The Ca' Morta tomb is a Celtic chariot tomb located in the necropolis of the same name to the west of the city of Como, in Italy's Lombardy region. The burial chamber, covered by a tumulus, contains the ashes of a woman of princely status, accompanied by furnishings. Thanks to the exceptional quality of the objects unearthed, this tomb is a precious testimony to Celtic culture at the time, particularly in terms of craft techniques, intra-European trade and the role of women in society.
The material evidence shows that the deceased was of Celtic origin, and that the site belongs to the Italo-Celtic "Golasecca" culture, which, like the Hallstatt culture, is a Celtic culture in Early Iron Age Europe.
While the burial area was first excavated in 1891, the tomb was discovered in 1928. Radiocarbon analysis reveals that the foundation of the tomb dates from approximately the middle of the 5th century BC (circa 450), which means that this Italo-Celtic burial site can be attributed to the "Golasecca III / GIIIA" period, and more precisely to the "eastern" facies of the Golasecca culture.
Among the artifacts discovered, archaeologists note a remarkable four-wheeled chariot. The vehicle, used for ritual purposes, displays features typical of the "Hallstatt culture". The abundance and refinement of the furnishings found in the burial site suggest that this was a princely tomb: the objects are all of high-quality workmanship. Numerous items of Etruscan laminated bronze crockery and Attic black-figure and red-figure ceramics evoke trade relations with Padanian Etruria on the one hand, and Magna Graecia and the Italic territories on the other.
Among these objects, archaeologists unearthed a Negau helmet,This is a piece of the armor of both hallstatto-oriental and proto-etruscan (i.e. Villanovian) craftsmanship. This type of helmet refers to a series of 28 bronze helmets dating back to the 5th century B.C. and found in 1811 in the vicinity of Negova (Negau in German) in Slovenia. the only weaponry found in the tomb.
Finally, numerous elements – ancient, epigraphic, and archaeological sources – indicate that the woman, whose cremated remains lie in the urn of "tomb III/1928", was probably of Orobian stock, and that her mother tongue was Lepontic.
Discovery and excavation
The Ca' Morta tombDepending on the country and the language used, specialists also accept the names "Tomba di Cà' Morta", "Tomba di Ca'Morta" and "Casa di Ca' Morta".Or "casa dei morti", meaning "house of the dead" in Venetian. was discovered in 1928 by the landowner, Giuseppe Butti, following a landslide and subsequent landslide in the eponymous necropolis. Antonio Giussani of the Società Archeologica Comense (Comascan Archaeological SocietyComasque", or more rarely "Comien", is the local term for Como.) carried out the extraction, identification and inventory of the various pieces and artifacts contained in the burial cellar. With the support of his team of archaeological researchers, Giussani also brushed, cleaned, and deoxidized the archaeological material discovered.
All the pieces were entrusted to the then Director of the Como Archaeological Museum, the architect Luigi Peronne. He took charge of restoring and reconstructing the chariot, since when the tomb was uncovered, the funerary vehicle appeared fragmented.
These initial excavations were not exhaustive, as a second inspection in 1930 unearthed a final piece: an elaborate bronze kylix, probably of Attic origin. In the necropolis's archaeological registers, the Ca' Morta tomb is listed, then recorded under the technical designation: "Tomb III /1928".The number III indicates that this is the third tomb uncovered at the Ca' Morta necropolis, and the number "1928" refers to the year of its discovery.
Context
Chronological and geographical context of the Ca' Morta tomb The Cà' Morta burial site was discovered on the southern outskirts of the city of Como, in Lombardy, in the continuation of an avenue: Via Giovanni di Baserga, in the Albate district.
Analysis of the archaeological material extracted from the burial vault confirms that it dates from the second half of the 5th century B.C.
The burial site lies within a vast cemetery known as the "Ca' Morta necropolis". This burial complex, discovered in the 19th century, has been the subject of several excavation programs, including one by Ferrante Rittatore Vonwiller. As a result, several other tombs were uncovered. Examination of their funerary material enabled us to determine the different chronological stages of the necropolis.Archaeologists have found that the earliest burial structures date back to the Late Bronze Age (11th–10th century BC). Further investigations in the 1980s and early 1990s revealed graves dating from the Early and Late Iron Ages ("Hallstatt D" and "La Tène A, B"). In addition, analysis and interpretation of the Viatics,In archaeological terms, as defined by archaeologist P. Moinat, "viaticum" is the set of objects associated with funerary and eschatological practices18. For researcher and historian Raphaël Angevin, "viaticum" is the equivalent of funerary furniture19. According to archaeologist Luc Baray, viaticum is the set of material deposits of funerary objects, distinct from the personal objects of the deceased20. Conversely, in the field of religion, "viaticum" is a "Catholic sacrament, an extreme unction "21. comprising artefacts such as ceremonial objects, bronze votive offerings, painted crockery and ceramics, revealed the importance of trade between the Comascan territory and other regions: primarily Padanian Etruria, Magna Graecia and the Celtic Hallstatian culture.
