Spina città liquida

Since 2008, scientists from Zürich University have been investigating - next to an Italian excavation for which a first monograph has been published already [Cornelio Cassai et al. 2013] - the multicultural Etruscan port of Spina on the southern edge of the Po Delta first discovered in 1959. From this collaboration, the present dissertation from Pavia resulted. It deals with early excavations in the southern part of the lagoon town laid out orthogonally in Attic feet and situated west of the contemporaneous channel of the River Po. Apart from some important architectural evidence reaching back to the beginnings of the town in the late 6th century B. C. the main discovery were some 7,000 small finds of the 6th to 4th century made of metal, wood, wicker, bone, glass, amber, and pottery [kitchen and banquet wares in particular]. Their number, variety, and quality attest cultural hybridisation and astonishing wealth in the rather modest houses constructed of logs or clay. Thus, surprising parallels with the equipment of graves at Spina became visible, which therefore lose their much-quoted exceptional position. Additionally, 227 graffiti in Greek and Etruscan testify the use of writing.