The Rinaldone culture was an

Eneolithic The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often v ...

culture that spread between the 4th and the 3rd millennium BC in northern and central

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, in southern

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

and, to a lesser extent, also in Marche and

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

. It takes its name from the town of Rinaldone, near

Montefiascone Montefiascone is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Viterbo, in Lazio, central Italy. It stands on a hill on the southeast side of Lake Bolsena, about north of Rome. History The name of the city derives from that of the Falisci (''Mons Fa ...

in the

province of Viterbo Viterbo ( it, provincia di Viterbo) is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Viterbo. Geography Viterbo is the most northerly of the provinces of Lazio. It is bordered to the south by the Metropolitan City of Rome ...

, northern Lazio.

Story

The Rinaldone culture developed between 3700 and 2100 BC in the centre of the Italian peninsula. It therefore covers most of the

Chalcolithic The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

, referred to here as

. It was defined in 1939 by Italian archeologist Pia Laviosa Zambotti based,Negroni Catacchio N., 2006, La cultura di Rinaldone, Negroni Catacchio N. (ed.), ''Pastori e guerrieri nell'Etruria del IV e III millennio a.C., La civiltà di Rinaldone a 100 anni delle prime scoperte, Atti del Settimo Incontro di Studi Preistoria e Protostoria in Etruria'', Viterbo, 21 November 2003 - Valentano (Vt) - Pittigliano (Gr), 17–18 September 2004, Centro Studi di Preistoria e Archeologia, Milan, vol. II, p. 31-45 among other things, on the characteristics of the Rinaldone necropolis in the region of

Viterbo Viterbo (; Viterbese: ; lat-med, Viterbium) is a city and ''comune'' in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history ...

. The original definition of this culture has, of course, evolved since 1939. Many researchers now describe it as a faciesGrifoni Cremonesi R., Negroni Catacchio N., Sarti L., 2001, Eneolitico, in Cocchi Genick D., Grifoni R., Martini F., Palma di Cesnola A., Sarti L., Vigliardi A., ''Preistoria e Protostoria della Toscana'', Atti della XXXIV Riunione Scientifica, Firenze, 29 Settembre – 2 Ottobre 1999, Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Firenze, p. 71-90 and even a funeral facies. Even today, it is still documented almost exclusively by funeral sites. The definition of this culture (or facies) is problematic since it is based only on very limited elements and rarely specific to this region and this period, for example a particular type of vase which, in fact, is only present in part of the tombs. Typical objects of this culture are the flask-shaped jars, decorative elements such as

antimony Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb (from la, stibium) and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (Sb2S3). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...

necklace, bone beads,

steatite Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the ...

pendants and a considerable number of weapons including mallet heads, arrowheads, spears and daggers. One of the most famous funerary contexts belonging to this culture is the so-called "widow's tomb" discovered in 1951 in Ponte San Pietro, near

Ischia di Castro Ischia di Castro is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Latium, located about northwest of Rome and about northwest of Viterbo. Ischia di Castro borders the following municipalities: Canino, Cellere, Far ...

. It contains the remains of a 30-year-old man of high rank, with a rich collection of pottery and weapons, and a young woman with a much more modest outfit, who was probably sacrificed to be buried with her husband.

Chronology, development area and influences

Chronology

Until the 1990s, there was almost no clear carbon-14 dating attributable to this culture. The situation has since evolved, in particular thanks to the numerous dates carried out on the burials of the Selvicciola necropolis in the north of

. This culture begins around 3700 BC and ends around 2100 BC. Its duration is therefore exceptionally long.Negroni Catacchio N., Miari M., 2002, Problemi di cronologia della facies di Rinaldone, in Negroni Catacchio N., ''Paesaggi d'Acque, Preistoria e Protostoria in Etruria, Atti del Quinto Incontro di Studi'', Centro Studi di Preistoria e Archeologia, Milano, vol. 2, p. 487-508 It is still too early to propose internal subdivisions.De Marinis R. C., 2006, Aspetti della metallurgia dell’età del Rame e dell’antica età del Bronzo nella penisola italiana, ''Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche'', vol. LVI, p. 211-272 The axes are distinguished by a different composition from other objects.

