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The Cima Tumulus at San Giuliano—An Aristocratic Tomb and Monument for the Cult of the Ancestors of the Late Orientalizing Period1

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The Cima Tumulus at San Giuliano—An Aristocratic Tomb and Monument for the Cult of the Ancestors of the Late Orientalizing Period1 CHAPTER SEVEN THE CIMA TUMULUS AT SAN GIULIANO—AN ARISTOCRATIC TOMB AND MONUMENT FOR THE CULT OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE LATE ORIENTALIZING PERIOD1 Stephan Steingräber San Giuliano is one of the most interesting and fascinating archaeologi- cal sites of the South Etruscan rock tomb area.2 The ancient Etruscan name of this small inland center is not known but could be related perhaps to ‘Martureie’. As we can deduce mainly from the necropo- leis, tombs (mostly rock tombs) and burial gifts, San Giuliano had its most fl ourishing period between the later 7th century and the early 5th century BCE and a second, much later, prosperity in the Early Hellenistic period. Unfortunately San Giuliano remains a less studied and published Etruscan site of the South Etruscan rock tomb area. It is located about 3 km from the small picturesque medieval town of Barbarano Romano and since 1984 has been surrounded by the ‘Parco archeologico-naturalistico Marturanum’. The so-called Cuccumella on the plateau of Caiolo and the Cima Tumulus on the northern edge of the Chiusa Cima plateau stand out among the tumuli of the necropoleis of San Giuliano. Chronologically both tumuli go back to the later Orientalizing period but structurally they are completely different. The tomb of the Cuccumella is built in tufa blocks (a technique generally much more common in Northern Etruria), whereas the base/tambur and the chamber tombs of the Cima Tumulus are completely cut out from the local tufa rock (as was especially common in the necropoleis of Caere). 1 May the recipient of this Festschrift accept this modest little alpnu from an old ‘Etruscanized’ German friend living now in the rock tomb area and return still many times to the land of our spiritual ancestors. Evviva! 2 This area, at least in the Orientalizing and Archaic period, belonged to the hin- terland of the powerful coastal metropolis of Caere and is now part of the province of Viterbo. 124 stephan steingräber The fi rst excavations of the Cima Tumulus were undertaken by Gino Rosi in 1921 (Rosi 1925). In 1931 Augusto Gargana published his mono- graph on San Giuliano, which remains until today the basic publication and includes the Cima Tumulus too. Between 1962 and 1975 further excavations and cleaning operations took place that resulted mainly in the uncovering of the smaller later tombs and of a cippus-monument. Towards the end of the 1970’s the main tomb—partly collapsed—was restored. During the last two decades Giovanni and Elena Colonna (1978; 1986), Friedhelm Prayon (1975; 2006), Renzo Romanelli (1986), Alessandro Naso (1996), Paolo Brocato3 and the author of this article (1991; 1996; 1997) dealt with this important sepulchral complex. After the restoration in 1982 the author, together with the late photographer of the DAI in Rome, Helmut Schwanke, organized a photo campaign. The Cima Tumulus of San Giuliano has not been completely and thoroughly published to this day. The Cima Tumulus is situated on the plateau of Chiusa Cima and contains an older monumental chamber tomb orientated towards NNW and six more recent smaller chamber tombs located in the eastern (fi ve tombs) and in the northwestern sector (one tomb) of the tumulus (Fig. 18). Both the base (krepis) of the tumulus as well as the chamber tombs are almost completely cut out from the local reddish tufa rock and contain only very few built structures. This is in remarkable contrast to the other monumental aristocratic tumuli of the Orientalizing period at San Giuliano such as the so-called Cuccumella on the plateau of Caiolo with its dromos and two tomb chambers built in tufa blocks and covered by corbeled vaults (Fig. 19), as was common in Northern Etruria (i.e. at Cortona, Castellina in Chianti and Artimino as well as at Orvieto). The Tumulo Cima is about 35 m in diameter and is characterized by a cylindrical krepis with moulds (strip and torus) preserved only in a few parts (Fig. 20). There are no remains of a possible original ramp or of other added structures. The main tomb, the Tomba Cima (Figs. 21, 22), belongs to the so-called tomb type B 2 that is native in Caere according to the typology of Prayon (1975). It contains seven chambers and an open trapeziform dromos (length 12.5 m) with four arched doors (Fig. 23), which has tufa blocks only in the upper part. 3 In his unpublished doctoral thesis in Etruscology at the University of Roma La Sapienza..
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