In Manduria, the tomb of a Messapian priestess resurfaces

In the Messapian necropolis of Manduria, in the province of Taranto, excavations carried out by the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per Brindisi, Lecce e Taranto have brought to light Tomb 17, a monumental burial dated to the 4th-3rd century BC. The discovery forms part of a campaign that, overall, has so far yielded 24 burials in the area of the Parco archeologico delle Mura Messapiche.

What sets this tomb apart from the others is the presence of two inscriptions. On the covering slab runs a monumental text in the Messapian language about one meter eighty long, spread across three stone blocks. Inside the burial is a second inscription, this time painted in red and light blue, accompanied by decorations depicting a sanctuary key and an incense burner: iconographic elements that, together with the written text, point the interpretation toward the burial of a figure linked to a prominent religious role.

The double inscription — one carved on the covering, one painted inside — represents an uncommon case in the landscape of Messapian necropolises known so far, and for this reason Tomb 17 stands out from the other 23 burials identified in the same context. The symbolic objects found alongside the painted text reinforce the hypothesis of a deceased woman with officiating functions in a sanctuary, presumably linked to the cult of a female deity.

The context of the find, however, is not intact. The Soprintendenza reports that the tomb was tampered with by illegal diggers, who compromised part of the site’s original documentation before the official archaeological intervention. This is a fact that diminishes, without nullifying, the informational value of the discovery: part of the material context that might have accompanied the remains and the ritual objects is now irremediably altered.

Nonetheless, it remains a find that enriches the picture of the Messapian necropolises of Puglia with a rare case of a double funerary inscription, in an area that the Soprintendenza continues to excavate systematically, bringing the overall number of documented burials at the Manduria site to 24 so far.