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Excavation

  • Santuario emporico di Gravisca
  • Gravisca
  • Graviscae
  • Italy
  • Lazio
  • Province of Viterbo
  • Tarquinia

Tools

Credits

  • The Italian Database is the result of a collaboration between:

    MIBAC (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali - Direzione Generale per i Beni Archeologici),

    ICCD (Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione) and

    AIAC (Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica).

  • AIAC_logo logo

Summary (English)

  • Throughout its history, 6th century and early 5th century B.C., the emporium sanctuary of Gravisca saw a series of transformations, often linked to the arrival and predominance of new peoples who were active in the sanctuary area. Phocaean merchants, who landed where the coast of Tarquinia offered safe harbour and the possibility of easily replenishing water supplies, probably built the first sacellum dedicated to Aphrodite in 590/580 B.C. There were two more reconstructions, the first datable to the mid 6th century B.C., coinciding with the arrival of a large number of people from Samos and with the spread of the cult of Hera. The second, in 530 B.C., is linked to the emergence of the carriers from Aegina, who put up two of the three dedications to Apollo found in the sanctuary.
    The above data is the result of excavations undertaken between 1969 and 1979. The University of Perugia and the Archaeological Superintendency for Lazio and South Etruria carried out further excavations in the area of the so-called “North Sanctuary” associated with the Etruscan divinities Śuri and Cavatha. More recently (2011-2015), the university’s research revealed more evidence for the layout of the new sacred area in the archaic and Classical phases. Trenches dug below the floor levels of the Hellenistic complex identified the eastern and southern limits of the new warehouse monumentalized in about 520 B.C. (coeval with the phase III archaic Greek sacelli discovered in the 1970s). The new structure was divided into two temène, originally paved with thick slabs of macco limestone, which housed two monumental altars, the northernmost one probably dedicated to Śuri, the one to the south to Cavatha.

    The 2015 campaign aimed to explore the unexcavated area, that is, the entire strip outside the later wall delimiting the west side of the “North Sanctuary”, in order to check the hypothesis formulated in previous years suggesting the almost total correspondence of the western limit (already known) of the Hellenistic sanctuary, with that of the Classical and archaic periods. Three trenches were opened: the first, (L) was situated outside the south-western of the sacred complex (6 × 10 m) revealed the presence of a long narrow rectangular structure, on an east-west alignment, immediately below the topsoil. Its eastern side was sub-circular and for the moment its function and chronology remain uncertain, but it was certainly not in continuity with the temenos of Cavatha (only the surface layers were excavated).

    A second trench (LII, 6 × 4.50 m) was opened a few metres to the north. Here, a sequence of two floor surfaces was identified, coherent with the known chronology (the latest dating to the late 4th century B.C., the other to during the 4th century B.C.). The excavations excluded the presence of walls, at least for the 4th century phase. The third trench, (LI, 3 × 4 m) was opened in the area north-east of the late 4th century B.C. building. The floor of the late 4th century B.C. phase was uncovered, with the usual traces of burning relating to the destruction in 281 B.C., and that of the 4th century B.C., in phase with two walls that were part of the western perimeter of the Hellenistic building.

  • Lucio Fiorini - Università degli Studi di Perugia, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale 

Director

Team

  • Benedetta Baleani
  • Daniele Bigi
  • Fiorenza Angeloni
  • Giuseppe Cirigliano
  • Marta Nardin
  • Mattia Sbrancia
  • Paola Umbri
  • Silvia Staiano
  • Andrea Di Miceli
  • Giulia Ricci - Sapienza. Università di Roma
  • Francesca Leoni
  • Giulia Patrizi
  • Luana Vasapollo

Research Body

  • : Università degli Studi di Perugia, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale

Funding Body

  • Comune di Tarquinia
  • Università degli Studi di Perugia, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale

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