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Archaeological Research in Italy during the last Eight Years*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
Extract
Eight years ago, I had the honour of speaking at the Philologists' Convention at Zürich on the methods aims and materials of archaeological research in Italy. A summary of work, both prospective and retrospective was then not inappropriate, for we stood at a point of transition. With the altered constitution of the Archäologisches Institut, the death of Henzen and the retirement of Helbig one epoch had come to an end, and we had reason to suppose that the new period would present many features of difference.
Until the unification of Italy there could be no question of a thorough scientific and consistent investigation of the country. Even the Istituto di Corrispondenza archeologia, the only scientific body whose activity was not confined within the bounds of a single state, found itself so hampered by want of means and the hindrances arising from the bad condition of communications, that all it could do was to contribute a meagre report of discoveries made in the limited area including Rome itself, Southern Etruria, where excavations were undertaken by the Papal government and private persons, and Pompeii, where under the Naples government work was slowly proceeding. In other districts excavation either fell entirely into neglect or took the form of secret and irresponsible plunder.
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- Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1896
References
1 Verhandl. der Philologenvers, in Zürich 1887, 191–209 = Nuova Antologia 1887 (iii, xii), 451–478.
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4 Bonner Studien 28, 35 = Bull. di Paletnol. ital. xvi (1890), 118, 129. This paper was an attempt to obtain in the history of funeral customs a new criterion for the appreciation of conditions of life in Italy in early historic times, and it succeeded at least in setting the question afloat and encouraging a more exact and keener observation of the facts of discovery. While some agreed with the views expressed, others expressed doubt, the following writers giving their reasons for dissent with a completeness for which science must be grateful:—Reisch, , Berl. philol. Wochenschr. 1891, 1574–77Google Scholar, St. Gsell, , Fouilles de Vulci (1891)Google Scholar, passim, and Lattes, ‘di due nuove iscriz. preromane trov. pr. Pesaro’ (Rendic. dei Lincei 1894. Appendice seconda p. 93 ff.). In opposition to Gsell I tried to prove the correctness of my view from the same example (Vulci): Atti e mem. d. R. Deput. di stor. patr. p. le prov. di Romagna 1892, 210–223, and Gsell, replied in Mel. ďarchéol. et ďhist. xii (1892), 425–31Google Scholar. Cf. Neue Heidelb. Jahrb. iv (1894), 155,2. The question can be seriously discussed only in and for Italy, for only in Italy has systematic excavation of tombs been carried far enough. As to Greece and its colonies in Asia Minor, we can draw but few analogies until we know many more archaic burying-grounds in those countries, hence Meyer, E., Gesch. d. Altert. ii 508Google Scholar, would have done better to leave them out of the question. Besides, it was precisely the change of ritual in Greece which gave me the starting-point for my investigations.
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6 Taramelli, T., ‘La valle del Po nelľ epoca quaternaria’ (Atti del primo congresso geogr. ital. Genova 1892), 40Google Scholar, in agreement with what was ascertained by A. Stella the engineer, as Taramelli informs me. Lombardini inclined to attribute the first embankments to the Etruscans (Notiz, natur, e civili della Lombardia cap. IV). At that time (1844), as is well known, the importance of the Etruscans was much exaggerated, and it is only of late that they have been more accurately appreciated.
7 Till quite lately it was supposed that the western boundary of the Italic pile-dwellers was formed either by the Oglio or the Adda, but within recent date pile-dwellings have been found on the Lambro, that is, a long way within the boundary of Lombardy., Not. d. sc. 1891, 44. 303. 1892, 437—440Google Scholar. Bull. stor. Pavese ii (1894): A. Taramelli, di alcuni oggetti preistorici esistenti a Chignolo.
