavo, è stata messa in luce una fossa bilobata (US 1142) che ha restituito un'altra carcassa di cane appartenente ad un individuo di piccola-media taglia.EnThe Chalcolitic site of Pantano Borghese was identified and investigated during the preliminary works for the realization of a parking lot, connected to the terminal of the new subway strech C of Rome. Five dwelling phases were identified; they included housing structures, activity and workmanship areas, burials and pits with animal depositions. The faunal remains (complete skeletons and scattered skeletal elements) points outs the almost exclusive presence of domestic animals (sheep/goat, cattle, pigs and dogs). The articulated skeletons of two adult dogs were identified in phases 2 and 4. In phase 2, an elliptic pit (SU 1158) that was dug inside a cobbled paving structure, included the burial of a large-medium size dog d. In phase 4, corresponding to the mostly investigated dwelling level on the whole surface, a sub-elliptic pit (SU 1142) that returned another skeleton belonging to a small-medium size dog, was brought to light

Una nuova tomba dell'Orientalizzante recente a Tivoli nel quadro dei rapporti tra Valle dell'Aniene e contigue comunità italiche

During recent demolition work of a residential building in the centre of Tivoli (ancient Tibur), a rectangular tomb cut into the local tufa bedrock was found at a depth of 3.20 m. below the present street level. Oriented E-W, it contained the poorly preserved bones of the deceased (a woman) and a complete set of grave offerings dating to the last decades of the 7th century B.C. The area had previously been associated with human (funerary) occupation between the late Bronze and early Iron Age, as the presence of pozzetti and impasto sherds reveals. The grave context confirms the existence of a local Orientalizing phase strongly connected with the Falisco-Capenan and Sabine regions, the territory of Gabii and the Alban Hills

Il potenziale interpretativo dell'archeofauna: alcuni esempi da grotte rituali e funerarie dell'età del Bronzo medio in Italia Centrale

ItLo studio degli ecofatti dai siti della media età del Bronzo (XVII-XV sec. a.C.) dell'Italia centrale, inclusi quelli provenienti da grotte, è stato fino ad oggi prevalentemente finalizzato ad identificare le strategie di sussistenza. Questo lavoro prende in considerazione i reperti bioarcheologici anche per la loro importanza nell'interpretazione degli aspetti rituali della vita nella regione medio-appenninica durante il Bronzo medio. Sono stati confrontati esempi di grotte rituali pubblicate in letteratura e tre casistudio (Grotta Mora Cavorso, Grotta del Pertuso e Grotta Regina Margherita) situati in Italia centrale. In particolare, sono state esaminate le interessanti collezioni faunistiche provenienti da questi nuovi siti, ponendo attenzione sul loro trattamento, la distribuzione spaziale e scheletrica, la selezione delle specie e la stagionalità. Attraverso questo approccio agli ecofatti, sono stati tratti spunti interpretativi di notevole interesse. Questa ricerca ha evidenziato alcune differenze tra le pratiche rituali effettuate in ognuno dei siti esaminati. Questo risultato non sarebbe stato possibile analizzando solamente artefatti e strutture, né studiando gli ecofatti con l'unica finalità di comprendere meglio le pratiche economiche. Grazie a questo approccio, è stato possibile iniziare un superamento della definizione generale di 'grotta rituale dell'età del Bronzo', identificando alcuni indicatori specifici che possano fornire un quadro più chiaro del comportamento rituale nel Bronzo medio degli Appennini.EnThe study of ecofacts from Middle Bronze Age (MBA - 17-15th centuries B.C.) sites in central Italy, including caves, has so far mainly been designed to identify subsistence strategies. This paper aims to re-evaluate zooarchaeological remains as a key element in the interpretation of ritual aspects of BA life in the Apennine area. Published examples of ritual caves are compared with three recently-excavated caves from the same area (Grotta Mora Cavorso, Grotta del Pertuso and Grotta Regina Margherita). In particular, the rich faunal datasets from these new sites, focusing on their treatment, spatial and skeletal distribution, species selection and seasonality, are considered. Using this approach to the ecofacts, crucial interpretive information about cave uses have been obtained. Our results shed light on the differences between the rituals carried out in each site. This could not have been achieved by analysing only artefacts and structures, nor by studying the ecofacts with the sole purpose of understanding economic practices. Thanks to this approach, we have been able to go beyond the general definition of 'BA cult cave' to identify specific markers that provide a clearer picture of Apennine MBA ritual behaviour

Rethinking Collective Burial in Mediterranean Caves: Middle Bronze Age Grotta Regina Margherita, Central Italy

Drawing on the results of new multi-method research in Grotta Regina Margherita—the largest known Middle Bronze Age mortuary cave in west-central Italy (ca. 1650–1450 b.c.)—this article helps to replace the generic idea of “collective burial” with a more precise understanding of how the bodies of the deceased were transformed into potent social, symbolic, and sensuous resources housed in caves. It contextualizes this process within a nuanced understanding of settlement and subsistence practices, in which relatively short-lived and small-scale agricultural communities extended inland to the edge of the Apennine Mountains, ritually demarcating mortuary assemblages in caves in the process