Pithekoussai

The intrusive nature of the Philistine material culture, which suddenly appears in southern coastal Canaan in the first half of the twelfth century BCE, has never been in doubt. Moreover, it is widely acknowledged that the origin of this material culture is to be found in the Aegean/Mycenaean world, which, by the end of the thirteenth century, encompassed much of the eastern Mediterranean region. Precisely how the Philistines transported themselves and their material culture from their original to their adoptive homeland, however, has never been adequately explained.
A cursory glance at a map quickly reveals that travel from most proposed Philistine homelands (i.e., mainland Greece, the Aegean Islands, Crete, Cyprus) to southern coastal Canaan require travel by sea; however, travel from two others (i.e., coastal Asia Minor, Cilicia) do not. A large-scale, overland migration from these latter regions, although possible, would have been extremely difficult because of the geographic barriers present along this route. More telling is the pattern of sites that have produced the so-called, Sea Peoples material culture: they are all located on or near the coast, thus strongly suggesting that the settlers of these sites arrived by sea.
An examination of the excavation and survey data relating to southern coastal Canaan at the time of the Philistine settlement indicates the influx of a large, foreign population. The question remains, however, was maritime capability ca. 1200 BCE commensurate to the task of transporting a great number of people across considerable distances? Evidence contained in texts, iconography, and the results of underwater
archaeology pertaining to Late Bronze Age seafaring indicates that, indeed, it was.
A secondary source of data for the Philistine migration is later, better documented, seaborne migrations, such as the Greek colonization of the western Mediterranean. Contemporary histories combined with extensive excavation of the settlement regions provide a clearer picture of most aspects of these later migrations by sea than is available for the Philistines. Finally, the application of migration principles generated in other social scientific fields to the context of the Philistine settlement leads to a broader understanding of the process of the Philistines’ migration.

"The examination of several Iron Age burial contexts from necropolis in central Tyrrhenian Italy – better known and documented – (Osteria dell’Osa, Veio-Quattro Fontanili, Pontecagnano and Pithekoussai) sheds a light on ritual attitudes and materials. They can testify to the will of handing down items through several generations, in order to associate a “mnemonic message” to the objects. The message is sometimes connected to the family heritage of the dead person or – generally speaking – to the original background of the object’s owner. The goods which have been transmitted can assume the status of keimélia, with no connections to the intrinsic value of the objects. More specifically, these items become “family assets” or heirlooms; the most valuable objects become part of the cycle known as “the aristocratic gift”.
The “loading” of a meaning in an object - while the object becomes “old” - is a constant element in the majority of cases that have been discussed. The meaning “loading” allows objects to acquire - step by step - value and prestige, independently from their physical, artistic and technical characteristics. The objects’ transmission - maybe through proper “passage rituals” - is the second element which helps to increase the prestige of an object, if this step is preserved in any way. Objects of “time” and “memory” bear a message of which the interpretation may vary depending on the contests (settlements, sanctuaries or burial areas) and consignees (gods, men, women or children). The interpretation can be also manipulated - with more or less awareness - distorting and/or overturning the original meaning, as shown by some cases discussed in this contribution."

The part of community affected more than others by a selective process that changes its representativity, is the one composed of subjects deceased before having reached puberty, especially children younger than 3-4 years.
The analysis of the funerary treatment of this large part of society (which could reach up to 50% of the population) can offer clues for the interpretation of the evolution of social systems and, at the same time, ritual beliefs connected with these delicate phases of life preceding the introduction of the individual in society. Towards the end of the Early Iron Age, the representativity of infants starts to increase: some individuals present attributes of a type and rang that would qualify them as adults, to the point that the burial and the entire funerary ceremony seem to constitute a ritual intended to grant to the deceased the “signs” of a social condition that death has prevented them to reach. This new perspective forms part of a broader framework of cultural and economic changes that collide with the indigenous communities from
the middle of the eighth century BC on, and which are amply testified by the funerary evidence, of which some examples of Osteria dell’Osa, Veio, Pontecagnano and Pithekoussai are presented here.
KEY-WORDS
Infanzia, discriminazione funeraria, identità, Veio, Osteria dell’Osa, Pontecagnano, Pithekoussai.

