Archaeologists have discovered a ritual well containing votive offerings and human remains in the Etruscan city of Kainua near Marzabotto, in northern Italy’s Emilia Romagna region. The find reveals the sacred nature of water in Etruscan ritual and sheds new light on the religious rites performed at the founding of Etruscan cities.

Located on a well-traveled natural route across the Apennines, Kainua was first settled in the 6th century B.C. but did not become an organized, planned urban development until the end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 5th century B.C. The name “Kainua,” known from surviving Etruscan inscriptions, is believed to mean “the new one,” and scholars hypothesize it refers to the reorganization of the city based on the combination of Greek urban grid design with Etruscan cosmological concepts.

Kainua was abandoned in the 4th century B.C., under pressure from the Celtic migrations into northern Italy. When the area was Romanized, they built new road systems that no longer relied on the route from the Reno river valley through the northern Apennines, so the Kainua area became peripheral to traffic and no new city was built on top of the abandoned one. That makes it one of the most archaeologically significant Etruscan sites because excavations have revealed almost the entire urban fabric — streets, residences, shops, sacred precincts, the acropolis at the center and necropoli on the northern and eastern outskirts of the inhabited city.

The University of Bologna has been excavating the site continuously since 1988. The well was discovered at the end of the 39th excavation season in the sacred area dedicated to the goddess Uni. It is 4.4 meters (14.5 feet) and lined with stones from top to bottom. This distinguishes it from more than 50 other wells found in the city, marking it as a sacred place connecting the human world to the water and underworld deities.

This exceptional condition of the well and its fill have made it possible for archaeologists to reconstruct the timeline of its use. Two bronze statuettes of female figures were discovered at the bottom of the well. They are of the korai type, the Archaic Greek idealized young females with the “archaic smile” wearing a long, draped garment. They wear a headdress/diadem and one arm extended in the act of ritual offering.

They are both large and heavy, made of solid copper, attesting to their value and importance of the deposition. The larger of the two figures consists of three pounds of solid bronze. They are still bright and copper-colored from having remained fully immersed in water and therefore protected from oxidation.

Next to the statuettes, the excavation uncovered a very rare bronze plate in perfect condition and an intact key, an intricate bronze vase applique decorated with winged horses, and ceramic vessels used during the ritual ceremony. A new inscription was discovered among the materials, a reference to the goddess Cavatha, the Etruscan underworld and fertility goddess comparable to the Greek Persephone.

All of these votive offerings date to the end of the 6th century B.C. or beginning of the 5th century B.C., the time of the refounding of the city. They were placed there in the religious ceremonies attending the Kainua’s rebirth.

The fill tells the opposite story: the ceremonies marking the city’s demise. At a depth of about 11’6″, the skeletons of two adult humans were found. Initial osteological examination revealed that they belonged to a senior woman and a young man. They appear to have been deposited in a closing ritual, but further analyses including radiocarbon dating, DNA and stable isotope, will hopefully answer more questions of chronology, health, origins and death of these individuals.

According to scholars, the discovery demonstrates that the well did not only serve a practical function of water supply, but also had a profound and complex sacred and ritual significance linked to the very foundation of the city and the cult of water.

The ritual well is located in the sacred urban area of ​​Kainua . Two imposing monumental temples were discovered here, which Etruscan inscriptions attribute to the supreme divine couple of the pantheon: Tinia (corresponding to the Greco-Roman Zeus/Jupiter) and his consort Uni (Hera/Juno). The area dedicated to Uni also documents the cult of Vei (Demeter/Ceres), protector of agricultural and human fertility.

“It is precisely within this rich cultic framework that the newly discovered ritual well fits,” explains Govi . “The results of this excavation campaign therefore enrich our knowledge of the foundation rites of Etruscan cities and Etruscan religiosity with new, precious details.”