Sito eneolitico di Madonna delle Grazie

The Aeneolithic site of Madonna delle Grazie (Our Lady of Graces) is a place of historical and archaeological interest, discovered in the hamlet of Mirabella Eclano.

Located along the road that leads from the Eclano municipal area to Taurasi, the necropolis is part of the so-called "Gaudo Culture", which can be traced back to the third millennium BC and the proximity of the archaeological site of Paestum. It consists of a series of "oven-shaped" tombs with an underground burial chamber, accessed through a vestibule in the form of a circular well. The tombs are excavated in the soft tuff rock, at a depth of around two metres, and are closed at the entrance by a vertically arranged slab of tuff.

Elliptical inside, the burial chamber contained one or more bodies laid to rest, the skeletons of which were found mainly in a crouched or supine position. From the tombs, which contained multiple burials, funerary objects were recovered, typically pastoral, with lithic flint industries (arrowheads, blades, daggers) and a large quantity of earthenware. 
Among the group of tombs, only one, the so-called "tomb of the chieftain", now reconstructed in the Irpino Museum in Avellino, was a single-laying tomb: the deceased was buried in a crouched position with his dog at his side, with a rich set of vessels and weapons. An excavation in 1972 led to the discovery of a new tomb, with two ellipsoidal cells, each enclosed by a slab of tuff stone.

The necropolis of the Madonna delle Grazie (Our Lady of Graces) is one of the oldest archaeological sites in Irpinia containing precious finds that are probably unique not only locally.