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Modern Description: Serra di Vaglio is one of the best know pre‐Roman sites in Basilicata. It has been the focus of a number of campaigns of excavation since the mid‐1960’s. Ii was an important regional centre long before the ‘Lucanian’ period. During its Oenotrian phase a number of extremely rich graves were discovered as well as the Anaktoron of Braida. The phases of the site are complex but what is clear it there a number of construction phases within the site. Physically it is set on a high plateau (1085 metres) just outside the modern town of Vaglio. The site has natural defences in its very steep slopes to the south and during the fourth century, an isodomic wall was constructed along the northern and eastern entrances. There are a number of monumental gates and entrances. Near the main Northern entrance an Oscan inscription using Greek letter forms During the rule of Nummelos was found, referring presumably to the Archon who directed the construction of the wall. Raia San Basile is the only other site know with this style of inscription on similar media. The site is large at over 20 Hectares although estimates vary. Serra di Vaglio is intervisible with a large number of sites, seven in total. To the North & East it connects visually with the important sites of Torretta di Pietragalla, Civita di Tricarico and Albano di Lucania. To the south and west it is intervisible with Rifreddo, Monte Li Foi and Serra La Nevera. All these south‐western sites have low location certainty and little ‐ if any ‐ physical evidence of their existence. Serra di Vaglio has extensive visual control over a large section of the surrounding Basento valley to the east and west. Both of these approaches constituted some the main access points to the centre. It visual control to east along the Basento Valley would have been extended considerably by Albano di Lucania who’s viewshed starts at almost exactly the position that Serra di Vaglio’s stops along the Basento. And of course, Albano was intervisible with Serra di Vaglio and capable of communicating basic information about movement along the valley.
Wikidata ID: Q3895466

Info: Myers Lucania

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

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