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Massimo Osanna is Director General of the Pompeii Archaeological Park and Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Naples Federico II.He has previously taught at the University of Basilicata, where he managed the School of Specialisation in the Archaeological Heritage of Matera, and was a visiting professor at both the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris and the University of Heidelberg. He carried out research funded by the Humboldt Foundation at the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg, and held a research fellowship at the Italian Archaeological School of Athens. He was also Superintendent for the Archaeological Heritage of Basilicata.He spent many years supervising field research in Italy (Torre di Satriano, Ascoli Satriano, Pantelleria, Taureana di Palmi, Gabii) and abroad (Alesia). He currently does research on the island of Rheneia in collaboration with the Ephoria in the Cyclades and the École française d’Athènes.He has overseen the restauration of the entire city of Pompeii, paying particular care securing hazardous structures and major buildings in order to increase the site’s safety. He has developed projects for the valorisation and accessibility in the context of the “Great Pompeii Project”. He also promoted extensive research in the temples and public areas of the city, in collaboration with Italian and foreign universities and research institutes, as well as new research on Regio V.He is the author of over a hundred essays and monographs dedicated to the archaeology of Greece and Magna Graecia, as well as to the study of ancient rituals, the reconstruction of settlement patterns and the phenomena of mobility and cultural contacts.

M. OSANNA - TERRA INCOGNITAISBN 978-88-913-1771-1

The present volume focuses on the circumstances around the inner part of the Basilicata region during the first millennium B. C. It pays particular attention to the area known as North Lucania which is the Apennine zone surrounding Potenza. This area has recently re-emerged to prominence due to important archaeological discoveries such as the princely tombs at Braida di Vaglio and Baragiano, and the chieftains’ houses at Torre di Satriano. A broader research along with the systematic fluid of publications, have made this territory better known than others in the region. The aforementioned research and publications have been produced thanks to brilliant work of the Archaeological Superintendence which has attained a high level of efficiency due in large part of the pioneering commitment of Dinu Adamesteanu and his staff, and years of a close relationship with the University of Basilicata. Such a tight rapport of University-Superintendence has produced the “Torre di Satriano Project, which has given back to the scientific community a true role-model, shedding light on the social and settlement phenomena, ritual dynamics and manifestations of power of the italic cultures of south Italy.

Massimo Osanna

THE REDISCOVERY OF AN ITALIAN PEOPLE WITH NO NAME

«L’ERMA» di BRETSCHNEIDER

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1 - De Marinis, s. - La tipologia del banchetto nell’arte etrusca arcaica, 1961. 2 - Baroni, F. - Osservazioni sul «Trono di Boston», 1961. 3 - Laurenzi, L. - Umanità di Fidia, 1961. 4 - GiuLiano, a. - Il commercio dei sarcofagi attici, 1962. 5 - nocentini, s. - Sculture greche, etrusche e romane nel Museo Bardini in Firenze, 1965. 6 - GiuLiano, a. - La cultura artistica delle province greche in età romana, 1965. 7 - Ferrari, G. - Il commercio dei sarcofagi asiatici, 1966. 8 - BreGLia, L. - Le antiche rotte del Mediterraneo documentate da mo ne te e pesi, 1966. 9 - Lattanzi, e. - I ritratti dei «cosmeti» nel Museo Nazionale di Atene, 1968.10 - saLetti, c. - Ritratti severiani, 1967.11 - BLank, H. - Wiederverwendung alter Statuen als Ehrendenkmäler bei Griechen und Römern,

2a Ed. riv. ed. ill., 1969.12 - canciani, F. - Bronzi orientali ed orientalizzanti a Creta nell’viii e vii sec. a.C., 1970.13 - conti, G. - Decorazione architettonica della «Piazza d’oro» a Villa Adriana, 1970.14 - sprenGer, M. - Die Etruskische Plastik des v Jahrhunderts v. Chr. und ihr Verhältnis zur griech-

ischen Kunst, 1972.15 - poLascHek, k. - Studien zur Ikonographie der Antonia Minor, 1973.16 - FaBBricotti, e. - Galba, 1976.17 - poLascHek, k. - Porträttypen einer Claudischen Kaiserin, 1973.18 - pensa, M. - Rappresentazioni dell’oltretomba nella ceramica apula, 1977.19 - costa, p. M. - The pre-Islamic Antiquities at the Yemen National Mu seum, 1978.20 - perrone, M. - Ancorae Antiquae. Per una cronologia preliminare delle ancore del Mediterra-

