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
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Northern Italy were not
traded only northwards,
but this burial ensemble
proves that the Late
Neolithic cultures in the
southern fringes of Italy
13
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