Theprehistory of Italy began in thePaleolithic period, when members of the genusHomo first inhabited what is now modern Italian territory, and ended in theIron Age, when the first written records appeared inItaly.
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In prehistoric times, the landscape of theItalian Peninsula was significantly different from its modern appearance. Duringglaciations, for example, the sea level was lower and the islands ofElba andSicily were connected to the mainland. TheAdriatic Sea began at what is now theGargano Peninsula, and what is now its surface up toVenice was a fertile plain with a humid climate.
The arrival of the first knownhominins was 850,000 years ago atMonte Poggiolo.[1]
The presence ofHomo neanderthalensis has been demonstrated in archaeological findings dating to c. 50,000 years ago (latePleistocene). There are about 20 unique sites, the most important being that of the Grotta Guattari atSan Felice Circeo, on theTyrrhenian Sea south of Rome; another is at thegrotta di Fumane (province of Verona) and the Breuil grotto, also in San Felice.
Homo sapiens sapiens appeared in Italy during the upperPalaeolithic: the earliest site on the peninsula, dated to 48,000 years ago, isRiparo Mochi.[2]In November 2011, tests conducted at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit in England on what were previously thought to be Neanderthal baby teeth, which had been unearthed in 1964 from theGrotta del Cavallo, dated the teeth to between 43,000 and 45,000 years ago.[3]
In 2011, the most ancient Sardinian complete human skeleton (calledAmsicora) was discovered atPistoccu inMarina di Arbus, dated to 8500 years ago during the transition period between theMesolithic andNeolithic.[4]
Cardium pottery is aNeolithic decorative style that gets its name from the practice of imprinting the clay with the shell ofCardium edulis, a marinemollusk. The alternative nameImpressed Ware is used by some archaeologists to define this culture, because impressions can be with other sharp objects, such as a nail or comb.[5]
Cardium pottery is found in the zone "covering Italy to the Ligurian coast" as distinct from the more western Cardial beginning inProvence, France and extending to western Portugal. The main culture of the Mediterranean Neolithic, which eventually extended from theAdriatic sea to the Atlantic coasts of Portugal and south toMorocco, is also referred to as "cardial ware".[6]
Since the Late Neolithic,Aosta Valley,Piedmont,Liguria,Tuscany andSardinia in particular were involved in the pan-Western EuropeanMegalithic phenomenon. Later, in the Bronze Age, megalithic structures were built also in Latium, Puglia and Sicily.[7] Around the end of the third millennium BCE, Sicily imported from Sardinia typical cultural aspects of the Atlantic world, including the construction of small dolmen-shaped structures that reached all over the Mediterranean basin.[8]
TheCopper Age arrived early in theItalian geographical area, in particular appearing first inLiguria. Copper mining began in the middle of the4th millennium BC inLiguria with the Libiola and Monte Loreto mines, which are dated to3700 BCE. These are the oldest copper mines in the western Mediterranean basin.[9] TheRemedello,Rinaldone andGaudo cultures are late Neolithic cultures of Italy, traces of which are primarily found in the present-day regions ofLombardy,Tuscany,Latium andCampania. They are sometimes described asEneolithic cultures, due to their use of primitive copper tools. Other important eneolithic cultures of the peninsula and the islands, often related to those previously mentioned, are theLaterza culture inApulia andBasilicata, theAbealzu-Filigosa culture inSardinia, theConelle-Ortucchio culture inAbruzzo andMarche, theSerraferlicchio culture inSicily, and theSpilamberto group inEmilia-Romagna.
The earliestStatue menhirs, frequently depicting weapons, were erected by the populations ofnorthern Italy andSardinia during this period. This sculptural tradition of possiblesteppe origin (Yamna culture),[10] lasted in some regions well into the Bronze Age and even into the Iron Age.[11]
TheBell Beaker culture marks the transition between the Eneolithic and the early Bronze Age.
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The Italian Bronze Age is conditionally divided into four periods:
| The Early Bronze Age | 2300–1700 B.C |
| The Middle Bronze Age | 1700–1350 B.C |
| The Recent Bronze Age | 1350–1150 B.C |
| The Final Bronze Age | 1150–950 B.C |
The Early Bronze Age shows the beginning of a new culture in Northern Italy and is distinguished by thePolada culture. Polada settlements were mainly widespread in wetland locations such as around the large lakes and hills along the Alpine margin. The cities of Toppo Daguzzo and La Starza were known as the center of the Proto-Apennine stage of Palma Campania culture spread in southern Italy at this time.[12]
The Middle Bronze Age known as theApennine Bronze Age in Central andSouthern Italy was the period when settlements were established both on lowland and upland areas.Hierarchy among the social groups was experienced during this period according to the evidence of the tombs. The two-tier grave found at Toppo Daguzzo is an example of elite groups growth. On the top level, nearly 10 fractured skeletons have been found without any grave objects, while at the lower level eleven burials were found accompanied by different valuable pieces: 6 males with bronze weapons, 4 females with beads and a child.[12][13] The Middle Bronze Age in Northern Italy was characterised by theTerramare culture.