Articolo pubblicato sulla prestigiosa rivista culturale ischitana "La Rassegna d'Ischia" (numero 6 dell'anno 35) riguardo il tema giunto alla ribalta negli ultimi anni del presunto restringimento del distacco tra la fondazione di Pithekoussai e quella di Cuma, evidenziando i dati, in base ai quali è possibile mettere in discussione le conclusioni degli archeologici, che hanno scavato a Cuma, che tendono a retrodatare la fondazione di Cuma di circa una generazione.

Importanza degli aegyptiaca rinvenuti nel sito enotrio di amendolara, considerati nell'ambito della diffusione mediterranea di questi amuleti,
nelle affinità storico culturali con pithekoussai e nel ruolo svolto presso la popolazione indigena enotria.
La sibaritide di età arcaica  quale sito di accoglimento di influenze culturali-orientali, in particolare egizie e semitiche: la via ionica degli aegyptiaca.
Donne e bambini enotri come fruitori dell'aiuto magico terapeutico degli scarabei di tipo egizio.

This contribution focuses on some specific aspects of production in coarse ware from the two main Greek centres of the Gulf of Naples. Through the analysis of data from the two establishments we tried to underline the distinctive characteristics of this production. The data taken into consideration have shown that Pithekoussai and Cumae share the same vase repertoire consisting in some specific forms developed during the Archaic period. The starting point is the analysis of the necropolis of San Montano at Pithekoussai where we noticed the evidence of a strong process of constitution of coarse ware repertory beginning probably with the arrival of the Greek colonists in the first half of the 8th century B.C. Furthermore, both establishments seem to refer to the Italic context, especially to southern Etruria and to Etruscan centres of the Campania, such as Capua. The latter was briefly analysed to provide some points of comparison with the production from Pithekoussai and Cumae in order to highlight similarities and differences. The results showed how the components that form the vase repertoire in coarse ware are drawn within a very local tradition in which certain forms perform primary functions related to the preparation, cooking and consumption of meals. The research confirms and underlines the highly composite nature of the material culture of the Greek colonies of Campania, permeated by multiple and contemporary cultural influences in an articulated and deeply mixed structure.

Im Zentrum der Arbeit stehen Kulturaustausch und Akkulturationsaspekte, die auf die Ansiedlung der Griechen in Unteritalien und Sizilien zurückgehen und aus dem Mit- und Nebeneinanderleben der italischen und sizilischen Bevölkerungsgruppen und der griechischen Kolonisten resultieren.
Anhand der Entwicklung von Grabtypen, Beigaben und Bestattungssitten werden Einflüsse verschiedener Art untersucht wie die Beziehungen zwischen Kolonie und Mutterstadt, zwischen den Kolonien untereinander und zu ihrer Umgebung und zu der im Umland lebenden Bevölkerung. Die Untersuchung erfolgt anhand dreier Fallbeispiele – die euböischen Gründungen Pithekoussai und Kyme in Kampanien, die achäische Kolonie Metapontion und das spartanische Taras in Unteritalien und die rhodisch-kretischen Gründungen Gela und Akragas auf Sizilien.
Es gibt keinen homogenen in allen Kolonien auf die gleiche Weise ablaufenden Prozess, sondern jeweils lokale Entwicklungen, die aus den verschieden agierenden Kulturgruppen im Umland, der Zusammensetzung der griechischen Siedlergruppe, der Lage und Entwicklung der Kolonie und den naturräumlichen Gegebenheiten resultieren.
In allen drei Untersuchungsgebieten sind die griechischen Einflüsse in der indigenen Bestattungskultur deutlich; es ist jedoch keine reine Übernahme griechischer Gepflogenheiten zu beobachten. Die „Idee“, der einzelne Ritus oder Grabtyp und das Bedürfnis, diesen zu verwenden und auch zur Visualisierung sozial differenzierter Gesellschaftsgruppen zu benutzen, geht auf den durch die Koloniegründungen bedingten direkten Kontakt zurück. Die jeweilige Ausprägung und Gestaltung geschieht dann vor dem kulturellen Hintergrund der Indigenen.

Die Dissertation erscheint als zweiter Band in der neu gegründeten Reihe „Italiká“, die ausschließlich die Archäologie des vorrömischen Italien mit all ihren Bereichen zum Thema hat und damit einem aktuellen und stetig anwachsenden Forschungsinteresse entgegenkommt. „Italiká“ wird monographische Werke und thematisch einheitliche Sammelschriften aus allen Gebieten der Altertumskunde aufzunehmen, die sich im weitesten Sinne mit Quellen, Befunden und Funden zu den Bevölkerungsgruppen auf dem Territorium des heutigen Italien in vorrömischer Zeit befassen und methodisch und theoretisch innovative Ansätze bieten, die das weit gefächerte Spektrum der komplexen Welt der Kulturkontakte exemplarisch beleuchten.

