DFG-project Belmonte Piceno (Marche), university of Freiburg, project manager and researcher. Adress in Italy: Museo Archeologico Nazionale delle Marche, Ancona and Museo Archeologico Nazionale e Teatro Romano, Spoleto.
Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft (DFG); Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg; Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz (RGZM); Astra onlus Spoleto.
Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft (DFG); Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg; Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz (RGZM); Astra onlus Spoleto.
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Books by Joachim Weidig
https://www.herder.de/wissen/shop/p8/88741-archaische-mythen-aus-bernstein-gebundene-ausgabe/
Im Jahr 2018 wurde in Belmonte Piceno ein Kästchen aus Elfenbein ausgegraben, dessen eingelegte Bernsteinfiguren griechische Mythen mit Perseus, Medusa, Achilles und Ajax zeigen. Einen solchen Gegenstand hätte niemand im antiken Picenum erwartet, einer ostitalienischen Region in den heutigen Marken, welche vor allem durch ihre bronzenen Schmuckstücke bekannt ist.
Der außergewöhnliche Fund ist wegweisend für die Erforschung der archaischen Kunst und ihrer sozialen und politischen Hintergründe. So ist die detailreiche Gestaltung der Bernsteinfiguren von der frühattischen schwarzfigurigen Vasenmalerei eines Sophilos und Kleitias inspiriert. Das Kästchen erinnert in seinem Figurenreichtum an die Kypseloslade aus Olympia, steht aber technisch in der Tradition älterer vorderorientalischer und vor allem etruskischer Elfenbeinpyxiden.
Es dürfte von einem Handwerker hergestellt worden sein, der zwischen 560 und 540 v. Chr. in Chiusi, Cortona oder vielleicht sogar in Belmonte Piceno tätig gewesen war und dabei einen neuen Kunststil auslöste, der griechische, etruskische und italische Elemente miteinander kombinierte. Das Kästchen wirft auch ein neues Licht auf die Kontakte zwischen Ostitalien und Mitteleuropa denn die in dem Sphingendeckel eingelegten Bernsteinköpfchen besitzen große Ähnlichkeiten zu den Funden aus dem hallstattzeitlichen Grabhügel vom Grafenbühl in Baden-Württemberg.
In dem reich illustrierten Buch werden zudem alle von Dall'Osso zwischen 1909 und 1911 entdeckten figürlichen Schnitzereien aus Elfenbein, die heute als verschollen gelten, sowie die einzigartigen Bernsteinskulpturen auf Grundlage der erst 2019 wiederaufgefundenen Grabungsdokumentation untersucht. Die Beigaben aus den neu entdeckten Bestattungen ermöglichen dabei ungewöhnliche Einblicke zur Verwendung und Tragweise dieser Kostbarkeiten.
Darüber hinaus gibt das Buch einen Überblick über den Forschungsstand zur Eisenzeit im Picenum, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf dem Gräberfeld von Belmonte Piceno liegt. Durch die umfangreiche Einbeziehung anderer Kunstgattungen wird die Besonderheit des Fundorts deutlich, die auf direkte Beziehungen der Oberschicht mit Etrurien und Griechenland zurückzuführen ist.
Vol. 1: https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/catalog/book/865
Vol. 2: https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/catalog/book/866
Vol. 3: https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/catalog/book/867
Papers by Joachim Weidig
The presence of Etruscan bronze vessels in mid-Adriatic and Apennine Italy is an essential element in determining the dating of Italic tomb contexts and in understanding the dense network of commercial, political and cultural exchanges of the time. However, until now scholars have more or less overlooked the many unresolved doubts regarding stylistic and iconographic attribution and dating, so that it is often still difficult to say with certainty whether these are imports or local productions derived from Etruscan models, which in turn are not always distinguishable from Greek models. In this paper we present and discuss some of the most interesting examples that illustrate these issues, also from the point of view of research history.
The article presents the first results of reconstructions of the funerary contexts of the Dall'Osso excavations (1909-1911) in Belmonte Piceno, including the first complete reconstruction of the "Tomba del duce" and the events surrounding the so-called "Tomba della biga", which is in fact a museum reconstruction in which two funerary contexts were brought together. The famous figural designed hydria with the motif of the "despotes ton ippon" (master of animals) is placed in the context of the ivory box with amber figures, which was only discovered in 2018, and the question discussed is to what extent the men buried in these tombs saw themselves in the tradition of heroes.
