5 www.bollettinodiarcheologiaonline.beniculturali.it BOLLETTINO DI ARCHEOLOGIA ON LINE. LA NECROPOLI DE LE CASTAGNE A CASTEL DI IERI (AQ): CULTURA MATERIALE E INQUADRAMENTO TERRITORIALE. GLI SCAVI 1983 E 1989 (original) (raw)

The necropolis of Le Castagne and the fortified site of Colle Cipolla (Castel di Ieri and Castelvecchio Subequo; AQ), close to the mountainous pass of Forca Caruso in the Abruzzo region, were investigated on several occasions between 1983 and 2002. The necropolis, composed approximately by 300 tumulus tombs, was individuated by Ezio Mattiocco, a local expert, and confirmed by aerial photograph monitoring, that evidenced its wide extension. A first excavation was carried out during 1983, bringing to light 11 tombs, 7 of which concentrated in a single area. The tombs, characterised by shallow pits for single inhumations covered by a huge amount of earth and stones, were partially disturbed by post-depositional events, although a certain part of their grave goods was preserved. They can be dated to a period between the 8 th and the beginning of the 6 th century BC, and the burial rite adopted is quite homogenous and typical of the inner area of the Abruzzo region: male individuals marked by the deposition of offensive weapons (daggers, swords, spears) and women characterised by jewellery and other ornaments (neck-laces, fibulae, belts and also ornamental drilled disks), in addition to a small number of pottery vessels for each grave. During the same year, the site of Colle Cipolla was investigated, sampling a part of the defensive walls, made by irregular stones. Another sample was carried out inside the settlement, without finding any structural evidence. Instead, a large tumulus tomb was localised just in the middle of the site. Based on the finds, the area was frequented since the Neolithic and the Copper Age, but the fortified site was probably settled together with the use of the necropolis (8 th-6 th century BC). In 1984 a bronze sheet jug was found in the area of the necropolis and, in 1989, the excavation of the tumulus localised inside the site of Colle Cipolla revealed the presence of two quite contemporary graves: one of an adult man and the other of a woman, with typical grave goods (weapons, fibulae, some pottery vessels), both dated during the second half of the 6 th century BC. It is quite possible that the end of the site of Colle Cipolla was marked by the building of this tumulus, as a ritual abandonment act and, probably, the community originally settled in, moved to another location, which can be individuated in the low-valley site of Superaequum. Since the middle-republican times, Supaeraquum became the main centre in the surrounding area, controlled by the Roman authority, but its role began to increase since the end of the 6 th century, as demonstrated by the first establishing of the funerary area of Macrano, with a monumental tumulus grave, similar to that in Colle Cipolla, originally occupied by two fossa pits (one of a man and the other of a woman).