A corpus of symbolic motives impressed, painted or engraved on vessels, stones, wooden items and bones was found in the "La marmotta" village actually under the water of the Bracciano Lake (Rome). This four handle clay jar is decorated with cardial impressions to represent a stylized man in worship, spikes and the sun (that connected seem to suggest a prayer to the gods to favor and protect the crops).

Morphology of the object:

Large ovoidal shaped jar with four small horizontal handles. Impressed “cardial” decorations, in a symbolized shape of ear of corn, a sun and probably two figurines in adoration.

The decoration was obtained through the impression of shells valves on the soft clay. From the vessel’s rim a series of triangles, with their vertex pointing downwards, decorate vertically the jar. Within each triangle are present numerous oblique lines. Below these triangles run two horizontal “zigzag” lines. In between the two lines there are oblique marks as well as thin carved fringes at the sides. The two motifs, perpendicular one another, have been interpreted as a stylised raffiguration of two figures in adoration with their arms wide open. Ear of corn depart from the “zigzag” motifs. Below one of these is carved a clear representation of the sun.

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No similar vessels to one from the village of “La Marmotta” have been recovered, but it is possible to compare the symbols impressed on the olla with symbols used on other Early Neolithic contexts. The sun is a recurrent symbol in Prehistory: Neolithic pottery with the symbol of the sun have been recovered in Southern Italy, Corsica, Spain and the Balkans. The stylised depiction of the figure in oration can be compared with a similar symbology from Apulia in Italy and the Mediterranean region of the Iberian peninsula

The large vessel was recovered within a hut which differs from the other structures of the Neolithic village of “La Marmotta”. Because of the nature of some of the items found in the structure along with the jar, probably linked to cult practice, the structure has been interpreted as a “sanctuary-hut”, an inhabitation provided with a cult room. The large vessel is decorated with a peculiar symbolism. Clear are the depictions of the sun and the ear of corn; while the raffiguration of the figure in oration was suggested through the interpretation of the two “zigzag” motifs as open arms, with wide spread fingers (the fringes located at the extremities) as if in a pleading position. The position of one of the ear of corn below one of the arms suggests the participation to a ritual connected to a cycle of plants and the fertility of the earth. The three elements, the sun, the ear of corn- connected to agriculture and plants- and the figure in oration can therefore represent, as in a meta-language, the plea to a divine power to help and protect the crop.

FUGAZZOLA DELPINO M.A., 1996, Un tuffo nel passato, 8.000 anni fa nel Lago di Bracciano, Soprintendenza Speciale al Museo Preistorico ed Etnografico “L.Pigorini”, ed.BetaGamma, Viterbo. FUGAZZOLA DELPINO M.A., 2000, Lo scavo subacqueo di un villaggio perilacustre del VI millennio a.C., in “Lezioni Fabio Faccenna”. Conferenze di archeologia subacquea, I-II ciclo, 1998-99. Edipuglia, pp.13-25 FUGAZZOLA DELPINO M.A., D’EUGENIO G., PESSINA A., 1993, “La Marmotta”, (Anguillara Sabazia, Rm). Un abitato perilacustre di età neolitica, in Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana, 84,, n.s. II pp.181-315 FUGAZZOLA DELPINO M.A, PESSINA A., TINÈ V., (a cura di), 2002, Le ceramiche impresse nel Neolitico Antico. Italia e Mediterraneo, Studi di Paletnologia I, Roma FUGAZZOLA DELPINO M.A, PESSINA A., TINÈ V., (a cura di), 2004, Civiltà dell’argilla. Le prime comunità del Neolitico, Catalogo della Mostra, Roma – Museo Nazionale Preistorico ed Etnografico “L:Pigorini”, 7 dicembre 2002 - 30 Marzo 2003