1600? The rise of the Terramara system (Northern Italy)

21 Pages·2.131 MB·English

by  Vanzetti A.

Tagungen des
Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle
Band 9 | 2013
16oo – Kultureller Umbruch im
Schatten des Thera-Ausbruchs?
16oo – Cultural change in
the shadow of the Thera-Eruption?
4. Mitteldeutscher Archäologentag vom
14. bis 16. Oktober 2o11 in Halle (Saale)
4 Archaeological Conference of Central Germany
th
October 14–16, 2o11 in Halle (Saale)
Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt
landesmuseum für vorgeschichte
herausgegeben von
Harald Meller,
François Bertemes,
Hans-Rudolf Bork
und Roberto Risch

Halle (Saale)
2o13
Die Beiträge dieses Bandes wurden einem Peer-Review-Verfahren unterzogen.
Die Gutachtertätigkeit übernahmen folgende Fachkollegen: Prof. Dr. François Bertemes,
Prof. Dr. Olaf Bubenzer, Prof. Dr. Helga Bumke, Prof. Dr. Robert Chapman, Prof. Dr. Raf-
faello Cioni, Prof. Dr. Janusz Czebreszuk, Dr. Stefan Dreibrodt, Prof. Dr. Peter Ettel,
Prof. Dr. Andreas Furtwängler, Prof. Dr. Svend Hansen, Dr. Karl-Uwe Heußner,
Dr. Reinhard Jung, Dr. Flemming Kaul, Dr. Mechthild Klamm, Prof. Dr. Margarita Primas,
Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrich Schmincke, Dr. Ralf Schwarz, Prof. Dr. Frank Sirocko,
Prof. Dr. Ingmar Unkel, Prof. Dr. Dietrich Wildung, Dr. Bernd Zich.
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Inhalt / Contents
9 Vorwort der Herausgeber / Preface of the editors
Sektion Naturwissenschaften/Section sciences
19 Hans-Rudolf Bork und Stefan Dreibrodt
Vulkanische Extremereignisse in der Nacheiszeit und ihre Folgen für den Menschen und seine
Umwelt in Mitteleuropa
23 Hartmut Leser
Paläo-Umweltgeschichte und Geomorphologie: Möglichkeiten eines geowissenschaftlichen
Forschungsansatzes
37 Walter L. Friedrich
The Minoan Eruption of Santorini around 1613 B. C. and its consequences
49 Clive Oppenheimer
Nature and impacts of the Minoan Eruption of Santorini
59 Walter Kutschera
Dating of the Thera/Santorini volcanic eruption
65 Mike Baillie
Radical thinking on the Thera debate
77 Christoph Siart and Bernhard Eitel
Santorini tephra on Crete: a mineralogical record of Bronze Age environmental change
89 André Billamboz
Der Standpunkt der Dendroarchäologie zu den Auswirkungen der Thera-Eruption nördlich
der Alpen
101 Gernot Patzelt
Bergstürze im 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. im Ostalpenraum
109 Leo Rothacker and Frank Sirocko
Evaluation of flood events in three Eifel maar sediment records during the 16th century B. C.
117 Giovanni Orsi, Raffaello Cioni and Valeria Di Renzo
The Campanian Plain during the Bronze Age: development of volcanism and impact of the
Vesuvius Avellino eruption in a densely populated area
Sektion Archäologie/Section archaeology
137 Anna Michailidou
The final settlement at Akrotiri on Thera: the buildings, the people, and the eruption
149 Annette Højen Sørensen, Walter L. Friedrich, Samson Katsipis and Kirsten Molly Søholm
Miniatures of meaning – interdisciplinary approaches to the miniature frescos from the west
house at Akrotiri on Thera
163 Tobias Neuser
Willkommen sei die Ordnung, denn das Chaos hat versagt. Die Auswirkungen des Vulkanaus-
bruchs von Akrotiri auf das Selbstverständnis ägäischer Eliten
177 Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier
Die Auswirkungen der Thera-Eruption im ägäischen Raum
191 François Bertemes
Tav˛san Adası. Das Thera-Event und seine Auswirkung auf das minoische Kommunikations-
netzwerk
211 Katharina Pruckner
The so-called »Middle Helladic Tradition« in Aegean pottery production of 16oo B. C.
