Golasecca culture

The Golasecca culture is an Etruscan culture, which in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age (about 1300-800 BC) in the Po plain, in the territory of the northern Italian lakes and the canton of Ticino in Switzerland from an Etruscan population developed. The most affected areas of excavation is that of communities Sesto Calende Golasecca and Castelletto Ticino. The eponymous place Golasecca is located in the province of Varese.

The boundaries of the area of the Sesia rivers in the west, Serio in the East, Po in the south and from the Alps to the north. The culture existed parallel to the Celtic Hallstatt period, in addition to the Villanova culture in the Bologna and the Estonian culture in the eastern part of the Po Valley. As the Este culture it is seen as a mediator between the cultures north of the Alps and the Mediterranean. Your first settlements established in the river valleys of the Alps region. The main branches were found in the area around Como and on the banks of the Ticino ( river ), eg in Castelletto sopra Ticino ( in the province of Novara, close to the eponymous site). The culture has the oldest written documents produced in a Celtic language ( the Lepontischen or Keltoligurischen ).

Many cemeteries of the families or clans have been discovered in clusters of farms, the town suburbs were later. The bodies were cremated. The ashes were buried in terracotta urns that were covered with bowls. After the rank of the deceased was a more or less rich equipment to do so. Some graves were found stone constructions.

In the Parco Naturale dei established in 1980 Lagoni di Mercurago, the old park Giovanni Siviglia on Lake Maggiore, one can see a replica of a tomb with stone circles. The first discovered in 1860 in Italy's lake-dwelling Mercurago was already from the late Bronze Age from the 18th to the 13th century BC in use and is considered a witness to the Canegrate culture, the precursor of the Golasecca culture. In the peat on the bottom of the lake, many objects of wood, metal, ceramic and stone have received over the centuries. Among the most famous are primitive wooden wheels, which occur in two types. One fits a heavy transport vehicle, the second with spokes is already assigned to a light, horse-drawn carriage.