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Specchia Artanisi (en)
Route: Naturalistic/Archaeological
Specchia Artanisi (en)


The specchia is a real monument that, with its length of 60 meters, it is among the most impressive prehistoric monuments of the Mediterranean. Below the usual accumulation of calcareous stones that distinguish these archaeological evidences, several tombs are preserved, with equipments which allowed the definition of their chronological context. The structural characteristics of the tombs permit to comprehend the degree of expertise and sophistication achieved by this civilization: these graves with units in lithic slabs in which the interred was placed with her trousseau ( a pottery typical of the Bronze Age, or jugs and bowls of various sizes). The size of the units and the presence of access corridors permit to define what real "burial chambers" are. An important information on the complexity of the tombs is the construction of the pavement, achieved by a layer of earth that had the function to stabilize the underlying bedrock, on which a slab of stone was placed, which served as the pavement of the tomb.
Località Artanisi, Ugento

bibliography sources:
AA.VV, Ugento, Ricerche Archeologiche Sulla Specchia Artanisi e sul territorio circostante, 2009. AA.VV., Contributo alla conoscenza dei beni culturali del territorio di Ugento, Ugento 2012.

historical information:
The exact number of burials kept in the specchia is still unknown. The excavation has not permitted the exploration of the entire space since they are blocked by the accumulation of stones, but the four tombs that were discovered have provided important information about some cultural characteristics of the proto-Apennine civilization, the culture that has inhabited the southern part of Italy in the Bronze Age. These and other interesting data contribute in the restoration of the legitimate importance of such example of protohistoric monumental funerary architecture, one of the most important in the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean basin.
Info
property:
Private
accessibility:
Accessible
conservation:
Mediocre
period of construction:
Middle Bronze Age (first half of the second milennium BC )
origin of place-name:
The name came from the owner of the area.
historical information:
The exact number of burials kept in the specchia is still unknown. The excavation has not permitted the exploration of the entire space since they are blocked by the accumulation of stones, but the four tombs that were discovered have provided important information about some cultural characteristics of the proto-Apennine civilization, the culture that has inhabited the southern part of Italy in the Bronze Age. These and other interesting data contribute in the restoration of the legitimate importance of such example of protohistoric monumental funerary architecture, one of the most important in the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean basin.
bibliography sources:
AA.VV, Ugento, Ricerche Archeologiche Sulla Specchia Artanisi e sul territorio circostante, 2009. AA.VV., Contributo alla conoscenza dei beni culturali del territorio di Ugento, Ugento 2012.
num gps:
153
Related Point of interest
Distance from:
Specchia Artanisi (en)
945 m
Palese (en)
Corso Uxentum 92, Ugento (Torre San Giovanni)
1006 m
Trentin Soc. Agr. (en)
S.P. 290 Felline – Torre S. Giovanni, Ugento
1048 m
Agriturismo Torre Casciani (en)
Strada Felline - Torre San Giovanni, Ugento
1091 m
1323 m
Informazioni Turistiche Torre San Giovanni (en)
Via Giano Bifronte, 12, Torre S. Giovanni, Ugento