CORTONA

   This important Archaic settlement is located overlooking the Chiana Valley. Major evidence is visible in the walls, which enclose an area of 62 hectares that must be considerably larger than the size of the inhabited settlement (as indeed of the modern settlement) itself; the inhabited settlement was probably more in the order of 30 hectares. A Final Bronze Age winged axe suggests a Bronze Age presence in the area. Relatively recent finds of a Villanovan period hut in Via Vagnotti have confirmed the presence (previously only known from lost material) of Iron Age occupation in the area, perhaps amounting to a small village rather than a substantial nucleation. Thus, the seventh-century tombs (meloni) at nearby Camucia and Sodo probably predate the nucleation of the city itself. The Camucia tomb appears to have been in continuous use between the seventh century and the fourth century BC.

   Recent excavations (1988 to 1992) at the second of the Sodo tumuli have contributed important new information. First, the use of these tumuli has been confirmed to be concentrated in the sixth and fourth to third centuries BC; in particular, the new excavations found a new chamber used in the later period. Second, a monumental staircase to an altar was found on the east side of the tumulus, and figurative representations show a struggle between a man and a mythical beast. There are also important Hellenistic tombs (from the second century BC), including the so-called Tanella di Pitagora. A cult to the goddess Uni appears to have been influencial. A significant 40-line inscription was found here in 1992.

   See also DODECAPOLIS.