First Etruscan dwelling discovered in Corsica
A rare archaeological find reveals the presence of the Etruscans in Corsica with a single-family home and a rich corpus of ceramic fragments.
A single residential building, the first discovered in Corsica outside of public structures, has been unearthed, excavated, and analyzed by archaeologists from Inrap, the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research, as part of a project for the construction of a single-family home in the municipality of Ghisonaccia in Upper Corsica.
The building is located in the eastern plain of the island, near the coast facing Italy, where this Etruscan settlement, built and used between the 6th and 4th centuries BC, has now been identified. But what exactly is it?
"This discovery represents privileged evidence of the presence of this pre-Roman civilization on the island's territory thanks to the richness of its ceramic findings and because it is the first domestic settlement excavated in Corsica connected to the Etruscan culture,"
comment the Inrap archaeologists.
The area under investigation is 605 square meters. Not a large area in itself, but rich in finds. The excavation area is located 3.5 km east of the center of Ghisonaccia, in the plain of Corsica bounded to the east by the Tyrrhenian Sea and to the west by the foothills of the Ercinic chain. The Chiusevia site is located about twenty meters north of a bend in the Alzetta stream and about 800 m from the sea. Until now, only Etruscan tombs had been found in Corsica.
In the municipality of Aleria, locality Lamajone (seventy kilometers from Bastia), a team of French researchers from Inrap had discovered, under a Roman necropolis, an extraordinary Etruscan hypogeic tomb dating back to the 4th century BC containing a skeleton and dozens of artifacts.
The house was built on a plateau – the 3% slope ensured water drainage – and was predominantly constructed – at least at the foundation level – using river pebbles, given that the Alzetta stream is not far away. The house stood on a naturally flat area. Three rows of pebbles define an internal space 6.35 m wide by an observed length of 5.30 m, for an internal area of at least 34 m2. The building's surface area is at least 50 m2. Outside the house, there were traces of poles suggesting the use of structures made of wood or perishable materials, such as reed matting.
"The presence of numerous corn cob fragments in the abandoned level supports the hypothesis of wattle walls filled with buildable soil supported by pebble flashings,"
state the Inrap archaeologists.
Outside, hundreds of ceramic fragments were found that testify to its use. There is a single room with a hearth, made up of ceramic fragments from commercial pots. A little further on, a pit contains the remains of combustion.
About twenty meters south of the building, a large ditch has been identified. Measuring 15 meters in length, the excavated structure has a width of 1.70 meters. It appears to continue towards the southwest beyond the meander of the Alzetta stream from which it could capture water to supply the settlement. The ditch might also be considered as an element marking the boundaries and the extent of the settlement. On the outskirts of the settlement, about twenty post holes have been identified. They seem to be involved in the construction of various buildings using perishable materials. Near the building, some pits for domestic waste have also been excavated, containing walls of kilns reddened and clogged with carbonaceous matrices, which testify to activities related to domestic life.
The occupation layer of the building is scattered with fragments of pots discarded on the spot. Additionally, the base of the hearth is predominantly composed of fragments of large containers used for storage and reused. The corpus of ceramics collected at the settlement is exceptionally rich for this type of occupation (weight: 43.3 kg).
"All the fragments come from pots made on a wheel, and none are decorated,"
continue the Inrap archaeologists.
"The main types of identified containers are closed with flared or recessed rims, thick walls, coarse or semi-thin. These are common Etruscan storage ceramics and pots. No traces of burning or charred residues against the walls nor fragments of bottoms present in the body were observed, excluding the use of the containers for cooking. The corpus, homogeneous, is characterized in particular by the absence of local ceramic modeling but also by the lack of refined Etruscan productions (black varnish, overpainted, red figures) or Hellenistic ones."
Thus, they were fragments for reuse.
Was it a distribution center for commercial Etruscan ceramics in the area? Or did the owner have a store or a dumping activity on the shore, transporting broken shards to the nearby country house? It is precisely these ceramic remains that temporally define the dwelling.
"All typological elements, compositions of ceramic bodies, and other highlighted features tend to indicate an occupation of the site in a still broad chronological era, placed between the 6th and 4th centuries BC."
Assuming one does not think that a commercial ceramics dealer lived here, keeping their products under the reed coverings, it is conceivable that around the house there were vegetable gardens, orchards, and poultry farms.
The typological-chronological study of the findings (A. Jamai-Chipon, Inrap), combined with the analysis of organic markers potentially preserved in some pots (N. Garnier, LNG laboratory), and the petrographic study of the pastes (F. Convertini, Inrap), will certainly allow to define a reference corpus for Corsica and offer interesting perspectives for the interpretation and understanding of this site and the positioning of the island within the exchange circuits of the Mediterranean area.
