In vetta all'Etruria prima degli Etruschi. Testimonianze dell'età del bronzo sul Monte Cimino (Soriano nel Cimino, VT)

The Monte Cimino is the highest peak in southern Etruria. At the end of the nineteenth century on the summit of the mountain there was a settlement located inside an imposing stone walls. Some surface researches, carried out in the 1970s and 1980s of the twentieth century, allowed to collect many finds attributed to the Late Bronze Age and specify the extension and articulation of the site. The excavations carried out in collaboration between the SBAEM and University “La Sapienza” of Rome (Chair of European Late Prehistory) between 2009 and 2010 have confirmed that during the Late Bronze Age the settlement was organized in a vaster plateau on the base and in an acropolis on the top within which a further articulation was visible near the summit. The settlement, whose length exceeds 5 hectares, has defended by imposing fences made of artificial stone attested in the plain base (Sector 4) and in the acropolis (Sector 2). The presence of artefacts belonging to the RBA, the MBA1-2, and perhaps even to ABA, indicating that there was also an older frequentation of which however is not currently ascertainable the duration, consistency and meaning. After the end of the Late Bronze Age phase, the site was abandoned and later involved in many occupations during the archaic and late Etruscan ages. The dominant position of the settlement is one of the most significant aspects and gives to the complex a strategic and perhaps a political importance, within a complicate territorial organization, testified in the Late Bronze Age in southern Etruria by a significant amount of contemporary villages. In this sense, are also significant the structural evidences and features of the archeological deposit on the summit (Sector 1), probably related to cultural activities as consequence of the dominant position of the place.

Il contributo illustra i risultati preliminari dei primi scavi effettuati sulla sommità del Monte Cimino in Etruria Meridionale. Le evidenze messe in luce sono relative a cinte di fortificazione dell'età del bronzo finale e di età etrusca e ad un luogo di culto del Bronzo finale.