Nuove indagini nella necropoli di Contrada Nevola (Corinaldo - AN): risultati 2022-2024 del progetto ArcheoNevola

This paper presents the results of the 2022–2023–2024 excavation campaigns conducted at the necropolis of Contrada Nevola in Corinaldo (Ancona, Italy), within the framework of the ArcheoNevola project. Initiated in 2018, the project continues to pursue an integrated methodological approach combining non-invasive investigations, excavation, material culture analysis, and anthropological study. The most recent research has yielded significant new evidence, allowing for a more precise definition of the site’s occupational sequence, now understood as increasingly complex in its articulation, as well as of its role within the Nevola Valley district, thereby opening new perspectives on the broader settlement pattern. With regard to the Picene Orientalizing phase, recent excavations have focused on Circle 2, which has yielded a new princely tomb with an exceptional assemblage of grave goods. This discovery confirms the integration of the local Picene elites into extensive aristocratic networks extending across the Middle Adriatic and central Italian regions. As for the Roman phase, the integrated analysis of funerary contexts and skeletal remains has provided further insight into the rural community that inhabited the area between the 2nd and 4th centuries CE, offering details concerning lifestyle and associated funerary practices. The continuous comparison between geophysical and stratigraphic data, a defining feature of the project since its inception, continues to support the strategic planning of the research activities, from the organization of excavation operations to heritage enhancement and site protection initiatives.