Neolithic
Tuna Rock
general view of the settlement as it was in 1900
The northern area is a natural stronghold, situated on an imposing peninsula between the Small and Large Seas. The acropolis was here in the colonial period, next to an aboriginal settlement. The first human groups of Aegean origin were established in the pre-colonial period on an elevation called ‘Tuna Rock’.
In every period, the history of Taranto has been marked by the fundamental rôle played by the shoreline and the harbour and river basins of the two seas, the most active coast of southern Italy since prehistoric times.
Tuna Rock represents one of the most remarkable discoveries of prehistoric Italy, linked to the Mycenae inhabitants who lived on the Gulf of Taranto (2nd century B.C.), shown by the presence of numerous ceramics of Aegean origin.
The settlement context reveals continuous trade relationships with the surrounding territory and trading with the Aegean from the end of the 15th to the 11th century B.C. The Japigies’ presence is documented in the 9th and 8th centuries B.C., with other evidence of successive Greek colonization
The first two centuries of the life of the city (7th and 6th centuries B.C.) were marked by both a strong external expansion and an increase and improvement of the urban settlement and its government.
Signs of a rapid increase and the establishment of a ruling class with remarkable economic capabilities can be seen from the beginning of the 6th century B.C.
Towards the end of the 6th century architectural development also included private houses, even though we have no direct evidence of these apart from the rich tombs of the local aristocracy. The wealth of the city is evident in the tombs’ furnishings, full of objects from Greece and the islands.
The Bronze Age village followed a proto-urban model, with a wall enclosing an area of approximately one hectare and a half. In the middle stood a large megaron, a room of apsidal shape containing some functional containers, great stoves, Mycenae ceramics and bronze objects. This village extended over the same area of the Gulf shoreline as today, corresponding to the Old City of Taranto, the so-called ‘Island’. Relationships with the Italic world came through trade in metallurgical products and the manufacture of such products in Taranto, perhaps by members of handicraft communities coming from the centre of Italy or from Calabria.