Rio Tana (Lecce nei Marsi, AQ)

Rio Tana is an ancient Neolithic village founded along Tavana creek, in the Fucino area (central Italy). During the Neolithic period, some villages were located on terraces overlooking the sides of the lake, Rio Tana was established on the southeast. The site is known since 1990 because of the partial collapse of the trench walls for the regimentation of the Tavana river. It has been the object of few surveys and a small sondage by Superintendence of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for Abruzzo in 1993. In order to investigate the nature and extension of the site and to define better the techno-socio-cultural system of this human group, in 2018 a research team of the Department of Civilizations and forms of knowledge of the University of Pisa, in collaboration with the Superintendence of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for Abruzzo, opened a new excavation area. The new research allowed us to recover a semicircular anthropic area about 34 sq.m., cut longitudinally by the works that affected the creek. The section of that cut has revealed a sequence of 3 anthropic levels with different thickness separated by alluvial deposits. The materials found revealed a ceramic production and lithic industries, in flint and obsidian, clearly ascribable to the ancient Neolithic phase.