In the sixth century BC a king of the Peuketiantes, the Lucanian people settled in this part of the Platano valley, was buried with Greek-style equipment: helmet, shield, sword and spearhead. The grave goods also included pottery and a cauldron decorated with stories of Heracles, Dionysus and Theseus. The tomb came to light in the Santissima Concezione district and is the centre of the Archeoparco del Basileus, laid out a short distance away at Toppo Sant'Antonio.
What to see
The archaeological area is not crossed in the hush of a museum: the route is built on play, with stage-like settings, background music, riddles and games, and alongside the excavations it reconstructs moments of daily life across two centuries of Lucanian history. Around it lies an equipped green area.
Greek weapons in the tomb of a Lucanian king are no oddity. The ancient settlement that corresponds to today's Baragiano stood on a plateau between two tributaries of the Platano, in a strategic position among the territories of several Lucanian tribes and where trade routes met: the river valleys carried contacts with the Ionian coast, with Siris and Metapontum, and with the Greek and Etruscan populations of the Tyrrhenian side.
Visiting
The display is aimed first of all at school groups, which explains the tone of the route: riddles to solve, music, reconstructed scenes. Anyone arriving without children should still walk the whole circuit, because it is the playful part that gives back the context the tomb alone does not explain. Opening times and guided visits are worth checking in advance on archeoparco.it.
Our editors' tip
Look at the cauldron and the pottery of the grave goods before the weapons: Heracles, Dionysus and Theseus ending up in the tomb of a Lucanian king say in one go how far the goods and the stories travelled inland from the coast.