The Scamozzina culture (Italian ''Cultura della Scamozzina''), which takes its name from the

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

found in Cascina Scamozzina of

Albairate Albairate ( lmo, Bairaa or ''Albairaa'' ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about southwest of Milan. Albairate borders the following municipalities: Corbetta, Cisliano, Cass ...

, was a prehistoric civilization of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

that developed between the end of the middle

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

and the beginning of the late Bronze Age (14th and 13th century BC), in western

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

and

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. It was located in an area that is generally defined as ethnically Ligurian and it introduced some cultural characteristics more specific to the subsequent proto-

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Culture of Canegrate. Among the evidences of this culture there is a cremation tomb, dating to the late Bronze Age (13th century BC.) found at Guado di Gugnano,

Casaletto Lodigiano Casaletto Lodigiano ( Lodigiano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Lodi in the Italian region Lombardy, located about southeast of Milan and about west of Lodi. Casaletto Lodigiano borders the following municipalities: Cerro ...

in February 1876, during the flatworks in a field near the Lisone. The Scamozzina culture, clearly distinct from the coeval

Terramare culture Terramare, terramara, or terremare is a technology complex mainly of the central Po valley, in Emilia, Northern Italy, dating to the Middle and Late Bronze Age c. 1700–1150 BC. It takes its name from the "black earth" residue of settlement ...

, saw the establishment of the funeral rite of cremation in which also a set of ornaments was deposed with the bones in the cinerary urn, an early phenomenon, ahead of other Italian regions but also of most of Europe who knew of this development only from the earliest phases of the

Urnfield culture The Urnfield culture ( 1300 BC – 750 BC) was a late Bronze Age culture of Central Europe, often divided into several local cultures within a broader Urnfield tradition. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and p ...

. One of the favorite motifs in the decoration of the Scamozzina pottery is that of two strips of triangles arranged with the top hatch opposed to form a zig-zag band. Characteristic is also the spread of the decoration technique with fake strings. It is assumed that the buildings of this culture were made in wood, straw and clay.

Sources

* Raffaele de Marinis, ''Liguri e Celto-Liguri'' in ''Italia. Omniun terrarum alumna'', Garzanti-Scheiwiller, 1988, 724 pp.gg.

Sources

See also