Sasso Pinzuto Necropolis (Tuscania, Italy)

First objectives

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The project aims to specify what is known in general terms regarding the Necropolis of Sasso Pinzuto, or Pizzuto in the current use, to deepen the archaeological knowledge of Tuscania in Etruscan era with particular reference to the Orientalizing and Archaic period (VII-VI century AC), in which the city played a major role in southern Etruria. The excavation is aimed at investigating the exposed sectors of the necropolis in detail, not only to highlight the most monumental architectures and clearly clarify the presence of architectural decoration slabs in a burial, but also to explore "minor" burials that they usually coronate the tombs of greater value and then verify the articulation of the social structure of the town. Along with the archaeological research, the investigation in the archives and museum deposits will also be developed in order to reconstruct the succession of interventions on the ground, identify the relevant findings in deposits and address their study, as well as promoting special collaborations with scholars who previously dealt with Tuscania.

An introduction to the archaeological site

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The Etruscan necropolis of Sasso Pinzuto is known since the 30s of the nineteenth century for the entries in the accounts of British travelers as E. Hamilton Gray and G. Dennis, who visited also Toscanella, the current Tuscania. Over time the site has been excavated and researched mostly occasionally, still allowing us to outline its essential characteristics: there are at least 120 chamber tombs excavated into the tuff, which according to their layout and architectural features date from to the first half of the seventh century B.C. to the Hellenistic period (III-II cent. BC) and set in this period the use of the necropolis. The burial ground is attributed to the village located on the hill of San Pietro, but the vast extent, spread over several contiguous high hills, does not exclude the use also by other smaller communities that settled the territory. This applies especially for the sector more distant from the hill of San Pietro, the southern one known as Casale Galeotti from the name of the building, that was built in the nineteenth century, if not earlier, on the remains of the medieval church of San Ponente.
The explored tombs contained metal objects and pottery related not only to the grave goods deposited in ancient times, but also to subsequent frequentation of the necropolis. The funerary architectures include types from the most ancient rock cut pit tombs to those with a true room cut out in the tuff, divided into one or more rooms, each of which could be used by the same family for several generations. Among the architectures the mound is a dominant type containing a tomb with a transverse atrium and three cells on the long side opposite the entrance: this plan was drawn up in Caere (present Cerveteri) still in the seventh century. B.C. and it was used both in domestic and in sacred contexts in Etruria and Etruscan Campania. The few funerary testimonies present in other places in southern Etruria outside Caere, mainly corresponding to a tomb per site, document the spread of Cerveteri models based of the relationship established among the most prominent families of the respective centers. The mound tomb of Sasso Pinzuto-Casale Galeotti is distinguished from the others due to the presence, in addition to the remains of pottery and metal utensils relevant to the grave goods, of numerous fragments of clay slabs decorated stampings, such as the one chosen for the project logo, which originally did not decorated tombs, but buildings. Similar findings, discovered in Tuscania also in the Etruscan necropolis of Ara del Tufo, Polledrara and Pian di Mola, reveal that in the burial areas also existed buildings, in all likelihood destined to funerary cults.

With particular reference to Sasso Pinzuto

The necropolis is within the Caponetti property nearby Tuscania (VT, Italy)