Castellieri culture



The Castellieri culture developed in Istria during the Early and Middle Bronze Age, and later expanded into Friuli, Dalmatia and the neighbouring areas. It lasted for more than a millennium, from the 18th century BC until the Roman conquest in the 3rd century BC. It takes its name from the fortified settlements, Castellieri, which characterized the culture. The term was coined by Carlo Marchesetti.



The ethnicity of the Castellieri civilization is uncertain. The first Castellieri were built along the Istrian coast and show a similar monumental architecture with Cyclopean masonry which can also be found in the Mycenaean civilization. The Monkodonja hillfort shows that the earlierst Castellieri were built already in the 19th century BC.

The Castellieri were fortified settlements, usually located on hills or mountains or, more rarely (such as in Friuli), in plains. They were constituted by one or more concentric series of walls, of rounded or elliptical shape in Istria and Venezia Giulia, or quadrangular in Friuli, within which was the inhabited area.

Some hundred Castellieri have been discovered in Istria, Friuli and Venezia Giulia, such as that of Leme, in the central-western Istria, or Elerji, near Muggia, or Monte Giove near Prosecco (Trieste) and San Polo, not far from Monfalcone. However, the largest Castelliere was perhaps that of Nesactium, in the southern Istria, not far from Pula.

A fundamental study of the pottery from the Castelliere settlements in Istria, which shows the integration of the Castelliere into the wider Early and Middle Bronze Age communication network, was published by Anja Hellmuth Kramberger based on the finds from Monkodonja.

Classical sources

 * Livy, Ab Urbe Condita
 * Strabo, Geographica, book 5