The Terramare (Terramara) culture of Bronze Age Italy develops in the fertile black earth of the Po Valley c. 1700 - 1150 BCE. The term Terramare comes from terra marl or marl earth. Marl comprises the sediment deposits of a lake or watershed.
See also:
Marl is common in post-glacial lake-bed sediments. It can be any natural earth color including black. The reason for the black soil is the botanical macroalga Chara, also called stonewort.
Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
Chara flourishes in shallow alkaline lakes. A saltwater and brackish water plant, it might be found in salt water fish tanks. Over time the stems and fruiting bodies calcify or harden.
See also:
When the alga dies, the calcified components break down into fine carbonate particles. The particles mingle with silt and clay to produce marl. From this comes terra marl or terramare.
Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure
Through the Po Valley runs the Po River, Italy's longest river at about 652 km (405 mi). Originating in the Alps, it flows over mountainous terrain fans out into a basin of alluvial deltas running into Adriatic Sea.
See also:
Over 140 tributaries stream into the big river, heading for the Adriatic Sea. Rich fertile soils fill the valley and the countless caverns beneath caused by the monumental collisions of tectonic plates.
The Po Valley shows traces of habitation dating back to c. 780,000 BCE. The first major Pleistocene glaciation period occurs about this time. Throughout geologic history the Po Valley is underwater in warm periods.
See also:
Before the Terramare culture the Poloda people dwell in the area, building houses on poles or stilts. The Po River is subject to extensive flooding as snow melts in the highlands and rushes downstream, picking up nutrients to deposit in the generous silt of the delta.
Cultures which have thrived on natural alluvial floods include the ancient Egyptians with the annual flooding of the Nile. The Mesopotamians also make successful use of the flooding of fertile Tigris and Euphrates river deltas and marshes flowing into the Persian Gulf.
See also:
The Terremare culture occupies the central part of the Po valley in northern Italy. They build upon hills inland above the watercourse. Even on higher ground, some homes are on stilts, and some on the ground.
Elevated buildings are ideal as granaries or storage for produce. Grain has to stay dry or it will rot and the people starve. Stilt buildings have an important use even in non-flooding areas with regular rain.
See also:
Settlements of the Terramare are rectangular designs or trapezoids of well aligned buildings and streets. A strong earthwork with buttresses surrounds the settlement, along with a wide moat.
Over sixty such villages and habitations are known, most in the area of Emilia. The Po River forms Emilia's northern border. Today Bologna is the capital of the region.
See also:
The settlements are under 2 ha (5 acres) in the Middle Bronze Age, with one settlement per 10 sq mi (26 sq km). In the Late Bronze, some sites grow to up to 60 ha (150 acres).
The remains of the society are found in the 19th century and sites intensely evacuated. The ancient Terramare culture uses fewer stone objects and concentrates on bronze, an alloy typically of 88% copper and 12% tin.
See also:
Items recovered include cutting utensils and weaponry or tools such as knives, axes, swords, daggers and sickles. Razors, brooches, needles and pins are also found, along with a number of stone and clay molds for casting bronze.
Other finds include bone and wood items, coarse and fine pottery, Baltic amber and glass paste similar to Egyptian faience. Of several small clay figures found among settlements, most are of animals. The occasional human appears.
See also:
The people practice both burial and cremation methods. In cremation the remains are placed in a box or ossuary. There's no sign of funerary urns as in the northerly Urnfield culture. No grave goods are included with the remains of the deceased.
The diet of the Terramare people is more varied than that of the southern cultures. Terramare are hunters who also keep livestock, such as sheep and goats. They're adept metal workers or metallurgists, with the contemporary technology of bronze-making.
See also:
As well they're farmers and agriculturalists. They cultivate grapes, wheat, beans and flax. Flax seeds are edible whole or ground into flour meal. Edible linseed oil can be extracted from the seeds.
Oil extraction from seeds goes back to before c. 5000 BCE. Presses are used in the Indus Valley (Pakistan) region to extract oil from sesame seeds.
See also:
Natural linseed oil has a nutty flavor. After pressing, the organic remnants make quality animal feed. The fibrous flax plant can also be processed and woven into linen, the world's oldest fabric.
Then, in c. 1200 BCE, mass evacuations empty the settlements. On the coasts, attacks by unknown sea people are frequent and lethal. In Greece many island cultures are razed and outright destroyed.
See also:
Trade routes are in upheaval, causing economic collapse further inland. The Hittites, once the mightiest people of Anatolia, take a last gasp and vanish forever. In the Po valley, by 1150 BCE the area of Emilia is deserted.
Several centuries pass and the land remains unoccupied. In the first century BCE the Greek historian, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, considers the fate of an early group he calls the Pelasgians, a pre-Greek people.
See also:
Due to a series of unexplained famines in their once-fertile land the Pelasgians must desert their villages. Many travel south.
They are subsequently assimilated by other cultures. The lack of population on the land for so many years afterward could be an indicator of a period of infertile and barren soil.
See also:
The Greeks generally equate the Pelasgians with Tyrrhenians and thence the Etruscans. An ancient people of Etruria, Italy, the Etruscans establish a civilization between the Tiber and Arno rivers west and south of the Apennines. They reach their height of power in the 6th century BCE.
See also: