The Etruscan missing link
Traces of Italy’s oldest bridge construction?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-18-07Keywords:
aristocracy, beam cavities, carpentry, Etruscan culture, funeral road, infrastructure, load-bearing capacity, Pons Sublicius, reconstruction, remote sensing, San Giovenale, strut frame, viaduct, wheel ruts, wooden bridgeAbstract
The recently discovered traces of an Etruscan wooden bridge may reveal the oldest known bridge construction on the Italian peninsula. The Spina bridge at San Giovenale holds significant importance for understanding early architecture, building techniques and infrastructural practices. Functioning as a vehicular viaduct, the 30-m-long structure spanned the Dogana gorge, connecting the Casale Vignale necropolis with the Spina area on the settlement plateau. Etruscan remains along the roads leading to the bridge were utilized to establish its chronology. Tentatively dated to the second half of the 7th century BC, the bridge is contemporaneous with Rome’s legendary Pons Sublicius—a structure traditionally recognized as Italy’s oldest bridge, though no extant archaeological evidence corroborates its existence. This context renders the San Giovenale site unparalleled. Early scholars doubted the existence of such a long bridge, positing that access to the Spina plateau was achieved via a ramp. Proponents of the bridge hypothesis, meanwhile, faced a lack of physical proof. The present study confirms the existence of these remains and demonstrates how they illuminate both the original construction and perhaps the bridge’s diverse functions.
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