With the disappearance of terramaricolous life and with the first cremation necropolises in central Italy, we enter protohistoric times.
The fundamental reason for the variety that the rich Italian iron civilization presents (for detailed information see: iron, civilization of) lies in the differentiated aspects of the previous Aenean culture. The multiple relationships, commercial and cultural in general, active internally between group and group, and in force with foreign countries by land and sea, give the whole a superficial aspect of uniformity, all the more striking in the regions where the ritual incineratore affirms himself in the necropolis with general prevalence on the principle. This explains the formal analogies of the ceramic material placed in the Calabrian inhumation tombs of Torre Galli and Canale-Janchina (see Calabria: Prehistory: iron, civilization of) with the Villanovan crockery of the Emilian-Tuscan-Lazio incineration groups.
Of the nine groups in which our first civilization of peninsular iron is distinguished on the basis of the materials of the burial grounds (1st: from Golasecca or Ticinese; 2nd: Veneto-Istrian; 3rd: Villanovian from Bologna; 4th: Villanovan from Tuscany-Umbrian; 5th: Lazio; 6th: Piceno; 7th: Sannita-Campano; 8th: Bruzio-Lucano; 9th: Apulo-Messapico), the last four, Adriatic-southern, stand out singularly for the constant practice of the inhumant rite, except for the isolated phenomenon of Monte Timmari in Lucania.
Thus the Adriatic and southern peninsular Italy, as already in the Aenean age, still maintains an indestructible independence.
The incinerator rite, which is affirmed, predominantly, in the archaic Villanovan of the Bolognese, spreads in the center of Italy especially on the Tyrrhenian side; also predominant here in the most archaic necropolis of lower Etruria, almost exclusive on the Albani Mountains (but mixed and in a minority on Roman soil, at the origins of the city) and does not surpass the Pontine Marshes, as it does not cross the Apennine chain towards the Adriatic. As it spreads and mixes, it loses its primitive character of rude simplicity, enriching the grave goods; and in the course of the age, more and more mixing with the burial pits (except for a few isolated cases of persistent persistence), it ends up being eradicated, when between the century VIII and VII a. C., with the powerful oriental influences from overseas, the primitive civilization of iron is transformed.
Unfortunately, the events studied in the numerous necropolises cannot be accompanied by those of the inhabited areas, given the extraordinary scarcity of traced relics: so much so that it is legitimate to doubt whether some station attributed to the final Aenean age should not even pass to the next phase. On the contrary, in the north, in Venezia Giulia, and also in Tridentina, there are abundant vestiges of prehistoric settlements (castellieri). The complicated and alternating history of the necropolis, in addition to the intrinsic characteristics of the material, served as a basis for archaeologists for the resolution of the ethnological problem, that is, the formation of the Italic nationality, solved otherwise and by other means by anthropologists, historians and linguists.
The Pigorinian theory, not without partial and total oppositions, admitted the real descent of the terramaricolous peoples for almost the whole peninsula, from the archaic Bolognese Villanovan, directly originated, to the prisco-Lazio antiquities, more akin to the rude terramaricolo simplicity, and up to the Ionian; by virtue of this concrete propagation the cultural variety of the peninsula would have been harmonized in a more harmonious whole. In support of the thesis, the following were cited: the series of necropolises called transition (Bismantova, Fontanella, Pianello, Timmari) connected to the more archaic ones of the following period (Boschetto di Grottaferrata, Allumiere, Palombara Sabina, S. Vitale bolognese, etc.), and especially the so-called terramara of Punta del Tonno in Taranto. But this, not definitively disclosed, has always been the cause of serious doubts, so as to persuade that the terramaricolous character rests on the pure exteriority of the material; finally, very recent excavations at Pianello di Genga and in the Sentino gorge, with their results, if they do not otherwise explain the presence of the incinerator funeral rite, at least destroy the stronghold value that this necropolis, now considered later, had so far. The same followers of the Pigorinian theory have recognized that the dominating function of the terramaric civilization must be contained in more just limits; while other scholars unjustly deny it certainly. at least they destroy the stronghold value that this necropolis, now judged later, had until now. The same followers of the Pigorinian theory have recognized that the dominating function of the terramaric civilization must be contained in more just limits; while other scholars unjustly deny it certainly. at least they destroy the stronghold value that this necropolis, now judged later, had until now. The same followers of the Pigorinian theory have recognized that the dominating function of the terramaric civilization must be contained in more just limits; while other scholars unjustly deny it.
