Deposizioni rituali di rospi in una sepoltura enotria della prima Età del Ferro

The female burial number 199 of Guardia Perticara (Potenza-Italy) is dated back to the first decades of the 8th century BC. The rich grave goods include a small hand-shaping amphora-kantharos- filled up with several faunal remains. The sample is composed of 245 specimens, most complete. The 230 identified specimens include toad, lizard and shrew: Bufo viridis, Bufo bufo, Bufo sp., Podarcis sp. and Sorex gr. araneus. Toads represent 99% of the sample (227 specimens). Podarcis sp. and Sorex gr. araneus are sporadic. Although in other archaeological contexts these taxa are usually considered as intrusive, the high numbers from the burial of Guardia Perticara indicate ritual practices. Worth of mention is the therapeutic use of toads. In fact Pliny quotes them as a remedy to several ills in the Roman period.