Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Tria Corda: Autumn Edition

The every-other-month installment:

A sanctuary on the summit of Monte Cimino east of Viterbo: 1000 masl from 1000 BCE.

A mid-6th c. Etruscan tomb was located at Montalto di Castro, in the archaeological park of Vulci, after the arrest of tombaroli (21 photos and a video of the excavation accompany the article).

At Barrea, a few km from Alfedena along the Sangro river in Abruzzo, the tomb of a 4th c. BCE 'Samnite' 'warrior'.

Three 4th-3rd c. BCE tombs discovered by a farmer while plowing near Cerignola in the province of Foggia, Puglia. He promptly reported the discovery to the Carabinieri.

The tomb of an aristocratic Lombard lady near Lucca, dating to the first half of the 7th c. CE.

A new Late Etruscan dedicatory inscription from Populonia. The marble fragment, perhaps from an altar, was found in the vicinity of one of the three temples on the city's acropolis.

From back in September, Phil Perkins, David Ridgway, and Corinna Riva talk to Melvyn Bragg about the Etruscans on BBC Radio 4's "In Our Time".

A report on the 'inauguration' of the site of the Samnite sanctuary of Hercules at Campochiaro, near Campobasso.

The ongoing struggle against looting and antiquities traffickers continues:
- 77 individuals accused of involvement in a crime ring operating out of S. Sosti near Cosenza in Calabria; more than 1000 objects and 4000 coins seized.
- At the other end of the country, near Bolzano, three dinosaur eggs were among the 6400 paleontological objects seized from smugglers.
- A piece of an architrave stolen from the Terracina Museum in 1959 was discovered in a bar in the north of Rome, as were various other things.