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Etruscan Studies Journal of the Etruscan Foundation Volume 11 Article 5 2008 An Etruscan and Roman hilltop settlement. Excavations at the Torre di Donoratico, Italy (2003-2004) Anna Gallone Marcello Mogetta University of Michigan Daniele Sepio Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/etruscan_studies Recommended Citation Gallone, Anna; Mogetta, Marcello; and Sepio, Daniele (2008) "An Etruscan and Roman hilltop settlement. Excavations at the Torre di Donoratico, Italy (2003-2004)," Etruscan Studies: Vol. 11 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/etruscan_studies/vol11/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Etruscan Studies by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. An Etruscan and Roman hilltop settlement. Excavations at the Torre di Donoratico, Italy (2003-2004) by Anna Gallone, Marcello Mogetta, Daniele Sepio INTRODUCTION he excavations at the Torre di Donoratico began in 2000 as Part of a big Project co- sPonsored by the University of Siena in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at ChaPel Hill. Since then, regular excavation seasons have been carried out T 1 every year by both teams . The Present article will deal with the results of the first two sea - sons of investigations of the Etruscan and Roman levels. It contains a first and tentative inter - Pretation of the findings at the Torre di Donoratico (henceforth abbreviated as TDD) and in the lower Cecina valley between the 4th c. BC and the 4th c. AD, thus focusing on the issues related to the outcome of the Roman conquest and on the debate about the late Roman Peri - od. The site aPPears to be of considerable imPortance as it retains traces of Periods tradition - ally considered to be of decadence or even total abandonment in this area of the Peninsula. The TDD site is located on a hilltoP, about 3.5 km from the sea, on the Tyrrhenian coast of northern Etruria, in Tuscany (FIG. 1). The hill is on the southern edge of the valley of the lower Cecina river basin, and it is the highest Peak towards the coastline, awarding to the site a Privileged Position overlooking both sea and inland. The Prominence of the site is well-known for the Medieval time, when a fairly large and imPortant castle, the tower of which is still Partially standing today, occuPied the hilltoP 2. After the abandonment of the cas - tle in the 15th c. AD, the hilltoP and the surrounding area reverted to woodland and remain so today. It has been known since the eighteenth century, however, that the Plateau had Pre- Medieval occuPation traces; Portions of a massive fortification wall had been identified under - neath the Medieval wall circuit, as well as rock cut tombs on the northern sloPe of the hill. All of this had been interPreted as evidence of a fortified Etruscan settlement Preceding the Medieval castle. The archaeological survey carried out on the hilltoP and surrounding areas in the 1980s confirmed that it had a well-attested Etruscan as well as Late Roman Phase 3. The archaeological investigation began in 2000, when limited soundings were carried – 81 – –––––––––––––––––––––––– excavations at Torre di donoratico –––––––––––––––––––––––– out to estimate the Preservation of the archaeological evidence, under the direction of the late Prof. R. Francovich of the University of Siena (DiPartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti , Area di Archeologia Medievale ). Large and comPlex struc - tures belonging to the Medieval age were uncovered then, furthermore confirming that Pre-Medieval occuPa - tion levels were well rePresented and Preserved under the later remains. Starting in 2001, large areas of the Plateau have been excavated and since figure 1 – general map of Italy, with window on the 2003 the University of North Carolina Donoratico area. at ChaPel Hill, with a team directed by Prof. N. Terrenato, was invited to investigate the Pre-Medieval features. The collaboration of the two teams aims at reconstructing the long-term history of the site from its first occuPa - tion down to the Present day. The Medieval evidence is being studied by the Siena team 4, while the Pre-Medieval one by UNC 5. The site is located on the higher of two summits of the Donoratico hill, geologically com - Posed of sandstone and siltstone rocks 6. Eight large trenches had been excavated in different Parts of the hill - toP over the years 7. The Pre-Medieval levels are being investigated in three trenches located resPectively on the northern, southern and south-west - figure 2 – general map of the site with the trenches (re- ern sides (FIG.2), Providing samPles elaboration after Bianchi 2004) of the entire site 8. The south-western trench (30.000) is the most extensive and is located next to the south-western corner of the Medieval fortifications, where one of the Portions of the