Abstract
The Noceto ‘Vasca Votiva’ (votive tank), discovered in excavations on a terrace at the southern edge of the Po Plain, northern Italy, is a unique well-preserved wooden (primarily oak) structure dated to the advanced through late Middle Bronze Age (~1600–1300 BCE). This complex monument, comprising two super-imposed tanks, is generally linked with an important but uncertain ritual role involving water. The context provides extraordinary preservation of both wooden, other organic, and cultural finds. The key question until now, hindering further interpretation of this remarkable structure, has been the precise date of the tanks. Initial work pointed to use of the two tanks over about a century. Using dendrochronology and radiocarbon ‘wiggle-matching’ we report near-absolute construction dates for both of the tanks. The lower (older) tank is dated ~1444±4 BCE and the upper (more recent) tank is dated 12 years later at ~1432±4 BCE. This dating of the construction of the Noceto tanks in the 3rd quarter of the 15th century BCE further enables us to reassess the overall period of activity of this wooden complex and its association with a major period of societal change in the Bronze Age of northern Italy starting in the later 15th century BCE.
Highlights
Recent archaeological excavations uncovered on top of a terrace at the southern edge of the Po Plain of northern Italy a remarkable wooden structure that is unique in world prehistory
We report here on a new dating investigation of the Noceto ‘Vasca Votiva’ comprising a combination of dendrochronology and radiocarbon (14C) ‘wiggle-match’ dating to provide (i) a near-absolute construction date for the Vasca Superiore in the 3rd quarter of the 15th century BCE and (ii) to allow a reassessment of the overall period of activity associated with the construction of this unique wooden complex
A total of 28 tree-ring samples from the buried wooden structure at the Noceto site were examined at the Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory (CTRL) from December 2016 through earlier 2020
Summary
Recent archaeological excavations uncovered on top of a terrace at the southern edge of the Po Plain of northern Italy a remarkable wooden structure that is unique in world prehistory. The Noceto ‘Vasca Votiva’ (votive tank), is a large wooden plank-lined rectangular tank measuring 12 x 7m (http://www.comune.noceto.pr.it/la-vasca-votiva-di-noceto), and, according to the associated material culture and its standard chronological assessment [1], is dated to the advanced Middle Bronze Age 2 (BM2B) and Middle Bronze Age 3 (BM3) with use perhaps. Dating the Noceto Vasca Votiva, a unique wooden structure of the 15th century BCE from Northern Italy. University and Research (MIUR) through the project “Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018–2022” awarded to the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra “Ardito Desio” of the Università degli Studi di Milano (MC, AZ). The Noceto investigations were funded in the framework of the SUCCESSO-TERRA Project, financed by MIUR The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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