neo, 1979.21 - MansueLLi, G. a. (a cura di) - Studi sull’arco onorario romano, 1979.22 - Fayer, c. - Aspetti di vita quotidiana nella Roma arcaica, 1982.23 - oLBricH, G. - Archaische Statuetten eines Metapontiner Heiligtums, 1979.24 - papadopouLos, J. - Xoana e Sphyrelata. Testimonianze delle fonti scritte, 1980.25 - veccHi, M. - Torcello. Ricerche e Contributi, 1979.26 - Manacorda, d. - Un’officina lapidaria sulla via Appia, 1979.27 - MansueLLi, G. a. (a cura di) - Studi sulla città antica. Emilia Romagna, 1983.28 - rowLand, J. J. - Ritrovamenti romani in Sardegna, 1981.29 - RoMeo, p. - Riunificazione del centro di Roma antica, 1979.30 - roMeo, p. - Salvaguardia delle zone archeologiche e problemi viari nelle città, 1979.31 - MacnaMara, e. - Vita quotidiana degli Etruschi, 1982.32 - stuccHi, s. - Il gruppo bronzeo tiberiano da Cartoceto, 1988.33 - zuFFa, M. - Scritti di archeologia, 1982.34 - veccHi, M. - Torcello. Nuove ricerche, 1982.35 - saLza prina ricotti, e. - L’arte del convito nella Roma antica, 1983.36 - GiLotta, F. - Gutti e askoi a rilievo italioti ed etruschi, 1984.37 - Becatti, G. - Kosmos. Studi sul mondo classico, 1987.38 - FaBrini, G. M. - Numana: vasi attici da collezione, 1984.39 - Buonocore, M. - Schiavi e liberti dei Volusii Saturnini. Le iscrizioni del colombario sulla via Appia

antica, 1984.40 - FucHs, M. - Il Teatro romano di Fiesole. Corpus delle sculture, 1986.41 - BuraneLLi, F. - L’urna «Calabresi» di Cerveteri. Monumenti, Musei e Gallerie Pontificie, 1985.42 - piccarreta, F. - Manuale di fotografia aerea: uso archeologico, 1987.43 - Liverani, p. - Municipium Augustum Veiens. Veio in età imperiale at traverso gli scavi Giorgi

(1811-13), 1987.44 - strazzuLLa, M. J. - Le terrecotte architettoniche della Venetia romana. Contributo allo studio della

produzione fittile nella Ci salpina, 1987.45 - Franzoni, c. - Habitus atque habitudo militis. Monumenti funerari di militari nella Cisalpina ro-

mana, 1987.46 - scarpeLLini, d. - Stele romane con imagines clipeatae in Italia, 1986.47 - d’aLessandro, L., perseGati, F. - Scultura e calchi in gesso. Storia, tecnica e con servazione, 1987.48 - MiLanese, M. - Gli scavi dell’oppidum preromano di Genova, 1987.49 - scatozza HöricHt, L. a. - Le terrecotte figurate di Cuma del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli,

1987.

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MASSIMO OSAnnA

TERRA InCOGnITA

THE REDISCOvERy Of An ITALIAn PEOPLE wITH nO nAME

«L’ERMA» di BRETSCHnEIDER

MASSIMO OSAnnA

Terra IncognitaThe Rediscovery of an Italian People with no Name

© Copyright 2019 «L’ERMA» di BRETSCHNEIDERVia Marianna Dionigi, 57 - Rome, Italy

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher.

Except otherwise noted, all images are by the Author

Translation by TperTradurre

On the cover:Torre di Satriano, Anaktoron: frieze panels, detail (Photo N. Figliuolo).