221 Joachim Friedrich Quack
Gibt es in Ägypten schriftliche Quellen zum Thera-Ausbruch?
235 Reinhard Jung
The time around 16oo B. C. in Southern Italy: new powers, new contacts and new conflicts
253 Halinka Di Lorenzo, Mauro Antonio Di Vito, Pierfrancesco Talamo, Jim Bishop, Nicola Castaldo,
Sandro de Vita, Rosella Nave and Marco Pacciarelli
The impact of the Pomici di Avellino Plinian eruption of Vesuvius on Early and Middle Bronze
Age human settlement in Campania (Southern Italy)
267 Alessandro Vanzetti
16oo? The rise of the Terramara system (Northern Italy)
283 Vicente Lull, Rafael Micó, Cristina Rihuete Herrada and Roberto Risch
Political collapse and social change at the end of El Argar
303 Mauro S. Hernández Pérez, Francisco Javier Jover Maestre and Juan Antonio López Padilla
The social and political situation between 175o and 15oo cal. B. C. in the central Spanish
Mediterranean: an archaeological overview
315 Francisco Javier Abarquero Moras, Antonio Blanco-González, Ángel Esparza Arroyo and
José A. Rodríguez Marcos
The Central Iberian Meseta at the time of the Thera-Eruption: an overview
327 Carola Metzner-Nebelsick
Gedanken zur Frage des kulturellen Wandels in der Zeit um 16oo v. Chr.
in Nordwest-Rumänien und Nordost-Ungarn
355 Klára P. Fischl, Viktória Kiss, Gabriella Kulcsár and Vajk Szeverényi
Transformations in the Carpathian Basin around 16oo B. C.
373 Jozef Bátora
The settlement structure problem and the end of fortified settlements from the final period
of Early Bronze Age in Slovakia
387 Jaroslav Peška
Das Besiedlungsbild in der Blütezeit der Frühbronzezeit im Gebiet des mittleren Donauraumes
411 Alexandra Krenn-Leeb
Sozialer Wandel um 16oo v. Chr. in Österreich
435 Margarita Primas
Settlement and interregional connections in the Central and Eastern Alps
443 Florian Innerhofer
Von der frühen zur mittleren Bronzezeit in Süddeutschland – Wandel oder Zäsur?
453 Michal Ernée
Bernstein und der Zusammenbruch der klassischen Aunjetitzer Kultur in Böhmen
469 Bernd Zich
Aunjetitz – Nebra – Sögel. Die Zeit um 16oo v. Chr. im westlichen Mitteldeutschland
493 Harald Meller
Der Hortfund von Nebra im Spiegel frühbronzezeitlicher Deponierungssitten
527 Johannes Müller
16oo B. C. – Social topographies and the development of Early Bronze Age societies in
Central Europe
539 Anna Swieder
Carpathian Basin, Oder, Baltic Sea. The role of the Oder River as communication corridor
at the end of the Early and the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age
551 Juliane Filipp
Southern Scandinavia around 16oo B. C. Signs of mobility, trade, and communication –
the scimitars from Rørby (Denmark)
567 José Gomez de Soto
The Bronze Age in Atlantic France around 16oo B. C.
577 Timothy Darvill
Dark sides of the moon: life, death, ritual, and regional identity in Britain ca. 16oo B. C.
Abschlussdiskussion/Final discussion
597 Roberto Risch und Harald Meller
Wandel und Kontinuität in Europa und im Mittelmeerraum um 16oo v. Chr.
