Interesting finds

Unsolved puzzles

Numerous curiosities have emerged from the digs at Tremona. Some are difficult to explain, and present real puzzles. Like the case of the remains of a goat found in the doorway of a building, in what appears to be a ritual arrangement, the head lying towards the East with the legs arranged around it so that the hooves were touching. An intriguing burial and one that is yet to be explained, being the first of its type to be recorded. Perhaps it was a votive offering with symbolic meaning, or part of an inauguration ceremony.

The “treasure” of Tremona

Tremona has also given us a little bit of treasure in the form of silver coins. In an early phase of the digs, in 1991, 702 denarii minted in Milan and 103 denarii from Cremona were found. In 2000, a further 16 coins from Milan and 6 from Cremona were uncovered, while more recent digs have led to the discovery of a further 222 pieces, the oldest dating back to Roman times (two assi, one from the Roman Republic, 211-89 BC and the other from Augustan Rome, 16-6 BC) and the most recent from the 15th century (a sestino from Lucca-Repubblica). Not forgetting, of course, the oldest coin of all found in the village, an Insubrian drachma made of nickel silver - minted between the end of the second and the beginning of the first century AD - on which can be read the word “ρικοι” (Rikoi).

The myth of the two-headed serpent

Among the most beautiful and important finds from Tremona’s past are the bronze,
disc-shaped fibula that has become the symbol of the archaeological park and a buckle in the shape of a human figure dressed in a long, pleated tunic from which emerge two legs and four wide-spread arms. The head of the figure has two large eyes, a nose and a small mouth, as well as what might be a diadem in its hair. It is difficult to say what it represents: priest, shaman, warrior? Another beautiful and mysterious piece is an ornament from the end of the 12th century which seems to represent the amphisbaena, the mythical serpent with two heads, one at each end of its body, which in Christian times became the symbol of Good and Evil, with the two heads representing Christ and Satan.