Roman colonization, sanctuaries and cult in the middle-Adriatic area between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC

The paper focuses on materials from some sanctuaries of the Picenean area between the 3rd and 1st century BC. The aim of the paper is to investigate their role in economic and cultural transformations during this period. The so-called ‘Etruscan-Lazio-Campanian ex-votos’, architectonic terracottas as well as pottery from these contexts show the role of these sanctuaries as centers of production and import of specific classes of materials with exclusive sacred destination. In some cases, the production of these objects takes place in loco, such as in the sanctuary of Monte Rinaldo. Here materials suggest the spread of cultural models through the displacement of people from the Tyrrhenian area into the middle-Adriatic region, together with the colonization of the territory. In other cases, as in the federal center of Asculum, early indirect contacts with Etruscan- Lazio culture are attested by the presence of objects imported and then reinterpreted according to local ritual practices.