1600? The rise of the Terramara system (northern italy)
alessandro Vanzetti
Zusammenfassung Summary
Nach dem Ende der lokalen Frühbronzezeit war das zent- After the end of the local Early Bronze Age, central-eastern
ralöstliche Norditalien geprägt durch eine rapide Expansion, northern Italy saw the rapid expansion, steep growth and
durch einen starken Anstieg und eine plötzliche Abnahme sudden fall of the so-called Terramara settlement model, and
des sogenannten Terramara-Siedlungsmodels, was einher- the development of a specific archaeological facies. Some of
ging mit der Entwicklung einer spezifischen archäologischen the aspects of the settlement package (raised floor huts,
Kulturgruppe. Einige Aspekte dieser Siedlungserscheinung thickly built enclosed settlements, water management facili-
(Häuser mit Doppelboden, dicht bebaute und von Erdwerken ties) and the basic material culture traits are rooted in the
umfasste Siedlungen, Wasserwirtschaftseinrichtungen) und preceding and surrounding traditions. It has been proposed
die grundlegende materielle Kultur haben ihre Wurzeln in that the quick spread of the new package took the form of a
den zeitlich vorangehenden und geografisch benachbarten pioneer settling, deeply affecting the landscape. All these
Traditionen. Es ist vorgeschlagen worden, dass die rasche aspects can be taken as part of a major socio-economic
Ausbreitung dieser archäologischen Kulturgruppe eine Art restructuring, affecting northern Italy, the Apennines, and
von Pioniercharakter aufweise, die große Auswirkungen auf possibly some wider areas; a Danubian contribution to the
die Landschaft gehabt habe. Alle diese Aspekte können als process has been considered, without conclusive evidence.
Teil einer großen sozio-ökonomischen Umstrukturierung The timing of this process has been harshly debated be-
angesehen werden, die Norditalien, die Apenninen und mög- tween scholars calling for a higher or lower chronology, locat-
licherweise weitere Regionen betraf. Einflüsse aus dem ing the transition from northern Italian Early Bronze Age to
Donauraum sind erwägt worden, jedoch ohne schlüssige Middle Bronze Age between 17oo and 16oo cal. B. C.; presently,
Beweise. the positions are slightly converging. This discussion is relat-
Die chronologische Einordnung dieses Prozesses ist von ed to the Thera debate, as cross-dating locates the transition
der Wissenschaft kontrovers diskutiert worden, mit Vor- from Middle Helladic to Late Helladic to around the start of
schlägen für eine früherer oder späterer Datierung, die den southern Italian Middle Bronze Age. Anyhow, a relationship
Übergang von der norditalischen Frühbronzezeit in die mitt- between the disruption caused by the Theran event and Ital-
lere Bronzezeit zwischen 17oo cal. B. C. und 16oo cal. B. C. ian transformations has never been called for, and such a
verlegen. Die Diskussion hängt mit der Thera-Debatte zusam- dimension could eventually be identified only on a wider
men, da Gegenda tierungen die Überleitung von der mittel- European scale.
zur späthelladischen Periode um den Beginn der südita-
lischen Mittelbronzezeit platzieren. Gleichwohl ist eine
Verbindung zwischen den Auswirkungen der Katastrophe
von Thera und den italischen Umbrüchen nie vorgeschlagen
worden. Allerdings könnten solch weitreichende Ausmaße
auch nur in einem größeren europäischen Umfang identifi-
ziert werden.
