La struttura principale nel complesso funerario di via Sant’Eurosia a Parma: il Tumulo A

In this paper, we analyse the Tumulus A, the largest among the Early Bronze Age burial structures discovered in 2008 in the outskirts of Parma. The Tumulus A differs from the surrounding smaller tombs for its dimension (26 m in diameter), the deep central chamber covered by a pile of pebbles, the apparently non-regular arrangement of post holes and the low mound. The mound was created using material extracted from the central pit and the perimeter ditch, and by piling up part of the soil. The structure also includes the largest number of inhumated individuals: in addition to the central grave, attributable to a 35-50 years old male and damaged by looting, five other adults were deposed in the perimeter ditch, and some children graves were buried in the body of the mound. Faunal and ceramic depositions were also found in both the ditch and the mound. Two new radiometric dates pointing to the 20th-19th century BC confirm the chronology previously suggested by artefact typology.