entry May 2005
Atella Archaeological Museum
Technically, the
name of this small, new, excellent museum in Succivo (one
of the Atellan communities) is the Museo archeologico dell'agro
atellano. In Italian, agro is a cultivated field, as opposed
to a campo, an
open field or even a wild area. Thus, while we may
translate Campi Flegrei
as "Flegrean Fields," we have to look for something else
for archeologico
dell'agro atellano such as "farmland
archaeology." Since I don't know the technical
archaeological term in English for that, that will have to
do.In any event, it requires some explanation. A straight line north from the city of Naples for the seven or eight miles to Orta di Atella leads you through solid concrete — wall-to-wall anonymous communities of slab architectural drear, the result of decades of overbuilding. Fields start to become evident only when you get past the east-west state road just beyond Atella. The entire area, of course, was once upon a time almost nothing but cultivated area — open farmland. And the entire area is archaeologically very rich; thousands of years of human culture have come and gone in the area, from anonymous nomads of pre-history to Etruscans to Greeks to Oscans to Romans, not to mention the subsequent inhabitants after the fall of the Roman Empire and on into the Middle Ages.
The
museum is dedicated to the ages up to and including the
Roman Empire. The museum opened in 2002, 40 years
after urban development of the farmland started to uncover
a treasure trove of archaeological items beneath the soil;
that is, Oscan-Samnite
graves and burial artifacts, temple and dwelling
ruins, miscellaneous Greek ceramics, Oscan coins, even
ancient rubbish dumps. Such development continues; the new
US Naval Support Site at Gricignano (one of the "Atellan
communities") uncovered so much material during excavation
for construction that a section of the second floor of the
museum is given over to just that site. That display is
extremely interesting archaeology in that it documents
early contact between the newly established Greek colonies
of Cuma and Neapolis (Naples) with the indigenous
populations of the interior.The ground floor has seven display rooms:
—prehistoric remains from the Bronze Age (2000-1800 b.c.);
—necropolis items and ceramics, some of which were uncovered in the 1920s during new railway construction;
—necropolis items from nearby Caivano;
—items from the area around Aversa, uncovered during railway construction in the 1920s;
—urban archaeology of the ancient town of Atella, itself; that is, fragments of the city wall, etc.;
—a display of eight continuous centuries (4th b.c. to 4th a.d.) of the "suburban" necropoli of Atella, their placement more or less showing the profile of the ancient town, itself. Much of this material was excavated in the 1990s;
—artifacts from the Roman necropolis in the area.
One of the goals of the museum is to serve as a teaching tool for local elementary schools; thus, besides the standard brochure, the museum has printed material especially for school children. The address of the museum is Via Roma 7 in the town of Succivo. Information at tel. 081 5012701.
© 2002 - 2023