The Etruscans in Southern Gaul during the Fifth Century B.C.E.: A Vessel of the “Spurinas” Group Discovered at the Settlement of La Monédière in Bessan (Hérault, France)

The excavation carried out in 2014 on the protohistoric settlement of La Monediere, in Bessan (Herault, France), confirmed the very particular status of this site of the sixth-fifth centuries B.C.E, located nearby the greek colony of Agathe (Agde), at the interface between colonial and indigenous worlds. Inside the limits of the habitat, a huge pit interpreted as a bothros and dated of the fifth century B.C.E was filled with the rests of banquets evocating the Greco-etruscan practice of the symposium. Among the numerous amphoras and vessels of the earliest phase (475-450 B.C.E), was discovered an Etruscan black-glazed cup from the “Spurinas” group. This cup is characterized by the existence of a painted inscription “APA” (“father”). It is the first attestation, within this class of ceramic, of this Etruscan appellative interpreted as a reference to a chtonian divinity. Moreover, excepted Lattara (Lattes), La Monediere is the only place outside Etruria where a ceramic from the “Spurinas” group was found. The context of discovery is in itself very particular, and raises question about the implemented rituals, and the likely presence of Etruscan people among an indigenous or mixed community.