Bilkent University The Department of Archaeology & History of Art Newsletter No. 3 - 2004 A RICH TRIPLE BURIAL FROM LATERZA, ITALY: THE EMERGENCE OF EARLY ELITES IN THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN The final stage of the Italian Neolithic period (late 4th millennium BC) is characterized by a distinct change in craft making and exchange policies, to be measured by two indicators. Special goods that can be labeled ‘prestige items’ like large obsidian blades, fine ceramic wares and large polished battle axes might testify to a privileged part of the society who tried to get access to these items via large scale trade and exchange networks, covering parts of the Italian peninsula, Central Europe and the British Isles. Closely related to this phenomenon is the emergence of rich burials whose inventory illustrates the special status of the deceased individuals. In 1978 a burial complex was discovered at Laterza in the Italian province of Puglia, in the vicinity of Metaponte and Taranto, that deserves a closer examination. The finds are archived in the Römisch-Germanische Zentralmuseum (RGZM), Research Institute for Prehistory in Mainz, Germany and are currently investigated by the author of this short paper. It is a pleasure to provide a preliminary draft of his research efforts for the 3rd Newsletter of the Department of Archaeology and History of Art at Bilkent University. The NW-SE-oriented grave pit (Fig. 1), approximately 0.90m deep, was covered with a large limestone slab. Inside the grave the inhumation remains of three individuals were discovered, all of them buried NE-SW in supine position. Fig. 1 Section and plan of the grave at Laterza The ceramic inventory comprises a big vessel (Fig. 3) and a smaller pot belonging to the facies Serra d’Alto with typical ‘baroque’ loop applications (Fig. 2). A bowl with tubular applications and a small flint blade were placed behind the skull of one individual. Near the feet of the opposite individual was lying a large polished Jade axe. 11 Single graves are quite rare in this period. Only a few examples are known, e.g. from Arnesano, Prov. Lecce, Malerba, Prov. Bari, Masseria Candelaro, Prov. Foggia, Matinelle di Malvezzi, Prov. Matera or Serra D’Alto itself, located in the Province Matera. Our burial complex, although comprising three inhumations, seems likewise not to be a collective burial unit where individuals were buried successively over Fig. 2 ‘Serra d’Alto’ globular urn Bilkent University The Department of Archaeology & History of Art Newsletter No. 3 - 2004 a longer time span. It rather resembles a triple burial with all individuals laid down at the same time. Cistor so-called ‘Pozetto’1-graves. The earliest examples can be dated to the second half of the 4th millennium BC. Fig. 3 ‘Serra d’Alto’ big urn Most unfortunately the actual whereabouts of the skeletal material is unknown, anyway it is obviously not stored in the depot of the local archaeological mission. Otherwise it would be possible, due to the recorded well preserved state of the inhumations, to carry out DNA-analysis which might clarify a possible affinity between these individuals. The inventory allows a precise chronological classification of this burial ensemble: The Serra D’Alto facies (Fig. 2 and 3) is a pottery style typical for the Italian Late Neolithic period, with quite a widespread distribution pattern throughout the Italian peninsula, but mainly concentrated on Central and especially Southern Italy. This kind of ‘baroque’-looking vessel is likely to be found in collective burial units like The so-called Diana pottery facies (Fig. 4), a highly burnished orangered fabric, is a slightly later phenomenon, its original distribution focus again to be centered in Southern Central and Southernmost Italy, with single examples scattered as far as the Po Valley in Northern Italy. Only a limited number of archaeological domestic and funeral features yielded Serra d’Alto wares with Diana pottery (e.g. burial (?) pits in Samari, Gallipoli, Prov. Lecce). Fig. 4 ‘Diana’ bowl 1 Graves with a shaft leading vertically down to the burial chamber. 12 The large polished Jade axe is the outstanding find amongst the items of the Laterza funeral. Jade or Jadeite sources are known from Northern Italy (see MAP Fig. 5) and were certainly exploited as early as the Old Neolithic period in Italy. The widespread distribution of jade axes in Late Neolithic Europe with distinct clusters in Southern England, the Lower Rhine Basin, and Northern Italy testifies to large-scale interregional exchange of precious items. Most of these Jade axes are small in size (615 cm). Only a limited number of them can be labelled as outstanding (ceremonial?) prestige items: those whose length measures 25-35 cm maximum. None of these large polished axes show traces of use and wear, and the biggest examples often have a perforated butt. A large number of these Jadeite weapons stems from hoard contexts, yielding sometimes half a dozen or even more Jadeite items, densely grouped together in a small pit, dug approximately half a meter below the modern surface. Thus the appearance of a Jadeite axe from a burial context in Southern Italy might fit well into the distribution pattern of Bilkent University The Department of Archaeology & History of Art Newsletter No. 3 - 2004 Jadeite items outlined above. The only problem we are confronted with is the fact that NO large perforated Jadeite axes were unearthed in Italy so far, neither in domestic, nor in funeral or even unknown contexts. The huge bulk of oversized perforated Jadeite (ceremonial) weapons is found in Central Europe, mainly Luxembourg, Eastern France and Western Germany. Italy, (supra), yielded up to now only small Jadeite items like stone rings or small-sized polished axes or chisels. So our Jadeite axe from Laterza represents the first ceremonial weapon from a solid archaeological, and funeral context from the Italian peninsula. One might expect that larger quantities of raw Jadeite from the Piedmontese Alpine (Ligurian) region in made use of similar signs of status and wealth as their counterparts in Central Europe. Further analysis of exceptional finds from burial and domestic contexts in Italy might clarify the sociocultural context of the Serra D’Alto and Diana cultures and attribute their rightful place in the formation of the Earliest Metal Ages in the Adriatic region. Selected literature: L.H. Barfield, Patterns of North Italian Trade 5.000-2.000 b.c. In: G. Barker/R. Hodges (Ed.), Archaeology and Italian Society. Prehistory, Roman and Medieval Studies. Papers in Italian Archaeology II. BAR Int. Ser. 102 (Oxford 1981) 27-51. A. Geniola, Il Neolitico nella Puglia Settentrionale e Centrale. In: La Puglia dal Paleolitico al Tardoromano (Milano 1979) 52-93. C. Malone, Pots, Prestige and Ritual in Neolithic Southern Italy. In: C. Malone/S. Stoddart (Ed.), Papers in Italian Archaeology IV. The Cambridge Conference. BAR Int. Ser. 244 (Oxford 1985) 118-151. R. Whitehouse, Social Organisation in the Neolithic of Southeast Italy. In: W.H. Waldren/R. Chapman/J. Lewthwhite/R.C. Kennard (Ed.), The Deya Conference of Prehistory. Early Settlement in the Western Mediterranean Islands and the Peripheral Areas Pt. IV. BAR Int. Ser. 229 (Oxford 1984) 1109-1133. Drawings by M. Ober, courtesy of the RömischGermanischeZentralmuseum Mainz. Thomas Zimmermann Fig. 5 Distribution map of Jade Axes in Europe. Stars indicate Jadeite sources (after L.H. Barfield) although rich in Jadeite raw material sources ← Previous article Northern Italy were not traded only northwards, but this burial ensemble proves that the Late Neolithic cultures in the southern fringes of Italy 13 Next article →