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The Tombs
Some of the most important
ones will be called to the visitors attention.
The Etruscan Period:
(VII-IV century B.C.) The Tumulus Tombs
The tumulus tomb is the most antique from of buiral which is born
from the idea of covering the deceased with stones and earth to
be able to identify where he or she was buried to make it an object
of religious and social recognition. This was the method of burial
noted in civilized societies from the third millennium before Christ.
They acquire an artistic and achitectural aspect in the countries
near the mediterranean in the in the first millennium before Christ,
where under the monds of earth of various dimensions, they start
to build mortuary rooms which are richly adorned and decorated.
In Etruria the difafusion of mound tombs is widespread and cover
the shoreline areas, Cerveteri, Tarquinia as well as the inland
areas, Populonia, Vulci and aothers.
Here in Cortona three mound tombs have been found. They lie on the
lowerportionof the hill and foot of the hill, one to the south in
the area of Corton and two to the north-wes in the area of Sodo.
The latter two are quite close to one another.
The archeological material found in the interior of them, which
is retained to be only a small part of what was originally placed
there (as they were probably pillaged in the course of the centuries),
is displayed at the archeological museum of Florence and in Corotna
at the Academy museum. The contents of the tumulus tombs of Cortona
date them to VII-IV centuries before Christ and would identify the
deceased to be among members of a royal people tied to agricultural
holdings and to the production of metalwork and weapons. They participated
in commercial and economic affairs which had an impact not only
in Etruria but also from the Mediterrannean area to the Orient and
Egypt.
The tombs will now be described in order of their discovery and
referred to by the name of "Melone" as is customary in
Cortona due to their shape.
 MELONE
FRANçOIS IN CAMUCIA
This "melon" was discovered in 1842 by a frenchman Alessandro
François on land which belonged to the Sergardi's. François
excavated the south tomb, the north tomb was excavated in 1964.
The material found there and displayed at the Archeological Museum
of Florence is of great documentary and artistic value. One of the
celebrated pieces is a plate inscribed with the justice of Paride
which dates to the sixth century before Christ. On the seventy meter
perimeter wall (tamburo) there are modern constructions which unfortunately
make it impossible to study its entirety.
The Cortonese architect Domenico Mirri (1856-1939) left a detailed
description of othe building techniques of the burial chambers at
the interior of the "melons" of Cortona in his publication,
"The building methods of the architecture of Cortona from the
origins of the city until our times", Stabilimenti Tipografia
Sociale, Cortona 1923, reprinted now under Calosci Editors.
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