8 Published in its latest form by Pigorini, , Not. d. sc. 1895, 10Google Scholar = Bull. di paletnol. ital. xxi (1895) Tav. Pigorini's, V. most recent reports (Not. a a. O. 9–17Google Scholar; Bull. 78–80). I published a summary of the results gained up to the year 1894 in the Neue Heidelb. Jahrb. iv (1894), 143–156, Montelius, followed, Civil. primit. en Italie i, 142–146Google Scholar. Near Rovere di Caorso, not far from Piacenza, L. Scotti succeeded in determining the ground-plan of another such settlement, quite similar to the above, and by its publication Not. d. sc. 1894, 374 ( = Montelius loc. cit. 143) interesting evidence is afforded of the correctness of Pigorini's discovery. Another report by Scotti is about to appear, and one still more important, by Pigorini (on the traces of streets found in the interior), will come out in the Notizie for 1896.
9 Thus Pigorini, Not. 1895, 16–17Google Scholar. Bull. 1895, 79.
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11 Mon. dei Lincei iv (1894), 72. 85–86. 159.
12 Especially Ghirardini's admirable treatise on the sanctuary found in in the Fondo Baratela with its numerous votive gifts (Not. d. sc. 1888, 3–42; 71–127; 147–173; 204–214; 313–385 with 13 plates), and the first instalment (the only one so far) of his work in collaboration on the bronze situlae of Este (Mon. dei Lincei ii (1893), 161–252), should be here noted: v. also Montelius, , Civilis. primit. i, Sér. B 273–314 and pl. 50–61Google Scholar.
13 Rendic, dei Lincei 1888, 301–303. For the most recent summary of the literature on the subject of this distinction v. Bull. di paletnol. ital. xx (1894), 12,10. The most important centre of the western group is Golasecca (with Castelletto Ticinese, which lies opposite). These were probably the necropoleis belonging to a considerable colony in the Ticino. For the literature of the subject v. Montelius, , Civilis. primitive en Italie i, 236–37Google Scholar.
14 Castelfranco, , Bull. di paletn. ital. xx. (1894), 81–90Google Scholar.
15 In 1892 Issel published in his work La Liguria vol. ii a joint treatise (which hardly fulfilled the expectations formed) on the subject of pre-Roman Liguria. See also his essay on the caverna Pollera, , in the Atti d. Società ligur. di sc. natur. e geogr. v. (Genoa 1894)Google Scholar. Plenty of new material is to be found in the last volumes of the Bull. di pal. it.; especially xix (1893), 327 ff. (Colini). The existence of dwelling-places outside the caves, formerly doubted, has now been proved beyond question; v. e.g. Castelfranco, , Bull. di pal. xviii (1892), 148Google Scholar; Issel, , Bull. di pal. xix (1893), 87–91Google Scholar.
16 The most easterly Ligurian graves hitherto discovered on the Lago di Bientina, on the north bank of the Arno opposite Pontedera, east of Monte Serra, are described by Ghirardini, , Rendic. dei Lincei 1894, 185–188Google Scholar.
17 The earliest cremation graves of Liguria of the later Certosa period were found in 1884 near Savignone, north of Genoa and east of Monte de' Giovi: Ghirardini, , Rendic. dei Lincei 1894, 205–218Google Scholar.
18 Bull. di pal. x (1884), 133–141 Pl. VI. xi (1885), 138–146. xii (1886), 134–140. Commi. delľ Aten. di Brescia 1886, 81 (Cast silver pin from a grave of this kind). Pigorini, , Rendic. dei Lincei 1887 (III, i), 296Google Scholar. Montelius, , La civilisation primit. en Italie i, pl. 36. 37, 191Google Scholar ff. Similar graves near Fontanella di Casal romano: Bull. di pai. xvi (1890), 50. xviii (1892), 55. xix (1893), 17–30. 92–102 Pl. IV. Rivalta, (near Mantua): Bull. di pal. ii (1876), 126Google Scholar; south of the Po near Caleno, : Bull. i (1875), 104Google Scholar cf. xix, 27; Collecchio, (near Parma): Bull. ii (1876), 77Google Scholar cf. Bull. xii, 82, 4. 139. Cumarola, : Bull. x (1884), 141Google Scholar ff. Tav. VII cf. Bull. xviii, 218. Santilario ď Enza, : Bull. v (1879), 133Google Scholar. 195. Gorzano, : Bull. x (1884), 130Google Scholar. xii (1886), 158. More recent, but belonging to the same family: Povegliano. (For the literature v. Montelius, , Civilis. primit. i, 200Google Scholar and pl. 37.) For the position of the skeleton, specially typical in Lengyel, but occurring also in numerous graves of central and west central Europe v. Brizio's, remarks and syntheses in Mon. dei Lincei v (1895), 105–111Google Scholar.