Il bel convegno organizzato da Mario Denti e Mathilde Villette ci ha stimolato a considerare lo scavo di aree di produzione della ceramica, invitandoci a riflettere sui gesti, sulle intenzioni e sulle abilità degli artigiani. Ma come ci si comporta se gli scavi del quartiere artigianale,
come nel caso qui trattato, quello dell’area artigianale di Santa Restituta di Lacco Ameno, sono stati condotti molti anni fa in un sito archeologico di primo piano come è Pitecusa, sull’isola di Ischia, senza un metodo di lavoro esplicitato chiaramente e in condizioni precarie? Quanto è possibile ricostruire l’attività dei ceramisti e la storia del sito? È possibile applicare un’indagine multidisciplinare anche a un’area artigianale scavata nel passato?

The arrival of the Greeks in Campania is regarded as a key event in archaic history. Permanent settlement was preceded by periods of furtive trade and exchange under the term pre-colonization. The establishment of Pithekoussai on Ischia followed by a move to the mainland at Cuma is explained as marking a change from ‘pre-‘ to full colonial status. This expansion to the mainland was motivated by the lack of an agricultural chora at Pithekoussai leading to interactions with local groups on the mainland in order to procure food (Cerchiai 2010, 1995). Amongst these sites was pre-hellenic Cuma.
This indigenous settlement plays an important role within the narrative constructed for ancient Campania. The indigenous sites of Campania have been placed on a hierarchy of development, with pre-hellenic Cuma at the top, deemed to be more advanced than its contemporaries (Cerchiai 2010, D’Agostino 2008). This rests largely on its geographic location opposite Ischia and later status as a Greek colony rather than obvious technological superiority. Euboian Greeks are portrayed as taking control of this hilltop settlement through a violent and forceful push from Ischia (D’Agostino, 2006). This is based on ancient literary accounts which are much later in date and far from clear.

The physical evidence for this is further questionable. A lacuna between the pre-hellenic and Greek graves and a destruction level postulated for one side of the acropolis sustained the hypothesis of the indigenous settlement being wiped out and replaced by the Greek colony. New ceramic evidence from the necropolis and a domestic context suggests instead that when Cuma was founded Greeks and indigenes were living side-by-side (Greco and Mermati, 2010). The destruction level now appears the result of a later change in the Roman period that muddled the stratigraphy.

The picture of a settlement “born from a show of strength by the Greeks at the expense of the indigenous Opician inhabitants” (D’Agostino, 2008) can now no longer be sustained. A more complex picture thus requires a more nuanced interpretation. This paper will re-examine the establishment of Cuma in the wake of the new approaches to the Mediterranean (Malkin, 2011, Riva 2010, Hodos 2009, 2010, Horden and Purcell, 2000). Central to this will be a focus on networks, particularly the model of strong and weak ties (Granovetter, 1973, 1983). This paper proposes that rather than an act of violence, ties between elites enabled the formation of mixed communities and mixed cultures, and through the establishment of weak ties new opportunities were made available to both Greeks and indigenes alike.

Location: Contextualising “early Colonisation”: Archaeology, Sources, Chronology and interpretative models between Italy and the Mediterranean In memory of David Ridgway (1938-2012) Rome, Valle Giulia Academia Belgica, Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut, British School at Rome June, 21-23 2012

More Info: http://www.academiabelgica.it.cloud.seeweb.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=234&Itemid=154&lang=it

Event Date: Jun 23, 2012

Conference End Date: Jun 23, 2012

Conference Start Date: Jun 21, 2012

Articolo pubblicato sulla prestigiosa rivista culturale ischitana "La Rassegna d'Ischia" (numero 3 dell'anno 32), estratto della mia tesi di laurea triennale, che  tratta di come, a differenza di quanto si pensasse fino all'inizio degli anni 90,' negli ultimi decenni il mondo scientifico sulla base delle nuove evidenze archeologiche sia in nella stragrande maggioranza concorde nel definire Pithekoussai non una semplice base commerciale ma una una vera e propria colonia "apoikia" seppur a vocazione commerciale ed artigianale.