The Bronze Age of Italy is marked by crucial transforma­ The situation is clear in its major trajectories, but some
tions at the transition between local Early Bronze Age (EBA) debate has affected the chronology of the transitions and
and Middle Bronze Age (MBA), leading in a short time to transformations (Chapter 2): should the transition from
the affirmation of the Terramara settlement model (Chapter EBA to MBA be dated close to 16oo B. C., or how much ear­
1). It collapsed after about four centuries at the end of the lier? And should therefore the rapid growth of the Terra­
Italian Recent Bronze Age (RBA). An impressive demo­ mara system, during MBA 2, be located shortly after 16oo
graphic concentration took place in the central­eastern Po B. C. or almost one century later? Would there be any possi­
Plain, associated with a remarkable capacity in water and ble connection with the date indicated by the Conference
land management, with well­defined and specific types theme, 16oo, and the Theran disaster?
of settlements and with an apparently scarcely hierarchi ­ Summing up: the process is rather clear; its precise abso­
cal social structure (which has been defined as »tribal«, or lute chronology is not fully agreed (but the chronological
»territory­based« – instead of »kin­based«; Peroni 1989, gap is narrowing, as we shall see in Chapter 2.2); finally,
2o2–2o3). even if a high date for the Theran eruption is compatible
Tagungen des Landesmuseums für VorgeschichTe haLLe • Band 9 • 2013
268 AlessAndro VAnzetti
Oglio Mincio
Tartaro
Arda Po Po
P a n àro
Reno
a
hi
c
c
e
S
A p e n n i n e
40 km
Fig. 1 The area of the Terramara settlements (dots).
with the spread of social rearrangement in Europe and Italy, tions are recorded mostly about its absolute chronology. This
it seems that processes in Italy were already ongoing, and last point will be discussed later (Chapter 2).
none of the authors has proposed an even remote relation­ The turning point for the definition of this new frame has
ship with the Theran event. been the exhibition held in Modena in 1997 (Bernabò Brea et
al. 1997), when a massive set of old and freshly excavated
data were presented in a systematic outline.
1 The Terramara system1 In fact, the subject had been almost completely removed
from the Italian protohistory after the exhaustion of the
The area where we can isolate the Terramara phenomenon L.Pigorini's model (Peroni 1996), an end that we can locate
(Cardarelli 2oo9) encompasses the central­eastern Po Plain, around his death, in 1925, but that was finally sanctioned by
from a western border located at the Arda River to the east­ the impressive book by G.Säflund (1939)2. L.Pigorini (1876–
ern Reno River; from the Apennines to the south, up to a 1877; 1895) had put the extraordinary and massive evidence
looser border around the low/middle plain north of the Po of the Terramara world – brought to light by relevant schol­
River (Fig. 1). Its definition is substantially clear, even if ars like G.Chierici, P.Strobel, and himself in the last 4o years
many of the single aspects (infrastructural solutions, ceram­ of the 19th ccceeennntttuuurrryyy – as the origin of the Italic people and of
ic and bronze complexes, ritual behaviours) occurring in the Rome, ultimately deriving from the trans­alpine Danubian
area are shared with the surrounding archaeological group­ tells. The reaction to this Europe­centred model, and to its
ings. implications in terms of the noble origins of Rome, came to
The process of definition of the Terramara settlement sys­ an apogee in the work by G.Patroni during the Fascist
tem has been explored by various authors in the last years, period, with some astonishing pages reporting of the Terra­
and a general consensus about its development has been mara world as a communistic and disordered social milieu,
gained, with minor differences, while some divisive posi­ incompatible with the high spirit of Rome (Patroni 1937,
848).
1 In the following, I generally refer to the rela­ 2 As A.Guidi (2oo8) reports, the misunder­ the WWII were not so accurate (e.g.: Sca­
tive chronology first proposed by Bernabò standings brought by G.Säflund's work lar­ rani), or anyway did not publish thoroughly
Brea/Cardarelli 1997, with three MBA peri­ gely hindered the research progress; further­ their own research (e.g. Malavolti); cf. Peroni
ods (cf. Chapter 2). more, the scholars in charge of research after 1992, 66.
Tagungen des Landesmuseums für VorgeschichTehaLLe • Band 9 • 2013
1600? The rise of The Terramara sysTem (norThern iTaLy) 269
250 m
Fig. 2 Castello del Tartaro, Cerea (Verona). Bronze Age settlement and field system, as derived from aerial photographs, partially verified through exca­
vation trenches. White tributary channel and ditch; solid black lines main and minor banks; black dashed lines possible Bronze Age raised track­roads;
black thin lines gullies enclosing the fields.
