There has been a new archaeological discovery in the province of Grosseto, in Vetulonia.
A few days ago, among the necropolises belonging to the ancient Etruscan city, a burial ground that until now had not been surveyed in Doro Levi's 1931 Archaeological Map of Vetulonia, a reference map that will have to be updated with the new discovery, was identified.
The new site is in Poggio Valli, south-west of Castiglione della Pescaia.
The area is rich in Etruscan-Roman remains, brought to light in the 19th century by the archaeologist Isidoro Falchi, but over the centuries it has become overgrown both due to late-medieval settlements, and in rural areas by dense vegetation.
These conditions have led to the disappearance of numerous funerary monuments, which recent activities have endeavoured to identify.
The necropolis that has now been rediscovered is an unprecedented, “hitherto unknown” discovery, explains Mayor Elena Nappi.
“It stands in continuity with the nearby Villanovan necropolis of the Colle Baroncio and Dupiane sites.”
"In the new necropolis, it is possible to identify a process of development of the architectural typology of Etruscan burials of the Orientalising and Archaic age (7th-6th centuries BC. ),” explains the scientific director of MuVet, the local museum, Simona Rafanelli.
“It leads from the stone circle tombs enclosing a simple earthen pit, closed or open on a short side, located on the summit esplanade of the hillock, to the tombs with a pit lined with rows of stone blocks under small tumuli surrounded by a drum, up to the actual chamber tombs, set within high tumuli with a drum and accessible through an access corridor.”
The discovery was announced by the municipal administration in a videoconference with the annual conference of the Archaeological Institute of America in New Orleans (USA).
