Ricerc@Sapienza

Thanks to its geographical position along the maritime routes towards the mineral resources of Northern Etruria, the Etruscan town of Caere (Cerveteri, RM) and its harbors played a fundamental role as a commercial hub in the Mediterranean sea. Its international role was so relevant, that Caere was the only town in the Tyrrhenian area to own a thesauròs in Delphi's panellenic sanctuary (Strab. V, 220). In addition, the Etruscan metropolis was connected to its main military and commercial harbor by the monumental Caere-Pyrgi road, more ancient than the one linking Athens to the Pyreus; this highlights its early strategic ability in territorial organisation.
Pyrgi played different functions: port, settlement, sanctuary. Moreover, since it was abandoned after the Romanization period, the site is an exceptional case-study because of the possibility of a full analysis of its different topographical components and a large-scale research over its territory.
The excavations have brought to light a large sacred district, including the famous Sanctuary of Uni-Astarte and Leukothea (Aristot. Oec. II. 1349b; Aelian. V.H. I.20) and a demetriac cult place dedicated to the couple of deities Sur and Cavatha. Since 2009, investigations have focused on the sector N of the Sanctuary, where a "Ceremonial Quarter", next to the terminal trait of the Caere-Pyrgi road, was discovered.
Research program for the year 2021 aims to improve the knowledge of the relationship between Caere and Pyrgi focusing on strategic sites along the Caere-Pyrgi road. The excavations of the Ceremonial Quarter, based on the results of the georadar prospections, will allow us to reconstruct the topographical asset of this area and its relationship with the Port and the Sanctuary. The project implies a strong interdisciplinary approach, matching different research fields in a coherent framework: archaeology, history of institutions, geomatics, remote-sensing, biology, chemistry, restoration, landscape architecture.