The tombs of the 2nd-1st century. B.C.

The tombs of the 2nd-1st century BC [rooms 1 and 4]
Between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, the topographical organisation of the town gradually changed and if the tombs of the 3rd and 2nd century BC still occupied areas between the different settlement cores, those of the 2nd-1st century BC were mainly located on periphery of the settlement, often in funerary areas already in use in the previous phase. In any case, the reuse of older burials is common in this phase, while an important innovation concerns the funerary ritual, since between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC cremation is progressively establishing itself, foreign to the Messapian ritual and introduced by the Romans after the definitive conquest of Ugento at the end of the 3rd century BC; the first attestations date back to the 2nd century BC and late Hellenistic cremations, in terracotta jars or stone cists, have been documented both in necropolises already in use in the 4th-3rd century BC, all peripheral to the town, and in new funerary areas located immediately outside the ancient line of Messapian fortifications, no longer in use at that time and partly demolished.
In the late Hellenistic period, in contrast to previous periods, no funerary areas are known on the Ugento hill, with the sole exception of a slab tomb, whose last phase of use dates back to the 2nd-1st century BC, found at the crossroad between via Verdi and via Alighieri (fig. 1, no. 1), in the north-western sector, in an area located north-west of the main nucleus of the town (fig. 1, A). Moving to the areas on the slopes of the hill, in those to the west of the relief some burials of this phase, consisting of both inhumations and cremation and related to the settlement nuclei present in this area but not archaeologically attested, are generally found in more marginal areas, mostly along road axes and often within necropolises already in use in the 4th-3rd century BC, where, the deceased were not infrequently buried in pre-existing box or sarcophagus tombs: in the northern sector of via Giannuzzi (fig. 1, no. 2), where a late-Hellenistic cinerary was found; in via Peri (fig. 1, no. 3), where the use of Tomb 9 and Tomb 11 from 2004-2005 drops, respectively, until the end of the 2nd century BC and at the end of the 2nd-beginning of the 1st century BC; in the Cupa area (fig. 1, nos. 4-5), where part of the burials of infants placed on tiles can be dated to the 2nd century BC; in the Vigne Vecchie area (fig. 1, no. 6) and in the area of piazza R. Moro (fig. 1, no. 11), where part of the late Hellenistic burials were also found inside more ancient tombs chest of slabs or sarcophagus; in via Acquarelli (fig. 1, no. 7), located immediately outside the ancient layout of the walls, where in a first phase of the 4th-3rd century BC, characterised by slab-box and sarcophagus tombs, was followed by another from the late Hellenistic period, with cremations in raw ceramic vessels, placed inside dimples covered by slabs; in via S. Vincenzo (fig. 1, no. 8), a little further west, where two cremations inside ollas were found, dating back to the 2nd-1st century BC, with a possible ustrinum nearby and an inhumation of a child of about ten years old, probably contemporary. The burials were identified in via Mare (fig. 1, no. 10), in a funerary area already in use in the 3rd century BC, and in via Giannuzzi (fig. 1, no. 9), where three cremations in pottery dating back to between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC were found inside a funerary enclosure.
In the areas to the south and south-east of the Ugento hill, late Hellenistic burials were found in via Gemini (fig. 1, no. 12), where the burial area used from the 4th century BC onward was still in use in the 2nd century BC, in via Urso (fig. 1, no. 13) and in via Edison (fig. 1, no. 14). In the last two necropolises, located a short distance from the road axis towards Vereto and close to a settlement nucleus extending between the slopes of the hill and the Armino area (fig. 1, D), incineration burials were found located immediately at the outside the Messapian city wall, no longer in use, and whose remains may have had a function similar to that of an afternoon boundary at this point.. In particular, in via Urso a probable block of the walls was reworked to create a stone cist, while in via Edison the late Hellenistic tombs were housed in the hollow of the Messapian city walls. In the south-eastern sector of the surface which between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC was delimited by the city walls, and other cremations from the late Hellenistic period were found immediately north of via Pastane (fig. 1, no. 15), in a funerary area that had already been used and was crossed by a road axis that left the town towards the east and had been in use since the archaic period.
The area of the Borgo along the via Salentina, on the immediate south-eastern slopes of the Ugento hill (fig. 1, E), occupied by a necropolis in use since the Archaic period, seems to have gradually lost its funerary purpose during the late Hellenistic period, as evidenced by the discovery of the remains of residential buildings in vico Gradoni and of a furnace in via Garibaldi. Finally, further north, other burials of this phase are documented in the Priore area (fig. 1, no. 16) and, at the northern end of the area previously delimited by the walls, in the S. Antonio area (fig. 1, no. 17), funerary contexts both related to the extensive settlement nucleus of the late Hellenistic period present in the Porchiano area (fig. 1, F); in the second funerary area, already in use since the archaic period and especially in the 4th-3rd century BC, in particular, Tombs 3, 15 and 17 were used for multiple depositions until the 2nd century BC and in the first tomb, a semi-chamber, in the 1st century BC a cinerary consisting of a double-glazed olla was also introduced.

The tombs from via Urso [room 1]
The tombs were found in 2005 during works to improve the sewerage system. These are three burials of incinerated people, discovered a short distance from each other, one inside a stone cist and the other two inside clay urns.
Tomb 1 consists of a parallelepipedal block, similar to those of the Messapian walls, with a cavity (45 x 43 x 22 cm) on the upper side for the deposition. A through hole on the covering slab housed an anepigraphic stele (partially preserved) which served as a marker.
Tomb 2 consists of an achromatic globular olla, sealed with a limestone slab, which containing bone remains and ash (fig. 2, A). Behind the olla the marker was placed, consisting of an anepigraph stele.
Tomb 3, also a single-handled achromatic olla, was sealed with two fragments of tile and a lithic slab (fig. 2, B). A smooth columnar drum, placed behind the vase, served as a marker.
The few grave goods (a plate, a ring, and 3 bone and bronze pendants), found scattered in the area, cannot be traced back to individual burial. In the absence of precise dating elements, the burials can only be generally dated to the late Hellenistic period.

The tombs from via Giannuzzi [room 4]
In 1984, during construction works in via Giannuzzi, a funerary enclosure (5 x 7 m) with three clay containers placed in three holes dug in the ground was discovered housed. The limited documentation of the excavation does not allow us to determine the exact position of the urns inside the enclosure, nor the presence of an ustrinum.
Tomb 1 consisted of a stamnos containing bone fragments, perhaps sealed by a brown-glazed basin found in fragments nearby (fig. 3); the funerary kit consisted of a single-handled cup, two ointment jars, and a bone needle. As far as dating is concerned, the few elements available allow only a late Hellenistic date.
Tomb 2 consisted of a vault, in which some bone fragments were preserved, possibly covered by an achromatic basin (fig. 4). Outside the vase, there were several clay ointment jars, a thin-walled jar and two fused glass alabastra, dark blue and green and decorated with white and yellow filaments, fragmentary and deformed by fire (fig. 5). The objects in the grave goods allow us to propose a chronology for the tomb between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC.
Tomb 3, consisting of an achromatic olpe, was found under a tiled surface with strong traces of burning (fig. 6). Nearby, in two small natural holes, a thin-walled jar, a cup, fragments of a blue fused glass alabastron with white and yellow filaments, eight terracotta ointment jars and an iron tool were recovered. Unfortunately, the lack of in-depth documentation allows only a hypothetical attribution of the recovered objects to the burial kit and the dating of the tomb to the late Republican period.