Archeology

In the territory around Arcevia have been revealed remarkable archaeological sites documenting the human presence in the oldest ages. The first human settlement dates to the late Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age. In the locality of Ponte di Pietra an open-air site has been excavated: it dates back to 20000 years ago. On the top of a detrital deposit have been revealed traces of human presence, who produced a remarkable legacy of stone and metal works, together with a few remainings of horses. The high percentage of unretouched manufactured objects compared with the tools, allows to recognize the site as a place for the flint-working, even if the presence of a hearth suggests that the site might have been inhabited.

The presence of a human settlement in the area is proved also by the archaelogical founds revealed in the surroundings of S.Giovanni Battista, along the river Misa.

Traces from the Neolithic have been found in the site of Cava Giacometti where the findings document the period from the end of the Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age. The excavations which were carried on in the years 1945-46 by the Palaeonthologic Institute of Rome did not bring to light any housing structures, even if there is evidence of a settlement which lasted more than a millenium.

During the third millenium B.C. was built the defensive ditch of Conelle to defend the entrance into the plateau, delimited on the other sides by the meeting of the natural ditches Fosso delle Grazie and Fosso del Montefortino, where it probably stood a prehistoric village of which, however, we do not have any direct information. The surveys carried on the plateau did not reveal any rest of housing structures, probably destroyed by agricultural works.

Remainings coming from the ditch, such as fragments of plaster with traces of thatch, witness the presence of a human settlement. The ditch, digged in a gravelly formation, is more than 120 metres high, 4/6 metres large and 7 metres deep. At first, the structure had defensive functions but, in a second time it was used as a waste for materials coming from the village.

Among the economic activities carried on by the villagers of Conelle there are the agriculture - witnessed by remainings of millstones, hoes made with the horns of the deer, reaping-hooks - and the rearing for the production of meat (pigs, cattle and sheep). The hunting was largely practised (deer and boars) as the numerous arrow points discovered in the ditch have proved. The widespread wood-working is attested by the finding of many flint axes.

The Bronze Age in Arcevia is witnessed in the site of S.Giovanni Battista, on the left bank of the river Misa. Legacies from the late Bronze Age are more numerous even if less widespread (Conelle, La Pieve, Piano delle Badie, Ponte del Goro).

The settlement of Monte Croce Guardia, extending on a large area of the mountain overlooking Arcevia, dates to the end of the Bronze Age. Some huts with a wooden frame and digged on the rocks have been excavated in this site.

The settlement of Monte Croce Guardia is of a great importance for the definition of the Bronze Age culture, considering its housing elements and in relation to the necropolis of Pianello di Genga, not far from Gola di Sentino.

The excavations carried on between 1894 and 1899 in Montefortino discovered a very important Gallic necropolis (IV-III century B.C.) where many tools were found.

This necropolis is essential for the understanding of the entity and the nature of the Hellenic and Italic influences on the Gauls who settled on the east side of the Apennines, in the Marches.

Beside, in Montefortino, were discovered traces of a sacred site where, by a spring, they worshipped some health divinity.

This sacred site lasted very long because the implements there found (little statues, votive offerings in the shape of human organs, ertheanware unguentariums and some other objects) date back to a period of time going from 500 B.C. to full Roman age.

Regione Marche

---