Le sanctuaire de Vacuna à Montenero Sabino (localité de Léone, Rieti) à l’aube de la conquête romaine

Abstract

The excavations conducted since 2019 on the sanctuary of Vacuna at Montenero Sabino (loc. Leone) by a team of the Université Lumière Lyon 2 led by the professor A. Borlenghi have revealed a diachronic discontinuous occupation. At first, a sanctuary was founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BCE and stayed in use until the 1st century AD. A presence of unknown nature and duration has been observed for the 4th century AD. Later on, the site became a mediaeval burial area. Among the various structures discovered, a pit that dates from the end of the 3rd century BCE caught our attention because of the quantity of finds it contained. The pottery assemblage presents a very interesting facies, divided between local traditions, that are little known in the Inner Sabine, and both Roman and Faliscan imports that are better known and widespread. Therefore, this article presents the first results of a typo-chronological survey on pottery from 3rd century BCE sanctuaries of the Inner Sabine. The larger and more delicate question of the material culture of these particular contexts at the dawn of the Roman conquest will also be addressed.