National Archaeological Museum of Venosa

The museum, housed in the basement walkways of the Aragonese castle built in 1470 by Pirro del Balzo , is dedicated in particular to the Latin colony of Venusia, founded in 291 BC The most ancient phases of human presence in the territory of Venosa are illustrated, as evidenced by the fragment of femur of homo erectus (about 300,000 years ago), among the oldest found in Europe. Coins, elements of architectural decoration, ceramics allow us to define and follow the political and cultural history of the Roman city up to the later stages. exhibited the collection of funerary and public inscriptions, the latter document important works created by magistrates of Venusia. Interesting is the collection of memorial stones inscribed in the Oscan language, which, in nearby Bantia (Banzi), during the first century BC, made up a templum augurale: an open, consecrated space, where auspices were drawn through the flight of birds. Illustrated epigraphs and arcosolios testify to the establishment of an important Jewish community which, between the 4th and 9th centuries AD, buried its dead in catacombs adjacent to the Christian ones.