.jpg) Western Europe during theMiddle Bronze Age: the Apennine culture is in blue, while theTerramare culture is in yellow | |
| Geographical range | Central Italy,Southern Italy |
|---|---|
| Period | Bronze Age |
| Dates | 15th-12th centuries BC |
| Preceded by | Grotta Nuova facies, Protoapennine facies,Bell Beaker culture |
| Followed by | Proto-Villanovan culture |
TheApennine culture is atechnology complex in central and southernItaly from the ItalianMiddle Bronze Age (15th–14th centuries BC).[1] In the mid-20th century the Apennine was divided into Proto-, Early, Middle and Latesub- phases[1], but now archaeologists prefer to consider as "Apennine" only the ornamental pottery style of the later phase of Middle Bronze Age (BM3). This phase is preceded by the Grotta Nuova facies (central Italy) and by the Protoapennine B facies (southern Italy) and succeeded by the Subapennine facies of 13th-century ("Bronzo Recente"). Apennine pottery is a burnished ware incised with spirals, meanders and geometrical zones, filled with dots or transverse dashes. It has been found onIschia island in association withLHII andLHIII pottery and onLipari in association with LHIIIA pottery, which associations date it to the Late Bronze Age as it is defined in Greece and the Aegean.[2]
The people of the Apennine culture were alpine cattle herdsmen grazing their animals over the meadows and groves of mountainous central Italy. They lived in small hamlets located in defensible places. On the move between summer pastures they built temporary camps or lived in caves and rock shelters.[2] Their range was not necessarily confined to the hills; their pottery has been found on theCapitoline Hill at Rome as well as on the islands mentioned above.
The linguistic affiliations of the Apennine culture are unknown, butMassimo Pallottino speculated that the Apennine culture was practiced mainly by speakers of unknown languages in theItalic branch ofIndo-European, from which the historical languages descended.[3] However, theProto-Italic language is more commonly hypothesized to have been introduced to the Italian peninsula by the laterProto-Villanovan culture (1200–900 BC), and perhaps by the contemporary but more northerlyTerramare culture (1700–1150 BC).[4]
Some of the major sites of the culture are described below.
Capriola hill is located 5 km (3.1 mi) to the south ofBolsena on the eastern side ofLake Bolsena. In ancient times Bolsena was part ofEtruria. In addition to remains of Etruscan structures there is a distinct site representing a hamlet of the Apennine Culture that was occupied continuously from the late Neolithic through theEneolithic, indicating that the population existed before the Apennine and adopted it by cultural diffusion. Excavated by Bloch in 1958 the site evidences wattle-and-daub huts with thatched roofs supported by internal poles. The huts were about 5 m (16 ft) by 3 m (9.8 ft) placed on rock-cut foundations. They were surrounded with stone walls for individual defence.[5]
At approximately 10 km fromBlera (northernLazio) to the west of thefrazione of Civitella Cesi, on the left bank of the small Mignone river, next to an abandoned railroad bridge is the acropolis of Luni sul Mignone. The place has been abandoned for centuries (except for archaeologists) and is inaccessible except by foot from Civitella Cesi.
On the acropolis and in a plain to the east, Tre Breci, is a site continuously occupied from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, in addition to the remains of Etruscan Luni (which was then in Etruria) on a higher plateau nearby. The Etruscan citadel is later. Part of the sequence of tre Breci belongs to the Apennine Culture.[6]
This site was excavated 1960–1963 by theSwedish Institute at Rome and numerousC-14 dates and the association ofLate Helladic pottery with Apenninic pottery, both found there, were used to date the Apenninic pottery phases. Carl Eric Östenberg summarized them as:[7] I (1350/1300–1250), II (1250–1150), III (1150–1000), IVA (1000–850) and IVB (850–800); that is, the Apenninic there is Late Bronze Age persisting to 800 BC without theVillanovan.
Noteworthy at the site are the foundations of three houses cut into rock as deep as 2.2 m (7.2 ft), withrammed earth over limestone chips for floors. The lengths are 7 m (23 ft), 42 m (138 ft) and 30 m (98 ft) at 4 m (13 ft) wide. The walls were stone with possibly thatched roofs. There were multiple entrances. Pottery was chiefly cooking ware. Portable hearths and hand mills were found, along with remains of wheat, barley, beans and peas. The animal bones were chiefly cattle but also pigs, sheep and goats. The population apparently farmed and raised animals. The size of the dwellings and the multiple entrances may indicate multi-family residences.[8]
Southwest of Manfredonia, on the coast of the Gargano in northern Apulia, are the remains of a site initially occupied during the Neolithic, and reoccupied during the Protoapennine, Apennine, and Subapennine phases of the Bronze Age. The site was fortified and has evidence of early purple dye and olive oil production, as well as contacts with the civilizations of the Aegean.
Astride Campanian Apennine, near modernAriano Irpino,La Starza [it] was the more ancient populated place in Campania region. It was continuously inhabited since 6th millennium untilc. 900 BC, so traces of the entire Apennine culture were left there.
TheAvellino eruption of Vesuvius in the Bronze Age preserved the pottery and remains of a village of the Apennine Culture in and under sediments from pyroclastic flow. The site is in the comune of Nola, at the locality of Croce del Papa. Unusual about the site is that the forms of perishable objects could be recovered with clarity from the cavities they left in the ash. Remains of goats were found, and also the hoof-prints of goats, sheep, pigs and cattle. Also striking are the thousands of human footprints left in the semi-indurated ash by the population fleeing into the Apennines. The remains suggest that Italics were present in Campania since at least the Middle Bronze Age.
A 2023 study by Hannah M. Moots et al. analyzed theancient DNA of 4 individuals of the Apennine culture from the Pian Sultano necropolis, nearCerveteri, in northernLazio, dating back to the Middle Bronze Age. The most important ancestral component was that of theEarly European Farmers, followed by those of theWestern Steppe Herders and theWestern Hunter-Gatherers.[9]
| Bronze Age |
|---|
| ↑Chalcolithic |
East Asia(c. 3100–300 BC) |
Eurasia and Siberia(c. 2700–700 BC) |
Europe(c. 3200–900 BC) Aegean (Cycladic,Minoan,Mycenaean),Caucasus,Catacomb culture,Srubnaya culture,Bell Beaker culture,Apennine culture,Terramare culture,Únětice culture,Tumulus culture,Urnfield culture,Proto-Villanovan culture,Hallstatt culture,Canegrate culture,Golasecca culture,Argaric culture,Atlantic Bronze Age,Bronze Age Britain,Nordic Bronze Age |
| ↓Iron Age |
