Spina - neue Perspektiven der archäologischen Erforschung

The Etruscan town of Spina on the southern edge of the present-day delta of the River Po has long been in the focus of research because of its cemeteries discovered in 1922 and excavated successively. Their several thousand graves contained one of the largest find complexes of Attic pottery in the entire Mediterranean. Since 2007, an international research project has been dedicated to the investigation of the ancient town centre with regard to urbanism, housing architecture, natural environment, stratigraphy, and absolute chronology. The rich results are first presented here in the shape of 15 overview papers. These deal with the Early Hellenistic phase and evaporative salt production at Spina, the structures of the 4th century B. C., future perspectives of research, the geo-archaeological context and the stratigraphy of the Etruscan settlement, the palaeobotanical evidence, building technique of and everyday life in the timber and daub houses of the 6th to 4th century, and the types of coarse and fine pottery wares. For comparison, the Etruscan settlement at Adria, new research and Attic pottery from Mantua, and the cemeteries at Valle Pega [one article] and Valle Trebba [four articles] are discussed.