Tombe a camera e a grotticella della Daunia tra V e III secolo a.C. Architettura, pitture funerarie e contesti

In the Bronze Age, Apulia, like much of Southern Italy, was characterized by the Apennine culture with its sub-Apennine developments, whose funerary ritual involved burial in "grotticella" tombs with collective inhumations. With the advent of the Late Bronze Age (12th-11th century BC), the region was shocked by a series of traumatic events, connected to the traditional arrival of Iapigian people from Illyria, which put an end to the existence of the villages of the Bronze Age. The new settlements have totally different characteristics, while the funerary ritual involves the abandonment of the traditional "grotticella" tombs and the appearance of new types of burials (mound and pit tombs) that will remain in use throughout the Iron Age. Between the 6th and 5th centuries BC Northern Apulia is hit by a strong cultural current from Etruscan Campania, which introduces numerous artifacts and a new type of burial, like the artificial grotticella tomb for multiple depositions reserved for members of the same family. The oldest examples are attested in Ascoli Satriano and Salapia and date back to the first half of the fifth century BC, although its wider use will only begin at the beginning of the fourth century. In this last phase, due to the influence of the Tarentine culture, the large chamber tombs appear, which, in addition to presenting considerable architectural preparations, are decorated with elegant often figured paintings that on the one hand refer to the Etruscan-Campanian territory, from the other are inspired by Macedonian models of the great royal tombs. There are also innovations in the funerary ritual, because in addition to the traditional burial appears the semi-cremation in situ, the meaning of which is still unknown. The funerary assemblages yielded from these tombs are of extraordinary richness, as they also include, in addition to the traditional local pottery, many red-figure vases of exceptional workmanship, glass vessels, goldsmiths and other prestige goods coming from the most disparate cultural environments that attest to the vitality of the aristocratic people of northern Apulia.