Development area

The sites attributable to the Rinaldone culture are mainly located in the north and centre of

, in the south and centre of Tuscany and to a lesser extent in

.Carboni G., Salvadei G., 1993, Indagini archeologiche nella piana della Bonifica di Maccarese (Fiumicino – Roma), Il neolitico e l'eneolitico, ''Origini'', vol. XVII, p. 255-279 However, contrary to what was initially assumed there are also sites south of the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

, especially in the region of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

.Anzidei A. P., Carboni G., Egidi R., Malvone M., 2007, Rinaldone a Sud del Tevere : nuove necropoli e materiali da contesti di abitato nel comprensorio della via Tuscolana nell’area sud-est di Roma, in Bietti A., ''Strategie di insediamento fra Lazio e Campania in età preistorica e protostorica'', Atti della XL Riunione Scientifica, Roma, Napoli, Pompei, 30 novembre – 3 dicembre 2005, Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Firenze, vol. 2, p. 461-476Carboni G., Anzidei A. P., 2006, Rinaldone e Gaudo in un territorio di confine : il Lazio centro-meridionale, Negroni Catacchio N., ''Pastori e guerrieri nell’Etruria del IV e III millennio a.C., La civiltà di Rinaldone a 100 anni delle prime scoperte'', Atti del Settimo Incontro di Studi Preistoria e Protostoria in Etruria, Viterbo, 21 novembre 2003 - Valentano (Vt) – Pittigliano (Gr), 17-18 Settembre 2004, Centro Studi di Preistoria e Archeologia, Milano, vol. I, p. 175-191 It is also proven from the beginning its development in the region of Marche,Silvestrini M., Pignocchi G., 1997, La necropoli eneolitica di Fontenoce di Recanati: lo scavo 1992, ''Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche'', p. 309-366 but in this region, the characteristic fiascoes of this culture are rareSilvestrini M., Cazzella A., Baroni I., Recchia G., 2006, Le necropoli eneolitiche delle Marche e la facies di Rinaldone, in Negroni Catacchio N., ''Pastori e guerrieri nell’Etruria del IV e III millennio a.C., La civiltà di Rinaldone a 100 anni dalle prime scoperte, Preistoria e Protostoria in Etruria, Atti del Settimo Incontro di Studi'', Viterbo 21 novembre 2003, Valentano (Vt) – Pitigliano (Gr) 17-18 Settembre 2004, Centro Studi di Preistoria e Archeologia, Milano, vol. 1, p. 193-199 and quickly the entire eastern part of the Apennines seems to be undergoing autonomous cultural development. It appears punctually as far as Abruzzo. In the most recent phase, it even seems to extend southwards to Lazio where it replaces the Gaudo culture. However, the borders with other cultures are particularly blurred. In central Lazio, the Rinaldone culture coexists alongside the Gaudo culture and Ortucchio culture between 3130 and 2870 BC and even beyond.Anzidei A.P., Carboni G., Mieli G., 2012, Il gruppo Roma-Colli Albani: un decennio di ricerche e studi sulla facies di Rinaldone nel territorio di Roma, in ''Preistoria e protostoria in Etruria, Atti del decimo incontro di studi. L’Etruria dal Paleolitico al Primo Ferro. Lo stato delle ricerche'', vol. I, Centro Studi di Preistoria e Archeologia, Milano, p. 197-214

Influences

The influences of the Rinaldone culture beyond its main development area are visible in the presence of objects inspired or directly derived from it. Metal objects can be found in the south of France, probably of Italian origin, as in Fontaine-le-Puits in

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population ...

. Several copper daggers supposedly of Rinaldone origin have even been discovered in Switzerland. According to some researchers, the culture of Rinaldone was at the origin of the development of the metallurgy in the south of France. There are strong similarities between the latter and the metallurgical practices attested to at Cabrières in

Hérault Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.Dolfini A., 2013, The Emergence of Metallurgy in the Central Mediterranean Region: A New Model, ''European Journal of Archaeology'', vol. 16 n. 1, p. 21-62 On the other hand, Rinaldone's culture is not impervious to external influences. There is even a facies derived from this culture in Tuscany that bears the name of the cave in which it was identified, the facies of Sassi Neri. In the eponymous site but also in neighbouring sites such as the Fontino cave near

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the ...

and the San Giuseppe cave in Elba Island, the objects, especially the vases, have characteristics that bring them closer to the cultures of Rinaldone, Gaudo Culture and Laterza Culture.Grifoni Cremonesi R., 2009, Quelques observations à propos de l’Âge du cuivre en Italie centrale, in D''e Méditerranée et d’ailleurs... Mélanges offerts à Jean Guilaine'', Archives d’Écologie Préhistorique, Toulouse, p. 323-332 Relationships between Rinaldone's and Gaudo's culture are also visible in the Rome region. In a tomb in Tenuta della Selcetta 2 vases of both cultures are associated. Similarly, in Osteria del Curato-Via Cinquefrondi, in a necropolis Laterza Culture- Ortucchio Culture, a female tomb containing Rinaldone, Laterza and Gaudo ceramics has been exhumed. In addition, the structure of the tombs, the funeral ritual and the presence in both cases of long arrowheads bring the cultures of Rinaldone and Gaudo closer together. However, these mutual influences remain generally rare and limited to rather general aspects. This relative closure of Rinaldone's culture to external influences is particularly visible during the development of the Bell Beaker around 2600 BC. Outside the necropolis of Fontanile di Raim in northern Lazio. where the two cultures seem to mix, there are generally sites whose furniture refers entirely to one or the other.

