Aspects about the end of terramara-palafitte culture (complete)

Abstract

The study aims at reconstructing some aspects of the crisis which lead to the collapse of the palafitticolo-terramaricola culture at the end of the Recent Bronze Age. The area delimited by the rivers Serio, Po and Adige and by the hills to the North is taken into account. The chronological sequence presented is based on the stratigraphic series recorded both to the North and to the South of the river Po. With regard to the end of the Middle Bronze Age and the Recent Bronze Age the following phases have been distinguished: Middle Bronze Age 3A (BM 3A); Middle Bronze Age 3B (BM 3B); Recent Bronze Age 1 (BR 1); Recent Bronze Age 2 (BR 2); Recent Bronze Age 3 (BR 3). The dating contexts of each phase have been quoted (chapter 1).

The typology includes pottery types which can be used as chronological and/or cultural indicators (chapter 2).

On the basis of the geographical distribution of the pottery types, three cultural groups have been distinguished. The northern one, occupying the southern hills in the Brescia district, is characterized by a conservative pottery style during the BM 3 and the BR. Pottery types widespread in the Subappennine are rare till the end of the BR 1. The western and the eastern group are located in the plain, both of them in contact with the peninsular regions. Pottery types show main cultural links, on the one hand, between the western group and the Emilia region to the West of the river Panaro, on the other hand between the eastern group and eastern Emilia and Romagna (chapter 3).

The study of the settlements dating from the BM 3 to the end of the BR (chapter 4), the changing in the settlement pattern during this period and the number of abandoned villages in each phase indicate the intensity of the crisis in the three cultural districts (chapter 5) and show that the disappearance of the palafitticolo-terramaricola culture was the consequence of a gradual process.

The crisis affected mainly the plain, especially the western district and it is likely that some groups moved from here to the northern one from the BR 2 on. The eastern group, confined to the East of the river Tartaro during the BR 1, seems to have enlarged its territory in the BR 2, including the area delimited by the rivers Tartaro and Mincio, which earlier belonged to the western group. Some eastern settlements – such as Fondo Paviani and perhaps a few others- overcame the crisis and left the tradition of the palafitticolo-terramaricola culture to Frattesina, a near site which flourished during the BF.

Even in the area under consideration, just like in the area to the South of the Po river, the collapse of the palafitticolo-terramaricola culture is the result of many negative factors: climatic-environmental, demographic, social, economical and political ones. A more complex social organization and different environmental characteristics, as some scholars claim, may explain the stability of some settlements in the eastern group, such as Fondo Paviani. The finding of Mycenean and Aegean type pottery is the main archaeological evidence distinguishing them from the other terramara sites. The dramatic decrease in the number of settlements at the end of the BR and at the beginning of the BF in the area under study allow the assumption that part of the population move to the “diaspora”.