Material studies in Belmonte Piceno (FM). The rediscovery of a Picenian central place in the western Adriatic and its relations with the Etruscans, Greeks and the Hallstatt culture

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christoph Huth
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2016 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 324175866

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

Belmonte Piceno is considered the most important Iron Age site across the southern Marche, the ancient Picenum, primarily due to its ceremonial burials with weapons and "Amazon graves", unique ivory and amber carvings as well as bronze jewellery with Etruscan, Greek and Italic decorative elements. Over 100 years after the discovery of the large necropolis on Colle Ete by Innocenzo Dall'Osso, the research project was able to recontextualise almost all 240 burials - far more than originally expected. This was achieved despite the fact that Belmonte Piceno was long regarded as a literal "lost cause" by researchers, as the burial contexts were considered lost due to the destruction of the museum in Ancona during the Second World War. The greatest challenge in analysing the old excavations, however, concerned the renumbering of all graves, which had already been carried out around 1927. By retrieving the excavation documentation and reconstructing the processes during the historic excavations and in the Archaeological Museum, we were able to create a complete concordance list between the old and new numbering of the graves, which forms the basis for future research. The analysis of the documentation reveals the extraordinary wealth of the burials, which surpasses anything previously known for the Archaic period in the southern Marche. More than 22 tombs with a two-wheeled chariot placed over the deceased and more than 35 warrior graves with bronze helmets were discovered across the necropolis, including four burials that contained two helmets, a Picene and a Greek one. The quantity of bronze items of dress is impressive: a large number of pendants, including the typical double-headed bull protome pendants, torques, fibulae, necklaces, bracelets, rings, buttons and knotted rings were placed on the deceased, who was probably wrapped in a shroud. The quantity and distinctiveness of the amber and ivory artefacts is surprising, whilst the bronze vessels are both of Etruscan and local production. The impasto and bucchero pottery, which was sometimes decorated with tin foil, often has unusual shapes. Among other things, the project enabled the first complete reconstruction of the "Tomba del Duce", the richest male burial in Picenum dated to the 6th century BC, which contained six chariots, several swords, spears, cuirass discs, four helmets and a bronze hydria with figurative decoration. However, the scientific significance of Belmonte Piceno is not limited to the wealth of its grave goods and its research history. As recent finds confirm, during the 6th century BC, Belmonte Piceno was evidently the most important centre in Adriatic Italy for the distribution of Baltic amber to the south and to Etruria, and may also have had contacts with the Hallstatt culture.

Publications

• Il ritorno dei tesori piceni a Belmonte. La riscoperta a un secolo dalla scoperta. Catalogo del Museo archeologico (Belmonte Piceno).
  J. Weidig
  
• Belmonte Piceno. Mito greco in ambra. Archeologia Viva n. 196, luglio/agosto, 4-5.
  J. Weidig
  
• Belmonte Piceno. Un puzzle Mediterraneo. Archeologia Viva n. 195, maggio/giugno, 40-51.
  J. Weidig
  
• Griechischer Mythos aus Bernstein. Das archaische Elfenbeinkästchen von Belmonte Piceno (Italien). Antike Welt 6, 39-48.
  J. Weidig
  
• Racconti di scavo, restauro e ricerca. Belmonte Piceno 2018 (Grottazzolina).
  J. Weidig
  
• Connessioni ideologiche tra le aristocrazie arcaiche dell'Italia appenninica e medio-adriatica, in G.M. Della Fina (a cura di), Ascesa e crisi delle aristocrazie arcaiche in Etruria e nell’Italia preromana. Annali Faina 27, 2020, 21-60. ISBN: 978-88-5491- 100-0
  J. Weidig
  
• The magic of Ivory and Amber. Greek and Etruscan myths on the box of Belmonte Piceno. Etruscan News 22, 1, 5.
  J. Weidig
  
• Figure in ambra e figure nere. La ricezione di motivi iconografici e stilistici dai vasi greci agli intagliatori etruschi. In: A. Esposito (Hrsg.), Itinérances des artisans potiers et pratiques inter-artisanales en Italie centro-méridionale (VIIIe-VIe s. av. J.-C.). Tradition, innovation et contacts techno-culturels, Naples, 17 septembre.
  J. Weidig
  
• Lutto, rito funebre e status sociale. Considerazioni sulle sepolture infantili in Umbria e nelle aree limitrofe dalla prima età del Ferro all’epoca arcaica, in E. Govi (a cura di), BIRTH. Archeologia dell’infanzia nell’Italia preromana (Bologna) 569-599. ISBN 978-88-6923-884-0
  J. Weidig
  
• The heroic Virtue of the Warrior. The Tomb of the Duce and the Tomb of the Ivory Box of Belmonte Piceno. In: R. Graells / G. Bardelli (Hrsg.), Ancient Weapons. New Research Perspectives on Weapons and Warfare in the 1st Millennium BC. RGZM Tagungen 44 (Mainz) 71-90. ISBN 978-3-88467-343-0
  J. Weidig
  
• Belmonte Piceno tra vecchie e nuove scoperte. In: N. Frapiccini, A. Naso (Hrsg.), Archeologia Picena. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di studi. Ancona, 14– 16.11.2019 (Roma) 327–344. ISBN 978-88-5491-321-9
  J. Weidig
  
• Figürliche Elfenbeinarbeiten aus Belmonte Piceno. Vorderorientalische Kunsttraditionen im archaischen Ostitalien und die Frage der etruskischen und griechischen Vermittlung. In: T. Brestel, F. Teichner, M. Zeiler (Hrsg.), Zwischen Kontinenten und Jahrtausenden. Festschrift für Andreas Müller-Karpe. Internationale Archäologie. Studia honoraria 42 (Rahden/Westf.) 152–162. ISBN 13: 9783896465818
  J. Weidig
  
• Vasi di bronzo etruschi tra Umbria, Marche e Abruzzo. Problemi di attribuzione, datazione e distribuzione in epoca orientalizzante e arcaica con una nota sulle hydriai con anse figurate con despotes ton ippon. In: A. C. Montanaro (Hrsg.), Vasi di bronzo etruschi in Italia: produzioni regionali e diffusione tra le popolazioni italiche. Contesti d’uso, aspetti ideologici e tecnologici. Mediterranea. Suppl. N.S. 4 (Roma) 251-290. ISSN 1827-0506; ISBN 978-88-8080-615-8 (electronic edition)
  J. Weidig
  
• Archaische Mythen aus Bernstein. Die Rezeption griechischer und etruskischer Kunst in Belmonte Piceno (Herder - WBG/Philipp von Zabern). ISBN: 978- 3-534-64029-4
  J. Weidig
  
• La ricostruzione dei contesti tombali e il cofanetto in avorio. In: A. Coen, F. Grilli, J. Weidig (Hrsg.), Antiche genti della valle del Tenna. Il Fermano in epoca preromana (IX-VI sec. a.C.) (Fermo) 80-87. ISBN: 88-7969-558-4
  J. Weidig & Belmonte Piceno