Description:
The study aims at revising and systematically publishing the data concerning the Ponte di Ferro necropolis surveyed in the 1980s by G. Avagliano. The necropolis, located on a sandy dune 850 m north-west of the walls of Paestum, has relinquished one hundred and ninety one burials, often without accoutrements, which differ markedly from the funerary customs in the other Paestum necropolises between the 6th and 4th century BC.
As a matter of fact, the tombs are likely to belong to members of the Poseidonia community of low or servile social standing, a circumstance that makes Ponte di Ferro one of the rare examples in Magna Graecia of burial spaces reserved for individuals of the lower class.
Part of the few items of funerary accoutrements found in Ponte di Ferro is currently displayed at the Paestum Museum in the necropolises section.
Scientific management: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Paestum Archaeological Park
Staff: Paola Contursi (University of Salerno, context analysis and materials study), Filiberto Chilleri (Osteological and paleopathological analyzes), Giovanni Avagliano (Paestum Archaeological Park).
Objective: Contribuire alla conoscenza dell’organizzazione sociale di Poseidonia/Paestum in età arcaica e classica.
Bibliography: Avagliano, G., Paestum. Necropoli di Ponte di Ferro, «RSS», II/1, 1985, pp. 261-268; Contursi, P., Ponte di Ferro: una necropoli di schiavi?, in Zuchtriegel, G. et al., Nuove ricerche a Paestum – Il parco archeologico e il museo, Forma Urbis 11/2016, pp. 28-31.
Weblinks:
Reperto mese di Giugno 2018 – rivista digitale del Parco archeologico di Paestum