19 V. Castelfranco's, essays, Bull. di pal. xix (1893), 17–30Google Scholar. 92–102.
20 Bull. di pal. ital. (1888), 44–46.
21 Thus the earliest known objects of this class, brought to light by Undset, , Zeitsch. für Ethnol. 1883 Taf V and p. 209–219Google Scholar = Mon. dei Lincei v (1895), 91–98 (Fig. 2 and 3). Similarly 171–172, Fig. 25.
22 Cf. Schumacher, , Praenest. Ciste im Museum zu Karlsruhe 47Google Scholar.
23 E.g. the ornamentation on the edge or the bronze plates published by Virehow, ‘Ueber die culturgeschichtliche Stellung des Kaukasus’ (Abh. der kgl. preuss. Akad. der Wissensch. phys. Kl. 1895Google Scholar) Taf. I–IV is Mykenean.
24 Mon. dei Lincei v (1895), 177–178. 179–182. For the stele with the principal inscription v. Lattes: ‘di due nuove iscrizioni preromane trov. pr. Pesaro’ (Rendic. delľ Acc. dei Lincei 1894) Tav. I. II.
25 Mon. dei Lincei v, 178. I am assured by F. Buecheler and H. Osthoff that the language of the inscriptions is neither ‘Italic’ nor Etruscan.
26 Most of the reports on this subject are to be found in the Bull. di paletnol. ital., some in the Mon. dei Lincei ii (1893) and the Arch. stor. Siciliano; shorter separate communications in the Not. d. scavi. Tropea, Riv. di stor. antica i (1895), p. 96. give a useful summary of Orsi's work among the Siculan remains, classifying it in periods. Orsi himself has summarized his Siculan labours from 1889–1893 in his ‘Quattro anni di esplorazioni Sicule. Parma 1894.
27 Not. d. sc. 1891, 404–416. 1893, 122–129. 445–486. 1895, 109–192.
28 Mon. dei Lincei i (1892), 689–950 and 9 plates (Cavallari and Orsi). Not. d. sc. 1892, 124–132, 172–183, 210–214. 243–252. 278–288 (Caruso, under Orsi).
29 E.g. Thukyd. vi 4, makes the Megareaus settle on the spot where their city afterwards stood 
Hence the place was under the command of the native chief although not itself a settlement of the Siculi, for the Siculi and the Greeks, as Orsi has so aptly observed (Mon. L. i, 692), never colonize the same site: on the other hand the Siculi, who chose to live 
(Diod. v, 6), could make good use of the foreign traders who were accustomed to the sea and lived on the coast. Pais maintained (Storia della Sicilia e Magna Grecia i, 180–82, 592; Studi storici i, 394) that a colony of Siculi existed on the site of the city of Megara, but in answer to him Orsi succeeded in proving (Bull. di pal. ital. xxi (1895) 50) that there was a pre-Siculic settlement on the site, with stone and clay objects characteristic of the stone age and similar to those found in the settlement at Stentinello, , Bull. di pal. xvi (1890)Google Scholar Tav. VI–VIII, 177–200), but not a single object of Siculic make, while on the other hand Hybla, the modern Melilli (cf. king ‘Hyblon’), which commanded Megara, has proved to be a very important Siculic centre (Bull. di pal. it. xvii (1891) Tav. IV-VI, 53–76. xviii (1892) 31, 34), and contains according to Orsi, (Bull. xvii, 55Google Scholar) so far as is known not one archaic Greek tomb. Cf. also Rizzo, , Riv. di stor. ant. i, 3, 77–78Google Scholar.