so-called Etruscan wall has been identified. Trench 50.000 is, rather, Positioned on the highest Part of the Plateau next to the tower, in an area were the deeP ero - sion had already brought to light the natural bedrock; here, the investigation was limited to a large artificial cut in the bedrock. Trench 70.000 is in the south-central Part of the site, and – 82 – ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– A. Gallone M. Mogetta D. Sepio ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– is delimitated by a Medieval building. This is the area, which has Preserved the thickest archaeological dePosit, as Proven by some Preliminary boreholes; the excavation revealed a Pre-medieval sequence of 3.2 m in dePth 9. UP to now, it has been Possible to identify at least five main Phases, ranging from the late Archaic times to the late ImPerial Period. It is imPortant to stress that the site had an imPres - sive continuity of occuPation, as Proven by the fact that the findings are chronologically dis - tributed along this time-sPan 10 . The earliest archaeological features identified so far are rePre - sented by a grouP of residual Pottery sherds dating between the second half of the 6th an the first half of the 5th c. BC, but no other evidence allows to have a Picture of the site at that time 11 . Substantial human occuPation is detectable from the second half of the 4th c. BC, when the Plateau was Probably comPletely surrounded by a fortification wall. To the same Period is dated the cut in the natural bedrock, Probably a cistern for the collection of rainwater, located on the highest Part of the hilltoP. The only archaeological remains of a building are rePresented by a series of Postholes in the southern trench. It is therefore likely that the whole Plateau was occu - Pied in this Phase, even if it is still too soon to further define the late Classical - early Hellenistic settlement. In the middle RePublican Period the site was extensively reorganized. The fortifica - tion walls were Partially reconstructed or restored, at least on the south-western corner. At the same time, in this Part of the Plateau, structures for the collection and redistribution of the water were built, namely a cistern with two small drains running towards it, which were associated with beaten-earth floors; while the rock-cut cistern was transformed into a rubbish dumP. In the south-central Part of the hill, a large sunken dolium was Placed at this time. It is Possible that the site witnessed a short and minor crisis in the late RePublican Period, but in the Augustan age it certainly flourished again. The hydraulic structures were restored, monumentalising them with squared stone block structures, mortar and opus sign - inum floorings. The dolium aPPears to have been obliterated. The features just described, and dated to the late 1st c. BC, were in use for quite a long time, attesting occuPation of the site with few modifications during the early and middle ImPerial Period. After the 4th c. AD the evidence of occuPation becomes very scanty, suggesting that the hilltoP of Donoratico was abandoned or very sParsely inhabited. OccuPation is strongly attested again from the end of the 6th c. AD, according to the latest findings, and by the 8th c. AD the hill toP had develoPed into a quite extensive wooden hut village; the construction of the church and connected burial ground dates to the 10th c. AD 12 . Notwithstanding the obvious limitations of data coming from seParate trenches, the sheer evidence definitely Points to an imPressive socio-economic comPlexity of the site sPanning a long time. This is in dramatic contrast with the generally accePted Picture of the human landscaPe of coastal northern Etruria during the Roman RePublican and ImPerial times, esPecially on hilltoP sites. What it is at stake here is the Possibility of archaeologi - cally detecting the Processes eventually leading to the creation and develoPment of the Roman EmPire and the real nature of the imPact it had in these micro-regions of Italy. Furthermore, this site offers the oPPortunity to look closely at the long-term develoPments of the socio-economic organization from the antiquity to the Medieval age 13 . – 83 – –––––––––––––––––––––––– excavations at Torre di donoratico –––––––––––––––––––––––– TRENCH 30000 The trench is located around the southwestern corner of the TDD hilltoP. The excavation area is delimited by the outer walls of two Medieval buildings, which abut the fortifications (FIG. 2) 14 . The earliest traces of occuPation and activity brought to light can be assigned to the middle rePublican Period (3rd -2 nd c. BC). The most imPortant feature is related to a Partial reconstruction figure 3 – view of the trench 30.000 of a short stretch of the Pre-exist - ing fortifications encircling the set - tlement 15 .

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