Table of content and introduction
DONNELLAN L., NIZZO V., BURGERS G.-J. (edd.), Conceptualising early colonisation, Atti del convegno internazionale di studi in memoria di David Ridgway (1938-2012): “Contextualising “early Colonisation”, vol. II (Roma 21-23 Giugno 2012), Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome, Bruxelles-Roma 2016.

Giuseppe Pipino. Geologist-gitologist, ores prospector, mining and metallurgical history scholar.

Born in Naples in 1942, he lived in various parts of Italy, mainly in Genoa and Milan. In Genoa he began to take an interest in the collection and study of minerals, in Milan he graduated in 1975, supporting a thesis on the Ovada gold lodes. Then, he extended the study to all the mineral deposits of the Voltri Ophiolitic Group as a collaborator of the National Research Council. The collaboration was interrupted due to scientific differences on the possible genesis of the gold veins, because , at the time, in Italy was supported the syn-sedimentary genesis of all mineralizations. Instead, he argued for its metamorphic-hydrothermal genesis, supported in a publication presented at the international conference in Cyprus (1979) This put him in contact with many foreign academic circles and with Canadian and American mining companies, with whom he began professional collaborations, in Italy and in various foreign countries.

In 1982 he was included in the international roster of the UN, as an expert in "Geological and Geochemical Exploration”.

The experience gained allowed him to recognize and describe in publications, despite the skepticism of Italian parastate mining companies and their academic consultants, the presence of epithermal gold mineralizations in Tuscany, Lazio and Sardinia. As regards the scientific aspect, it should be noted that in the new Treccani Italian Dictionary the new lemma "giacimentologo" (gitologist) is associated only with his name, and, in the introduction of one of his publications, he  can claim “… the contribution given to the so-called evolution of the Italian geological thought”.

The study of the minerals collected has often led to specific publications in the Italian Mineralogical Review, of which he was editor from 1980 to 1995. Some of his mineralogical publications have assumed innovative importance. Following the thesis entrusted to him at the University of Milan, his interest focused on gold and its presence in Italy, a presence which, despite the historical past, at the beginning of his career was ignored, underestimated or completely denied , even academically. He also patented tools for recovering gold and other heavy minerals from river sands and those produced in quarry facilities. At the same time it collected all the possible evidence on ancient mining activities and the panning of alluvial gold, and established the Italian Historical Gold Museum: defined, for these activities, the "prophet of gold", in 2020 it was included in the volume "People of Piedmont".

During the drafting of the thesis, he realized that, since these are ancient mines, useful information could come from the search for unpublished documentation, as well as from an in-depth study of the previous bibliography, more or less known, which he could evaluate on the basis of his technical knowledge : has thus been able to correct many deeply rooted opinions and established errors and has been able to clarify many historical mining and metallurgical aspects.

The historical research on Italian mines, pushed further and further back in time, will lead him to become interested in classical authors and archaeological remains, as well as to confront (and clash) with the relative interpretations. He could correct interpretative and codified deductions regarding Roman mining law, the establishment of the "damnatio ad metalla", the presence and/or exploitation of different ores on the Island of Elba, Arezzo, Ischia, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia , and reported specific and innovative topics in individual articles on. The countryside explorations also allowed him to discover and illustrate some Salassi peoples and Roman remains of alluvial gold mines, as well as the remains of a Limes built by the Romans to defend the mines stolen from the Salassi. In his latest publication he highlights how the observation of the archaeological remains facilitates the correct reading of the classical authors and allows to cancel the deductions and inventions of the modern ones, requiring to rewrite the ancient history of the territory between Ivrea and Vercelli.
And, for logical historical connection with the Italian ones, he also analyzed the alleged Roman "aurifodines" of Las Medulas in Spain, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco, demonstrating that the arguments put forward in the numerous responsible publications are unfounded, and there are many evidences to the contrary.

Le ceramiche di Pitecusa, sita nella valle di Lacco Ameno, sono note grazie alle fondamentali pubblicazioni degli scavi di Giorgio Buchner e David Ridgway nella Necropoli di San Montano e da rinvenimenti in altre zone del territorio. Il presente lavoro fa luce sulle ricerche effettuate sul quartiere ceramico di Santa Restituta di Lacco Ameno.