30 Only those who have the courage to maintain with Helbig (Acad. d. inscr. et belles lettres 1895 Sitting of May 31; Comptes-rendus de ľAcad. 1896) that the Mykenean civilization is Phoenician could (up to the present time) agree with Thukydides, for Orsi's second Siculic period is certainly ‘Mykenean.’ Cf. Neue Heidelb. Jahrb. i (1891), 162. The Mykenean objects from the Ionian islands in the museum at Neuchâtel there cited (p. 164) have in the meantime found a parallel in the tombs of Kephallenia, discovered and described by Bulle, Wolters and Noack, : Ath. Mitth. xix (1894), 486–490Google Scholar. Strangely enough, these writers seem not to be aware of the existence of the objects in Neuchâtel.
31 Not. d. sc. 1895, 240 (provisional notice).
32 Last discussed by Studniczka, , Berl. philol. Wochenschr. 1894, 1296Google Scholar. Freeman, , Hist. Sicil. vol. i, pp. 20Google Scholar, 101, 472 etc.
33 Holm, , Gesch. Sicil. i, 360Google Scholar has summarized the evidence.
34 V. Orsi, , Bull. di pai. ital. xxi (1895), 85Google Scholar. Excavation at Kamarina, commenced by Orsi in February, 1896, gave a nearly negative result: the necropolis had been thoroughly plundered during the last thirty years.
35 Admirable new drawings, both of the old temple remains and of those more recently found, have been made by Koldewey and Puchstein, and are probably to appear in 1896 in a work by these authors which will include all the measurable temples and numerous other Greek buildings of Magna Graecia and Sicily. I have included in the index to Durnn's, Baukunst der Griechen, p. 383Google Scholar, the literature on Selinus up to 1892.
36 Mon. dui Lincei i, 2 (1891), to p. 248. i, 4 (1892) Tav. I–III to p. 958–962. Fragments of others are still unpublished.
37 Arndt, , Einzelverkauf 569–572Google Scholar cf. Furt-wängler, , Meisterw. 77Google Scholar note. The figure, which I saw in 1893 in the Museum of Castelvetrano, was found, as I was assured by eye-witnesses, in a ‘camera’ tomb of the north necropolis of Galera Bagliazzo; the place of the tomb itself was shown me. V. Arndt E. V. p. 53. In connexion with this discovery of a separate ancient Greek work of art may be mentioned a highly remarkable early archaic relief, representing a Bacchic dance and two Sphinxes. Pais rediscovered this lately in Caltagirone and published it along with some interesting remarks on the towns behind Gela, : Rendic. dei Lincei 16Giugno 1895Google Scholar.
38 Not. d. sc. 1894, 202–220 is the last report embracing the eventful years 1887–1892. The report is somewhat too scanty. Many important points, such as the excavations in necropoleis, are left almost untouched, and others, particularly the fortifications of Hermokrates, are passed over lightly.
39 Part of these (portus and turres) are shown by a recently found inscription to have been founded or at least renewed by Pompeius, S.. Not. d. sc. 1894, 388–391Google Scholar.
40 Not. d. sc. 1890, 248–262. Ant. Denkm. des arch. Inst. i (1890), Taf. 51. 52. Röm. Mitth. v (1890), Taf. VIII p. 166–227. A fresh publication by Koldewey and Puchstein is about to appear.
41 Reports: Eighth Annual Report of the American Institute of Archaeology (1887), 42–46 and American Journ. of Arch. iii (1887), 181–182. A visitor to the spot receives an impression of excavations systematically begun and then—by a somewhat hard application of the legge Pacca—suddenly broken off. Koldewey and Puchstein's survey will reproduce as much as is possible of the form and outline of the temple, removed by Bishop Lucifero in the sixteenth century. It is much to be regretted that these excavations were not continued by Italian enterprise, the more because eight pieces of pediment sculpture in white marble, of fifth century date, some of them very fine, are known to have been found. Most of these, as well as the numerous architectonic ornaments, bronzes and terra-cottas found in the excavations, have been unfortunately lost sight of.
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43 Archäol. Jahrb. iv (1889), 164–195 with map.
