The Etruscans in Southern Gaul during the Fifth Century B.C.E.: A Vessel of the “Spurinas” Group Discovered at the Settlement of La Monédière in Bessan (Hérault, France)
-
Eric Gailledrat
,
Valentina Belfiore
Abstract
The 2014 excavations carried out in 2014 at the protohistoric settlement of La Monédière, in Bessan (Hérault, France), confirmed the unique status of this site during the sixth to fifth centuries B. C. E. The site is located near the Greek colony of Agathé (Agde), at the interface between colonial and indigenous areas. Inside the limits of the site’s habitation areas, excavations discovered a huge pit which has been interpreted as a bothros. Dated to the fifth century B. C. E., it was filled with material associated with banqueting. Among the numerous amphorae and vessels of the earliest phase (475–450 B.C.E), the discovery of an Etruscan black-glazed cup from the “Spurinas” group is notable. This cup is characterized by the existence of a painted inscription “APA” (“father”). It is the first attestation, within this class of ceramic, of this Etruscan appellative interpreted as a reference to a chtonic divinity. Moreover, excepted Lattara (Lattes), La Monédière is the only place outside Etruria where a ceramic from the “Spurinas” group was found. The context of discovery is in itself very unique, and raises question about the implemented rituals, and the likely presence of Etruscan people among an indigenous or mixed community.
Acknowledgements
This article was partially funded by the ARCHIMEDE Labex programme: Investissement d’Avenir ANR-11-LABX-0032-01.
Funding: ARCHIMEDE Labex programme Investissement d’Avenir ANR-11-LABX-0032-01.
Bibliography
Belfiore, V. 2014. “Nuove iscrizioni da Lattes.” In Les origines de Lattara et la présence étrusque. Les données de la zone 27, dir. D. Lebeaupin, 295–319. Lattara 22. Lattes: Éd. de l'Association pour le développement de l'archéologie en Languedoc-Roussillon. Suche in Google Scholar
Belfiore, V. 2015. “Graffiti etruschi dalla Gallia e il piombo di Pech Maho: alcune questioni paleografiche e contenutistiche.” In Contacts et acculturations en Méditerranée occidentale. Hommages à Michel Bats. Actes du Colloque de Hyères, 15–18 septembre 2011, edited by R. Roure, C. Aranegui Gascó, P. Boissinot, and A. Bouet, 537–43. Études Massaliètes 12. Aix-Paris: Centre Camille Jullian-Errance. 10.4000/books.pccj.5662Suche in Google Scholar
Belfiore, V., and M.L. Medori. Forthcoming. “Potters’ Signatures: Relationship between Craftsman and Artefacts.” In Etruscan Literacy in Its Social Context. London: Accordia Publications.Suche in Google Scholar
Bellelli, V. 2002. “Scheda epigrafica.” In Studi Etruschi (Rivista di Epigrafia Etrusca), 65–8, 328 n. 23.Suche in Google Scholar
Bernardini, C. 2001. Il gruppo Spurinas. Daidalos 4. Viterbo: Universita degli Studi della Tuscia.Suche in Google Scholar
Beylier, A. 2015. “Bessan, La Monédière.” Bilan Scientifique de la Région Languedoc-Roussillon 2014: 131–33.Suche in Google Scholar
Beylier A., A.-M. Curé, C. Dubosse, and E. Gailledrat. Forthcoming. “Banquets, vin et dépôts rituels au Ve s. av. n. ère : une fosse à caractère votif sur le site de La Monédière à Bessan (Hérault, France).” In Atti del III Congresso Internazionale di studi ceramici. Banchetto e Commensalità, Gela (Italie), 15–19 di settembre 2015. Largo S. Biagio, Italy: Mediterranean International Centre of Studies.Suche in Google Scholar
Colonna, G. 2006. "A proposito della presenza etrusca nella Gallia Meridionale”. In Gli Etruschi da Genova ad Ampurias, Atti del XXIV Convegno di Studi Etruschi e Italici, 26 settembre–1 ottobre 2002, 658–73. Pisa-Roma: Serra.Suche in Google Scholar
Cristofani, M. 1993. “Il testo di Pech-Maho, Aleria e i traffici del V secolo a.C.” Mélanges de l’Ecole Française de Rome. Antiquité 105 (2): 833–45.Suche in Google Scholar
Cristofani, M. 2000. “I culti di Caere.” Scienze dell’Antichità 10: 395–425.Suche in Google Scholar
Curé, A.M. 2010. “Réflexions sur l’utilisation culinaire des mortiers protohistoriques en céramique: le cas du Languedoc méditerranéen à l’âge du Fer (VIe–IIIe s. av. n. è.).” In De la cuina a la taula. IV reunió d’economia en el primer millenni aC, edited by C. Mata, G. Pérez, and J. Vives-Ferándiz, 189–98. Saguntum Extra 9. València: Departament de Prehistòria i Arqueologia, Universitat de València. Suche in Google Scholar
Gailledrat, E. 2010. “Innovations architecturales et processus d’acculturation au VIe s. sur le littoral languedocien. L’exemple de Pech Maho (Sigean, Aude).” In Grecs et Indigènes de la Catalogne à la Mer Noire, edited by H. Tréziny, 333–47. Bibliothèque d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne et Africaine 3. Aix-Paris: Centre Camille Jullian-Errance. 10.4000/books.pccj.555Suche in Google Scholar
Gailledrat, E. 2014. Espaces coloniaux et indigènes sur les rivages d’Extrême-Occident méditerranéen (Xe-IIIe s. avant notre ère). Montpellier: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée.Suche in Google Scholar
