In the 2nd century BC, the sacred area underwent a significant restructuring, linked to the Roman presence in the territory, and remained active until the first half of the 1st century AD. The numerous inscriptions found in it, written in the Oscan language, document a strong identity connotation of the Lucanian community.
The sacred complex consists of a forecourt, a large area paved with large irregular limestone slabs, in the center of which is the so-called “altar.” Around the forecourt are a series of rooms that show traces of Roman-era restructuring and monumentalization.
Central is the role of water, an element connected to the Lucanian deity, symbolizing purification, fertility, and wealth; in the forecourt, the drainage channel for spring waters captured and conducted to the sacred area is preserved. Also significant are the Roman hydraulic works for the outflow of water that characterize some of the rooms outside the forecourt.
Recent investigations conducted by the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Basilicata have allowed a better understanding of the Lucanian period with the discovery of a large wall that delimited the sacred area toward the valley, obliterated in one of the subsequent phases of monumentalization and restructuring of the sacred area due to the continuous landslides that have affected the area since ancient times.
Information on the Archaeological Area of Rossano di Vaglio
85010 Vaglio Basilicata (Potenza)
347 2736594
388 1925513
Source: MIBACT
