Necropoli etrusca di Valle Trebba (Spina). Studio di un lotto di tombe del "Dosso E" e indagini archeometriche sulla ceramica a vernice nera dei relativi corredi

The Etruscan necropolis of Valle Trebba (Spina). Study of a batch of graves of the "Dosso E" and archaeometrical analysis on black glazed pottery of the grave goods. The Research theme is the study of a topographically coherent batch of 184 graves located in the middle of the "Dosso E" of the Necropolis of Valle Trebba. This work is part of a wider project on the necropolis headed by the Chair of Etruscology and Italic Archaeology of the Bologna University. Primary aim of the research is the study of the graves of this area and its funerary and spatial analysis. Collateral but not secondary aim is the study of the black-glazed pottery of the grave goods supported by archeometric analysis. This kind of ware is the most represented among the grave goods of all chronological phases of the necropolis and besides, it requires a more accurate chrono-typological classification. The study of the funerary contexts has resulted in the collection of a large amount of archival, graphics, photographs information, found in the archives of the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Emilia Romagna. All these informations have been merged into a database completed with the analytical and systematic cataloging of the grave goods preserved at the National Archaeological Museum of Ferrara. The study of materials has enabled a more precise periodization of the contexts, whose chronological range is between the late VIth and the full IIIrd century B.C. The study of archival information has also led to a revision of the planimetry of the area of excavation and an unprecedented proposal to return the ancient landscape of the necropolis. The data obtained were then processed by performing an analysis of the funerary contexts and for the first time of the dynamics of occupation of the area, aiming at the establishment of the different forms of funerary ritual and the identification of burial plots. As part of the study of the grave goods, the study of the black glazed pottery has been supported by an archaeometrical analysis. A large group of samples was selected and integrated with samples of of indicators of production from the inhabited area, granted by the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of the Emilia Romagna in collaboration with the Universities of Milan and Pavia, and chemical and mineralogical data of the Po delta of the ISPRA's CARG project. Archeometric analysis were conducted at the laboratories of the Department of Biology, Geology and Environment, University of Bologna (BiGeA). The results of the archaeometrical analysis have been then compared with those of a rich database of samples from the main Etruscan and Roman sites of the north -west of Italy, which helped define the places of production of the imported pottery. It was thus confirmed the presence of three major manufacturing groups of productions, an Attic one quite consistent dated between the VIth and the IVth century B.C., one from Volterra dated between IVth and IIIrd century B.C., and one local, for which it was possible to hypothesize the location of the deposits of clay used. The statistical analysis of the results allowed us to identify a sample of imitation of Attic pottery of the Vth century. B.C. attributable to a local production of Spina. The data on productions obtained from the archaeometrical analysis have been thus the basis for setting the chrono-morphological analysis of black glazed pottery, which involved the three major productions identified (Atene, Volterra , Spina). This has led to the determination of seriations and chronologies for each ceramic form. This analysis was in fact conceived as a basis on which to set the study of the black glazed pottery of the entire necropolis, involving all the productions and the chronologies, and to develop a pottery typology for the site and hopefully for the entire Etruscan Po Valley, felt as an indispensable requirement for this geographical are