Museo archeologico della Fondazione De Palo-Ungaro

Located in the charming town of Bitonto in Italy, the Museo archeologico della Fondazione De Palo-Ungaro, also known locally as the Museo archeologico di Bitonto, is a treasure trove of ancient history and culture. This fascinating museum was established in 2000 thanks to the efforts of Teresa De Palo-Ungaro, who envisioned a space where the rich archaeological heritage of Bitonto could be preserved and showcased.

The Origins of the Museum

The Museo archeologico della Fondazione De Palo-Ungaro was born out of a passion for history and a desire to share the ancient civilization of the Peucetians with the world. Teresa De Palo-Ungaro, in the 1990s, founded the museum to provide a dedicated space for the artifacts unearthed in the Bitonto area. The museum primarily exhibits finds from the Peucetian and Roman periods, offering a unique glimpse into the lives and customs of these ancient peoples.

Exploring the Exhibits

The museum's layout is thoughtfully organized into three main rooms, each offering a distinct journey through time. The exhibits primarily focus on the burial practices and funerary artifacts of the Peucetian civilization, dating from the 6th to the 3rd century BCE. The Peucetians, like the ancient Greeks, believed in an afterlife, and their burial customs included placing various objects with the deceased to accompany them on their journey to the beyond.

The First Room

In the first room, visitors encounter some of the oldest artifacts in the museum's collection, dating back to the first half of the 6th century BCE. Highlights include a Corinthian helmet, a javelin point, and a geometrically decorated cantaroid vase. The room also features the Tomb of Domestic Vases from the 5th century BCE, which contains a variety of black-glazed pottery, a column-krater decorated with bands, fibulae, and another javelin point.

One of the most intriguing exhibits in this room is the Tomb of the Tortoise, dating to the 3rd century BCE. This burial includes a nearly monochrome assemblage, featuring a rhyton shaped like a tortoise's head, a krater with mask decorations, a kylix, a skyphos, and other domestic vessels. The less ornate nature of these artifacts is attributed to the economic decline of Taranto, a major center for Apulian pottery production at the time. The positioning of the deceased also evolved, with the upper body supine and only the legs curled.

The first room also houses a rich array of artifacts from the 4th century BCE, including a female burial with black-glazed and red-figure pottery, Gnathia-style vases, and various drinking vessels. Another notable burial from the second half of the 4th century BCE includes a tripod, an iron knife, a bundle of lead skewers, a bronze belt, and a grater. The ceramic finds include two pelikes, one painted by the Montpellier Painter, a column-krater, and other drinking vessels.

The Second Room

The second room is home to the remarkable finds from the only semi-chamber tomb discovered in the Bitonto area, dating to the 4th century BCE. This tomb's refined symposium set includes various vessel forms like oinochoai, rhyta, skyphoi, and kantharoi, as well as a patera, a refined fish plate attributed to the Karlsruhe Painter, and other forms. Metal objects include a tripod, skewers, a large fork, grater fragments, tongs, and a poker. One of the highlights is a krater with mask decorations by the Patera Painter, depicting the deceased in a naiskos (a small temple-like structure).

Additionally, this room features parts of the grave goods from two other tombs, one from the 5th and the other from the 4th century BCE. The earlier burial includes a miniature krater, a two-handled cup decorated with bands, three iron fibulae, a red-glazed jug, and a necklace with spherical silver beads. The later tomb contains an iron fibula and a terracotta statuette of a seated woman holding a patera in her left hand, likely representing the deceased as an offering bearer.

The Third Room

The third room showcases several burial assemblages, two of which come from nearby Ruvo di Puglia. A 5th-century BCE tomb includes a column-krater with band decoration, two cups, a cantaroid vase, a kylix, and a black-glazed oinochoe. The most remarkable feature is the presence of nine silver fibulae and an equal number of bronze ones, along with amber pendants and glass paste beads.

Three tombs in this room were reused, a common practice among the Peucetians. The earlier grave goods and skeletal remains were often removed to make space for a new burial, with the remaining items and bones placed at the bottom of the tomb. The Tomb of the Jewelry contains items from two burials. The earlier burial includes metal objects such as strigils, a large fork, skewers, and a knife. The later 4th-century BCE burial features a rich ceramic assemblage, including a column-krater, two Panathenaic amphorae, a lekane, a skyphos, a phiale, a Gnathia-style oinochoe, cups, plates, a guttus, a lamp, and a band-decorated cup. The assemblage also includes a bronze ring and a glass paste bead with white and blue decorations of Phoenician manufacture, the only oriental object found in Bitonto.

The tombs from Ruvo di Puglia belong to two warriors. Tomb A, dating from the late 5th to early 4th century BCE, includes a rich symposium set and objects related to food preparation and consumption. The ceramic finds include a lekythos, a red-figure bell-krater, black-glazed vases, a guttus, and a lamp. Many vases feature vegetal decoration, such as a two-handled cup, a stamnos, and a kothon. Metal objects include a bronze strigil, two javelin points, two iron knives, a skewer, and a grater. Of particular interest is a krater painted by the Amykos Painter, depicting a chase scene.

Tomb B is a reused tomb, and the later burial, from the late 4th century BCE, includes a bronze belt and a silver coin minted in Heraclea, found near the mandible. This coin likely had an apotropaic function, preventing the deceased's soul from returning among the living. According to other beliefs, the coin was used to pay Charon, the ferryman of the Underworld. Another highlight is a krater with mask decorations by the Baltimore Painter, depicting the heroized deceased in a funerary scene: a naiskos, under which a horseman holds the reins of a horse, and two male figures and two female figures offering gifts (grape clusters, paterae, and crowns). Numerous drinking vessels (kantharoi, skyphoi, rhyta), black-glazed containers (cups, skyphoi, an oinochoe, a guttus), and tempera-decorated vases (Panathenaic amphorae, a loutrophoros) are also on display. Metal objects include a bronze belt, three dagger blades, part of a strigil, two tripods, one in fragments, and a bundle of skewers.

The Museo archeologico della Fondazione De Palo-Ungaro is a captivating destination for anyone interested in ancient history and archaeology. Its rich collection of artifacts provides a fascinating insight into the lives and customs of the Peucetians and Romans, making it an essential stop for visitors to Bitonto.