Massimo OsannaTerra Incognita. The Rediscovery of an Italian People with no Name / Roma : «L’ERMA» di BRETSCHNEIDER, 2019. - 232 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. - (Studia Archaeologica 230)

ISSN: 0081-6299 ISBN Paperback: 978-88-913-1771-1ISBN Pdf: 978-88-913-1777-3

CDD 945.77

1 Archaeology - Basilicata

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACknOwLEDGMEnTS ....................................................................................... » 7

InTRODUCTIOn ................................................................................................ » 9

I. THE CASE STUDy In LIGHT Of THE MOST RECEnT DEBATE On THE TOPIC ....... » 19

1. From “penetration” to “hybridization”. Fifty years of debate about Greeks and Italics ......................................................................................... » 192. Torre di Satriano, a key settlement in understanding the area: an overview of the diachrony ....................................................................... » 23

II. THE fORMATIOn AnD DEvELOPMEnT Of THE SETTLEMEnTS Of THE “nORTH-LUCAnIA” AREA BETwEEn THE 8TH AnD 7TH CEnTURIES B.C. ............... » 33

1. A unique ecosystem in the heart of the Lucanian Apennines ................... » 332. Cultural traits: a definition of the elements that make it possible to recognize a culture ....................................................................................... » 373. The matt-painted pottery evidence ........................................................... » 384. The funerary rites ..................................................................................... » 415. The haziness of the origin of a land of people without a name and without foundation myths ......................................................................................... » 436. Beyond the Potenza area: calling attention to the phenomena of “ethnicity” ................................................................................................ » 56

III. GROwTH AnD DEvELOPMEnT Of THE SETTLEMEnTS BETwEEn THE 7TH AnD 6TH CEnTURIES B.C. ..................................................................... » 59

1. The specialized productions of the Ruvo-Satriano class ......................... » 612. A look at the topography of the settlements, from surveys to excavations. ... » 663. Connectivity and rituality in the Mediterranean during Iron Age II. The Apsidal Residence at Torre di Satriano ................................................. » 704. Economy, diet and landscape ................................................................... » 90

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TABLE Of COnTEnTS

Iv. SPACES Of POwER ..................................................................................... » 99

1. From one settlement’s nucleus to another, following the spaces of power .... » 992. The so-called Anaktoron: articulation of spaces, furnishings andrenovations ................................................................................................... » 1033. The Anaktoron’s roofing and architectural terracottas ............................ » 1204. The objects: ceremonial and convivial events ......................................... » 1355. Places of power ........................................................................................ » 1506. The economy that revolved around the Anaktoron .................................. » 153

v. TRAnSfORMATIOnS ..................................................................................... » 159

1. The “Crisis” in the 5th century .................................................................. » 1592. The Story of a vase: the nestoris .............................................................. » 1623. New pottery for a new society ................................................................. » 1674. The new culture of living ......................................................................... » 169

vI. A nEw wORLD. LUCAnIA (4TH-3RD CEnTURIES B.C.) ................................... » 1771. Approching the new world ....................................................................... » 1772. Historical perspective .................................................................................. » 1793. Settlements and cultural interactions ...................................................... » 1804. Outside the walls: the agrarian landscape ............................................... » 1885. Urbanization? .......................................................................................... » 197

vII. THE EnD Of An ERA. fROM LEUkAnIA TO LUCAnIA ................................. » 201

BIBLIOGRAPHy ................................................................................................ » 211

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The research on this area, the results of which are presented in this volume, are the effects of years of commitment by numerous collaborators and students. The archaeo-logical investigations at Torre di Satriano, directed by the author, were coordinated by Maria Maddalena Sica (2000-2003), Lucia Colangelo (2004-2008) and Barbara Serio (2009-2014); the survey was carried out by Barbara Serio and Marco Di Lieto (2004-2008). Marco Fabbri (for the Roman Age) and Francesca Sogliani (for the Medieval Age) took part in the scientific research and the planning of the investigation strategies. The excavations were granted by and benefited from the support of the following Su-perintendents over the years: Maria Luisa Nava (2000-2006), Giuliana Tocco (2006-2007), the author (2007-2008), Caterina Greco (2008-2009), and Antonio del Siena (2010-2014). I would like to thank all of them, and all those who have taken part in the research, the result of a true synergy between the University and the Superintendence. A special thanks goes to my friend Alfonsina Russo, a long-time official in charge of the territory, for her significant contribution to the research and numerous fruitful discus-sions. Moreover, I would like to express my gratitude to all the students of the School of Specialization in Matera and the other Institutions who collaborated by sending stu-dents (from Heidelberg to Pau, from Paris to Kingston, from Mount Allison to Amster-dam): without their work and their passion, without their desire to learn, everything that has been done could not have been achieved.