La produzione ceramica pithecusano-cumana, elaborata nelle botteghe di Pithekoussai e Cuma già in una fase molto precoce di vita dei due siti, presenta fin dall'inizio caratteristiche ben definite che la rendono riconoscibile fra tutte, e un alto livello qualitativo. Come è ovvio, i primi prodotti elaborati negli ateliers flegrei appaiono, per caratteristiche stilistiche e formali, maggiormente legati alla matrice euboica dei coloni. Tuttavia ben presto nuovi influssi e stili vengono recepiti e rielaborati per essere riproposti in un linguaggio assolutamente originale e polimorfo. L'ampia diffusione di questi oggetti testimonia l'alto gradimento che essi dovettero avere, probabilmente anche come markers culturali. L'arco cronologico in cui essi si muovono è compreso tra la metà dell'VIII e la fine del VII sec. a.C., con un picco nel periodo compreso fra il TGII e il MPC pithecusani, cioè tra l'ultimo quarto dell'VIII e il primo del VII secolo. Le forme vascolari non viaggiano tutte nello stesso modo, risultando l'oinochoe la più diffusa, spesso accompagnata da una coppa per bere in un abbinamento che costituisce una sorta di set minimo. Le zone maggiormente interessate da quello che dovette certamente essere uno scambio sono ovviamente quelle più prossime della Campania indigena ed etrusca. La Valle del Sarno, Pontecagnano e l'area della mesogaia orbitante su Capua hanno infatti restituito il numero più consistente di esemplari, quasi tutti da necropoli. Spostandosi verso nord la quantità di attestazioni va decrescendo, marcando una rotta costiera che non sembra proseguire molto oltre Tarquinia, dove più che oggetti pithecusano-cumani troviamo una serie di produzioni ad essi fortemente ispirati. L'altro importante contesto culturale che recepisce i prodotti flegrei è quello fenicio-punico. Siti come Cartagine, il Sulcis e Almuñecar sono infatti interessati da ceramica pithecusano-cumana, soprattutto coppe, in alcuni casi provenienti anche da contesti residenziali. Una serie di presenze puntuali in località quali Bologna e Gioia Tauro sono invece più difficilmente interpretabili. Le dinamiche di scambio e ricezione dovettero quindi essere diverse da contesto a contesto, da sito a sito e in alcuni casi anche da situazione a situazione, definendo un panorama quanto mai articolato della distribuzione di questi prodotti e degli eventuali messaggi ad essi legati.

Pithekoussai on the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples is the first foundation of Greek people in the west who, among others, came from the island of Euboea in Central Greece in the eighth century B.C. The present study aims to understand how the Euboean settlers constructed their identity in a new environment and under the experience of encountering various people with different cultural backgrounds. Based on a comparison of mortuary data from the Protogeometric cemeteries at Lefkandi on the island of Euboea in Central Greece and the earliest burials in Pithekoussai, it will be argued that the first settlers preserved key aspects of their funerary rituals and, thus, their identity. However, at the same time they adjusted to the inter-cultural environment by replacing elements of their own culture by ‘foreign’ elements. The results of the examination are well understandable from a postcolonial perspective in which Pithekoussai, though founded by Euboeans, can be interpreted as a third place in which identities were re-negotiated and newly created.

The cases of Cuma and Pithekoussai here discussed fall into two specific areas of research on which the writer has been working for some time, with results perhaps controversial, but which are based on at least two objective aspects: the need for a more careful archival research of old excavations and the extraordinary importance of the stratigraphy of Pithekoussai’s necropolis. In the first case, the study of new archival documents, relating to the ‘preellenic’ burials, has allowed us to highlight the serious anomalies which have destabilized the reliability of some contexts on which the chronological reconstruction of the early Iron Age in Italy was originally founded. In the case of Pithekoussai, the reconstruction of the stratigraphic sequence of the necropolis, merged with the typological and associative analysis of more than 2,600 grave goods found in about 600 contexts (dating from the late Geometric I to the Middle Corinthian), has yielded to a more accurate interpretation of the evolution of the cemetery and to a more precise contextualization of graves and finds, unanimously considered “guide fossils” for the ancient Mediterranean chronology.