Gailledrat, E. 2015. “New Perspectives on Emporia in the Western Mediterranean: Greeks, Etruscans and Native Populations at the Mouth of the Lez (Hérault, France) during the Sixth-Fifth Centuries BC.” Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 28 (1): 23–50.10.1558/jmea.v28i1.27500Suche in Google Scholar
Jehasse, J., and L. Jehasse. 1973. La nécropole préromaine d’Aléria (1960–1968). XXVe supplément à Gallia. Paris: Éditions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique.Suche in Google Scholar
Johnston, A. 1985. “Etruscan in the Greek Vase Trade?” In Il commercio etrusco arcaico, Atti dell’incontro di studio, 5–7 dicembre 1983, edited by M. Cristofani, 249–55. Rome: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Suche in Google Scholar
Johnston, A. 2006. Trademarks on Greek Vases: Addenda. Oxford: Aris and Phillips.Suche in Google Scholar
Jully, J.J. 1973. La céramique attique de la Monédière, Bessan, Hérault : ancienne collection Coulouma, Béziers. Latomus 124. Brussels: Latomus.Suche in Google Scholar
Lebeaupin, D., dir. 2014. Les origines de Lattara et la présence étrusque. Les données de la zone 27. Lattara 22. Lattes: Éd. de l'Association pour le développement de l'archéologie en Languedoc-Roussillon.Suche in Google Scholar
Maras, D.F. 2009. Il dono votivo. Biblioteca di Studi etruschi 46. Pisa-Rome: Fabrizio Serra.Suche in Google Scholar
Meiser, G., ed. 2014. Etruskische Texte: Editio Minor. Vol. 1, Einleitung, Konkordanz, Indices. Vol. 2, Texte. Hamburg: Baar-Verlag.Suche in Google Scholar
Musée archéologique Henri-Prades (Lattes, Hérault), and Accademia etrusca (Cortona, Italy). 2015. Les Étrusques en toutes lettres. Écriture et société dans l’Italie antique. Milan: Silvana editoriale.Suche in Google Scholar
Nickels, A. 1976. “Les maisons à abside d’époque grecque archaïque de La Monédière à Bessan (Hérault).” Gallia 34 (1): 95–128.10.3406/galia.1976.1546Suche in Google Scholar
Nickels, A. 1983. “Les Grecs en Gaule : l’exemple du Languedoc.” In Modes de contact et processus de transformation dans les sociétés anciennes, 409–28. Pisa: Scuola normale superiore; Rome: Ecole Française de Rome.Suche in Google Scholar
Nickels, A. 1989. “La Monédière à Bessan (Hérault). Le bilan des recherches.” Documents d’Archéologie Méridionale 12: 51–119.10.3406/dam.1989.1000Suche in Google Scholar
Py, M., dir. 1993. Dicocer. Dictionnaire des céramiques antiques (VIIe s. av. n. è–VIIe s. de n. è.) en Méditerranée nord-occidentale (Provence, Languedoc, Ampurdan). 1st ed. Lattara 6. Lattes: Édition de l'Association pour la recherche archéologique en Languedoc oriental.Suche in Google Scholar
Py, M. 2009. Lattara (Lattes, Hérault). Comptoir gaulois méditerranéen entre Etrusques, Grecs et Romains. Paris: Errance.Suche in Google Scholar
Py M., A.M. Adroher Auroux, and C. Sanchez. 2001. Dicocer. Corpus des céramiques de l’Âge du Fer de Lattes (fouilles 1963–1999). 2nd ed. Lattara 14. Lattes: Édition de l'Association pour la recherche archéologique en Languedoc oriental.Suche in Google Scholar
REE: Rivista di Epigrafia Etrusca (in Studi Etruschi).Suche in Google Scholar
Stopponi, S. 2012. “Il Fanum Voltumnae: dalle divinità Tluschva a San Pietro.” AnnFaina 29: 7–75.Suche in Google Scholar
© 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Thunder versus Lightning in Etruria
- The Vicchio Stele and Its Context
- The Vicchio Stele: The Inscription
- Stories in Clay: Mythological Characters on Ceramics in Archaic Etruria
- The Etruscans in Southern Gaul during the Fifth Century B.C.E.: A Vessel of the “Spurinas” Group Discovered at the Settlement of La Monédière in Bessan (Hérault, France)
- Book and Exhibition Reviews
- The Mediterranean Foundations of Ancient Art
- Gli Etruschi e La Campania settentrionale: atti del XXXVI Convegno di studi etruschi ed italici, Caserta, Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Capua, Teano, 11–15 novembre 2007
- L’Ombra degli Etruschi: Simboli di un popolo fra pianura e collina
- Couched in Death: Klinai and Identity in Anatolia and Beyond
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Thunder versus Lightning in Etruria
- The Vicchio Stele and Its Context
- The Vicchio Stele: The Inscription
- Stories in Clay: Mythological Characters on Ceramics in Archaic Etruria
- The Etruscans in Southern Gaul during the Fifth Century B.C.E.: A Vessel of the “Spurinas” Group Discovered at the Settlement of La Monédière in Bessan (Hérault, France)
- Book and Exhibition Reviews
- The Mediterranean Foundations of Ancient Art
- Gli Etruschi e La Campania settentrionale: atti del XXXVI Convegno di studi etruschi ed italici, Caserta, Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Capua, Teano, 11–15 novembre 2007
- L’Ombra degli Etruschi: Simboli di un popolo fra pianura e collina
- Couched in Death: Klinai and Identity in Anatolia and Beyond