In the fifteen years of investigations, the research was constantly accompanied by

a lively debate, hosted in various venues including the School of Specialization and the Municipality of Tito during annual conferences, as well as various university lo-cations in Europe and America, where I had the privilege to present the research. This fruitful, fundamental debate has always been enlivened by Mario Torelli, as a teacher and friend, to whom I express my deep gratitude for all that I have learned from him. The interlocutors who have joined him in the open debate are a group of scholars and specialists in the field which I would like to mention here individually: Ilaria Batti-loro, Salvatore Bianco, Angelo Bottini, Antonio De Siena, Marco Fabbri, Giovanna Greco, Pier Giovanni Guzzo, Enzo Lippolis, Monica Livadiotti, Concetta Masseria, Alessandro Naso, Carlo Rescigno, Giorgio Rocco, and Dimitris Roubis. Among the colleagues from foreign institutions where I have done research or presented reports, I would like to mention: Johannes Bergemann (Göttingen), Olivier de Cazanove (Paris),

ACknOwLEDGMEnTS

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Acknowledgments

Ortwin Dally (Rome), Francesco De Angelis (New York), Friederike Fless (Berlin), Luca Giuliani (Berlin), Martin Guggisberg (Basel), François Lissarague (Paris), Fer-nande Hölscher (Heidelberg), Tonio Hölscher (Heidelberg), Erich Kistler (Innsbruck), Caterina Maderna (Heidelberg), Dirce Marzoli (Madrid), Susanne Muth (Berlin), John North (London), Brinna Otto (Innsbruck), Francois de Polignac (Paris), Francois Quan-tin (Aix-en-Provence), Cristoph Reusser (Zürich), Thomas Schäfer (Tübingen), Rolf M. Schneider (München), Peter van Dommelen (Princeton), Stephan Verger (Paris), Alexandra Villing (London), Emmanuel Voutiras (Thessaloniki).

However, this pleasant scientific experience would not have been so fruitful without the constant support of local institutions: in particular, the Municipality of Satriano di Lucania for the first years of the research (thanks to Mayor Vincenzo Giuliano) and then the Municipality of Tito (thanks to Mayor Pasquale Scavone); and of course the Region of Basilicata (thanks in particular to Mariano Schiavone).

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“Il libro non aveva una trama, non aveva la struttura di un romanzo: era un viaggio in un’Ita-lia ancora sconosciuta, una specie di Journal o di reportage, ed era anche un saggio, un libro dove considerazioni di carattere storico, politico, sociale, antropologico, avevano il loro peso e la loro funzione… questo viaggio in Italia fu Cristo si è fermato ad Eboli, a promuoverlo. Fu quello il libro rivelatore che sconvolse la nostra nozione dell’Italia, che sollevò un velo e ci rivelò il vero volto del nostro paese, soprattutto di quel Sud di cui eravamo figli… Chi era Levi? Era un “gran lombardo”, un intellettuale del Nord di cultura illuminista, esente da pregiudizi…: egli capisce che tutto quello che giunge da Roma, dallo Stato centrale, viene giocato sulle loro teste. Loro, i contadini, sono i soggetti passivi di una storia che non li riguarda, a cui sono estranei: guerre, tasse, vessazioni di ogni tipo cadono loro addosso come fatalità, come il terremoto o la malaria”. (R. La Capria, Ai dolci amici addio, Roma 2016, 21-23)1.

These are the words of Raffaele La Capria on the film by Franco Rosi and the book

by Carlo Levi from which it was taken, Christ Stopped at Eboli (Turin 1945). They recall the impression that in post-war Italy the novel-reportage shed light on a remote part of Italy in practically “ethical” look from an anthropologist. At the same time, it showed the participation and pietas of a “great Lombard”, free of prejudices. In this area of Italy, far from Rome and other large urban centres, the lower classes with their rituals and magic symbols had remained “outside of history”. The same district would catch Ernesto De Martino’s attention a few years later, at the beginning of the 1950s, during memorable “ethnographic expeditions”. Then, field surveys first became an opportunity to stop re-flecting on the extra-historical reality of these existences and their magical approach to everyday events. Instead, they focused on the relevance of rituals and beliefs of a society within a long period of history, the “religious history of Southern Italy”.

