Auf der Spur von Ritual im archäologischen Befund: Fallbeispiele aus Siedlungskontexten in Spina (FE), Italien

As part of the Zurich Spina Project, wooden buildings from the settlement area of an Etruscan port town in the eastern Po Plain were excavated and seven distinct occupation periods identified, dating from between the end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 3rd century bc. The individual features associated with these periods attested primarily to the buildings’ residential function, yet there were also deposits, of different dates, that were clearly ritual in nature, demonstrating that various ritual practices took place in rooms used for everyday living. In the article, five case studies are analysed and discussed from the point of view of ritual content and purpose. The aim of the paper is to discern in the archaeological evidence recognisable sequences of actions which would correspond to ritual acts and to subject these to a nuanced examinatio