Zusammenfassung:
Objekte im Grabkontext sollen als Sammlung im Sinne der Konzeption Krzysztof Pomians verstanden werden. Nach Pomian werden Gebrauchsfunktionen und dingliche Aspekte von Objekten durch die Aufnahme in eine Sammlung negiert. Herausgelöst aus ursprünglichen Handlungszusammenhängen haben daher Objekte – wie auch die Körper der Toten – im Grab im Wesentlichen als Zeichenträger, Semiophoren in der Terminologie Pomians, zu gelten. Über die exemplarisch herangezogenen Befunde von zwei Gräbern der Nekropole von Pithekoussai auf Ischia, Grab 6 der Westtornekropole von Eretria auf Euböa und der Tomba Regolini-Galassi des etruskischen Caere/Cerveteri wird der Niederlegung von Objekten im Grab als einer Bedeutung produzierenden Handlung nachgegangen. Die in der Forschung als ›Fürstengräber‹ bzw. ›Heroengräber‹ bezeichneten Gräber mit extrem reicher, differenzierter Ausstattung einerseits bzw. mit einem auf wenige außergewöhnliche Objekte reduzierten Inventar andererseits werden als zwei unterschiedliche, historisch bedingte Typen der Distinktion im Rahmen von Bestattungen vorgestellt.

Il volume “PITHECUSAN WORKSHOPS”. Il quartiere artigianale di Santa Restituta di Lacco Ameno (Ischia) e i suoi reperti rappresenta il risultato di molti anni di ricerche archeologiche e archeometriche condotte dall’Autrice, inizialmente nell’ambito della Habilitation presso la Freie Universität di Berlino, grazie a un finanziamento della Thyssen Stiftung di Bonn e, in seguito, grazie al progetto FIRB dal titolo: “IMMENSA AEQUORA. Ricostruire i commerci nel Mediterraneo in epoca ellenistica e romana attraverso nuovi approcci scientifici e tecnologici” (www.immensaaequora.org)
Oggetto dell’indagine è il quartiere artigianale sito sotto la Chiesa di Santa Restituta, a Lacco Ameno di Ischia - l’antica Pithekoussai, molto nota per le fondamentali ricerche di Giorgio Buchner e David Ridgway nella necropoli di San Montano - ai piedi del Monte Vico e vicino al mare. Il contesto, di grande interesse, è stato casualmente portato alla luce negli anni ’50 del secolo scorso dal parroco della Chiesa, Don Pietro Monti; copre una superficie di oltre 1500 mq ed era costituito da più fornaci, di cui 7 sono state individuate, insieme ad aree di lavorazione, a un essiccatoio per tegole, e a strumenti usati dai ceramisti.
Grazie all’utilizzo della termoluminescenza e allo studio dei reperti, è stato possibile stabilire la reale cronologia delle fornaci, che non è circoscritta all’epoca repubblicana come si pensava tempo fa, ma che è compresa tra il periodo tardo geometrico e quello ellenistico. La fornace più antica, quella circolare, risale con tutta probabilità alle prime fasi dell’insediamento greco. Le altre, di forma rettangolare e di misure variabili, sono datate tra l’epoca arcaica e quella ellenistica.
I nuovi dati e la localizzazione del kerameikos nella piazza di Santa Restituta contribuiscono ad aggiungere tasselli alla conoscenza della storia e della topografia dell’isola, nota per le sue argille.
Lo studio archeologico e archeometrico (chimici - XRF - e mineralogica, microscopio polarizzatore) ha permesso di individuare e di caratterizzare le ceramiche prodotte localmente, che sono poi le stesse che si trovano nelle tombe della Necropoli di San Montano e in altri contesti di Pithekoussai. L’importanza dell’area artigianale di Santa Restituta si intuisce per l’abbondanza e la varietà delle classi ceramiche prodotte per un lungo periodo di tempo: ceramiche fini, comuni e laterizi dipinti nel periodo della colonizzazione e in quello arcaico; nel periodo ellenistico, anfore greco italiche bollate in greco, per il contenimento e per il commercio del vino locale, ceramiche fini, matrici, louteria, bracieri e coroplastica, pesi da telaio.
L’incrocio di dati diversi - tipologici, archeometrici ed epigrafici - ha permesso di ottenere nuove e importanti informazioni sull’organizzazione della produzione della ceramica a Ischia ma anche sull’economia dell’isola e del Golfo di Napoli nel corso dei secoli. Vino, metalli, allume e ceramica sono stati al centro delle attività produttive di questa interessantissima isola, meta della colonizzazione greca e per molti secoli al centro di correnti commerciali di primo piano.