1 “The book did not have a plot. It did not have the structure of a novel: it was a journey into a still-unknown part of Italy, a sort of Journal or reportage. It was also an essay, a book in which historical, political, social, and anthropological considerations all had weight and function ... this trip within Italy was promoted by Christ Stopped at Eboli. This revelatory book changed our ideas about Italy; it lifted a veil and revealed to us the true face of our country, especially the South, which was the home of our roots ... Who was Levi? He was a “great Lombard”, an intellectual from the North with an enlightened culture, free of prejudices ...: he understood that everything that came from Rome, from the central State, had happened above the heads of the peasants. They were the passive subjects of a history that was not concerned with them and to which they were outsiders: wars, taxes, vexations of every kind fell on them like fate, like an earthquake or malaria”.

InTRODUCTIOn

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IntroductIon

Levi’s Lucanian trip and De Martino’s journeys offer an emblematic picture of a “lower” group of people of Basilicata. This provoked discussions on the socio-economic phenomena implied in that world, as well as criticism of those people who did not rec-ognize their roots in such a world. In both approaches, the documentation was first hand, retrieved with different methods but always examined in such a way to properly record the rituals, superstitions, and traditions of a people within the larger framework of a soci-ety not yet overtaken by modernity.

Both Levi’s and De Martino’s approach gave voice to a class of farmers who had rarely played a role in official history. The up-close look caused the greatest sensation, because it brought to the surface once again an almost-unknown world – a piece of Italy – a humanity made up of “passive subjects in a history that was not concerned with them”, in an area particularly isolated by a lack of adequate routes of communication, without adequate roads or trains, which, like Christ, had “stopped at Eboli”.

A very diverse story is seen in these internal Basilicata districts during antiquity (Fig. 1) in the first millennium B.C., when a world of Mediterranean connections wove a different network made up of multiple nodes. These did not exclude the interior areas but included them in a connectivity declined on multiple points of view (Bottini 2016). It was a story of development, determined by a network of relationships, intertwined in a conscious and pervasive way with cultures near and far, from Taranto to Sibari, from the Adriatic coasts of Apulia to the Tyrrhenian coasts of Campania, and even further through a chain of intermediations between the Etruscan cultures and overseas realities (from the Aegean to the Near East). Obviously, the relationships were inter-woven by the elites, members of society at the top of rank-based hierarchical com-munities, managing to fit into the network of Mediterranean connections (Fig. 2a-b).

Unlike the picture that emerges from reports in the first half of the 1900s, our dis-tricts were far from being isolated monads without windows onto the surrounding worlds, the contiguous realities and more advanced cultural centres of Italy and the Mediterranean in general. Not diverse is for the antiquity the difficulty in shedding light on those “lower” classes without names and biographies, which did not make history and were not distinguished by “agency”, i.e. the role of the protagonists that determined and directed the history, at least for events that remained or left perceptible traces in history.

Perhaps only in a single period during the long life of our area as a settlement did the lower classes, those “peasants outside of history”, become the protagonists of dy-namics that left tangible traces in the archaeological records. I refer to the population of the Lucanian agricultural landscape of small family-run farms, recorded between the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C., in connection with the creation of fortified oppida (towns), cen-tral places in districts subject to a redistribution of lands (Torelli 1993; see Zuchtriegel 2018). However, as in the quite similar case of the agrarian reform that took place in the same districts after World War II, it would be a short-lived phenomenon. Already at the end of the 3rd century B.C., the abandoned countryside was ready for a revival of the dynamics of extensive exploitation at the hands of a few privileged protagonists,

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Fig. 1. Distribution map of settlements between the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian coasts.

firmly tied to the new conquerors, the Romans. Just as today ruined farmhouses from the indecisive agrarian reform of the 20th century still punctuate the beautiful landscape of the Bradano Valley (Fig. 3), the abandoned farms between the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. must have appeared in the same way, as a symbol of a short-lived occupation by nuclear families on lands stripped away from archaic communities based on rank. In Carlo Levi’s account, at that time, as in the 20th century, those peasants’ stories were buried by a history “directed from afar”, once again from Rome. The Lucanian lands experienced dramatic events in those years, war events that took place in their districts on several occasions, in particular in the clash with Hannibal and the Carthaginians. After Rome’s victory and the consequent confiscations, deportations and repopulations, another story began, one of a few urban centres and equally few large land properties (Lepore, Russi 1972-1973).

IntroductIon

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Fig. 2a-c. Guardia Perticara, necropolis: Grave 192.

a

b c

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Fig. 3. The Bradano Valley, abandoned houses of the post-war land reform.

