Ricerc@Sapienza

The adoption of a new funerary ritual denotes an important change in society, although it can be difficult to identify the triggers. In the past,
theories such as that of Luigi Pigorini on the origin of the Terramare culture, the concept of mass migration was used as the central explanation. In the 20th century, alternative approaches have emphasized the role of local developments and ideological change in response to ‘global’ macro-trends.

The emergence of the first forms of socio - economic inequality is one of the aspects to which Marcella Frangipane
has most contributed. In this paper the concepts of horizontal egalitarian or vertical egalitarian systems used for the Neolithic
and Chalcolithic Mesopotamian societies are compared with the social organization of the Bronze Age Terramare
culture, (Po valley - Italy). The result of the comparison shows convergences with the vertical egalitarian system model,
but also significant differences.

The Terramare are undoubtedly one of the outstanding features of Bronze Age Europe, both in terms
of archaeological remains, and in view of their geographical and cultural position between Central Europe and
the Mediterranean. They are of great significance as regards demographic and growth dynamics, as well as in the
way they act as markers for the collapse of a socio-economic and political system which prospered for over four
centuries. After the disappearance of these settlements and the, apparently total, abandonment of the entire region

Il contributo ricostruisce l'interesse del paletnologo Fernado Malavolti in relazione alle terramare dell'età del bronzo e ai contatti scientifici con personalità della ricerca preistorica nella prima metà del novocento.

At the onset of the 2nd millennium bc, a wool economy emerged across continental Europe. Archaeological, iconographical, and written sources from the Near East and the Aegean show that a Bronze Age wool economy involved considerable specialised labour and large scale animal husbandry.

Il Contributo illustra i risultati dello scavo della necropoli della terramara di Casinalbo (età del Bronzo media e recente) sotto il profilo rituale e della'analisi sociale.