MONTALE.
Another instructive station, which I visited along with the distinguished archæologist, Sig. Crespellani, is that at Montale, a few miles south of Modena. Here the elevation of the mound is more marked than at Castione, as the entire mass stands clear above the surrounding plain, and, like it, the central part is occupied by a church and some other religious buildings. The discovery of this terramara was not made till 1868, but, its contents being readily accessible, the progress of its demolition has been rapid. In 1871 it was selected as the most suitable to be visited by the members of the International Congress, and, for their special benefit, a new section was then opened up. The annual explorations conducted in this mound, of course regulated by agricultural demands, are now entirely in the hands of the authorities of the Museo Civico at Modena, who appropriate all rare objects for the enhancement of their large and valuable prehistoric collection. The director of the Museum, Sig. Boni, publishes, from time to time, a report of the excavations and of the results obtained. (B. 380 and 421.)
According to Boni, the area of the mound, including the dyke, was 9,000 square mètres (about 2 acres), of which about 4,000 are occupied by the ecclesiastical buildings already referred to. Of the remaining space available for explorations about one half has been cleared away. On the north side of the church, just on the verge of the pit where the workmen were riddling and preparing the saleable stuff, stood an enormous chestnut tree, whose roots could be seen below the grassy surface projecting from the perpendicular face of the section. The priest, whose house forms part of the ecclesiastical buildings on the mound, soon joined our party, and expatiated on the fabulous age of this tree, but which Crespellani reduced to something like 150 or 200 years. The entire height of the section here exposed would be from 15 to 20 feet, the upper five of which consisted of mouldy soil, which has, of course, to be removed before the commercially valuable stuff is reached. In the course of the removal of this upper stratum the following objects were found, viz. an iron hatchet, fragments of a spur, several keys, and some much corroded coins of the Old Empire. The remains of fifteen human burials were also encountered, three of which had the bodies enclosed in cists made of large bricks. Indeed, some large tiles, apparently part of a sepulchre, were still to be seen protruding from a part of this layer. Near one of the unenclosed burials lay a terra-cotta lamp and a bone comb with a double row of teeth. Sunk into the upper part of the terramara beds was a primitive lime-kiln, "evidently," says Boni, "introduced into the cumulo marnoso at a later period than its formation." (B. 386, p. 13.)
The great depth of this upper bed of mould, which exists in all the terremare, is very remarkable and most puzzling to archæologists. Boni thinks it was spread over the mound at some posterior time, either for agricultural purposes, or as hygienic precautions, or perhaps from motives of respect to the supposed sacred character of its contents.
All the rest of the section was terramara proper, whose contorted and wave-like beds could readily be distinguished. Sticking in the face of the section were innumerable fragments of black pottery, broken bones, and bits of charcoal. All the stuff, before being disposed of, was passed through riddles, and what remained was thrown aside as useless rubbish, the heaps of which could only be estimated by cart-loads. The riddlings consisted almost entirely of broken pottery, among which were occasional clay weights and more frequently spindle-whorls, together with the bones and horns of animals, many of which were converted into implements. Bronze objects were comparatively rare.
Part of a large earthen dyke which is supposed to have surrounded the entire mound is still left exposed on the north side. It measured from 20 to 30 feet in breadth at the base and 11½ feet in height. Boni, in his description of this dyke, states that a section which ought to be conical is not so, but more slanting on the outside; also, at the inner side, its contents are occasionally seen to overlap the terramara beds. From this and some other structural details he adduces evidence to show that the dyke had been subsequently added to by the terramaricoli during their occupation of the settlement. Bearing in mind what Pigorini says about Castione, the significance of these observations will be readily perceived.
Fig. 84.—Montale. All 1⁄2 real size.
Fig. 85.—Montale and various other Terremare in the vicinity. All 1⁄2 real size.
For illustrations of relics from Montale see [Fig. 84] and [Fig. 85], Nos. 1 to 6; and for its literature B. 157, 184, 186, 204, 231, 298b, 367, 386, 421, 422, 425a'. An account of the excursion to Montale by the members of the International Congress is given in their Proceedings for 1871 (Bologna).