Apart from the agricultural population boom during the Lucanian age, for the rest of history, between the 8th and 4th centuries B.C. and then again from the 2nd century B.C. onwards, peasants and shepherds have been excluded from the history by a lack of documents. For the Iron Age, up to the 4th century B.C., archaeology has found traces especially from privileged groups, thanks to objects from ritual practices and ceremo-nies by those in power.

This volume will focus on the situation of the interior of Basilicata during the first millennium B.C., and in particular, on a specific area of the Lucanian Apennines sur-rounding Potenza (Bottini 2016, 33-42), which in recent years has returned to promi- nence as the result of a series of extraordinary archaeological discoveries like the “princely” tombs found in Braida di Vaglio and Baragiano and the residences of power in Torre di Satriano (Osanna, Vullo 2013) (Fig. 4a-b). It is a territory more well-known than others due to more extensive research and systematic publications than those car-ried out elsewhere, the results of an institutional history in contemporary times that produced fruitful results: an efficient archaeological Superintendence, well established thanks to the pioneering commitment of Dinu Adamesteanu and his officials, and over the years, a close relationship with the University of Basilicata. From the cooperation between the University and the Superintendence, the “Torre di Satriano” project was born, giving back to the scientific community what can be considered a true case-mod-el, which sheds light on the social and settlement phenomena, ritual dynamics and manifestations of power throughout the whole area, as well as the neighboring cantons.

For 15 years, between 2000 and 2014, the School of Specialization of the Archaeo-logical Heritage of Matera carried out scientific research activities in the ancient settle-ment, located at a high altitude between the municipalities of Tito and Satriano di Lu-cania. The center, already known from archaeological literature for several discoveries

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IntroductIon

Fig. 4a. Vaglio di Basilicata, Braida: Grave 102, amber and gold jewelry.

Fig. 4b. Vaglio di Basilicata, Braida: Gave 102, embossed gold tiara.

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made in the last century, was little known for its diachronic settlement history until the most recent research (Fig. 5).

Thanks to extensive excavations and intensive surveys, the project, directed by the author, has provided information on what is now undoubtedly considered the best known settlement of ancient Basilicata and one of the best known of the Italic peoples in southern Italy. The area subjected to prolonged investigations turned out to be a real palimpsest of settlements in which the type of not particularly invasive agrarian exploitation imposed on the territory until almost modern times, has tangibly preserved traces of the inhabited area and its transformations over time. The recent introduction of more invasive and destructive plowing systems reaching considerable depths, has meant that surveys have led to extraordinary results where the stratigraphic excavation has often been less satisfactory, identifying very poorly preserved structures and graves that have been frequently disturbed, luckily with some exceptions. The consideration that every new plowing activity was creating irreparable damage, bringing to the sur-face what remained of disturbed stratigraphic contexts, has made the need to proceed with a capillary, periodic survey of the ground urgent and necessary since 2002. We also became aware of the need for extensive excavations to save the long-preserved heritage that was disappearing.

Fig. 5. Torre di Satriano: the height viewed from north.

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IntroductIon

To these critical urgencies, the irreparable damage caused by the recent invasion of photovoltaic systems was added in recent years (marked also by a progressive decrease in the staff of officials who supervised the territory). The photovoltaic systems in this area were introduced without any prior archaeological verification, and without it being possible to verify with excavation was collected during the field survey. This is only one of the critical issues that the beautiful landscapes of Basilicata have experienced in recent years, in a more generalized context of attacks on the landscape that are destroy-ing many areas in the Italian peninsula (Settis 2017).

Fortunately, the territory in question was already of interest to scientific research: after the fortuitous discoveries that characterized the first half of the 20th century, sys-tematic research has been carried out since the 1960s. The pioneering research directed by R. Ross Holloway (1970) for Princeton University in 1968 and 1969, was promptly published and revealed the extraordinary archaeological potential of the site. Twenty years later, new research was sponsored by the Superintendence and entrusted to Ema-nuele Greco at the Università “L’Orientale” of Naples. Between 1987 and 1988, it led to the discovery of the archaic settlement’s nuclei and the Lucanian sanctuary (Greco 1988; 1991; Osanna, Sica 2005, 53-64). The studies carried out by the University of Basilicata have greatly benefited from this early research, carrying on essentially in continuity and then extending to areas that had never been investigated.