The latest phase of the Early Iron Age in the Marche (730-700 BC) is integrated with the ancient Orientalizing period, as shown by the identical typologies of iron daggers with two-disks baldric. The daggers have been found in almost all central Italy, Etruria included.
The most ancient Italic female ornament disks with fretwork also belong to the same period. To the recent Orientalizing period belong the bronze and iron bullet belts that replace in Terni the belts typical for the previous period, and the smooth female ornament discs, distributed in almost all the area under review.
The distribution of the finds reflects similar customs and direct relationships among the different peoples of central Italy.
In: Bourdin, Dally, Naso, Smith, (ed.), The orientalizing cultures in the Mediterranean 8th-6th cent. BC.: origins, cultural contacts and local developments: the case of Italy. Mediterranea, Supplementi 1, CNR Edizioni, Rome 2021.
The contribution presents in an overview the most fascinating and important discoveries of the 7th and 6th centuries BC in recent decades in Umbria and the Marches, in particular the archaeological evidence of the inheritance of power (infantile tombs with weapons and symbols of power in Spoleto), relations between southern Umbria and Etruria (sceptres, tripods), the ritual impasto pottery with the two-headed horse.
The most significant piece is the ivory box with inlaid amber figures from Belmonte Piceno, a unique Etruscan work from the middle of the 6th century BC, which opens up new interpretative perspectives on the relationship between the southern Marche and Etruria, especially with Chiusi.
The first preliminary publication of the ivory box from Belmonte Piceno with inlaid amber figures presenting Greek myths and Etruscan themes in an Etruscan artistic style. This unique work of art fundamentally changes the way we look at the relationship between Etruscan, Greek and Italian art in the archaic period.
It is not always easy to differentiate these from simple weapons, as the boundaries are blurred and even a profane club can become a ritual weapon and an insignia of power. By using individual find contexts, pictorial representations and comparisons with other cultures (Assyria, Egypt), however, one can succeed in proving
certain forms of sceptres archaeologically. Thus, the article provides an overview and a classification of the ascertainable types of sceptres, whereby female insignia are also considered. In addition, the question of which concrete privileges of power were connected with sceptres in Italy from the 9th to 6th century BC is pursued. By that, various actual and symbolic functional levels become apparent which allow one to indicate political, military, judicial and ritual-religious components carried out by the ruler.
Articolo uscito in Archeologia Viva, maggio-giugno 2019 da Joachim Weidig in collaborazione con Bendetta Ficcadenti, Denise Galuzzi, Massimiliano Gasperini, Valentina Turtù.
Iconography and Interpretation of Figural Scenes on the Sceptres from Spoleto (prov. Perugia)
The four sceptres from Spoleto manifest the political, military, judicial and religious claim to domination of the person buried in grave 8 of the necropolis Piazza d’Armi of Spoleto around mid-7th century BC. The figural representations of two particularly finely worked handles allows for an interpretation of the Italic pictorial world of which we know very little from this period and which demonstrates a strongly religious and
mythical character.
Concerning the interpretation of the iconographic program of religion of the pre-Roman Central Italy through the study of the fantasy beast representation in the 7th and 6th century B.C.
https://www.herder.de/wissen/shop/p8/88741-archaische-mythen-aus-bernstein-gebundene-ausgabe/
Im Jahr 2018 wurde in Belmonte Piceno ein Kästchen aus Elfenbein ausgegraben, dessen eingelegte Bernsteinfiguren griechische Mythen mit Perseus, Medusa, Achilles und Ajax zeigen. Einen solchen Gegenstand hätte niemand im antiken Picenum erwartet, einer ostitalienischen Region in den heutigen Marken, welche vor allem durch ihre bronzenen Schmuckstücke bekannt ist.
Der außergewöhnliche Fund ist wegweisend für die Erforschung der archaischen Kunst und ihrer sozialen und politischen Hintergründe. So ist die detailreiche Gestaltung der Bernsteinfiguren von der frühattischen schwarzfigurigen Vasenmalerei eines Sophilos und Kleitias inspiriert. Das Kästchen erinnert in seinem Figurenreichtum an die Kypseloslade aus Olympia, steht aber technisch in der Tradition älterer vorderorientalischer und vor allem etruskischer Elfenbeinpyxiden.