Main sites

* Bandita San Pantaleo (Lazio) * Casale del Dolce (Lazio) * Camerano (Marche) * Fontanile di Raim (Lazio)Petitti P., Negroni Catacchio N., Conti A. M., Lemorini C., Persiani C., 2002, La necropoli eneolitica del Fontanile di Raim. Nuovi dati dalla campagna di scavo 1998, in Negroni Catacchio N., Paesaggi d'Acque, Preistoria e Protostoria in Etruria, Atti del Quinto Incontro di Studi, Centro Studi di Preistoria e Archeologia, Milano, vol. 2, p. 545-568 * Fontenoce di Recanati (Marche) * Garavicchio (Tuscany) * Le Calle (Tuscany) * Lucrezia Romana (Lazio) * Lunghezzina (Lazio)Anzidei A. P., Carboni G., Catalano P., Celant A., Lemorini C., Musco S., 2003, La necropoli eneolitica di Lunghezzina (Roma), in Bernabò Brea M., Bietti Sestieri A. M., Cardarelli A., Cocchi Genick D., Grifoni Cremonesi R., Pacciarelli M., ''Le comunità della preistoria italiana, studi e ricerche sul neolitico e le Età dei Metalli'', Castello di Lipari, Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Atti della XXXV Riunione Scientifica, Chiesa di S. Caterina, 2-7 giugno 2000, 2 vol., Firenze, vol. 1, p. 379-391 * Osteria del Curato-Via Cinquefrondi (Lazio) * Ponte delle Sette Miglia (Lazio) * Ponte San Pietro (Lazio)Miari M., 1995, Topografia e Organizzazione spaziale delle necropoli eneolitica di Ponte San Pietro (Ischia di Castro, VT), in Negroni Catacchio N., ''Preistoria e Protostoria in Etruria, Atti del secondo incontro di studi, Tipologia delle necropoli e rituali di deposizione, ricerche e scavi'', Farnese 21-23 maggio 1993, Centro di Studi di Preistoria e Archeologia, 2 vol., Milano, vol. 1, p. 55-66 * Rinaldone (Lazio)Cocchi D., 1980-1981, Industria litica dalla necropoli di Rinaldone (Viterbo), ''Rassegna di Archeologia'', vol. 2, p. 105-120 * Romanina (Lazio)Carboni G., Anzidei A. P., 2013, L’Eneolitico recente e finale nel Lazio centro-meridionale: una puntualizzazione sullo sviluppo e la durata di alcuni aspetti culturali sulla nase delle più recenti datazioni radiometriche, in Cocchi Genick D., ''Cronologia assoluta e relativa dell’Età del Rame in Italia, Atti dell’Incontro di Studi'', Università di Verona, 25 giugno 2013, Qui Edit, Verona, Vol. I, p. 91-118 * Selvicciola (Lazio)Conti A. M., Persiani C., Petitti P., 1998, Articolazione interna e rapporti esterni deu gruppi sociali rinaldoniani, De Marinis R., Bietti Sestieri A. M., Peroni R., Peretto C., ''The Copper Age in the Near East and Europe, The Bronze Age in Europe and the Mediterranean, The Iron Age in Europe, XIII International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences'', Forlì – Italia, 8-14 september 1996, Abaco, Forlì p. 31-35 * Tenuta della Mandriola (Latium)Anzidei A. P., Carboni G., 2007, Nuovi contesti funerari eneolitici dal territorio di Roma, in Martini F., ''La cultura del morire nella società preistoriche e protostoriche italiane'', Origines, Firenze, p. 177-186

Genetics

Antonio et al. (2019) analyzed the genetics of a male from a Chalcolithic site in southern Lazio at the foothill of

Monti Ausoni The Monti Ausoni or Ausoni Mountains constitute a mountain range in southern Lazio, in central Italy. It is part of the Antiappennini, a group running from the Apennines chain to the Tyrrhenian Sea. They are bounded to the north by the Monti L ...

, assigned to both Rinaldone and Gaudo culture; he was buried in Monte San Biagio, Italy, between ca. 3500 BC and 2500 BC, and carried the paternal haplogroup H2 (P96), found in Neolithic Anatolia and in multiple later Neolithic cultures of Europe, and the maternal haplogroup was N1a1a1a3, found in many Neolithic cultures of Europe. His autosomal DNA was a mixture of EEF ancestry (85%) and WHG ancestry (15%), similar to other Copper Age samples from Italy and the rest of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, including those from the Remedello culture.

References

Bibliography

*Aa.Vv, ''Le grandi avventure dell'archeologia'', VOL 5: Europa e Italia protostorica - Curcio editore, pg.1584-1585-1586 Chalcolithic cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures of Southern Europe Archaeological cultures in Italy