With the concern to harmonize the archaeological excavation results, not only with the historiographical traditions, but above all with the nominal definitions of the various Italic populations, as they are inferred from history, multiple solutions have been proposed, devising subsequent immigrations (proto-Italic and Italic ), to explain ethnologically the varieties of the first iron civilization, in relation to the most debated problem of Etruscan origins (see Etruscans).
Hence the various views of E. Brizio, G. Ghirardini, G. De Sanctis, B. Modestov, LA Milani, A. Grenier, D. Randall MacIver, F. von Duhn, L. Pareti, G. Patroni, G. Devout, etc.
More generally, Italianicity is recognized in incinerating people, nor can the correctness of recognition be denied; but on the other hand, if we give the Italic term its most just and pure meaning and value, such as linguistics and even history advise, it cannot fail to be uncomfortable to note that true italicity, historically concrete with the Osco-Umbrian lineages and Sabellic, is based archaeologically on those Adriatic-southern groups characterized by the persistent Neo-Eneolithic culture and by the constant practice of the inhumant rite: anthropologically Mediterranean race.
Almost to remove the discomfort, but starting from the archaic burials of Terni, F. von Duhn divided the Italians into incinerators and inhumants, considering the latter descended into the peninsula about a millennium after the first (terramaricolous and proto-Villanovan); but many have rightly observed the impossibility of such a belated descent into the heart of Italy, a descent which leaves no traces of the passage. Lastly, in the archaeological field, U. Rellini has certainly assigned the name of Italics to the Apennine and southern groups of the Aenean culture, actually anachronistically compared to the definitions so far adopted by the various paleoethnologists. But the difficult resolution, first of all, cannot be done without framing the terramaric civilization in the totalitarian examination, as well as the subsequent ones more similar to it; Secondly, the resolution itself harms any criterion of rigidity based on nominal definitions, formations of mature and non-original times, on a par with the Italic languages themselves which serve as a basis for historians and glottologists. From a purely archaeological point of view it can be said: the existence of a great substantial, cultural and ethnic background cannot be denied, such as the Italy of the Aenean age already shows full of vitality that later reveals itself; but the penetration in the north of different people, such as the terramaricola, is also evident. The reciprocal and multiple relationships, commercial and cultural, undeniable, and also the propagation of human elements, not catastrophic and limited, at least in the regions where the incineration rite predominates at first, put different civilizations and human lives in happy contact; the result is a complicated story of admixture and absorption, which the history of funeral rites is the first to illuminate, perhaps also highlighting, with the final victory of burial, which is the spiritually strongest element. It is from the result of the merger, which took place not simply but in various ways, according to the prevalence of number and culture, according to the physical nature of the places and the special conditions of life, that that ethnic group is formed, not uniform in an absolute sense, but largely part cemented by original traditions, language, customs, religious ideas, etc., to which only Rome, after a bitter, almost fratricidal struggle, is destined to give a victorious unity. what is the spiritually strongest element. It is from the result of the merger, which took place not simply but in various ways, according to the prevalence of number and culture, according to the physical nature of the places and the special conditions of life, that that ethnic group is formed, not uniform in an absolute sense, but largely part cemented by original traditions, language, customs, religious ideas, etc., to which only Rome, after a bitter, almost fratricidal struggle, is destined to give a victorious unity. what is the spiritually strongest element. It is from the result of the merger, which took place not simply but in various ways, according to the prevalence of number and culture, according to the physical nature of the places and the special conditions of life, that that ethnic group is formed, not uniform in an absolute sense, but largely part cemented by original traditions, language, customs, religious ideas, etc., to which only Rome, after a bitter, almost fratricidal struggle, is destined to give a victorious unity.