The Acropolis of Croccia-Cognato
Archeologia
There is a place in Basilicata, ancient Lucania, where the mystery of our most ancient origins seems to peep through strange signs on stone. Sometimes with “simple” lines, sometimes with dotted incisions, small geometric figures emerge before our eyes: mostly triangles, pointing up or upside down, but also the circle and the lozenge, and finally a kind of “H”. This is what can be seen by observing the massive stones that form what remains of the “Cyclopean” or “Pelasgian” walls of the Acropolis of Croccia-Cognato, in the Gallipoli Forest, in the Park of the Lucanian Little Dolomites – provided, however, that the gaze is attentive and aware, that the traces are searched for carefully, and that the key to reading them is free of ordinary, preconceived cultural conditioning…
These walls date back many millennia, and the erosion of the stone has “camouflaged” the signs; moreover, perhaps because of a lowering of the ground level and the consequent rearrangement of the walls, the glyphs are positioned rather low, sometimes just a few centimetres above the ground. It is almost as if they wanted to be seen only by those who wish to see them…
THE PLACE
Before observing the signs, let us consider the name of the place: Croccia-Cognato. The complex usually called the Acropolis – clearly outlined by the surviving walls, with its entrance still visible – and what must have been the settlement, of some importance given the other gates in the southern wall, where one can imagine a large arch that later collapsed, stood on a height. The level ground that held the dwellings, or perhaps a temple, or whatever else, was triangular, that is, “wedge-shaped”.
This shape is probably the origin of the name Ager Cuneatus, or wedge-shaped field, and of the singular assonance with the later name “Cognato”.
Can we imagine Sumerian ancestors? Hypothesise Pelasgian descent? Pre-Greek, or Greek-Mycenaean? In any case the hypotheses are fascinating, and certainly an encouragement to a Journey into “most ancient antiquity”, in search of our origins.
To be continued…