The Recent Bronze Age, known as the Sub-Apennine period inCentral Italy, is a frame of time when sites relocated to defended locations. At this time settlement hierarchy obviously appeared in cities such asLatium andTuscany.[12]
The Final Bronze Age is the period during which the majority of the Italian peninsula was united in theProto-Villanovan culture. Pianello di Genga is an exception to the small cemeteries characterized for the Proto-Villanovan culture. More than 500 burials were found in this cemetery which is known for its two centuries of usage by different communities.[12][14]
The Polada culture (Polada is a locality nearBrescia) was a cultural horizon extended from eastern Lombardy and Veneto to Emilia and Romagna, formed in the first half of2nd millennium BC perhaps for the arrival of new people from the transalpine regions of Switzerland and Southern Germany.[15]
The settlements were usually made up ofstilt houses; the economy was characterized by agricultural and pastoral activities, hunting and fishing were also practiced as well as the metallurgy of copper and bronze (axes, daggers, pins etc.). Pottery was coarse and blackish.[16]
It was followed in the Middle Bronze Age by thefacies of the pile dwellings and of the dammed settlements.[17]
Located inSardinia (with ramifications in southernCorsica), theNuragic civilization, who lasted from the earlyBronze Age (18th century B.C.) to the second century A.D. when the island was already Romanized, evolved during theBonnanaro period from the preexisting megalithic cultures that builtdolmens,menhirs, more than 2,400Domus de Janas and also the imponent altar ofMonte d'Accoddi.
It takes its name from the characteristicNuraghe. The nuraghe towers are unanimously considered the best-preserved and largest megalithic remains in Europe. Their effective use is still debated; while most scholars considered them as fortresses, others see them as temples.
A warrior and mariner people, the ancient Sardinians held flourishing trades with the other Mediterranean peoples. This is shown by numerous remains contained in the nuraghe, such as amber coming from theBaltic Sea, small bronze figures portraying African beasts,oxhide ingots and weapons from Eastern Mediterranean,Mycenaean ceramics. It has been hypothesized that the ancient Sardinians, or part of them, could be identified with theSherden, one of the so-calledPeople of the Sea who attackedancient Egypt and other regions of eastern Mediterranean.[18]
Other original elements of the Sardinian civilization include the temples known as "Holy wells", dedicated to the cult of theholy waters, theGiants' graves,[19] the Megaron temples, several structures for juridical and leisure functions and numerousbronze statuettes, which were discovered even inEtruscan tombs, suggesting a strong relationships between the two peoples.Another important element of this civilization are theGiants of Mont'e Prama,[20] perhaps the oldestanthropomorphic statues of the western Mediterranean sea.
Among the most important cultural expressions born in Sicily during the Bronze Age the cultures ofCastelluccio (Ancient Bronze Age) and ofThapsos (Middle Bronze Age) are worth noting. Both originated in the southeastern part of the island. In these cultures, in particular in the Castelluccio phase, there are obvious influences from theAegean Sea, where theHelladic civilization was flourishing.
Some small monuments date back to this phase, used as tombs and found almost everywhere, both inland and along the coasts of this region.[21]
Belonging to a western (Iberian-Sardinian) type is theBell Beaker culture known from sites on the northwestern and southwestern coasts of Sicily, previously occupied by the Conca d'Oro culture, while in the late Bronze Age there are signs in northeastern Sicily of cultural osmosis with the people of the peninsula that led to the appearance of Proto-Villanovan culture atMilazzo, perhaps linked to the arrival ofSicels.[22]
The nearbyAeolian Islands hosted the flourishing of the Capo Graziano and Milazzo cultures in the Bronze Age, and subsequently that of Ausonio (divided into two phases, I and II).[23]
The Palma Campania culture took shape at the end of the third millennium BCE and represents the Early Bronze Age ofCampania. It is named for the locality ofPalma Campania where the first findings were made.