Es dürfte von einem Handwerker hergestellt worden sein, der zwischen 560 und 540 v. Chr. in Chiusi, Cortona oder vielleicht sogar in Belmonte Piceno tätig gewesen war und dabei einen neuen Kunststil auslöste, der griechische, etruskische und italische Elemente miteinander kombinierte. Das Kästchen wirft auch ein neues Licht auf die Kontakte zwischen Ostitalien und Mitteleuropa denn die in dem Sphingendeckel eingelegten Bernsteinköpfchen besitzen große Ähnlichkeiten zu den Funden aus dem hallstattzeitlichen Grabhügel vom Grafenbühl in Baden-Württemberg.
In dem reich illustrierten Buch werden zudem alle von Dall'Osso zwischen 1909 und 1911 entdeckten figürlichen Schnitzereien aus Elfenbein, die heute als verschollen gelten, sowie die einzigartigen Bernsteinskulpturen auf Grundlage der erst 2019 wiederaufgefundenen Grabungsdokumentation untersucht. Die Beigaben aus den neu entdeckten Bestattungen ermöglichen dabei ungewöhnliche Einblicke zur Verwendung und Tragweise dieser Kostbarkeiten.
Darüber hinaus gibt das Buch einen Überblick über den Forschungsstand zur Eisenzeit im Picenum, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf dem Gräberfeld von Belmonte Piceno liegt. Durch die umfangreiche Einbeziehung anderer Kunstgattungen wird die Besonderheit des Fundorts deutlich, die auf direkte Beziehungen der Oberschicht mit Etrurien und Griechenland zurückzuführen ist.
Vol. 1: https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/catalog/book/865
Vol. 2: https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/catalog/book/866
Vol. 3: https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/catalog/book/867
The presence of Etruscan bronze vessels in mid-Adriatic and Apennine Italy is an essential element in determining the dating of Italic tomb contexts and in understanding the dense network of commercial, political and cultural exchanges of the time. However, until now scholars have more or less overlooked the many unresolved doubts regarding stylistic and iconographic attribution and dating, so that it is often still difficult to say with certainty whether these are imports or local productions derived from Etruscan models, which in turn are not always distinguishable from Greek models. In this paper we present and discuss some of the most interesting examples that illustrate these issues, also from the point of view of research history.
The article presents the first results of reconstructions of the funerary contexts of the Dall'Osso excavations (1909-1911) in Belmonte Piceno, including the first complete reconstruction of the "Tomba del duce" and the events surrounding the so-called "Tomba della biga", which is in fact a museum reconstruction in which two funerary contexts were brought together. The famous figural designed hydria with the motif of the "despotes ton ippon" (master of animals) is placed in the context of the ivory box with amber figures, which was only discovered in 2018, and the question discussed is to what extent the men buried in these tombs saw themselves in the tradition of heroes.
The latest phase of the Early Iron Age in the Marche (730-700 BC) is integrated with the ancient Orientalizing period, as shown by the identical typologies of iron daggers with two-disks baldric. The daggers have been found in almost all central Italy, Etruria included.
The most ancient Italic female ornament disks with fretwork also belong to the same period. To the recent Orientalizing period belong the bronze and iron bullet belts that replace in Terni the belts typical for the previous period, and the smooth female ornament discs, distributed in almost all the area under review.
The distribution of the finds reflects similar customs and direct relationships among the different peoples of central Italy.
In: Bourdin, Dally, Naso, Smith, (ed.), The orientalizing cultures in the Mediterranean 8th-6th cent. BC.: origins, cultural contacts and local developments: the case of Italy. Mediterranea, Supplementi 1, CNR Edizioni, Rome 2021.
The contribution presents in an overview the most fascinating and important discoveries of the 7th and 6th centuries BC in recent decades in Umbria and the Marches, in particular the archaeological evidence of the inheritance of power (infantile tombs with weapons and symbols of power in Spoleto), relations between southern Umbria and Etruria (sceptres, tripods), the ritual impasto pottery with the two-headed horse.
The most significant piece is the ivory box with inlaid amber figures from Belmonte Piceno, a unique Etruscan work from the middle of the 6th century BC, which opens up new interpretative perspectives on the relationship between the southern Marche and Etruria, especially with Chiusi.
