Broglio di Trebisacce is situated 1 km from the coast on a high terrace in the foothills of the Pollino massif at the northern end of the plain of Sybaris. The site is one of more than twenty pre- and proto-historic sites in the hills surrounding the, suggesting that the area was substantially populated from the Middle Bronze Age onwards.1 Excavations at Broglio began in 1979 and are still continuing.2 Even though some Neolithic finds have been made, settlement at the site appears to have begun in the Middle Bronze Age and continued into the Early Iron Age.3
The site of Broglio di Trebisacce coveres the whole terrace.4 Five restricted areas have been excavated up to 1985 (fig 17.1). The Areas A and C, were heavily damaged by erosion and ploughing, and the virgin soil appeared directly below the top soil.5 In Area E, five post holes have been interpreted as the remains of a Middle Bronze Age hut.6 In the south-eastern part of trench B, a ditch has been discovered with eight post holes and field stones. Together with post holes in the vicinity they may have belonged to a Middle Bronze Age structure, but no pavement or surface has been recognised. In the same area, pits and post holes dating to the Late Bronze Age may represent two or three successive structures. A sequence of terraces has been discovered in trench D, the earliest of which can be dated to the Middle Bronze Age. A short section of a wall as well as pavement dating to an advanced stage of the Middle Bronze Age have been discovered in the eastern and southern parts of the trench. 7 These possible structures may have been the predecessors of a Late Bronze Age structure, of which a ditch with six post holes has been attested.8 This building was superseded by a structure which was cut into the slope and which has been labeled the 'central habitation building', or complesso a monte.9 This building, which is only partly preserved, had a plan in the shape of a horse-shoe (Fig. 17.2). The few, fragmentary remains of other structures identified at the site all belong to later periods.
1 Peroni & Vagnetti 1982; Buffa & Peroni 1982; Belar-delli et al. 1994.
2 The excavations are conducted by the Cattedra di pro-
tostoria Europea of the University of Rome 'La Sapienza', in collaboration with the Centro studi di
Protostoria and headed by Renato Peroni. The cam paigns until 1985 have been fully published, see Bergonzi & Cardarelli 1982b; Peroni 1982b; Peroni 1984; Peroni & Trucco 1994. See, also, the other articles in the same volumes. Since 1990 excavations have resumed at Broglio, again headed by Peroni; these have only been published in preliminary fashion, see Peroni
& Vanzetti 1993; 1998.
3 Peroni 1982a, 1-2; Peroni 1994. For absolute dates, see Malone, Stoddart & Whitehouse 1994, 170; Peroni 1998.
4 Peroni 1982a, 2-3. Remains of a Bronze Age tomb were discovered on a hill directly to the south of the site; see Bergonzi & Cardarelli 1982a, 37; Peroni 1994, 839; Peroni & Trucco 1994a, 39, tav. 26.14.
5 Bergonzi & Cardarelli 1982b, 42.
6 Trucco 1994, 85-89.
8 Peroni & Trucco 1994, 65.
9 Peroni 1982b, 15-21; 1984, 26-27; Barbieri, Peroni & Trucco 1984, 15-21; Trucco 1994, 95-97.
It has been estimated that the population of Broglio during the Bronze Age consisted of some 1100 individuals.10 Quite probably, this population was internally stratified from the Middle Bronze Age onwards.11 The material culture at Broglio di Trebisacce during the Middle Bronze Age is very similar to that of sites in the Taranto region.12 The remains of the Late Bronze age conform to the homogeneity of the sub-Appennine culture.13 From the Middle Bronze Age onwards, the ceramic record at Broglio reveals strong influences of Aegean pottery techniques.14 A substantial part of the Aegean-type pottery is locally made (see below; in addition there exist a class of wheel-made grey ware, often decorated with Aegean motifs, and wheel-refined dolia. Both classes differ radically in technique from the hand-made impasto. Such an extensive Aegean influence on the local ceramic industry has been explained by the transference of Aegean craftsmen to southern Italy.15
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