- Mariassunta Cuozzo –
In both the principal necropoleis of Pontecagnano (Fig. 16.2), inhumation is now the
dominant ritual, the tombs are usually a fossa (trench-shaped) or a cassa (cist-shaped)
made of travertine slabs; cremation, or an allusion to this, only returns in the case of
the “princely” tombs 928–926, 4461 (Cuozzo 2004–2005; Bonaudo et al. 2009). The
renovation of the funerary landscape is based for the most part in cases of a centripetal
structuring of the cemetery plan centered on the presence of clan tombs within the area of
privileged burials and reserved also with regards to the presence of elements of enclosure
and the creation of cult places for funerary cult still active into the fi fth century bc (Fig.
16.2). As the variegated material culture testifi es, Pontecagnano appears to be an “open”
community that tends to integrate and rework various contributions and components
that are at the same time in competition. The enhanced dialectic within the social body
through the norms of the community, strategies of groups or of individuals and the
complex dynamics of interaction with diverse cultural spheres are at the core of radical
changes in the rituals and in the composition of the funerary offerings.
The establishment of rules and prohibitions of collective type occurs primarily in
the selection of a “basic set” of grave goods which focuses on the association of a small
impasto amphora, preferred indicator of the material culture of Pontecagnano, with a
“wine service” of Greek type, totally innovative compared to the First Iron Age: it is
an essential level of ritual, adopted by the community towards the end of the eighth
century bc, for all components of gender and age group, men, women, children, and
kept unchanged at least until the second half of the seventh century bc. Privileged bonds
with the Etruscan world are manifested through the preferential use of writing and the
gentilicial name (gentilizio): as has been noted, from Pontecagnano comes the oldest
Etruscan inscription in Campania, the fi rst in the region to document the adoption of the
two-part name formula with the indication of a noble (gentilicial) name of unequivocal
Etruscan origin (“mi mulu venelasi velchaesi rasuniesi”) (Cerchiai 2010). The most recent
results of research show that in Pontecagnano, as in contemporary contexts of Etruria and
Latium, the heads of clans may be both male and female (Cuozzo 2003).
A marked dialectic in which identities are intertwined with status and gender seems
to preside over the forms of re-elaboration of “princely” rituals in the context of a clear
ideological confrontation between the East and West necropoleis. On the one hand, in
the western necropolis, the “prince-hero” is affi rmed, an Etruscan-Tyrrhenian ideological
construct, partly evocative of Homeric places, the exclusive preserve of a few personages
of male gender, like the individuals buried in the well-known tombs 926–928, 4461,
and on the other hand, in the eastern necropolis, there appears the fi gure of the princely
female of Tomb 2465, probably covered by a tumulus and the center-point for the
surrounding funerary space. In Tombs 926–928, the ritual selected is cremation with
the deposition of the bones, wrapped in fi ne cloth, in one or more containers of bronze
sometimes also draped with textiles. The architecture of tombs 926–928 provides for
the setting up of two distinct symbolic spaces (Fig. 16.2). Particular attention is paid in
Tomb 928 to the wine service, the oinochoe and kotyle decorated, under the rim, with
an inscription in false hieroglyphs, the product of Phoenician craftsmen working on the
coast of Syria (Fig. 16.2 no. 1A). Symbols of luxury and of the princely lifestyle, these
exotic objects, imported from the Orient and characterized by the quality of materials
and technical refi nement, appear in the main aristocratic tombs of Etruria and Latium.
Offerings related to the status of the deceased, to the guarantee of the community and
to the relationship with the gods, include precious and exotic imports, weapons and,