It is since the second half of the 197os (De Marinis 1975; defining the accumulations of organic sediments of the
Tirabassi 1979) that we can record the first steps of reap­ Bronze Age, being quarried as manure (Bernabò Brea/Mutti
praisal of the research, which took the form of the system­ 1994). Anyway, such accumulations were effectively the
atic publications of sites' gazetteer and of a renewed series of result of peculiar formation processes, taking place mainly
excavations, both as specific research projects3 and due to inside the constricted environment of the embanked settle­
the increasing rescue and preventive archaeology activities ments that we now recognize as the Terramara type. Sites
(e.g. Bernabò Brea/Valloni 2oo8). The actual perspective on attributed to this archaeological grouping (facies) also occur
the Terramara sites includes a renewed consideration of the on the bordering lower Apennine hills, but the typical ones
models of the early researchers of the Positivist age, as far as are on the plain.
the structure of sites is concerned. On the contrary, the Here I consider as part of this settlement package: the
trans­alpine origin of the Terramara system is no more ditch­and­bank structure of settlements; their regular and
remarked, but some relevant connections in the same direc­ thick built environment; their frequent, superimposed
tion have anyway been sometimes reported, leaving some reconstruction; their relevant use of raised floor huts; the
room for a trans­alpine contribution (Peroni 1989, 129–13o; intense water management of the surrounding plain.
332–334). In the end, even if the model applied is now differ­
ent, as we shall see, the interpretation of the phenomenon
1.1.1 Ditch and bank
as some kind of »colonisation« (probably better: pioneer set­
tling) is still applied by most of the authors. The excavation of the ditch is the quarry for the bank, which
is therefore built up with local sediments (locally spanning
from gravel to sand or clay), without the addition of stone.
1.1 The Terramara settlement package The use of an earth­filled wooden structure is generally
assumed, both on the basis of the wooden »Blockbau« struc­
It is well­known that the term Terramara is not of scholarly tures found at Castione dei Marchesi near Fidenza in the
origin: it was a local expression of the 18th century A. D., 19th century excavations, and on the frequent record of
3 E.g. S. Rosa di Poviglio, Montale and Casi­
nalbo: Bernabò Brea/Cremaschi 2oo4;
Cardarelli 2oo4; Cardarelli et al. 2oo6.
Tagungen des Landesmuseums für VorgeschichTe haLLe • Band 9 • 2013
270 AlessAndro VAnzetti
Fig. 3 a S.Rosa, Poviglio (Reggio Emilia). Settle­
ment with the post­holes and the proposed out­
line of some of the houses. Gullies and wells in
the area of the bank and ditch of the second
phase settlement are marked in grey (light grey:
MBA 3/RBA 1; dark grey: RBA 2). b Beneceto,
Parma (Parma). Wooden buildings, discovered
aaasss aaannn oooffffff­­site of the Terramara settlement, tenta­
tively interpreted as hay­barns.
10 m
a
10 m
b
wooden traces inside or under the bank; moreover, the gen­ glio (Reggio Emilia; Bernabò Brea/Cremaschi 2oo4), where
erally loose materials require some supporting structure (Ber­ the palisade is anyway soon replaced by the ditch and bank.
