Terramare culture
The Terramare culture was one between about 1750 and 1150 BC. BC, i.e. during the Middle Bronze Age , culture widespread in northern Italy . It extended over the Po Valley , especially south of the river (in Emilia-Romagna ), as well as in the area around Verona in Veneto and Friuli , but also in Lombardy , mainly on Lake Garda .
The designation Terramare already indicates that it belongs to the group of damp ground or pile-dwelling settlements . These types of settlement have been around the Alps since around 4250 BC. Occupied. Almost simultaneously in the Vasi-a-bocca-quadrata culture in northern Italy and in the Aichbühler and Schussenrieder groups in Germany. Around 3500 BC This type of settlement was already widespread between Franche-Comté (Eastern France ) and Slovenia via some alpine cultures in Germany, Switzerland and Austria . In northwest Italy, the Lagozza culture , a group of the Chassey-Lagozza-Cortaillod culture , was its earliest carrier. After a gap of about 1500 years in the Italian finds ( hiatus ), the design, which z. B. in the Swiss canton of Zug only came to a complete standstill during the bell jar phase. Now the Polada and Terramare cultures of the Italian Middle Bronze Age (bronze medio) were their bearers. This last phase, if it can be related to the early phase at all, ebbed after about 500 years. In the Iron Age , the phenomenon in the circumalpine region had finally disappeared.
Naming
In the second half of the 19th century, soil rich in archaeological finds and containing large amounts of marl was used as fertilizer on the otherwise clay-rich fields in the Po Valley . Its name terra-marne (marl) was later ground to Terramare. Today, as a result of this procedure, most of the old settlement areas have been destroyed.
research
The scientific research of the terramarines took place in two periods. It began as early as the birth of prehistoric archeology in Italy in the context of the analysis of the circumalpine pile dwellings, but was then interrupted for almost a century.
Between 1860 and 1880 Luigi Pigorini (1842–1925), Gaetano Chierici (1819–1886) and Pellegrino Strobel (1821–1895) collected stratigraphic information in the terramars. From the 1985s onwards, research focused on the Terramaren to explore their social structure. The older Bronze Age, between the end of the 30th and 17th centuries BC BC, left little traces in Emilia-Romagna, during this period the area was probably sparsely populated. In the 16th and 15th centuries BC About 60 terramars were built, which was accompanied by strong population growth. In the early phase, the size of the settlements was quite uniform with 1 to 1.5 hectares. From the 14th century onwards there was a greater fluctuation, settlements were abandoned or enlarged, and individual settlements were up to 20 hectares in size. Only about every tenth settlement was continuously settled over four to five centuries.
Agriculture
Pollen analyzes in Monte Leoni (Parma), Tabina (Modena) and Poviglio show that wheat , barley and oats and some vegetables , especially broad beans , were cultivated in the vicinity of the settlements . Apple , pear , blackberry , cornel cherry and fig were also used , and possibly also wine . Berries, acorns and hazelnuts were collected. The forest islands, which have otherwise been cleared for agriculture, consist of alder , maple , hazel, elder and occasionally oak .
The keeping of cattle , sheep and pigs was of primary importance . They were used both for secondary products (bone tools, fur, etc.), the cattle as work animals. Hunting played a minor role. Horses were found in small numbers, but there were votive figures made of clay . They are an indication of the horse's social significance.
Poviglio
The Terramare San Rosa di Poviglio has been extensively excavated. In view of the otherwise meager data situation, it is regarded as exemplary for the Terramare. The settlement was founded several times: Initially, the less than one hectare area was surrounded by a moat and a palisade. The latter was later replaced by a wall. In the course of the 14th century, the village south of the ramparts was expanded five times. This 5 hectare facility was surrounded by a new wall and a small ditch.
Inside, the buildings consisted of silo pits for grain, cisterns and rows of posts, the orientation of which remained constant in some settlements, including Poviglio. In Muraiola di Povegliano Veneto, the paving made of tamped earth burnt in the fire seems to belong to structures at ground level, whereas in Poviglio they belong to structures raised on a wooden platform. Similar patterns were found in the Levant and assigned to a kiln on the occasion of the excavation of Bab edh-Dhra on the Dead Sea . In Poviglio, in connection with the rows of posts, conical piles of ash surrounded by ceramics and clay residues were found. Since mollusc examinations and pedological analyzes show that there was no water at this location, it was probably a matter of listing on dry land.