The first preliminary publication of the ivory box from Belmonte Piceno with inlaid amber figures presenting Greek myths and Etruscan themes in an Etruscan artistic style. This unique work of art fundamentally changes the way we look at the relationship between Etruscan, Greek and Italian art in the archaic period.
It is not always easy to differentiate these from simple weapons, as the boundaries are blurred and even a profane club can become a ritual weapon and an insignia of power. By using individual find contexts, pictorial representations and comparisons with other cultures (Assyria, Egypt), however, one can succeed in proving
certain forms of sceptres archaeologically. Thus, the article provides an overview and a classification of the ascertainable types of sceptres, whereby female insignia are also considered. In addition, the question of which concrete privileges of power were connected with sceptres in Italy from the 9th to 6th century BC is pursued. By that, various actual and symbolic functional levels become apparent which allow one to indicate political, military, judicial and ritual-religious components carried out by the ruler.
Articolo uscito in Archeologia Viva, maggio-giugno 2019 da Joachim Weidig in collaborazione con Bendetta Ficcadenti, Denise Galuzzi, Massimiliano Gasperini, Valentina Turtù.
Iconography and Interpretation of Figural Scenes on the Sceptres from Spoleto (prov. Perugia)
The four sceptres from Spoleto manifest the political, military, judicial and religious claim to domination of the person buried in grave 8 of the necropolis Piazza d’Armi of Spoleto around mid-7th century BC. The figural representations of two particularly finely worked handles allows for an interpretation of the Italic pictorial world of which we know very little from this period and which demonstrates a strongly religious and
mythical character.
Concerning the interpretation of the iconographic program of religion of the pre-Roman Central Italy through the study of the fantasy beast representation in the 7th and 6th century B.C.
Brill's New Pauly, Supplements, Vol. 9
English translation of Südlicher Zentralapennin, in: Anne-Maria Wittke (eds.), Frühgeschichte der Mittelmeerkulturen. Historisch-archäologisches Handbuch. Der Neue Pauly, Supplemente Band 10 (Stuttgart 2015), 318-325.
Brill's New Pauly, Supplements, Vol. 9
English translation of Adriatischer Kulturraum in: Anne-Maria Wittke (Hrsg.), Frühgeschichte der Mittelmeerkulturen. Historisch-archäologisches Handbuch. Der Neue Pauly, Supplemente Band 10 (Stuttgart 2015), 326-334.
Verrà inoltre presentato la prima valva dello secondo scettro bivalve della tomba del ‘re’, appena restaurato, con il motivo enigmatico di un cavaliere, realizzato in ferro su bronzo.
Ein Bankett fuer das Jenseits. Das Grab 48 von Piazza d’Armi:
Die neue Erweiterung der Daueraustellung zu den einzigartigen Bestattungen der orientalisierenden Zeit ist dem rituellen Bankett gewidmet, welches besonders im Grab 48 mit seinen verzierten Impastogefäßen archäologisch zu fassen ist.
In diesem außergewöhnlichen Grab eines Kriegers mit Waffen und Werkzeugen, befand sich in einer kleinen rechteckigen Grube unter dem Skelett ein komplettes Bankettservice bestehend aus großen verzierten Impastogefäßen, einer Schnabelkanne und verschiedenen Trinkgefäßen.
Außerdem wird das aktuell restaurierte zweite Zepter mit Darstellung eines Reiters und eines großen Vogels in polychromer Durchbruchstechnik aus Eisen und Bronze gezeigt, das im Grab 8, dem ‘Königsgrab’, zusammen mit anderen drei Zeptern gefunden wurde.
http://web.rgzm.de/publikationen/rgzm-open-access/open-access-publikationen/monographie-bazzano-ein-graeberfeld-bei-laquila-abruzzen-italienische-uebersetzung-online-mainz-2014/
Sono stati tradotti da Giacomo Bardelli con la partecipazione di Marina Sclafani e dell'autore i risultati più importanti della ricerca, ossia la tipologia dei pugnali a stami, le spade lunghe ad elsa a croce (tipo Capestrano), i dischi-corazza, lance, teste di mazza, le fibule, i cinturoni (placche del tipo Capena e var.) e la cronologia relativa e assoluta di tutte le tombe della fase più antica della necropoli (VII-V sec.a.C.).
Come altro filo di studio sono stati tradotti le ricerche che riguardano aspetti dell'armamento, del costume, dei riti funerari, della struttura della necropoli e
della struttura sociale.