Many villages belonging to this culture were buried undervolcanic ash afteran eruption ofMount Vesuvius that took place around or after 2000 BCE.[24]
The Apennine culture is a cultural complex of central and southern Italy that, in its broadest sense (including the preceding Protoapennine B and following Subapennine facies), spans the Bronze Age. In the narrower sense more commonly used today, it refers only to the later phase of the Middle Bronze Age in the 15th and 14th centuries BCE.[25]
The people of the Apennine culture were, at least in part, cattle herdsmen grazing their ungulates over the meadows and groves of mountainous central Italy, including on theCapitoline Hill atRome, as shown by the presence of their pottery in the earliest layers of occupation. The primary picture is of a population that lived in small hamlets located in defensible places. There is evidence that herdsmen, when traveling between summer pastures, built temporary camps or lived in caves and rock shelters. However, their range was not confined to the hills, nor was their culture confined to herding cattle, as shown by sites likeCoppa Nevigata, a well-defended and somewhat sizeable coastal site where a variety of subsistence strategies were practiced alongside advanced industries such asdye production.
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The Terramare was a Middle and RecentBronze Age culture, between the 16th and the 12th centuries B.C., in the area of what is nowPianura Padana (specially along thePanaro river, betweenModena andBologna).[26] Their total population probably reached an impressive peak of more than 120,000 individuals near the beginning of the Recent Bronze Age.[27] In the early period they lived in villages with an average population of about 130 people living in woodenstilt houses: they had a square shape, built on land but generally near a stream, with roads that crossed each other atright angles. Over the lifetime of the Terramare culture, these settlements developed into stratified zones with larger settlements of up to 15-20Ha (approximately 1500-2000 people) surrounded by smaller villages. Especially in the later period, the proportion of settlements that were fortified approaches 100%.
Around the 12th century BC the Terramare system collapsed, the settlements were abandoned and the populations moved southward, where they mingled with the Apennine peoples.[26]The influence of this population abandoning the Po valley and moving south may have formed the basis of theTyrrhenian culture, ultimately leading to the historicEtruscans, based on a surprising level of correspondence between archeological evidence and early legends recorded by the Greeks.[26]
The Castellieri culture developed inIstria during the developed Early and MiddleBronze Age, and later expanded intoFriuli, the modernVenezia Giulia,Dalmatia and the neighbouring areas.[28] It lasted for more than a millennium, from the 15th century BC until the Roman conquest in the third century BC. It takes its name from the fortified boroughs (Castellieri,Friuliancjastelir) which characterized the culture.
The ethnicity of the Castellieri civilization is uncertain, although it was most likely of Pre-Indoeuropean stock, coming from the sea. The firstCastellieri were indeed built along the Istrian coast and show a similarCyclopean masonry which is also characterizing in theMycenaean civilization at the time.The best researchedCastelliere in Istria isMonkodonja near Rovinj. Hypotheses about anIllyrian origin of the people are not confirmed.
TheCastellieri were fortified settlements, usually located on hills or mountains or, more rarely (such as in Friuli), in plains. They were constituted by one or more concentric series of walls, of rounded or elliptical shape in Istria and Venezia Giulia, or quadrangular in Friuli, within which was the inhabited area.
Some hundredCastellieri have been discovered in Istria, Friuli, and Venezia Giulia, such as that ofLeme, in west-central Istria, ofElerji, nearMuggia, of Monte Giove near Prosecco (Trieste) and San Polo, not far fromMonfalcone. However, the largestcastelliere was perhaps that ofNesactium, in southern Istria, not far fromPula.
TheCanegrate culture developed from the mid-Bronze Age (13th century BC) until the Iron Age in thePianura Padana, in what is now westernLombardy, easternPiedmont andTicino. It takes its name from the township ofCanegrate where, in the 20th century, some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal objects were found. It represents the first migratory wave of the proto-Celtic[29] population from the northwest part of the Alps that, through theAlpine passes, had already penetrated and settled in the westernPo valley betweenLake Maggiore andLake Como (Scamozzina culture). They brought a newfunerary practice—cremation—which supplantedinhumation.[30]
Canegrate terracotta is very similar to that known from the same period north to the Alps (Provence, Savoy, Isère,Valais, the area ofRhine-Switzerland-eastern France). The members of the culture have been described as a warrior population who had descended toPianura Padana from the Swiss Alps passes and the Ticino.