nabò Brea/Cremaschi 1997). Ditch and bank appear since the The developed shape of the ditch and bank system (since
start of MBA (MBA 1), both north and south of the Po River, MBA 2) often corresponds to a rectangular plan, with round­
as testified for example at Camponi near Nogarole Rocca ed angles (Fig. 2); ditches are up to 3o–4om wide, up to 2,5m
(Verona) and at Gaggio near Castelfranco Emilia (Modena) deep, and banks 1o–2om wide, up to 3m high4. Subsequent
(Salzani/Chelidonio 1992; Balista et al. 2oo8). It is reported events may distort our perception: both ditches and banks
that incipient sites can take some time before being enclosed are often transformed by renovation works (recutting of the
(e.g. Camponi­Nogarole Rocca: Salzani/Chelidonio 1992), as ditch or raising of the bank); ditches could be reworked by
well as that they can be for some time enclosed inside a wood­ later fluvial insertions and banks lose their stability profile
en palisade, like the first phase village at S.Rosa near Povi­ because of the decay of their wooden structures.
4 E.g. Montale­Castelnuovo Rangone: Carda­
relli 2oo4, 26–29; S.Rosa­Poviglio: Bernabò
Brea/Cremaschi 2oo4, 31–35.
Tagungen des Landesmuseums für VorgeschichTehaLLe • Band 9 • 2013
1600? The rise of The Terramara sysTem (norThern iTaLy) 271
Ditches are strictly connected to the water management 2oo8; Cardarelli 2oo9), as they have similar plans to those of
systems activated in the surrounding landscape (cf. Chap ­ the Italian peninsula.
ter 1.1.3)5. Accumulation of refuse and superimposed rebuilding of
the site structures, contained and constrained by the enclos­
ing banks, is reflected in the thick sedimentation, having a
1.1.2 Settlement structure
good rate of organic preservation. At Montale, a single hut
The settlement structure has proved to be similar to what was apparently rebuilt, with negligible displacements, four
proposed by the 19th century scholars: extremely regular, times in less than 15o years, that is every 35 years or so
wood­demanding, frequently employing raised floor huts, (Fig. 4). This timing is possibly a bit longer than what has
often filling nearly the entire inner space of the site. been seen, thanks to dendrochronology, in Swiss sites, but
Narrow perpendicular roads define blocks filled with still appears to be plausible.
houses, either with raised or ground­level floors. They are The overall coherence of the settlement structure indi­
rectangular in shape, the raised ones probably with a lateral cates the coordinate design of the site plan, and of its renew­
and frontal porch, and generally range from 45 m2 to more als through time.
than 1oo m2 (e.g. Fig. 3a: S. Rosa­Poviglio: Fig. 4: Montale­
Castelnuovo Rangone). This wooden architecture reflects
1.1.3 Water management facilities and fields
the typical layout of northern Italian houses in the Bronze
and the Iron Ages, bound to »Blockbau« or framing tech­ In northern Italy, even if the use of the plough is certain
niques. The tight organisation recalls palafitta (»Pfahlbau«) since at least the early 3rd millennium B. C. (Copper Age),
sites, with houses possibly bigger than – for instance – at the first data about agrarian water management structures
MBA palafitta of Fiavé, where they probably ranged from date to the late EBA or MBA 1, and the first complex field
4o–6o m2 (Perini 1984, 13o and Fig. 1o1; 1o4). systems to the Terramara settlements. Obviously, the preser­
Isolated cases of (smaller) apsidal huts with ground floor vation of agrarian fields depends widely on local sedimenta­
have been indicated as of southern influence (Balista et al. tion rates, isolating former landforms under a protective
Fig. 4 Montale, Castelnuovo Rangone (Modena),
outline of a raised floor hut, rebuilt, with sub­
stantial overlappings and negligible displace­
PHASE II
ments, four times in less than 15o years
(MBA 2–3).
phase I
excavation
limit
PHASE III
PHASE IV
1 m
5 The size of the ditches, wide and often shal­ from throwing weapons, as bone arrowheads cemetery record (A. Canci, unpublished com­
low, has been proposed as functional both in are widely used in the Terramara world, munication at the Conference »The Death
terms of water management and of defence causing at least one casualty in the Nogara Toll«, Rome 2oo9).
Tagungen des Landesmuseums für VorgeschichTe haLLe • Band 9 • 2013