In all this one can find the whole history of human establishment in the region, from prehistory to the present. It is a shame that a good part of the evidence is dispersed, has deteriorated, or been abandoned to the corrosive effects of time, since it could have made the archaeological museum even more interesting, for although the museum was only recently established, it is on the way to becoming, like the diocesan museum, a reliable point of reference for the history of the region. The whole area around S. Eufemia Vetere (especially the portion of Terravecchia) has yielded tombs, black glazed pottery, and Greco-Roman coins that ended up either in the hands of private collectors or art dealers.

Acconia (Catanzaro): fragment of impressed ceramic from the early Neolithic period Click to enlarge	Acconia (Catanzaro): fragment of incised ceramic from the early Neolithic period Click to enlarge

In 1921, in the area of Palazzo, the archaeologist Paoli Orsi discovered ruins from the Roman era. He found vases and coins, even near the spring baths of Caronte whose sulfurous waters have been known since the most remote times, and are remembered even on the coinage of the period. Around the Franzi building (which even today is enveloped in legend, through the superstitious stories of the local people) black glazed vessels were discovered, and identified as being from a Hellenistic necropolis. Last century in the Terravecchia area, during the course of agricultural activity, the now-famous treasure was discovered, called the treasure of S. Eufemia. During the first twenty years of the 1900s, in the same area, Paolo Orsi came into possession of an inscribed copper tablet (found in the ruins of a building) containing the remains of a testament from the end of the fourth century BC. A little later in the same region, in the area of Elemosina, some vases and a decorated granite sarcophagus were found which allegedly contained only bones. It is against this ample and rich backdrop that one must read the history of the three centers that in 1968 gave origin to Lamezia Terme.