The Mezzavia Tomb

In 1950, in the locality of Il Passaggio near Mezzavia (Cortona), an Etruscan chamber tomb carved into the tufa was discovered, composed of a dromos and a rectangular chamber with five loculi. The structure, partly excavated and partly built with sandstone blocks, shows architectural solutions analogous to La Tanella di Pitagora and La Tanella Angori. An Etruscan inscription, “tusti thui,” carved on the back wall, and the construction affinities allow it to be dated between the second half of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century BC.

The tomb, cut into the tufa, was discovered by chance in 1950 by a labourer on land owned by the Novelli family, near Mezzavia (Peciano), and was investigated by Guglielmo Maetzke on behalf of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana. It consists of a single chamber (5 × 2.23 × 2.14 m). The side walls measure 1.65 m in height.

There are four loculi in the side walls and one in the back wall, beneath which the inscription “tutsitui” is carved.. The upper part, now missing, was built of local sandstone. No grave goods were found. Some significant elements in common with La Tanella di Pitagora were identified by Maetzke: the cremation rite, the arrangement of the loculi, and the cutting of the stone blocks in the constructed section. This tomb, therefore, could also be dated between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd century BC.

From the fill of this tomb comes a sandstone slab with an inscription carved on one of its faces, running all around: “arnt p[e]tkes : veinal.”. During recent excavations, a dromos was identified next to the tomb, perhaps referring to an initial but unfinished attempt to build another tomb beside it, and a monolith resting on clay that may have been used as a marker for the tomb itself.