Description
After the collapse of the Terramare civilization, the Emilian plain seems to have gone through a long period of depopulation. The first traces of a renewed occupation date back to the 7th century BC and belong to communities of Etruscan culture. In this new phase, the population is no longer concentrated in large villages, but distributed in small groups of huts linked to the agricultural exploitation of the territory. These groups are usually located along travel routes, for example those in the valleys, or near fords, so as to combine agricultural activity with the control of traffic routes. Among the most important sites, from which fragments of pottery, spindle whorls and loom weights have been found, we can mention Baganzola, Pedrignano-SPIP, Parma-via Saragat; a group of furnaces was discovered in S. Pancrazio.
Funeral areas are often located near the huts, possibly separated by a ditch or a fence; these findings show the peaceful coexistence of the Etruscans with minorities belonging to other cultural areas. For example, grave goods foreign to the Etruscan world are inserted, in cremation burials, inside the dolia containing the remains of the deceased. From the end of the 6th century BC, burials can be accompanied by tumulus structures, reserved for high-ranking deceased who thus flaunt their prerogatives, from land ownership to control of traffic routes.
Fragmentary remains of large bucchero vases and supports, almost certainly produced by specialized craftsmen and intended for ceremonial practices, have been found in a pit near the small village of Pedrignano. Some scholars also consider the aes signatum hoard to be votive in nature , composed of blocks of ferrous copper (for a total weight of approximately 14.5 kg) with an imprint reminiscent of a dry branch, placed in an area rich in water and springs not far from the route of the future Via Emilia.
In the 4th century BC, the spread of the Celtic tribes led to the collapse of the Etruscan urban and commercial system; for the period of Celtic domination the most significant find is the box tomb, and the related grave goods, of a warrior buried at the beginning of the 3rd century b.C.
Bibliography
Storie della prima Parma: Etruschi, Galli, Romani. Le origini della città alla luce delle nuove scoperte archeologiche, edited by Daniela Locatelli, Luigi Malnati, Daniele F. Maras, Roma, L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2013
Storia di Parma. Parma romana, edited by Domenico Vera, Parma, Monte Università Parma, 2009
Artworks and Collections