Old and new surveys have now made it possible to understand the phases of human occupation in the area in broad terms between the Bronze Age and late Middle Ages, and to shed light in particular on the oldest phases of the town and therefore on the settlement structure between Iron Age I and II (8th -5th century B.C.), as well as on the Lucanian settlement until its extinction during Roman times (4th -2nd century B.C.).

I have written several times on the subject, in various essays and volumes, which could make this new work seem redundant, if not repetitive (Nava, Osanna 2001; Di Lieto, Osanna, Serio, 2005; Osanna, Sica 2005; Osanna 2008; Osanna, Battiloro, Serio 2008; Osanna, Colangelo, Carollo 2009; Osanna 2011a, 2011b; Osanna et alii 2001; Osanna, Capozzoli 2012; Osanna, Vullo 2013; Osanna 2014; 2015a; 2015b; 2015c; Osanna, Zuchtriegel, Barretta 2018). The approach used in these publications, even those more oriented towards a synthesis, was “spotty”, starting from the need for up-dates on the status of research and discoveries that took place year after year. The re-search up until 2014 amounted to a fifteen-year work-in-progress that followed the plan of a systematic set of investigations and at times, the luck of discoveries. The publica-tions that accompanied the investigations were published promptly within a climate of broad debate animated by the often extraordinary results of the excavation. They were, therefore, conference proceedings and journal articles that saw the cooperation of the entire team of colleagues and students who took part in the project.

Thus far, there has been no overall synthesis on all of the aspects that prolonged research in the field and the related analyses have brought to light. There was a lack of an in-depth volume on this rich dossier of data, which would also add to what is known about the rest of the district. It can be said that compared to the previous analyses,

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necessarily fragmented in a sequence that was enriched each time with new data, new ideas and interpretations, this new research “builds” on those studies (also recovering extensive excerpts from previous publications), starting from those and arriving at a new, more complete synthesis (benefitted by the progress of the investigations as well as the capacity for “rationalization” of the writer, more oriented towards a synthetic understanding) and “better conceptualized”, as it seeks to investigate the same topics more deeply, with a view that, starting from the case of Torre di Satriano, widens the field of investigation on the entire Italic world of the Apennine hinterland of Basilicata (for this approach see Geertz 1998, 34-36).

Sabaudia, December 15th, 2018

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1. From “penetration” to “hybridization”. Fifty years of debate about Greeks and Italics

In recent decades, there have been significant changes in the themes and method-ologies used in historical-archaeological investigations in Southern Italy. International research, which for a long time was focused primarily on the Greek cities along the coast (Mertens 2006), has finally turned its attention to Italic communities and districts beyond those populated by the Greeks. A sense of status has been given back to the Italic peoples, shedding light on entire territories of the Apennine hinterland that until now had remained almost entirely in the shadows.

As a part of the new research and approach methodology baptized as “post-colonial”, there has also been a generalized rediscovery of the varied mosaic of peoples encountered by the Greeks in new areas of settlement throughout the course of different migratory peri-ods starting from the 8th century B.C. (van Dommelen 2006; Knapp, Van Dommelen 2010).

It must be noted, however, that current discussions rest on a tradition of studies that was active in Italy since the 1960s, and which experienced a fruitful period of intensity and awareness during the 1980s. Southern Italy, in particular, was the testing ground for research: here, the meeting of cultures was the “norm” and archaeology could not help but reflect this reality in the tools used to understand the material culture and epigraphic data discovered during the excavations.

The first conference on Magna Graecia held in Taranto in 1961 bore the emblematic title of “Greci e Indigeni in Magna Grecia”. Even if the title betrays an approach seen during those years when the concept of Greek “primacy” still widely prevailed and led to the consideration of others as an indistinct group that was improperly (or inaccurately) defined as “indigenous”, it is evident that there was interest in Italy in the inescapable confrontation with the ever-increasing evidence of those “others” that archaeological ex-cavations was revealing. Direct contact with multiple cultural presences in certain areas began to define the principles and methods of archaeological protection ‒ which did not allow researchers to concentrate only on the Greeks, as was previously the case in other European academic traditions ‒ and was fundamental in the journey of an awareness towards global approaches to settlement dynamics and therefore in the definition of re-search themes and objectives. The best case scenario of these situations resulted in the fruitful cooperation between Universities and Superintendencies.

I. THE CASE STUDy In LIGHT Of THE MOST RECEnT DEBATE On THE TOPIC