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Archaic Burials from Gabii, Italy

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Archaic Burials from Gabii, Italy BABESCH 93 (2018), 27-48. doi: 10.2143/BAB.93.0.3284844 Archaic Burials from Gabii, Italy J. Marilyn Evans Abstract This article discusses the recent discovery of a late archaic burial ground at the site of ancient Gabii. Some time during the late 6th and 5th centuries BC, seven inhumation burials were placed in one of three rock-cut tombs that were constructed along the perimeter of a preexisting complex in a long-inhabited sector of the archaic city. The tombs consist of deep trenches cut into the bedrock tuff with loculi carved on one or more sides; one of the tombs features a monolithic tuff sarcophagus. Between them, the tombs contain the burials of six adults and one adolescent, but they are largely devoid of grave goods. On the basis of their considerable size and intramu- ral location, the burials may have belonged to relatively high status individuals. The emergence of the cemetery within the limits of the city may point to a period of social and political change between the Archaic and Repub- lican periods.* INTRODUCTION rienced throughout the region at this time, as cities underwent the transition from monarchic to The archaeological evidence recovered from oligarchic forms of government.8 As such, the funerary contexts has made substantial contribu- burials at Gabii not only contribute to our under- tions to our understanding of the social and polit- standing of the funerary rituals of the 6th and 5th ical development of central Italy during the early centuries, but they also offer insight into the Iron Age and Orientalizing periods, but the sharp organization of the city at a time of considerable decline in the number of archaeologically visible change in central Italy. graves and grave goods during the 6th and 5th centuries has typically rendered such data less DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE AND THE GABII PROJECT applicable to the study of the Archaic period.1 EXCAVATIONS The past few decades of archaeological excava- tion, however, have brought to light a series of The site of ancient Gabii is located approximately archaic burials, particularly at Satricum,2 Crus- 18 km east of Rome along the ancient Via Prenes- tumerium,3 and Rome,4 and the data point to the tina (fig. 1). The city occupies a narrow outcrop of practice of diverse funerary customs across the land between two volcanic craters, that of Cas- region.5 The discovery in 2010 and 2011 of a late tiglione to the north and that of Pantano Borghese archaic burial ground at the site of ancient Gabii to the south (fig. 2). The ancient literary sources adds to this growing body of evidence. During document the origins and development of the the late 6th and 5th centuries, the inhumation bur- city during the regal period of Roman history, ials of six adults and one adolescent, for the most where it features prominently as one of Rome’s part without grave goods, were deposited in a chief neighbors and rivals.9 Gabii’s significance sector of the city that had been inhabited since diminishes in later periods, however. It all but the early Iron Age.6 While the low number of disappears from the historical record following burials and the near absence of grave goods is Rome’s war with Praeneste in 382.10 By the late typical of funerary customs in Latium vetus dur- 1st century Gabii becomes synonymous with ing the Archaic period, their location within the decay and depopulation,11 and is known primar- city is unusual, since it had long been the custom ily for its quarries of lapis gabinus12 and cold in central Italy to bury the dead outside the springs.13 Early archaeological investigations in boundaries of the settlement.7 The emergence of the region revealed the emergence and develop- a burial ground in a previously occupied zone of ment of the city as one of the largest in central the city represents a distinct phase of urban Italy. As early as the 8th century, the preexisting development at Gabii towards the end of the communities that surrounded the Castiglione Archaic period and the beginning of the Repub- crater coalesced on a narrow ledge of land south lican era. This development may be contextual- of the crater.14 During the 7th and 6th centuries the ized with the social and political upheavals expe- occupation of this area became especially dense,15 27 Fig. 3. Plan of Gabii showing location of GPR excava- tion area (after Mogetta/Becker 2014, fig. 4; courtesy American Journal of Archaeology and Archaeological Institute of America). Fig. 1. Map of central Italy showing the location of Colosseo e l’Area Archeologica Centrale di Roma), Gabii and surrounding territories (after Ancient World launched the Gabii Project (hereafter GPR) with Mapping Center. ‘Rome and Environs.’ <http: //awmc. the main goal of exploring the development of a unc.edu/wordpress/free-maps/rome/>). major Italian urban center. The first two seasons consisted of a magnetometry and core sampling survey, which revealed evidence of an orthogonal city plan.18 In 2009 the project selected for excava- tion a nearly 1 ha tract of land on the downslope of the Castiglione crater, in a sector of the archaic city (fig. 3). The site is subdivided into nine areas of excavation, identified as Areas A-I, which cor- respond roughly to city blocks in the orthogonal layout (fig. 4). Excavation has been ongoing since 2009 and has brought to light key phases in Gabii’s development.19 The results point to the emergence and development of the city during the Iron Age and Archaic periods, followed by a period of urban reorganization and renewal from the 5th-2nd centuries. The gradual contraction and abandonment of the site began in the 1st century and continued into the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.20 The tombs discussed in this article were dis- covered in Area D over the course of the 2010- Fig. 2. Map of the Gabii-Castiglione region showing loca- 2011 seasons of excavation. Located in the eastern tion of major sites (after Becker et al. 2009, fig. 2; cour- half of the site, Area D occupies the eastern por- tesy American Journal of Archaeology and Archaeologi- tion of a city block and contains the best docu- cal Institute of America). mented evidence of the Iron Age and archaic phases of the site (fig. 5).21 Although the results of and a series of fortification walls, probably con- the excavations are still undergoing study, pre- structed at this time, enclosed an area of some 75 liminary observations indicate that the occupa- ha.16 The city remained more or less densely occu- tion of the area began in the 8th century with the pied until the time of the Late Republic, when it emergence of a multi-hut compound. By the late had begun to contract around the more central 7th-early 6th century, the hut compound was areas of the Via Prenestina.17 replaced by a stone-built complex.22 This build- In 2007, the University of Michigan, in collabo- ing, which has been identified as an elite residen- ration with the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni tial compound, underwent two phases of con- Archeologici di Roma (hereafter SSBAR, and now struction before it was abandoned and quite known as the Soprintendenza Speciale per il possibly destroyed by the end of the 6th or early 28 Fig. 4. Plan of GPR excavation area. 29 block. The implementation of this road provides a terminus ante quem for the construction of the tombs.25 Following the construction of the road there is very little evidence of any activity at all in Area D. A nearly 1 m thick layer of silt covered all of the features in this area, which suggests this sector of the site was left open and relatively clear until the abandonment of the city in the 2nd or 3rd century AD.26 This stands in marked contrast to the development of the rest of the site, where monumental forms of architecture appear from the 4th century onwards in the remaining exca- vated blocks of the orthogonal plan. The following presents a summary of the con- struction and contents of each tomb, and contin- ues with a discussion of the implications of these burials for the archaeology of archaic Latium vetus. TOMB 25 (TOMBS 25A AND 25B) Tomb 25 is a northwest-southeast oriented trench tomb with a rectangular loculus carved into the eastern side (tomba a fossa con loculo) (figs 6a, 6b). It was discovered in 2010 in the southwestern corner of what was then Area C; following the reorganization and expansion of the site in 2011, the tomb was included within the limits of the Fig. 5. Plan of Area D at Gabii. newly created Area D. The fossa (Tomb 25A) is approximately 2.5 x 1.2 m, with a depth of 1 m, and 5th century. Shortly thereafter, three rock-cut tombs, is characterized by straight sides and an irregular each containing multiple inhumations, were con- floor. The southern limit of the trench was trun- structed along the perimeter of the fallen remains cated by the construction of a circular well some of the building. Based on the ceramics recovered time during the republican occupation of the city. in the fill of these tombs, which consists primar- A monolithic tuff sarcophagus of tufo lionato, con- ily of impasto with smaller concentrations of buc- taining a single inhumation burial, was deposited chero and commonware, this event likely occurred into this trench. The lid of the sarcophagus was anywhere from the last quarter of the 6th century fractured upon discovery and was removed in two to the middle of the 5th.
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