An Etruscan temple has been discovered in Tuscania.

Important archaeological discovery in Tuscia and specifically in Tuscania where a previously unknown cult building has been found in the Etruscan necropolis of Sasso Pinzuto. The necropolis of Sasso Pinzuto, known since the nineteenth century, has been the subject since 2022 of an excavation concession granted by the Ministry of Culture to the Center for Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies (CAMNES) in Florence, in collaboration with the University of Naples Federico II, which is directing the field work.

Specifically, the tuffaceous opus quadratum foundations of a building with a rectangular plan, measuring 6.2 x 7.1 meters, oriented north-northeast and facing the access road to the urban area of Colle San Pietro, were discovered. Exploration of this building, located in a dominant position over the surrounding area, will enable the acquisition of information about funerary cults, characteristic of Tuscania in the Archaic period. It was probably a cult building, an oikos as it is called in technical terms, that is, the house of the deity (oikos in Greek, in fact, means “house”).

The building was found in a tongue of land just under 1,000 m² in size, housing at least three mounds with crepidines dug into the tufa and integrated in opus quadratum. North of the largest mound, with a diameter of more than ten meters, nine small pits in the tuff were intended for burials and cults: it is in this area of the excavation that the building was found.

In addition, more than one hundred chamber tombs dating to the seventh to sixth centuries B.C.E. were explored in the necropolis area, which is accessible by a road carved into the tufa, and remnants of grave goods and polychrome, mold-decorated clay slabs dating to the second quarter of the sixth century B.C.E. were found. These slabs depict ceremonies of the archaic Etruscan elites, such as processions of horsemen and chariots, banquets, dancers and musicians. Similar slabs, shattered and accumulated in trenches around burial mounds, have also been found in other Etruscan necropolises in Tuscania and attributed to the decoration of cult buildings in burial grounds, of which no substantial remains had been identified until now.

"In all likelihood the Sasso Pinzutooikos will become a reference for funerary cults in Archaic Etruscan necropolis," reiterates Professor Alessandro Naso of the University of Naples. “It is a further building block for the knowledge and protection of Tuscania’s archaeological sites, on which the Superintendency, together with the various institutions, is working hard,” concludes Dr. Simona Carosi, area referent archaeological officer.

An Etruscan temple has been discovered in Tuscania.

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