44 A résumé of the history of Campania in accordance with the more recent archaeological discoveries, which I read at the Philological Convention at Trèves in 1879 (Verhand. p. 141–157), deals with the more important parts of the subject, and appeared recently in Italian in Tropea's, Rivista di storia antica i, 3, 31–59Google Scholar. I have tried to make this new edition serviceable and to bring it as near as may be to the present standpoint of science by means of alterations and enlargement of the text, and by the addition of copious notes and literary references.
45 V. Duhn, and Jacobi, , Der griechische Tempel in Pompeii. Heidelb. 1890Google Scholar, cf. Mau, , Röm. Müth. vi (1891), 258–266Google Scholar.
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47 Provisional report on and publication OI some of the principal pieces: Gaz. d. Beaux Arts 1895 (xiv, 3), 89–104 (H. de Villefosse). An adequate publication of this magnificent find will shortly come out in the Monuments ct Mémoires of the Fondation Piot.
48 A reference to the many interesting numbers of the Bull. communale and to the admirable and detailed reports by Hülsen in the Röm. Mittheilungen may here suffice. The most recent is carried down to the year 1892: R. M. viii (1893), 259–325.
49 Lanciani, Forma urb. Romae. Published Consilio et auctor. R. Acad. Lyncaeorum; scale 1: 1,000 Milan. Hoepli. Between 1893 and the present date two numbers have appeared. Cf. Hülsen, , Rhein. Mus. xlix (1894), 380–381Google Scholar.
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52 Archäol. Anz. 1895, 91; 1896, 2–18. The whole column will shortly be published by Bruckmann from excellent photographs by Anderson, with letterpress by Calderini, Domaszewski, Mommsen and Peterson.
53 Barnabei, and Marchetti, , Mon. dei Lincei i, 3Google Scholar (1891), 601–616. Mommsen loc. cit. 617–672 and Ephem. epigr. viii, 225–309. Die Nation 1891 Dec. 12 = 114–122 of the reprint Berl. 1894.
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63 Brizio, , Mon. dei Lincei i (1890), 249–422Google Scholar and 10 plates, cf. also Montelius, , Civilis. primit. en, Italic i, 495–520Google Scholar pl. 107–110.
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65 Milani, , Le recenti scop. di antich. in Verona (Ver. 1891)Google Scholar = Röm. Mitth. vi (1891), 285–331. Ghirardini, , Nuova Antol. 1891, 677–688Google Scholar. Orsi, , Not. d. sc. 1891, 5–17Google Scholar.
66 Bianchetti, , I sepolcreti di Ornavasso (one Keltic, the other Roman). Turin 1895Google Scholar, with 26 plates ( = Atti d. Soc. di antich. e belle arti di Torino vi).
67 Atti d. Soc. di antich. e belle, arti di Torino iv (1883), 17–52 Tav. I–IV.
67a Not. d. sc. 1895, 35–39.
68 Bull. comm. xxii (1894), 158–163.
69 Not. d. sc. 1890, 294–305 (Ferrero). 1891, 75–81 (Castelfranco). 1892, 63–77. 1893, 33–47. 440–450 (Ferrero). v. Duhn, and Ferrero, , ‘Le monete galliche del medagliere delľ Ospizio del Gran San Bernardo’: Memorie della R. Accad. d. scienze di Torino xli (1891), 331–388Google Scholar, 2 Plates. v. Duhn, , ‘Die Benutzung der Alpenpässe im Alterthum: Neue Heidelb. Jahrb. ii (1892), 55–92Google Scholar.
70 Each volume of the Notizie contains full reports by Tamponi. Report on the new cemetery Not. d. sc. 1895, 47–66. Material is so abundant that he has already edited a Silloge epigrafica Olbiense of his own. (Sassari 1895.)
71 To avoid any misunderstanding I must here clearly state that Dr. Pischedda of Oristano is only doing service to science by saving what he can for his private collection so generously opened. With regard to Tharros, the blame lies on the indifference and negligence of those whose duty it was to supply necessary supervision and scientific control.