After more than 100 years from the government excavations undertaken by Innocenzo Dall’Orso between 1909-1911 in the necropolis of Colle Ete at Belmonte Piceno, in 2018 excavations reopened on this important pre-Roman site, which is strictly linked with the definition of the so-called Picenan archaeological culture. From at least the late 7th century B.C. and throughout the 6th century B.C., Belmont Piceno had close intercultural relationships with Etruria, Greece, Magna Graecia and the Hallstatt culture, which exceed those of every other pre-Roman site in the Marche. The excavation is the result of archive research and the study of the grave goods that are part of a large Italo-German project, financed by the Deutschen-Forschungsgemeinschaft, directed by Joachim Weidig.

The main objective of this first explorative campaign was to confirm the position of the site excavated in the early 1900s, and to test the archaeological potential of the territory. Area A: The trenches revealed traces of occupation, probably residential, with structures dated by the materials to around the 6th to 4th century B.C., however, they will be excavated during the coming campaigns. The visible structural remains were constituted by two rows of stones on an E/NE-W/SW alignment: cobblestones in a dry-stone construction. In addition, several fragments of wattle and daub were collected together with large quantities of roofing materials. Area B: The other trench revealed an occupation layer, probably already intercepted by Dall’Osso and identified as an “area for sacrifices”. His description largely coincides with the observations made during the excavation: a layer characterised by a large organic component with animal bones and impasto pottery. Deep ploughing had compromised most of it, removing regularly spaced 35 cm wide strips.

Area C: Continuing directly from the Dall’Osso excavation of the necropolis, here two adjacent burials were uncovered on an east-west alignment, at just 40 cm below ground level; therefore the grave goods were not well-preserved. In fact, the primary grave of tomb 1 was almost completely destroyed by ploughing, with very few skeletal remains and fragments of the grave goods. However, a secondary pit for the deposition of two large ceramic vessels and other refined objects was situated at a substantially lower level, thus the artefacts were preserved.
Tomb 2, certainly female with a rich tomb group of amber and ivory, presented traces of a complex wooden frame that was still clearly visible. In order to permit correct preservation and documentation, it was decided to remove it in a block to be excavated in the laboratory.