From Tagetes to Hyginus Gromaticus. A Contribution to the Topography of the Tarquinia Coastal Plain

Abstract

The study takes stock of the investigations that have taken place over the last half-century on Tarquinia's coastal plain, from the Etruscan to the Roman age. After an analysis of the environmental transformations that have certainly pro­foundly influenced the original landscape, the settlement dynamics of this part of the Tarquinia territory are ana­lysed, starting from the proto-villanovian age. We dwell in particular on the territorial impact of the exploitation of the Saline area, the annual destination of a trans-regional tran­shumance movement; we hypothesise the presence of three inland harbour basins, used from the Villanovan age to the Roman age, one of which is linked to the emporic sanctu­ary of Gravisca (the history of the sacred area is outlined). It also dwells on the roads that connected the Etruscan city of Tarquinia to the sea over time and on the coastal road prior to the construction of the Via Aurelia Vetus. Finally, for the Roman period, the stratigraphies of the landscape are investigated through the traces of the ancient Etruscan agrarian divisions and Roman centurions.