Montereggi exceptional discovery: a tank return to light work intact Etruscan than 2500 years ago
The discovery is the work of cooperative Ichnos, group archaeological and University of Siena. Now it is hoped that another excavation in the vicinity give similar results
SOURCE: www.gonews.it
A unique archaeological discovery, priceless, of the Etruscan period took place on September 20 in the archaeological park of Montereggi, in the municipality of Capraia and limit. For someone who expects that this is a fragment of a vase or a stone is wrong big. In this case we are dealing with a work of art intact, preserved under a layer of seven feet of earth and came to light after some 2,500 years.
The excavation in 2010 of what now looks like a town of significant size and features of "urban" was held in September with two important findings. Cooperative work in the area Ichnos, the archaeological team of Montelupo Fiorentino and students of the University of Siena coordinated by Professor Pino Fenu.
The first surprise was the discovery, in a large tank, already known from time to belong to an Etruscan house of considerable size (over 400 square meters) of a clay plate with the head of a veiled woman, carried out in high relief. The female image has hair on his forehead, and shows two earrings and a necklace in setting these classic architectural terra, according to a model known as early as the fifth century BC C. The piece was found in Montereggi, the presence of scrolls of acanthus leaf, can be dated to a later period, and in particular around the mid-sixth century BC C.
is an element to be set square lintel or climbing on the elements of the roof of a temple: the slight rotation to the left of the face, makes it clear that it was manufactured to be placed in the front on the right side than those who watched, the architrave. The plate is figured was found at the bottom of the tank, 7.5 meters deep, where apparently had been placed with care. It is likely the work of the experts who had been placed in the well, which had the function of collecting rainwater as a votive object intended to be beneficial to its content. That tank had already been excavated in the eighties, then the operation was suspended because it was not possible to safely continue the recovery of the remains. The work will be restored and will end in December in the Archaeological Museum of Montelupo Fiorentino as all other findings of Montereggi.
"The architectural sheet - explains Fausto Berti, Director of the Museum System of Montelupo - lying on the bottom of the tank: set on a bed of white pebbles, which were probably used to filter the water captured from the frame and was protected by some stones. It is, therefore, a ritual deposition, by which it was preserved almost intact. The figure, which could also conceal a reference to Artemis - the goddess from whom they named the Artemini, the Etruscans of Artimino, in whose territory (chora) was Montereggi - should therefore have the function of protecting the water tank. We found a similar work in the Vatican Museums, from Cerveteri. There is a sense of a possible connection with the artistic products of Magna Graecia, which at that time, the incipient spread Hellenistic taste. The rarity and morphological its exceptional state of preservation make this a slab architectural discovery of inestimable value for the territory limites, and the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Montelupo "he says.
But the excavations conducted by the Archaeological Museum of Montelupo and the University of Siena has also led to discover tracks consisting of a temple building is well marked by the bases of columns and walls that characterize it, in addition to the wide open space on which it is located, recognized as the square (agora) placed on the highest point of the town.
"Construction - continues Berti - is to be referred to the Hellenistic period as its foundations have yielded pottery of fourth and third centuries BC 'just the depth of the pit into which the perimeter wall was built right corner of this structure likely to report his membership in a church: the width of the foundation, unknown to private homes, it serves to contain the thrust of the great temple roof, characterized by a pitched about ten meters. A similar finding has surprised even us, even if some time we are aware that the town of Montereggi is an important Etruscan center that extended from the apex of the hill to the plains of the same name, which is now the main road. During a test performed in 2008 just off the route of communication are in fact came to light in about 5 feet from the floor of the survey a greater accumulation of pottery dating from the sixth and fifth centuries BC, among them a large Oinochoe in figulina and a Kilyx Bucchero, now on display at the Archaeological Museum of Montelupo.
And there's more. "There is another well Montereggi to a diameter of only 70 cm - and explain Berti Fenu - that could hide something important. We have seen that the hole was covered with care and the literature of the field teaches us that, faced with similar cases There has been found in cases of concealment intended to work. Our staff and volunteers do not want to give up and intend to get to the bottom. We hope that there are new surprises and you can call in other press conferences like this. "
"The concrete cooperation between the towns of Capraia e Limite and Montelupo Fiorentino - continues Berti - together with the supporting action of the Archaeological Superintendence of Tuscany, carried by the official responsible for the area, Dr. Loren and Alderete, University of Siena, has allowed us to obtain these important results, which is also reflected in new size that now characterize Montereggi Archaeological Park, also recently entered into a path well marked and equipped with explanatory panels. The excavation is always a collective work: it needs the help of people who could direct it and produce it in all its aspects in order to achieve the scientific objectives appropriate for it. Without an organization to field museum well established in the territory then it is impossible to capture the many cultural and social opportunities offered by the archaeological investigation at a local community through the enhancement of the evidence (structural or not) found. "
addition to Professor Fenu have played a decisive role in this process the leaders of the cooperative Ichnos Violets Lorenzo and Andrea Cecchini, Francesco Cini has consolidated its part and emptied the tank, allowing the discovery of architectural sheet and finally Luciano Bellucci Archaeological Group of Montelupo has not lost a single day of excavation. Together they form an experienced team that works around the clock to prove definitively that the birth Limit the Arno is consequential to the presence on site of the oldest river port and shipbuilding center of the most ancient Tuscan interior.
Other findings that will be located in the glass case of Montelupo Fiorentino has been made in late spring to Scopeti in the town of San Casciano Val di Pesa, and refer to the Middle Paleolithic: it is the first human presence outside Neanderthal in the province of Florence. In August, however, in Bibby (territory of Capraia e Limite) materials have been found by digging what is believed to have been a hut, due to the production of Emilia and valley. "The hypothesis - Says Professor Pino Fenu - is that the settlement was a colony of people who came from the north and from southern Etruria, to found a village between the periods of the bronze medium and minor. " It is fascinating to think that in less than a kilometer in the municipality of Capraia e Limite there are two historic settlements, and Bibby Montereggi, so far away time, as researchers trying out the idea that there may be a correlation, which could lead to better understanding origins of the Etruscans.
In recent years, close to many discoveries were made as exceptional in the way Palandri to limit the Arno and Pulignano .
