Journal - Comune di Monteleone di Spoleto

i.10 Plan of the gravesite
of the monteleone Chariot
Tomb, also indicating the
location of the house of
isidoro Vannozzi. drawing:
angiolo Pasqui, 1907 (from
minto 1924b)
i.11 Floor plan of the montelene
Chariot Tomb. drawing:
angiolo Pasqui, 1907 (from
minto 1924b). The architecture
is the result of direct
archaeological finds; the
arrangement of objects is
based on indirect evidence.
18
covering the northern slope of the Colle del Capitano and
dating to the late Bronze age, the other on the Chariot
Tomb. 36 minto stated that the diagram drawn by Pasqui
(Figure i.10) provided an idea of the structure of the tomb;
it entirely occupied the top of the hill, which had been
modified and crowned with the ancient tumulus.
The text minto took from Pasqui’s diary is very short;
i feel it is useful to provide an english translation of the
whole description:
Pasqui sampled the tumulus with deep trenches dug
from the edge to the center and brought to light a
solid wall measuring 4 m [13 ft. 1 1⁄2 in.] wide and
about 1 m [39 3⁄8 in.] high, made of large stones,
surrounding the tomb, and forming a cylindrical
drum about 19.6 m [64 ft. 3 3⁄4 in.] in diameter, the
base of which unquestionably contained the plinth
of the tumulus. a pavement made of 1.2 m [47 1⁄4 in.]
wide slabs of quarried stone surrounded the plinth,
and this floor was ringed by slabs arranged
according to size. The plinth wall and paved floor
were built on bedrock, and where this was not
present, a fill of stones and earth had been added for
the foundation. The upper part of the plinth, at the
height of the wall, was covered with quarried stone
that had originally jutted out from the plinth to
create a sort of grundarium [gutter] to direct water
trickling from the tomb to the paved floor in order
to protect the external face of the plinth. in the
center of the plinth a rectangular grave with drystone
walls of quarried stone had been dug out (l. 3.8 m
[12 ft. 5 3⁄4 in.], W. 2.8 m [9 ft. 2 1⁄4 in.], d. 1.45 m
[57 1⁄8 in.]). after the first exploration, the grave had
been filled with the same earth, stones from the
walls, and slabs from the vault. . . . in a corner of the
upper part of the grave, traces of projecting stones
belonging to a corbeled corner bracket were found,
suggesting a roof formed by projecting courses of
stone; this type of covering is fully justified by the
size of the grave.
antonio minto also provided Figure i.11 from the excavation
diary, but it should be emphasized that the arrangement
of the objects inside the tomb represents a
reconstruction based on information Pasqui collected retroactively
from 1904, and that only the arrangement of the
shallow bronze salvers along the walls and the pertinence
of these salvers to the grave goods of the tomb can be considered
reliable. 37 as i shall discuss shortly, among the fragments
recovered personally by Pasqui there are some
fragments of a rim with the same decoration as the other
salvers (group [5]).
minto’s article goes on to list the paltry remains of the
plunder patiently collected by angiolo Pasqui, and in the