7 February 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Remains of a 12-year-old boy wearing a bronze warrior belt found in Pontecagnano

The remains of a 12-year-old boy wearing a bronze warrior belt were found at Pontecagnano, an outpost of the pre-Roman Central Italian Etruscan civilization in southern Campania.

Lead archaeologist Gina Tomay told ANSA about the finds.

 “It’s a find of great significance,” said Tomay of the boy, who lived in the IV century BC and was discovered with two ceramic cups at his feet, one for food in the afterlife and the other for the wine that would ensure him a place at the banqueting ceremony called symposium.

 Tomay said the boy was the 10,000th find at Pontecagnano, over 60 years of success and good practices “due to study, research and systematic excavations”.


The Etruscan colony there reached its peak between the VIII and VII century BC, she said, in an area “particularly well-favored by nature and also close to the sea”.

In the Pontecagnano area, remains of the Villanovan Culture (9th-8th century BC), the ancestor of the Etruscans, were found. Archaeological studies in the area provide evidence of early settlements.

Photo source Research Gate

Objects from all over the Mediterranean, from Greece to Egypt, from the Far East to Sicily and Sardinia, have been discovered in Pontecagnano.

The Etruscan Center was probably called Amina and dates back to the 6th century B.C. At the height of his power, he ruled over all the land from Salerno to the Silaurus River (Sele). It was known for the Argive Juno temple supposedly built by Jason. Here, in 268 BC, the Romans built a new city, Picentia, which housed the nucleus of the Piceni deportees.

Several kilometers of farmland and the Sele River separates the settlement from the two-story Greek city of Paestum in the west, and not far to the south is Pompeii, whose origins, according to recent research by archaeologists Massimo Osanna, also lie in Etruscan in the 7th century BC.

The Etruscan child and 10,000th find in Pontecagnano, according to Osanna, the former Pompeii head who is now the director-general of Italy’s public museums, “is also an interesting and valuable case study.”

The discoveries may attract more tourists to the site, which has been lauded in archeological literature but has been overlooked by main tourism routes, unlike neighboring Paestum.

Related Articles

An extraordinary medieval belt loop found near Kamień Pomorski in Poland

18 March 2024

18 March 2024

A late medieval belt loop for hanging keys or a bag was found near the town of Kamień Pomorski in...

Giant handaxe discovered at Ice Age site in Kent, UK

8 July 2023

8 July 2023

Researchers in Kent in southeastern England have discovered a prehistoric handaxe so big it would have been almost impossible to...

İnteresting Relief on the Roman Millstone

20 February 2021

20 February 2021

During the Cambridgeshire A14 road improvement work, workers found an interesting millstone. A large penis was engraved in the Roman-era...

Ancient Mesopotamian Cylinder Seals Offer Clues to the Origin of Writing

6 November 2024

6 November 2024

Researchers from the University of Bologna have discovered an association between proto-cuneiform and even older stone images engraved on ancient...

A rare treasure with ornaments nearly a thousand years old was discovered in Staraya Ryazan, Russia

18 August 2021

18 August 2021

During expeditions of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a rare treasure with ornaments of about...

Earliest glass workshop north of the Alps unearthed in Němčice

25 July 2023

25 July 2023

Archaeologists excavated the famous Iron Age site Němčice and uncovered the earliest glass workshop north of the Alps. Numerous beautiful...

Excavations at the site in the coastal city of São Luís, Brazil uncovered thousands of artifacts left by ancient peoples up to 9,000 years ago

4 February 2024

4 February 2024

Archaeologists unearthed 43 human skeletons and more than 100,000 artifacts at an excavation site in the coastal city of São...

Iconic 2,500-Year-Old Coțofenești Helmet and Dacian Treasures Stolen from Dutch Museum

26 January 2025

26 January 2025

A heist at the Drents Museum in Assen, Netherlands, has resulted in the theft of several invaluable artifacts from the...

Archaeologists may have Found a Viking Age Marketplace in Norway

21 February 2024

21 February 2024

Archaeologists from the University of Stavanger have identified the possible remains of a marketplace from the Viking Age on a...

One of its kind, 1,500-year-old Roman ‘Lorica Squamata’ legion armor restored

19 June 2024

19 June 2024

The 1,500-year-old Roman ‘Lorica Squamata’ legion armor, the only known example in the world, found in the ancient city of...

‘Theodoric the Great’ villa mosaic found near Verona in Italy

17 April 2022

17 April 2022

A section of the ancient Roman mosaic flooring from the 5th century AD villa of Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great...

A rural necropolis from Late Antiquity discovered in northeastern France

5 November 2022

5 November 2022

Inrap archaeologists have unearthed a small rural necropolis from the late 5th century (Late Antiquity) at Sainte-Marie-aux-Chênes in northeastern France....

Persian plateau unveiled as crucial hub for early human migration out of Africa, study suggests

29 March 2024

29 March 2024

60,000 to 70,000 years ago, our species Homo sapiens walked out of Africa and began to find new homes around...

A Fig Dating Back Over 2,000 Years has been Discovered in North Dublin – A First of Its Kind for Ireland

28 November 2024

28 November 2024

The discovery of a fig dating back 2,000 years during an archaeological excavation of Drumanagh in north Dublin, has been...

The first ivory work of art recovered from the World Heritage cave Hohle Fels was believed to be a horse – until archaeologists made a new discovery-

30 July 2023

30 July 2023

For more than 20 years, the first ivory work of art recovered from the World Heritage cave Hohle Fels was...