I Veneti antichi a Gazzo Veronese. La necropoli della Colombara

Technical Information

The first reports of the existence of a necropolis in Colombara, an agricultural court located just south of the current town of Gazzo Veronese, date back to the early sixties of the last century. In the following decades the whole area was affected by important and radical agricultural work, which led to the destruction of numerous burials; other graves were looted by unauthorized researchers. The parish priest of the town managed to recover some objects from the destroyed tombs and started a small local archaeological collection; his work was then continued by the Archaeological Group of Gazzo Veronese. Only from 1980 the Archaeological Superintendence of Veneto was able to intervene with an effective protection action and with some excavation boreholes of limited extension and in 1999 an extensive excavation was carried out which led to the recovery of 190 tombs. The Colombara burial ground is part of a large eastern necropolis made up of several groups of tombs and separated from the protohistoric town of Coazze by the course of the Tartaro river. To the south, the river Tione separates the town from the southern necropolis, which is also made up of various sepulchral groups. This study began with an examination of the tombs excavated in 1999 and then expanded to include the findings of research from previous years and the recoveries of sporadic materials; the publication is part of a large project of study, enhancement and cultural and scientific promotion of the territory of Gazzo Veronese, promoted in 2013 by the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Veneto, the University of Verona and the University of Rome " Wisdom". The chronological arc of the use of the Colombara necropolis, which goes from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century BC, has been divided into several broad phases. The most ancient phase (XNUMXth-XNUMXth century BC) is documented by a large group of cremation tombs with the burnt bones placed inside an urn or scattered in the pit. The cultural aspect of the materials of this phase has strong links of continuity with the Proto-Venetian facies of the end of the Bronze Age. In the second phase (XNUMXth century BC) the necropolis takes on fully Venetian characteristics that show close affinity with the materials of Este. The Gazzo Veronese pole is assuming the role of peripheral center of the Venetians controlling the important river route of the Tartaro and Mincio. This role will then have greater importance in the subsequent phases when the Etruscans settle in the nearby Mantuan plain. In this picture, the discovery of a long sword with sheath, a real status symbol of the warrior leader of the community, is very significant. In the two subsequent phases (VII-V century BC) the tombs of the necropolis present a good level of richness in the furnishings, always with substantial affinity with Este, but also showing some local characteristics of differentiation, which have been defined "Garolda-Coazze style" . The wide-ranging relations, especially with the Etruscans, are made explicit in particular by the discovery of a tomb with a double ax and a group of stone statues. During the various phases between the cremation tombs there are a few burial tombs, without equipment and often with the dead placed in anomalous positions; perhaps they demonstrate the presence of individuals of a lower social level.