The objects and remains found in the necropolis date its construction to between 750 and 700 BC, during the Early Iron Age. Nevertheless, a significant number of markers, such as manufactured products and ruins of mortuary structures, lend credence to the hypothesis of the re-employment of a protohistoric cemetery dating from the Middle to Recent Bronze Age.More precisely, from around the 13th century BC to the 10th century BC. – In this case, the founding event of this second floor is attributed to the "Canegrate" chronological period.
Vestiges of settlements, none of them with monumental features,That is, places dedicated to religious rites, or to political power. have been discovered in the vicinity of the Cà' Morta necropolis. On the whole, the infrastructures uncovered from the outcropping strata at the comasque site of Monte della Crocce show a variety of architectural types: sometimes aristocratic, more frequently artisanal, agricultural, but essentially residential. This observation is consistent with the fact that the form of urbanization on the princely Comasque site is village-like.This is a small hill at an altitude of 1,350 metres, located on the southern outskirts of Como. The architectural remains were incorporated into the sedimentary stratigraphic layers, and located on the adret of the valley. Moreover, both the small number and the architectural style of the remains confirm the development of proto-Italian urbanism. They rest on a north-east-south-west axis. Archaeological excavations have provided significant clues to corroborate the previously established chronological conclusions. The foundation of the princely site,Como's protohistoric urban center. adjacent to the burial complex, has been dated to around the end of the 7th century B.C. However, these protohistoric ruins may have been preceded by various types of housing infrastructure. To this end, archaeological field investigations and surveys have revealed the remains of settlements to the west of the Comasque agglomeration. Stratigraphic expertise allows us to date the domestic ruins to around the beginning of the 10th century B.C.
In addition to the Ca' Morta necropolis, excavations in the surrounding area have revealed two other sepulchral areas, whose evolution frames the aristocratic site of Como. Stratigraphic analyses reveal that both necropolises were founded after the princely center (early 6th century BC). The latter, much smaller in area than Ca' Morta, are located to the north-west, in the present-day Comascan suburb of Ronchetti di Rebbio, and to the east, in the district of Santa Maria di Vergosa. During the 5th and early 4th centuries B.C., the Comascan aristocratic urban center and its three adjoining necropolises developed simultaneously as a result of a process of synœcism.This is a process of accretion of proto-urban sites developing within the same territorial zone. This phenomenon contributes to the concentration of native populations and, ultimately, to the foundation of an ancient city. During this period, the growth of the Comasque pole was continuous. The city grew to a maximum area of 150 hectares by the end of the 4th century B.C.
Numerous epigraphic material occurrences, such as the Prestino inscription,This is an epigraphic dedication uncovered in locare on an ancient architectural structure (probably a step) in the Comascan suburb of Prestino di Como. The latter is located in the western part of the Comascan agglomeration. It has been confirmed that this was written in Lepontic script. It has also been confirmed that this Celtic dedication is chronologically the oldest recorded in Northern Italy. show that Celtic tribesAnd consequently to the growth of Celtic "koinè". settled in the Comasque region several times during the same period. This fact is confirmed by a wealth of literary documentation, provided by certain ancient sources.These ancient bibliographical references, mentioning Celtic settlement at this comasque site, appear in Book XXXIII, paragraph 36, of the Ab Urbe condita libri (Roman History) by the Roman historian Titus Livius; in Book III, paragraph 124, of the Histoire naturelle by the Cômois Pliny the Elder; in Book IV, chapter 3, of the collection Geography, manuscript by the Greek Strabo; in passage 29 of the biographical work Caesar, written by Plutarch; and, finally, in Book III, chapter 1, of the collection Geography, written by the Greek astronomer and astrologer Ptolemy.
Consequently, given their chronological simultaneity and geographical homogeneity, some authors conclude that there is a highly probable cause-and-effect relationship between the two phenomena: on the one hand, the settlement of Celtic tribes at the precise point of Como / Ca' Morta, and on the other, the development of urban growth.