Una necropoli aristocratica della Peucezia. Le tombe di contrada Purgatorio a Rutigliano (scavi 1976- 1977)

A significant contribution to the knowledge of the indigenous peoples of Apulia is provided by the archaeological research carried out in Rutigliano, a settlement of the sub-coastal area of Peucetia where, between 1976 and 1980, in contrada Purgatorio, around 400 burials of various typologies were identified, datable between the 7th and 4th century BC. Particularly interesting were the researches in the northern sector of the necropolis (excavated in 1976-1977) with the discovery of 131 burials, still substantially unpublished, which have returned an impressive quantity of ceramics and valuable objects. In all likelihood, this is an area reserved for the dominant aristocratic group. In the analysis of the complex funerary assemblages - many of which are composed of hundreds of finds - the extremely large presence of metal, ceramic, glass paste, bone and amber objects, both locally produced and imported from the most various geographic and cultural areas, such as Etruria, Magna Grecia, Greece and the Near East, is particularly striking. The remarkable variety of the Attic and Italiote vases, to which a "key role" was probably entrusted, is truly amazing. They have played a role comparable only with that performed by the precious bronze vases and weapons, that is those objects inserted since the Archaic age in the burials of the warrior aristocracies of central Apulia as a sign of prestige and an expression of status.