The material culture of Murgia Timone (Matera): a proposal of analysis in the light of the influences from the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian areas

Abstract

In the chamber tombs of Murgia Timone (Matera), a considerable amount of Middle Bronze Age 3 pottery came to light that largely fall within the typological panorama of the traditional Apennine facies. However, the study of these finds, through a comparative analysis, made it possible to highlight the presence of other specific pottery types, belonging to the so-called “Punta Le Terrare” facies, recently defined by G. Recchia and C. Ruggini. This paper discusses the material culture of the site of Murgia Timone and analyses how it relates to these two already defined facies. One example is a drinking cup from tomb 2 of Murgia Timone with a handle characterized by a depression at the centre and lateral apexes. For this type, we can find very precise comparisons at Monopoli-Piazza Palmieri, Rissieddi, Le Pazze, Roca and Punta Le Terrare. In the same tomb some bowls with a very recessed rim were also found, two of which have some small vertical segments underneath the rim. This type, attested at Murgia Timone in four examples, is also present in Civita di Paterno (Potenza), but has also comparisons in Puglia, in the sites classified within the “facies of Punta Le Terrare”: Rissieddi, Roca, Egnazia - level IV and at Punta Le Terrare. A pot with a nozzle-handle, found into tombs 1 and 2, is significant for its similarity with artefacts from the upper layer of the Cardini Cave, Cave1 of Latronico and tombs 17 and 22 of the Podere Caravello necropolis. This vessel shape is mainly attested in central and south-western Italy during the Middle Bronze Age, but has been also found at Punta Le Terrare. These data show a distribution of types that does not always coincide with the areas where usually the facies is attested. Murgia Timone is in a key geographical position between the diffusion area of the “facies Punta Le Terrare”, from which it partially takes the pottery models, and the diffusion area of the Apennine facies in northern Puglia, Campania and Calabria. The pottery from Murgia Timone displays moreover numerous similarities with sites in the Tyrrhenian area (for example the Cardini Cave). This paper therefore focuses on a critical point related to the concept of facies: the definition of rigid boundaries does not apparently reflect the real distribution of pottery types, which often go beyond the canonical limits of defined facies. This observation points out that models widely circulate between different geographical and “cultural” areas.