Manufatti di età eneolitica da una probabile tomba di Colli del Tronto (AP) e la questione dell’ascia di rame

Abstract

In Giulio Gabrielli’s notebook 9, on page 53, there is a sketch of some
clearly Eneolithic artefacts, a dagger and a small metal axe, and two flint arrowheads. As
noted by Gabrielli himself, the materials come from Colli del Tronto, fondo Palmucci,
contrada Piangiorgio, about 60 m from the railway on the side of the hill. In pencil it is
indicated the depth of 2 m and, at the bottom with a question mark, the words “fondo
di capanna?” (sunken dwelling). It is presumably that during an excavation, a group of
copper and flint finds came to light. For their association, they seem to constitute the
kit (whole or partial) of a devastated burial, in relation to which no burial is mentioned
nor even any ceramic artefact. On the basis of the Canalicchio-type axe, and the
Guardistallo-type dagger, the whole assemblage can be placed in the ancient phase of
the Eneolithic, around the middle of the IV millennium BC. The artefacts are not part of
the Civic archaeological Collection of the Ascoli Piceno State Archaeological Museum,
where instead a similar axe of uncertain origin is preserved, which could be identified
with the axe designed by Gabrielli.