Central Adriatic culture
Middle Adriatic culture ( it . : cultura medio-adriatica ) is an archaeological collective term for the pre-Roman population of Abruzzo in Italy .
Research history
The most famous legacy of the Central Adriatic culture is a sculpture made of limestone . The so-called warrior of Capistrano is a grave statue in the eponymous cemetery in 1934 together with a female torso was found and fragments of other statues that today in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Chieti ( AQ). The burial belonging to the statue is unknown, even if extensive excavations subsequently uncovered large parts of the necropolis of Capestrano with around 200 burials.
Until the 1990s, the Iron Age in Abruzzo was little explored. Only the large burial ground of Alfedena in southern Abruzzo, the history of which is linked to events at the end of the Second World War, and the burial site of Campovalano in northern Abruzzo near the Adriatic, whose grave inventories were systematically presented only a few years ago, were known.
Due to the similarity of the burial equipment, Valerio Cianfarani coined the term Middle Adriatic Culture in the 1970s, which includes all archaeological groups or tribal groups of the Iron Age (7th – 5th centuries BC) between Abruzzo and Molise . The delimitation can be described more precisely as the area between the rivers Tronto in the north, Biferno in the south and the inner Central Apennines . From a linguistic point of view, they form part of the peoples known as Italians , who are linked by a common Oscar-Umbrian language family . In addition, the term Central Adriatic culture is also defined historically and geographically, which led to ambiguities in linguistic usage. Geographically, the entire eastern Adriatic area from Monte Conero to Gargano (Apulia) is sometimes meant, which thus also includes the Marche (the former Picenum), but does not correspond to Valerio Cianfarani's original terminology. This has recently led to the extension of the uniquely geographically and archaeologically defined area of the Picenos into Abruzzo, which is neither archaeological nor historical.
At least since the 5th century BC A clear ethnic differentiation is made by representatives of the two groups themselves. The name Safin appears on the stelae found in 1974 in Penna Sant'Andrea in the area around Teramo and Campovalano - (safinús, safinúm, safinas, safina), which means Sabine in the South Picenian language group, i.e. those belonging to the Sabines Communities. In contrast, the form púpún- is used on the inscriptions on the stelae from today's brands - which means Picenic .
The term Central Adriatic culture ultimately remains an art term that only partially does justice to the individual facies or archaeological groups, since, as recent research shows, they have far greater differences from one another. As long as no better alternative is found, the term should be used to distinguish the Abruzzo tribes from the Picenians.
Excavations
Due to the advancing industrialization and touristic development of the previously purely agricultural areas in the Abruzzo, more and more archaeological remains are coming to light that are changing our perception of the Abruzzo Iron Age.
The north-western region is particularly affected by these research-related changes. The excavations in the province of L'Aquila have so far produced more than ten new burial grounds, which are spread from Montereale to Capestrano . Characteristic of the necropolises, which were created in the river valleys of the Aterno-Pescara , is the long, mostly uninterrupted occupation period, which extends from the early Iron Age to the Roman Empire. Fossa was the first pre-Roman burial ground to be completely presented, a burial site with 600 graves that have been discovered so far, of which around 150 date to the earlier Iron Age.
- Traditional tribal names
In the Abruzzo, the following Italian tribes are counted as part of the Central Adriatic culture, but only from the 3rd century BC onwards. BC are clearly attested as ethnic groups: Vestiner, Prätuttier, Equer, Marser, Paligner, Marruciner, Frentaner, Caracener, Pentrer. From the tribes of the southern Abruzzo and the Molise, emerged in the 5th century BC. The Samnites .
literature
- Valerio Cianfarani (ed.): Antiche civiltà d'Abruzzo. Edizioni De Luca, Rome 1969 (exhibition catalog).
- Vincenzo d'Ercole, Elisa Cella: Il Guerriero di Capestrano. In: Maria Ruggeri (ed.): Guerrieri e Re dell'Abruzzo antico. = Warriors and Kings of ancient Abruzzo. Carsa, Pescara 2007, ISBN 978-88-501-0096-5 , pp. 32-47.
- Luisa Franchi Dell'Orto (Ed.): The Picener. One people of Europe. Edizioni De Luca, Rome 1999, ISBN 88-8016-330-2 (exhibition catalog).
- I Piceni e l'Italia medio-adriatica. Atti del XXII Convegno di Studi Etruschi ed Italici, Ascoli Piceno, Teramo, Ancona. April 9 - 13, 2000. Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali, Pisa et al. 2003, ISBN 88-8147-355-0 .
- Adriano La Regina : Penna Sant'Andrea. Le stele paleosabelliche. In: Luisa Franchi Dell'Orto, Maurizio Anselmi (ed.): Documenti dell'Abruzzo teramano. Volume 2, 1: La valle del medio e basso Vomano. Edizioni De Luca, Rome 1986, pp. 125-130, online .
- Delia Giuliana Lollini: La civiltà picena. In: Popoli e Civiltà dell'Italia Antica. Volume 5. Biblioteca di Storia Patria, Rome 1976, pp. 107-195.
- Alessandro Naso: I Piceni. Storia e archeologia delle Marche in epoca preromana (= Archeologia. Vol. 29). Longanesi, Milan 2000, ISBN 88-304-1599-5 .
- Maria Ruggeri (Ed.): Guerrieri e Re dell'Abruzzo antico. = Warriors and Kings of ancient Abruzzo. Carsa, Pescara 2007, ISBN 978-88-501-0096-5 .
- Gianluca Tagliamonte: I Sanniti. Caudini, Irpini, Pentri, Carricini, Frentani (= Biblioteca di archeologia. Vol. 25). Longanesi, Milan 1996, ISBN 88-304-1372-0 (2nd edizione aggiornata. Ibid 2005).
- Gianluca Tagliamonte (Ed.): Le necropoli. Contesti e materiali. Atti dell'incontro di studio, Cavallino-Lecce, 27-28 maggio 2005 (= Ricerche di archeologia medio-adriatica. Vol. 1 = Archeologia e storia. Vol. 8). Congedo, Galatina 2008, ISBN 978-88-8086-817-0 .
- Joachim Weidig: The Dragon of the Vestines - On the motifs of the perforated bronze belt plates of the Capena type. In: Archaeological correspondence sheet . Vol. 35, 2005, pp. 473-492.