Ancient Etruscan 'holy site' found near Viterbo

La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno ^ | Wednesday, July 26, 2011 | ANSA

[SunkenCiv]

Italian archaeologists have discovered a sacred mountain where ancient Etruscans worshipped gods and burned sacred objects in their honour during the Bronze Age 3000 years ago. Experts from the Archeological Superintendency for southern Etruria and La Sapienza University in Rome found the site at Mount Cimino near Viterbo, 80 km north of Rome. The discovery is considered one of the most important in the early history of Lazio, the region surrounding Rome, with archaeological remnants dating back to 1000 BC. Working on the summit of the 1000-metre high mountain, the team of archaeologists led by Professor Andrea Cardarelli has carried out excavations for the past three years. Cardarelli said they found a number of materials which were linked to cult fires and "clear evidence of votive offerings" "Religious activities 1000 years BC were carried out through fire," he said.

"Offerings were burnt for the gods -- sacred objects, food or animals". Remnants of an ancient wall encircling the mountain were also found by the archeological team. "These excavations have raised so many questions," said Laura D'Erme from the Archeological Superintendency. "What relations did the inhabitants of Mount Cimino have with the nearby community of Soriano? Was the mountain inhabited by the ruling class? Was this the point of religious reference for Etruria"?

[SunkenCiv]

'Clear evidence of votive offerings', says expert

[OddLane]

Bump.

[SunkenCiv]

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[knarf]

I've sometimes wondered if we read into ordinary occurances extraordinary conclusions.

Moog looks down (or up) and wonders why we build a shrine around his campfire or latrine.

Just sayin'

[Condor51]

If I had Ten years to 'waste' I'd waste it on going to College and learning everything in the world (PhD) about the Etruscans.

When they Ruled 'italy', Rome was barbaric little village and the 'romans' were ignorant slaves to the Etruscans. And most of rome's knowledge they took from the very advanced Etruscans they once served. But most interesting is that the Etruscans were not native to Italy.

So I wonder .. could the Etruscans have been survivors from Atlantis??

Plato wrote of Atlantis in 360 BC, about the time that Rome was becoming a powerful City-State and the Etruscans were already in decline and close to extinction, all after a very long era (1,000 yrs?) of an advanced reign in 'Italy'.

[SunkenCiv]

Their commercial and cultural connections (Ionian Greece and the Phoenicians) were in the e Med, their traditional origin (later borrowed by Rome, in the Aeneid) was in the east, and even their writing system came from the east. You can even hear the music at night... This author (last I knew) rejects it anyway. :')

Etruscans
by Christopher S. Mackay

On the Aegean island of Lemnos was found an inscription of about 600 BC written in a language clearly similar to Etruscan. Thucydides, a contemporary of Herodotus, wrote that the pre-Greek population of the island was Tyrrhenian (=Etruscan). Perhaps on this island there was a holdover of the population from which the Etrucans emigrated to Italy, or perhaps the Lemnian "Etruscans" were left behind there during the migration. Certainly, the Etruscan practice of hepatoscopy (divination through examination of the livers of sacrificial animals) is alien to other Italian peoples but is common in the Near East. It is argued that these Etruscan immigrants were not mass invaders who supplanted the locals, but groups of males seeking land (and mineral resources?) who settled among the more primitive locals, intermarried with them, and provided leadership for them. Eventually, the locals adopted the language of these incomers.