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History
The historic pre-Roman age
The
geomorphological features of the territory, which are estremely varied, have allowed the
constant and uninterrupted presence of Man in Abruzzo for about 700.000 years when the
first nomadic populations of hunters harvesters of the Palaeolithic period lived in those
valleys of the region which opened up towards the sea.
With the Neolithic period, about 6.500 years ago an essentially agricultural economy was
present in the small villages according to the autochthonous cultures of Catignano and
Ripoli.
At the beginning of the Metal Age sheep-farming developed progressively with the arrival
of peoples of oriental origin who subsequently took over from the Neolithics, thus
generating the new cultural world that was made up of elements of agricultural and
pastoral extraction and which provided the basis for the Italic civilisation.
The Italics were divided up into numerous tribal
groups amongst which there were the Marsi, the Samnites, the Aequi, the
Vestini, and those
of the Peligna valley. The most important finding of this period that we still have today
is the statue of the Warrior of Capestrano, a funeral stele of the 6th century B.C. which
is preserved in the Archaeological Museum in Chieti, and represents a warrior with all his
offensive and defensive weapons. Other significant testimonies to the pre-Roman period are
visible, in particular, at the Archaeological Museum in Campli (Te) which has preserved
objects discovered in the Picenian necropolis at Campovalano. However, the whole region is
rich with ruins and findings belonging to this era. Remains of megalithic walls and
buildings have been recovered at Alfedena (L'Aquila) which were probably from the ancient
Samnite centre of Aufidena, well-known from the 7th to the 2nd century B.C. and destroyed
by the Romans in 298 B.C. A huge Samnite necropolis has also come to light with more than
six thousand tombs datable from the 7th to the 3rd century B.C.
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Main
The
historic pre - Roman age
The
Roman age
The
Middle ages
The
Renaissance and the Baroque period
The
Modern age
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