Like many Italian protohistoric towns, Etruscan Capua in Campania has been a scene of extensive funerary excavations, the publications of which are only now occurring. This volume continues the period-specific systematic publications from the main cemetery area of Fornaci started by Ellen Thiermann in 2012 with the Archaic tombs[1] and continued by Gianluca Melandri in 2016 with the Early Iron Age tombs.[2] However, even if the title may suggest otherwise, this volume does not present all the Orientalizing (720–570 BC) tombs from Fornaci, but only a selection of 40 assemblages from the most representative areas. The volume is based on two master’s (laurea magistrale) theses, Elena Marazzi on the southeastern sectors of K and Strade and the other by Mattia Maturo on the western sector Q.
The volume opens with two brief contributions by Maria Bonghi Jovino and Federica Chiesa, and continues with a short introduction by the authors. The main body of the volume starts with the presentation of the cemetery area of Fornaci and the sectors studied, followed by the main body of the book, the catalogue of the tombs and the analysis of the contexts. The volume finishes with a relatively short and more general discussion of the Orientalizing period at Capua and the summary chapters on the different sectors covered. The text is followed by good illustrations, plans and find drawings.
The authors have done formidable work piecing together material that clearly has been quite challenging. The excavations of Werner Johannowsky originate from 1962–1973 with the sectors K, Q and Strade excavated in 1967, 1969 and 1971, respectively, but not all records or material have survived to the present. The original work had been quick-paced and resulted in what the authors refer to as “chaotic and lacunose” recording. There was no general plan, and the location of some of the sectors is unknown. For example, Marazzi relocates sector K from the northern part of the cemetery area to the southeast on the basis of the triangular form of the plot and one reference to the existing road network. In addition, not all material from the excavation was found in the storerooms of the Soprintendenza. A series of tombs from both sectors in the southeast and west are published on the basis of field notes only. Therefore, it would have been helpful to try to present the total number of the excavated and published Orientalizing tombs in sectors K and Strade and Q more explicitly. Now the total numbers of tombs of all periods are given, but the proportion of Orientalizing material is left vague. Complicating the recording and excavating for Strade, which was excavated by digging long linear trenches following the sewage network of the roads, it is stated that Marazzi and others could locate nine assemblages in the storerooms, but the records allowed the publication of only two of these. These facts could have been presented more accurately in order to make it absolutely clear how many Orientalizing tombs were likely to have been excavated and if these were all published.
Since sector K contained richer cremations alongside inhumations, while sector Q had only inhumations, it would have been helpful to have included a joint discussion on the differences and similarities between the two areas. The section on the Orientalizing period at Capua discusses mainly chronological issues and the appearance and disappearance of different wares and pottery types. The natural place for this more general comparison would have been after the conclusions of the individual sectors, which are separated due to the origin of the volume in two different dissertations. Naturally, the apparent abandonment of sector K during the first half of the seventh century leads to a discussion of the relations between the earlier aristocracies and later merchant groups and the potential dislocation of the burials for this period. However, this is more on the general level and does not juxtapose the different sectors with each other.
The tombs are presented in a systematic manner starting with the structure of each tomb, its relation to other tombs and the location of the grave goods within the tomb. Then the grave goods are listed. The comparative discussion of the material with the references follows the catalogue of finds. The material is compared, depending on the ware, to Greek pottery types or material in Campania. The reader gets a good understanding of the comparative material in other Campanian centers and cemeteries, such as Calatia, Nola and Vico Equense. Where appropriate, the material is also compared to that of Etruria proper. Special attention is given to the possible indicators of the gender of the deceased. In addition, the most important characteristics of the assemblage, such as the drinking sets, are discussed in this heavily chronological section. The description of the tombs finishes with conclusions on dating.
The publication presents many interesting phenomena, such as the location of most of the grave goods (besides personal jewelry) around the heads and the three funerary groupings within sector K in which the earlier central burials are touched by the later tombs, apparently in order to create a relationship to the ancestors. In sector Q there are indications of two concentrations of tombs, assumed to represent family groups, and an interpretation by the authors that sometimes the later tombs seem to have intentionally destroyed the earlier ones. In this area there is also evidence of the change in child burial: at the beginning of the seventh century horizontally placed jars were used in enchytrismos burials that seem to disappear during the second half of the century. The other connected burial type is smaller trenches that could probably accommodate only younger, shorter persons. The differences are related by the authors mostly to the suitable age of the child for different burial rites. There are also tombs without grave goods, making reference to richer tombs within the groupings in sector Q that are related tentatively to subaltern individuals. This is an aspect that could have been discussed more extensively, since slavery and its possible indications are not often touched upon in literature. The lack of weapons is a distinctive characteristic of the male tombs; this resulted in the lower numbers of burials classified as male at Capua where, due to soil acidity, the sexing of the burials cannot be based on osteological analysis of skeletal remains.
It is a pity that two of the richer cremations in sector K had already been published elsewhere[3] and are not presented in detail in this volume, but one gets an idea of the quality of the burials from the presentation of Tomb 692 with its coppa del Signore dei Cavalli in fine impasto and a bronze cauldron with iron handles among other finds. The long discussion on the dating of the tombs at the end of the Early Iron Age and at the beginning of the Ancient Orientalizing period finishes by placing this tomb and the two other female cremations in trenches within a chronological window of 720–690 BC. The princely tombs are not followed by others later during the Orientalizing period unlike at Pontecagnano or Calatia, which adds to the modest flavor with less rich grave goods of the Orientalizing at Capua.
This volume is an excellent presentation of the Orientalizing material from the cemetery area of Fornaci. It will be priceless as comparative material, even if the records do not always allow detailing all characteristics of tombs and assemblages. Marazzi and Matturo also touch upon more general themes, such as the funerary ceremonies and the burial customs of children. I hope that the remaining material from Fornaci is on its way to be published through similarly high quality studies.
Notes
[1] E. Thiermann 2012. Capua — Grab und Gemeinschaft: eine kontextuelle Analyse der Nekropole Fornaci (570 bis 400 v. Chr.). Wiesbaden: Reichert.
[2] G. Melandri 2016. L’età del ferro a Capua: aspetti distintivi del contesto culturale e suo inquadramento nelle dinamiche di sviluppo dell’Italia protostorica, BAR international series 2265. Oxford: Archaeopress.
[3] W. Johannowsky 1965. Materiali di età arcaica dalla Campania. Napoli: G. Macchiaroli, 84, 144–146. Tomb 695 was published as 697. See also G. Melandri 2011. L’età del ferro a Capua. Aspetti distintivi del contesto culturale e il suo inquadramento nelle dinamiche di sviluppo dell’Italia protostorica. Oxford: BAR publishing, 18, 225; and B. D’Agostino 2011. “La tomba 722 di Capua loc. Le Fornaci e le premesse dell’Orientalizzante in Campania.” In D. F. Maras (ed.). Corollari. Scritti di antichità etrusche e italiche in omaggio all’opera di Giovanni Colonna II, 33–45. Pisa; Roma: Fabrizio Serra.