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Modern Description: Monte Croccia is a major indigenous site walled during the Lucanian period with isodomic blocks. It contains a number of towers and entrance gates (some monumental) and has a separately walled acropolis with the remains of a number of habitation structures contained within. It has been studied extensively since the 19th Century and at the time its imposing features fuelled speculation on the builders belonging to a ‘lost race’ pre‐Roman ancestors who were deemed to have constructed such impressive monuments. Monte Croccia is known to be one of the centres that gave rise to the terms of ‘Cyclopean’ or ‘Pelasgian’ in use in the 19th century. Geographically it occupies a strategic position: to the south it is near the end of the upper Salandrella valley, to the north it overlooks the end of the widest section of the Basento valley and the beginning of the narrowing of the section that leads to Serra di Vaglio. To the south east it is protected by two high Mountain ridges (both over 1,000 metres). It has many natural springs and streams and is at the centre of the large concentration of indigenous settlements. It is also at the centre of the largest visibility network in the study area with some 14 sites directly intervisible with it including all of the major centres of the area: Tricarico, Garaguso, Serra Del Cedro and Tempa Cortaglia. Monte Croccia enjoys a wide ‘defensive’ view down the middle‐Basento valley which, when augmented by the other two proposed centres of the middle‐Basento control network, gives an intensified observational focus on over a nearly 50 kilometre stretch of the Basento valley from the foothills of Serra di Vaglio to This is an important communication route between the mountainous interior and the coast which both modern rail and autostrade still follow to this day. Moreover the importance of control of this route would only be intensified if major inland rivers such as the Basento were navigable in Antiquity – as reported by Strabo. Strabo 6.1.14 Lacava 1891 p.138, 340‐343 Ashby & Gardner 1919 p.211‐215 Monte Croccia – Lookout ‘guide’ Monte Croccia
Wikidata ID: Q65129462

Info: Myers Lucania

Brett Andrew Myers, Visual Connectivity and Control in Ancient Lucania, MPhil thesis 2018, Univ. of Sydney

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