To warm, to cook, to produce. The fire structures of the Etruscan settlement of Forcello di Bagnolo S. Vito: typological and functional aspects

Abstract

The Forcello site (Bagnolo S. Vito, Mantua) is the main Etruscan settlement north of the Po in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. It is approximately 12-hectare wide, with a fully urban pattern. It’s characterized by an orthogonal plan, defined by main and secondary roads that intersect each other orthogonally and outline blocks, occupied by both residential and productive buildings. The archaeological investigations are carried out in the settlement’s core area, over about 900 m2. After more than thirty years of excavations, nine archaeological phases have been recognized, resulting by the stratification of domestic activities, craft activities and catastrophic events. The extension and the long duration of the researches have brought to light dozens of fire structures: hearths, pit furnaces to cast bronze or to forge iron objects, remains of kilns. The wide typological variety of the fire structures can be evaluated according to the function of the buildings in which they are located, detected by study of archaeological findings and building techniques.