The necropolis of Pithekoussai, in its early phases, was in use for about 150 years. The excavated portion of the burial ground contains more than 600 graves, the majority of which belong to a period concentrated between 740 and 680 BC. Thanks to Giorgio Buchner’s excavations we have immense information about the funerary practices. Among the most interesting aspects that emerged from a systematic analysis of the stratigraphy (Nizzo 2007), was the reinterpretation of the diachronic and demographic evolution of the necropolis. This has provided extremely important data, both about the structure of the funerary groups, and the way the ritual landscape was laid out. The analysis here reveals that the community did not discriminate based on categories of age, gender, or social status in the formal disposal of the dead, and maybe, also not on the ethnic origin of the deceased. Instead the evidence suggests a degree of integration and cultural hybridization, a point that is particularly interesting considering the historical context. Methodologically, this paper embraces models derived from cultural anthropology, notably a perspective that I recently defined: ‘constructing deathscapes’ (Nizzo 2015).
in Edward Herring, Eóin O’Donoghue (eds.): Papers in Italian archaeology, 7. The archaeology of death. Proceedings of the Seventh Conference of Italian Archaeology held at the National University of Ireland, Galway, April 16-18, 2016. (Oxford 2018)

"from: "http://www.cnrs.fr/inshs/recherche/librairie/206.htm"
Les historiens et les archéologues savent combien les fouilles conduites sur l’île d’Ischia par G. Buchner ont bouleversé nos connaissances sur la colonisation grecque de l’Italie à l’époque archaïque. L’admirable fouille de la nécropole de Pithécusses, publiée par le fouilleur et D. Ridgway dans les Monumenti Antichi de l’Académie des Lincei, offre une documentation essentielle sur les premiers temps de l’arrivée des Grecs en Campanie. La richesse de cet ouvrage est telle qu’il a été possible à Valentino Nizzo de reprendre l’étude des contextes funéraires selon des méthodes sérielles, de les réorganiser à l’aide de matrices ordonnables et de proposer des réajustements chronologiques de mobiliers et de nouvelles lectures sociologiques des ensembles funéraires. Cet ouvrage qui entre dans la série que le Centre Jean Bérard a consacré aux fouilles de Pithécusses (CITER) offre donc de nouvelles perspectives et fourni d’ores et déjà l’argument de discussions et de débats."

Il progetto ha l’obiettivo di ricostruire il ruolo storico, ambientale ed economico delle isole del Golfo di Napoli nel corso dei secoli, attraverso il caso di Ischia, combinando archeologia, storia, scienze ambientali e scienze marine, per definire gli interventi di antropizzazione degli spazi costieri e insulari.
Oggetto delle ricerche sono gli aspetti geo-archeologici, la paleogeografia delle aree marine costiere, il paesaggio agrario (vite e vino), ambientale e vulcanico (acque, metalli, argille e allume), e le dinamiche produttive e commerciali grazie allo studio archeologico e archeometrico della ceramica e dei carichi dei relitti.

Although the Archaic Greek site of Pithekoussai was discovered as early as the late 18th century, it was not until the 1950s and 60s that its importance was fully realized. Dated to the early 8th century BCE by the immense quantities of pottery and well-preserved funerary goods found at the site, this large settlement on the Italian island of Ischia near the Bay of Naples is the earliest Greek foundation to be discovered in the West. As the forerunner to the later great colonies of Magna Graecia, Pithekoussai is invaluable to the study of Greek colonization. Its archaeological remains reveal the beginnings of the revolutionary idea of colonization, and the ways in which the Greek presence was first established in the West.
The site’s significance is furthered still by the wide range of cultural material it has yielded. By investigating the available ceramic evidence, fibulae types, burial traditions, imported goods, and various written sources, this study sheds light on the diverse ethnic groups that called Pithekoussai home. As a place where the cultural traditions of Euboeans, Corinthians, Levantines, and Etruscans converged and co-existed, the remains of Pithekoussai play an important role in understanding how cultural identities affected commercial relations in the Archaic Mediterranean, and how the interaction of these identities laid the foundations for the expansive colonization efforts of the Greeks in the following centuries.

This project’s goal is the reconstruction of the historical, environmental and economic role of the islands of the Gulf of Naples over the centuries, taking into consideration the case of Ischia in particular. The project combines Archaeology, History, Environmental Sciences and Marine Sciences to define the ways in which anthropization occurred in the coastal and island areas.
The topics of the research are the geo-archaeological aspects, the paleography of the coastal marine areas, the agrarian countryside (viticulture and wine), the environmental and volcanic aspects (water, metals, clays and alum), and production and trade dynamics (thanks to archaeological study of ceramics and the cargoes of shipwrecks).