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It was a culture of the end of the Bronze Age (12th-10th century BC), widespread in much of theItalian peninsula and north-easternSicily (including theAeolian Islands), characterized by the funeral ritual ofincineration. The ashes of the deceased were placed into biconical urns decorated with geometric patterns. Their settlements were often located on the top of the hills and protected by stone walls.[31]
The Luco-Meluno culture emerged during the transitional period between the Bronze Age and Iron Age, and occupiedTrentino and part ofSouth Tyrol. It was succeeded in the Iron Age by theFritzens-Sanzeno culture.
The name of thisIron Age civilization derives from a locality in thefrazione Villanova ofCastenaso, Città metropolitana diBologna, inEmilia, where a necropolis was discovered byGiovanni Gozzadini in 1853–1856. It succeeded theProto-Villanovan culture during the Iron Age in the territory of Tuscany and northern Lazio and spread in parts ofRomagna, Campania andFermo in theMarche.
The main characteristic of the Villanovans (with some similarities with the Proto-Villanovan period of the late Bronze Age) were cremation burials, in which the deceased's ashes were housed in bi-conical urns and buried. The burial characteristics relate the Villanovan culture to the Central EuropeanUrnfield culture (c. 1300–750 BCE) and the successiveHallstatt culture.
The Villanovans were initially devoted to agriculture and animal husbandry, with a simplified social order. Later, specialized craftsmanship activities such as metallurgy and ceramics caused the accumulation of wealth, which resembled the appearance of social stratification.
TheLatial culture ranged approximately over ancientOld Latium. TheIron Age Latial culture coincided with the arrival in the region of a people who spokeOld Latin. The culture was likely therefore to identify a phase of the socio-political self-consciousness of theLatin tribe, during the period of thekings of Alba Longa and the foundation of theRoman Kingdom.
TheEste culture or Atestine culture was anIron Agearchaeological culture existing from the late ItalianBronze Age (10th-9th century BCE, proto-Venetic phase) to theRoman period (1st century BCE). It was located in the present territory ofVeneto in Italy and derived from the earlier and more extensiveProto-Villanovan culture.[32] It is also called "civilization ofsitulas", or paleo-Venetic.
The Golasecca culture emerged during the earlyIron Age in the northwesternPo plain. It takes its name from Golasecca, a locality next to theTicino where, in the early 19th century, abbot Giovanni Battista Giani excavated its first findings (some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal objects). Remains of the Golasecca culture span an area of roughly 20,000 square kilometers south of the Alps and between the Po,Sesia andSerio rivers, dating from the ninth to the fourth century BCE.
Their origins can be directly traced from that of Canegrate and to the so-called Proto-Golasecca culture (12th–10th centuries BC). The Golasecca culture traded with theEtruscans and theHallstatt culture on the north, later reaching the Greek world (oil, wine, bronze objects, ceramics and others) and northern Europe (tin and amber from theBaltic coast).
In a Golasecca culture tomb inPombia, researchers found the oldest known remains ofcommon hop beer in the world.
TheFritzens-Sanzeno culture is attested in the lateIron Age, from the sixth to the first century BC, in the Alpine region ofTrentino andSouth Tyrol; in the period of maximum expansion it reached into theEngadin region.
TheCamuni were an ancient people of uncertain origin (according toPliny the Elder, they wereEuganei; according toStrabo, they wereRhaetians) who lived inVal Camonica – in what is now northernLombardy – during theIron Age, although human groups of hunters, shepherds and farmers are known to have lived in the area since theNeolithic.
They reached the height of their power during the Iron Age due to the presence of numerous iron mills in Val Camonica. Their historical importance is, however, mostly due to their legacy of carved rocks, c. 300,000 in number, which date from the Palaeolithic to theMiddle Ages.
Among the populations of pre-Roman Italy, the most notable were theEtruscans who, starting from the eighth century BC, created a refined civilization which largely influenced Rome and the Latin world. Theorigins of this non-Indo-European people, which first settled on theTyrrhenian coast of central Italy and later expanded tonorthern Italy (Emilia in particular) andCampania, are uncertain.
Other peoples living in northern Italy included theLigurians (an Indo-European people who lived in what is nowLiguria, southernPiedmont and the southern French coast), theLepontii,Insubres,Orobii and otherCeltic tribes in Piedmont andLombardy, and theVeneti of north-eastern Italy.In the peninsula, alongside the Etruscans, lived numerous tribes, mostly of Indo-European origin:
Later, other peoples settled in Italy, cohabiting with the previous inhabitants: new tribes ofCelts in the north (Senones,Boii,Lingones etc.), theGreeks in coastal southern Italy, and thePhoenicians in parts of Sicily and Sardinia.
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