| Geographical range | North Italy |
|---|---|
| Period | Bronze Age,Iron Age |
| Dates | c. 9th century BC – 350 BC |
| Preceded by | Canegrate culture,Urnfield culture |
| Followed by | La Tène culture,Roman Republic |
TheGolasecca culture (9th – 4th centuries BC) was aLate Bronze Age/Early Iron Age culture innorthern Italy, whosetype-site was excavated atGolasecca in theprovince of Varese,Lombardy, where, in the area of Monsorino at the beginning of the 19th century, Abbot Giovanni Battista Giani made the first findings of about fifty graves with pottery and metal objects.
The culture's material evidence is scattered over a wide area of 20,000 km2[1] south of the Alps, between the riversPo,Serio andSesia, and bordered on the north by the Alpine passes.
The name of the Golasecca culture comes from the first findings that were discovered from excavations conducted from 1822 at several locations in the Comune ofGolasecca, by the antiquarian abbot Father Giovanni Battista Giani (1788–1857), who misidentified the clearly non-Roman burials as remains of theBattle of Ticinus of 218 BC betweenHannibal andScipio Africanus.[2] Most of the inventoried objects were from different graves located in the areas ofSesto Calende, Golasecca andCastelletto sopra Ticino.
In 1865,Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet, a founder ofEuropean archaeology, rightly assigned the same tombs to a pre-Roman culture of the earlyIron Age, with a likelyCeltic substratum given the similarities with theHallstatt culture. He made several trips there bringing back to France part of theAbbot Giani's collection to enrich theMusée des Antiquités Nationales collections, of which he was Vice-curator.
The excavations spread over various sites throughout the late 19th century.Alexandre Bertrand, also curator of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales in turn went on site in 1873 and conducted some excavations by himself. With the collaboration of French, Italian and German archaeologists meeting at the Archaeological Congress ofStockholm in 1874, the timing of the Culture of Golasecca became clearer, divided into three periods from 900 to 380 BC. It ended with theGallic invasion of thePo Valley in 388 BC.
The modern assessment of Golasecca culture is derived from the campaigns of 1965–69 on Monsorino,[3] directed by A. Mira Bonomi. More recent chronological studies have been produced by Raffaele De Marinis.
In the area ofCastelletto sopra Ticino, between 2001 and 2003, an excavation conducted under the direction of Filippo Maria Gambari unearthed in the district ofCastelletto sopra Ticino (Via del Maneggio, Via Aronco, Via Repubblica) the oldest aristocratic necropolis of Piedmont, developed between the end of the ninth and seventh centuries BC. It turned around 670 BC in an area of the dynastic cult of the first proto-urban centre of Piedmont. Of the 44 graves identified in the excavations, 33 were still almost intact. After a long activity of cataloguing and restoration, the artefacts (urns and grave goods) were exhibited between 2009 and 2010 at the multipurpose roomAlbino Calletti of Castelletto sopra Ticino in a major exhibition entitledL’alba della città – Le prime necropoli del centro protourbano di Castelletto Ticino.
Subsequent phases of the Golasecca culture are so periodized:[1][4]
Sites characteristic of Golasecca culture have been identified in westernLombardy, easternPiedmont, theCanton Ticino andVal Mesolcina, in a territory stretching north of thePo River to sub-alpine zones, between the course of theSerio to the east and theSesia to the west. The site of Golasecca, where theTicino exits fromLake Maggiore, flourished from particularly favourable geographical circumstances as it was quite suitable for long-distance exchanges, in which Golaseccans acted as intermediaries betweenEtruscans and theHallstatt culture ofAustria, on the all-importanttrade in salt.
The commercial mediation then broadened to include the Greek world, bringing in oil and wine, bronze objects, Attic pottery, incense and coral, and northwards the more distant transalpine world, sources of tin for bronze andamber from theBaltic Sea.
In a broader context, the subalpine Golasecca culture is the very last expression of the Middle EuropeanUrnfield culture of the EuropeanBronze Age. The culture's richest flowering was Golasecca II, in the first half of the 6th to early 5th centuries BC. It lasted until it was overwhelmed by theGaulish Celts in the 4th century BC and was finally incorporated into the hegemony of theRoman Republic.
