Aggiornamenti e novità sulle deposizioni di bambini in abitato a Tarquinia : Il caso dell’individuo 9 del ‘complesso monumentale’

The ‘monumental complex’ of Tarquinia is the first scientifically examined case of deposition of sub-adults, in an inhabited area. These depositions were explored in their archaeological, anthropological, and historical respects by M. Bonghi Jovino. Recent excavation campaigns have increased their number and opened new scenarios of ritual practices, as well as of the relationship with the overall layout of the sacred area. This contribution concerns the case of individual 9, who was found in a supine position without its head and other parts of the skeleton, because of the prevailing soil conditions. The sex cannot be defined because of its sub-adult age which has been determined as between 6 and 11 years. This case is presented here as a preliminary interdisciplinary study that focuses on the stratigraphy, physical anthropology and epigraphy. This deposition is dated before the mid-7th century BC, in the stratigraphic column of the so called “H-Muri” sector, which at this time was a quadrangular area walled with “pilaster-walls”. This area intentionally preserved a repeated sequence of earlier, similar actions dating from the last phase of the Villanovan to the ancient Orientalizing period, starting from the mid- 8th century BC. A traumatic event of considerable importance occurred to individual 9 at the time of death. We interpret this as a fall from some height when the body was intact, since the evidence of the vertebrae is compatible with a fragment of right mandible probably found in secondary position, in the same “H-Muri” sector, as confirmed by other anthropological indicators. However, the cause of death is not clear. It is also difficult to reconstruct the reason for the removal of the head, which took place post-mortem, and evaluate the time lapse between its removal and placement of the fragment of mandible in the layers following the deposition of individual 9. The phased stratigraphy of the discovery finds comparison with other contexts already identified at the 'monumental complex'. They represent consistent repeated actions in the same sacred location: ash altars and stratified ritual actions read from the archaeological record. They were emphasized on surface by a system of visual references consisting of stone markers or circumscribed areas of crushed and compressed local calcareous stone (macco). There are two archaeological features which show deliberate and structured rule making: in the vertical dimension, a chronological sequence connected to the memory of special sacred space; in the horizontal dimension, a clear ordering of space within the ‘monumental complex’ focused on the “H-Muri” sector. These structured principles were transferred to portable material culture in the form of the cross inscribed in a circle engraved on a skyphos of the mid-7th century BC. This particular siglum, the forma quadrans according to the protocol of the International Etruscan Sigla Project, was widely shared in Etruria and often found in connection with sacred objects and monuments. We interpret this siglum as a visual reference to ritual, a possible representation of the Etruscan sacred space, defined by delimitation, orientation and partition. In the case of “H-Muri” sector, this well recognizable siglum indicated the remodeling and closure of sacred zones used until the end of the late Villanovan. These rituals were linked to the creation of a rectangular boundary from the construction of “pilaster-walls” where individual 9 was deposited in the south-west corner. The set of ritual actions, which continued throughout the entire Archaic period, underwrote the memory of this deposit as a longue durée monumentum. The broader study of Etruscan religion suggests an all embracing conceptual framework: the absence of the skull, the fragment of mandible dislocated in a secondary position and the inscriptional memory may have a connection with the supernatural world. Current research shows that these elements were deeply rooted in the meaning of the 'monumental complex' present since its foundation, as is shown by another monumentum, a natural cavity in the centre of the ‘monumental complex’ associated with the child located nearby, affected by encephalopathy. This can be interpreted as the morbus sacer, a mode of communication with the supernatural world in Antiquity.