Cultural asset
In addition to the cooking vessels, which are repeated in the shapes, large biconical storage vessels, fine ceramics, eating and drinking utensils were found. Ceramic is characterized by a wealth of materials and shapes and indicates a high technical level. The decoration of the handles with cattle horn-shaped projections, which had a symbolic format, occurred within the area of the Terramaren in a regionally limited manner and changed over time.
Many bronze objects were found, in Italy only the finds in the area around Lake Garda are more extensive. The range of shapes of the southern terrarium bronzes is similar to these. Bones and antlers are evidenced by numerous objects and waste, especially deer antlers. Their standardization in shape, size and decoration, especially at the end of the Middle Bronze Age, indicates production in specialized workshops.
Amber pearls were imported from the Baltic States and pierced shells that came from fossil deposits or from the Adriatic or Tyrrhenian coast. In addition, bronzes, arrowheads, razors and sickle blades made of flint were found (end of the late Bronze Age). They are probably from the Verona area . An example that speaks perhaps in favor of trade, but definitely in favor of intra-cultural exchange, is the existence of millstones made of Apennine sandstone, sometimes also of tuff or granite, which comes from the area north of Lake Garda. These goods were probably transported in dugouts on the waterway, but transport by wagon is also conceivable.
Cult and graves
In Poviglio , an area dedicated to the laying down of consecration offerings was located. On a few square meters there were 20 stallion figurines , which had a pronounced genitals, so that the representation is likely to be related to fertility rites. Votive objects, however, are among the rare evidence of this culture. These are very raw animal figures of no artistic value, loafs of bread or miniature vessels, which are interpreted as evidence of a production or cult practice that is tied to the house.
Differences in the funeral customs of the Terramaren people become tangible in Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. Cremation was practiced in both areas. In Emilia, the urns were buried in cemeteries about 100 meters outside the settlements, sometimes in rows one above the other. This is seen as an indication that there was no interest in recalling the social status or identity of the deceased. In Lombardy, however, body burials with grave goods were found, such as swords in ten grouped graves in the necropolis of Olmo di Nogara, on the soil of the municipality of Nogara , south of Verona.
The cremation is seen as a sign of the Indo-Germanization of the peninsula.
End of the Terramaren
Middle of the 12th century BC BC were, apparently surprising, given up all Terramaren. In Emilia-Romagna, there were more than 60 settlements with a population estimated at around 35,000. For several centuries, until the Etruscans colonized it again in the 6th century, the middle Po Valley was apparently depopulated because there are no finds from this period. The earlier hypothesis of a climate catastrophe could be refuted by investigations in Poviglio. Pollen analyzes show that sedimentation was continuous between the Bronze and Roman times. One reason for the abandonment may have been the leaching of the intensively used arable land. Another possibility is an external threat. This is indicated by the facilities built towards the end of the settlement, which are interpreted as defensive structures. However, it is completely unknown who these were built against. The culture disintegrated during the period when the Protovillanova culture was emerging.
Museums
There are open-air museums and museums in:
- Ledro : Museo Tridentino di Scienza Naturali on Lake Ledro (near Lake Garda )
- Parco archeoligoco e Museo all'apperto della Terramare di Montale (near Modena )
- Trento : Museo delle Palafitte
- Museo della Terramara S. Rosa Poviglio
literature
- Maria Bernabò Brea: The Terramaren in the Po Valley. In: Helmut Schlichtherle (Hrsg.): Pfahlbauten around the Alps (= Archeology in Germany. Special issue. 1997). Konrad Theiss, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-8062-1146-9 , pp. 63-70.
- Annaluisa Pedrotti, Markus Felber, Ubaldo della Torre: Le palafitte dell'arco alpino meridionale. In: Archeology of Switzerland. Vol. 27, No. 2, 2004, ISSN 0255-9005 , pp. 66-72.
- Christian Strahm: Chronology of the pile dwellings. In: Helmut Schlichtherle (Hrsg.): Pfahlbauten around the Alps (= Archeology in Germany. Special issue. 1997). Konrad Theiss, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-8062-1146-9 , pp. 124-130.
Individual evidence
- ^ Strahm: Chronology of the pile dwellings. 1997, p. 125: Chronology table.
- ↑ Brea: The Terramaren in the Po Valley. 1997, p. 66.
- ↑ Brea: The Terramaren in the Po Valley. 1997, p. 65.
- ↑ M. Ziegler 2004, report in the Daily Star (Lebanon).
- ↑ a b Brea: The Terramaren in the Po Valley. 1997, p. 68.
- ↑ Brea: The Terramaren in the Po Valley. 1997, p. 69.