Golasecca culture is divided for convenient reference into three parts: the first two cover the period of the 9th to the first half of the 5th century BC; the third, coinciding withLa Tène A-B of the laterIron Age in this region and extending to the end of the 4th century BC, is marked by increasing Celtic influences, culminating in Celtic hegemony after the conquests of 388 BC. The very earliest finds are of the Late Bronze Age (9th century BC), apparently building upon a local culture.[5]
In Golasecca culture some of the first evolved characteristics of historic society may be seen in the specialized use of materials and the adaptation of the local terrain. The early-period habitations were circular wooden constructions along the edge of the river's floodplain; each was built on a low basement of stone round a central hearth and floored with river pebbles set in clay. Hand-shaped ceramics, made without apotter's wheel, were decorated ingesso. The use of the wheel is known from the carts in theTomb of the Warrior at theSesto Calende site. Amber beads from theBaltic Sea, doubtless brought down theAmber Road, andobsidian reveal networks of long-distance trade. From the 7th century onwards some tombs contain burial goods imported fromEtruscan areas andGreek objects.[6]
The settlements depended on domesticated animals: remains reveal the presence of goats, sheep, pigs, cattle and horses. Some legumes and cereal crops were cultivated; nuts and fruits were collected. Thedugout boats from Castelletto Ticino andPorto Tolle are conserved at the museum ofIsola Bella. Metal, though rare, was in increasing use.
The old sites—Golasecca,Sesto Calende,Castelletto Ticino—maintained their traditional autochthonous character through the 6th century BC, when outside influences begin to be detectable. At the beginning of the 5th century BC, pastoral practices resulted in the development of new settlements in the plains.
Deciphered written characters (the "Lepontic alphabet") are found incised in ceramics or on stone, in the Celtic "Lepontic language".[7][8][9][10]
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The Golasecca culture is best known for its burial customs, where an apparentancestor cult imposed respect for the necropolis, a sacred area untouched by agrarian use ordeforestation. The early-period burials took place in selected raised positions oriented with respect to the sun. Burial practices were direct inhumation or in a liddedcistae. Stone circles and alignments are found.[11] Burial urns were painted with designs, with accessory ceramics, such as cups on tall bases. Bronze objects are usually of wearing apparel:pins andfibulas,armbands,rings,earrings,pendants andnecklaces.Bronze vessels are rare. The practice ofcremation persists into the second period (early sixth to mid-fourth centuries).
Cremation near the burial site, followed by ash and bone burials interracotta jars, in excavated pits set at determined distances one from the other in scatterednecropolises, characterize a culture of many small village settlements.
At the site ofSesto Calende, south ofLake Maggiore, were twochariot burials dating to the 7th and 6th century BC, accompanied with weapons, ornaments and a largesitula[12] while an earlier burial atCa' Morta –Como (c. 700 BC) included a four-wheeled wagon in the tomb. Unlike theEste andVillanova cultures ofBologna, the Golasecca culture is characterized by the presence of a large warrior class, as is clear from thechariots and weapons found in the tombs of some of their leaders.[13]
In a Golasecca culture tomb inPombia has been found the oldest known remains ofcommon hop beer in the world.
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The study of the so-calledLepontic inscriptions,[14] written in the alphabet ofLugano utilized by Golaseccans of the 6th and 5th centuries BC, led Michel Lejeune (1971) to establish definitively the membership of the language conveyed by this writing to the family of Celtic languages.[15]
It is then proved the existence of a pre-Gallic celticity in the North-Western Italy, preceding the 4th century BC, whose origin must be sought long before the 600s BC, date of the invasion ofBellovesus, that is, at least at the time ofCanegrate culture (13th century BC), which presents in the pottery and bronze artifacts many points in common with the most western groups of theUrnfield culture (Rhine-Switzerland-easternFrance, 13th – 8th centuries BC).[1] Or perhaps, a more likely hypothesis, is that a more ancient proto-Celtic presence can be traced back to the beginning of theMiddle Bronze Age (16th-15th century BC), when North Western Italy appears closely linked regarding the production of bronze artifacts, including ornaments, to the western groups of theTumulus culture.[4][16]
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