Origin and Evolution of a Bronze Age Funerary Landscape in Friuli: the lower context” of the tumulus of Mereto di Tomba (Udine) and the 3rd-2nd millennium transition in the northern Adriatic

The systematic excavations of the burial mound of Mereto di Tomba (Udine) by the University of Udine have permitted to shed more light on the theme of burial tumuli, a well-defined feature of the prehistoric funerary landscape of north-eastern Italy, known since early explorations by Carlo de Marchesetti in the Trieste Karst early in 20th c. and by Lodovico Quarina some decades later in Friuli. After recalling the most important steps in the history of archaeological research, the contribution summarizes the main results of recent research at Mereto, already partially published. Here the imposing mound resulted in being a MBA addition to an early monumental platform, which gradually developed on the EBA tomb. The monument had a long life-cycle and changed both shape and function with time. Analytical consideration is then devoted to the so-called “lower-context”, namely to the archaeological evidence at the bottom of the rich stratigraphic sequence of the tumulus, attesting to a long-lasting ritual occupation during the 3rd millennium. The early data at our disposal point to the Alpine cultural environment, while the later foundation of a single burial associated to a monumental marker seems well-rooted in the funerary tradition of the eastern Adriatic including Istria and the Trieste Karst. Modes and implications of the encounter of different cultural traditions are then commented.