Journal - Comune di Monteleone di Spoleto

i.5. diagram of the monteleone
chariot. drawing: dalia
lamura under the direction of
adriana emiliozzi
12
of the nera, a tributary of the Tiber. Today, the area is part of
the modern regions of umbria, latium, and abruzzo. The
flatland of monteleone di Spoleto nestles among the mountains
of present-day umbria, fifty-five miles southeast of
Perugia and thirty-five miles northeast of Terni, stretching
along the upper reaches of the Corno above leonessa and
below norcia and Cascia, between the valleys of the Velino
and nera, in the highest part of the Sabine area. The hill site
where the chariot was discovered, called the Colle del
Capitano (3,000 feet above sea level), is about two miles
from the village of monteleone. it is the necropolis of a
settlement whose earliest phase was found on monte
Pizzoro (3,300 feet above sea level), above the village. The
burials at the Colle del Capitano date from the Bronze and
the early iron age, that is, from the end of the twelfth to the
tenth century B.C. and from the sixth century B.C.; there is
little evidence from the eighth century B.C. and, to date,
none at all from the seventh. more recent burials were discovered
in nearby areas, indicating that the zone was
densely inhabited until the roman period. 5
The group of tombs dating to the sixth century B.C. contains
graves dug into the rock, some of which are enclosed
in stone circles. 6 in this chronological context the Chariot
Tomb stands out for its architecture and for its bronze grave
goods, including the magnificent vehicle. it was the first
tomb to be found at the site, and it launched the archaeological
campaigns of the twentieth century. 7 The tomb occupant’s
wealth derived from the fact that the area near
monteleone di Spoleto controlled the trade routes between
the lower valleys of the nera and the Corno, the rieti flatlands,
and the adriatic coast. The site also controlled other
key hubs in the road system of Valnerina, from the sites of
Cerreto, norcia, and Cascia. 8 moreover, it seems that the
iron deposits mined on an industrial scale from the seventeenth
century on had already been discovered in antiquity.
9 if this is so, such a resource would have supplemented
the other economic activities — sheep-farming, small-scale
agriculture, and control of the trade routes — and enriched
the local rulers. in an area where there were no urban centers
prior to roman domination, but where groups of warring
villages clustered around more important settlements,
the occupant of the Chariot Tomb, like the lords of the previous
pre-urban etruscan and latin centers, seems to have
wielded the military, economic, political, and religious
power of a princeps. 10 Characteristic cultural features are
the weapons buried with the deceased, the grave goods
associated with the banquet and the symposium, and above
all the burial rite of interring the chariot in the tomb, a custom
no longer practiced in the sixth century B.C. in etruscan
and latin urban areas. 11
Early descriptions of the tomb and the vehicle. italian newspapers
began reporting the discovery on July 17, 1902,
when the roman Giornale d’Italia published an article providing
information from adolfo morini, a notary in Cascia. 12
The notice was very vague. morini mentioned bronze vessels
and especially a bronze chariot, which he called a cisium.
His description of the relief work matched the tales of local
inhabitants. according to him, the front panel depicted the
Three Graces and Jupiter’s head, while the tip of the draft
pole carried a ram conjoined with two ivory snakes. 13 The
article speaks of the negligible sum paid to isidoro Vannozzi,
the farmer who owned the land on which the discovery was
made, and it cites the effort launched by italian authorities
to recover the items.
nothing more was reported in the press until the chariot,
which had meanwhile been restored, was displayed at The
metropolitan museum of art on october 26, 1903. Several
new York newspapers published articles and photographs
announcing the chariot’s unveiling to the public and
describing its provenance, the amount paid for it, and other
details. 14 The news and photographs were posted worldwide
in Scientific American on november 28, 1903. 15
isidoro Vannozzi and his son Giuseppe had accidentally
discovered the tomb on February 8, 1902, while building a