Gli aegyptiaca della campania pre-romana costiuiscono uno dei nuclei archeologici di tipo faraonico più importanti dell'area mediterranea pre-ellenistica. Le
scoperte iniziarono ai primi dell'800 e raggiunsero importanti risultati, in particolare col rinvenimento della necropoli euboica di Pithekoussai.(Lacco ameno, Ischia)
Grazie a quest'ultima è stato possibile rivalutare il ruolo semitico nella mediazione commerciale, nella produzione d'imitazione e nella divulgazione culturale (di tipo magico-religioso
diretta alla protezione della donna e del bambino) degli aegyptiaca.
Tali rinvenimenti campani illuminano sul significato e sul ruolo dei reperti di tipo egizio, evidenziando anche la sintesi culturale fra mondo
egizio, mondo semitico e mondo indigeno campano.

The archeology of colonisation always had to deal with written traditions, especially in searching for confirmations and/or chronological clarifications. This paper briefly traces the debate on these issues that took place during last century, highlighting how the perception of time dynamics has variously influenced the interpretation of historical processes related to the colonial phenomenon and, with them, the perception of the dialectic between Greeks and Natives. If, at first, the analysis often met with circular types of reasoning, in a manner more or less forced to reconcile the archaeological data with literary ones, in recent years a revisionist wave, combining chrono-typological analysis with the results of new radiocalibrated dating, has caused a sudden split between indigenous chronological sequences of Italy and Central Europe and those of the eastern Mediterranean. On the historical level the consequences have been of great importance and it is believed that they deserve particular attention, especially from a methodological point of view.

In the mid-eighth century A.C. the Greeks found in Campania Pithekoussai and then Cuma. The settlers are already at the beginning a mixed group, consisting not only of Hellenes from various proveniences, but also by men of different social classes. This community, in which are included also Eastern minorities, is strongly projected on the coast and the surrounding territory, inhabited by natives who soon begin to interact with the newcomers. The practice of mixed marriages accelerates the process of hybridation, which gives rise to a community complex and highly permeable to the new, different from the starting components, but closely related to them.

Although the Archaic Greek site of Pithekoussai was discovered as early as the late 18th century, it was not until the 1950s and 60s that its importance was fully realized. Dated to the early 8th century BCE by the immense quantities of pottery and well-preserved funerary goods found at the site, this large settlement on the Italian island of Ischia near the Bay of Naples is the earliest Greek foundation to be discovered in the West. As the forerunner to the later great colonies of Magna Graecia, Pithekoussai is invaluable to the study of Greek colonization. Its archaeological remains reveal the beginnings of the revolutionary idea of colonization, and the ways in which the Greek presence was first established in the West.
The site’s significance is furthered still by the wide range of cultural material it has yielded. By investigating the available ceramic evidence, fibulae types, burial traditions, imported goods, and various written sources, this study sheds light on the diverse ethnic groups that called Pithekoussai home. As a place where the cultural traditions of Euboeans, Corinthians, Levantines, and Etruscans converged and co-existed, the remains of Pithekoussai play an important role in understanding how cultural identities affected commercial relations in the Archaic Mediterranean, and how the interaction of these identities laid the foundations for the expansive colonization efforts of the Greeks in the following centuries.

Pithecusan-Cumaean pottery was produced in a period between the middle of the 8th and the late 7th century BC. If the first products appear more closely related to the Euboean background of the settlers, soon new influences and styles – not only Greek, but also Phoenician and indigenous – are received and reformulated to be replicated in an absolutely original and polymorphic language. The wide diffusion of these objects demonstrates the high likelihood they have, probably also as cultural markers. In such a lively Mediterranean space, the Greek-style pottery of the Sibaritide, in particular from Francavilla Marittima and the Timpone della Motta sanctuary, stands out for similar but inverse reasons. Here early contacts with the Greeks led to the organisation of an atelier, probably managed with the collaboration of the indigenous population, which produces the so-called Oenotrian-Euboean ware. Also, strongly influenced in the first phase by local material culture, they gradually adhere to the new products that become available on the market over time. The foundation of Sybaris around 730–720 BC, with the definitive settling of the Greeks on the coast, makes the dialogue with the pre-existing population groups in the territory even more intense, leading to a more Hellenising local ware that continues at least until the 6th century BC.