Dati ‘insoliti' sulla necropoli di Contrada Morgi: una cesta piena di cocci con sei vasi interi e un verbale di contravvenzione a carico di Francesco Mancinelli Scotti

This paper presents new data on the necropolis of Contrada Morgi at Narce (Mazzano Romano/Calcata). F. Benedetti excavated in this necropolis between 1891 and 1892. Some of the tomb-groups discovered were acquired by the Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome and by the Central Etruscan Museum in Florence and only preliminarily published in 1894 in the Monumenti Antichi dei Lincei. The rest was dispersed in the antiquarian market. Nevertheless, a series of letters preserved at the Archivio Centrale dello Stato (Central State Archive of Italy) revealed how Francesco Mancinelli Scotti conducted other previously unknown excavations in this necropolis before 1893 and during the Christmas time of 1903. These excavations appeared to have begun under the legal control of the State at the end of October 1903; however, between December and January 1904 these excavations became illegal. These documents, apart from revealing interesting new data on the necropolis of Contrada Morgi, testify to one of the first occasions in which, according to Law 185 (July 12th 1902), a fine for illegal excavation was given in Italy. In these early days of the birth of the laws for the protection of cultural heritage in Italy, it is evident how at Narce the frequent illegal excavations were linked to the corruption of the local authorities. This case inaugurates a long durée local tradition that the Italian authorities for antiquities, namely the Soprintendenza, have never given up fighting.