In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

1 Early Etruscans A Glimpse of Iron Age and Orientalizing Italy through Artifacts Objects illustrating the Italian Iron Age consist mainly of a fine set of tomb groups excavated at Vulci and Narce, mainly depositions of the late Villanovan and Orientalizing periods, and also from tombs excavated at Bisenzio and Cerveteri and obtained from Italian dealers during the 1890s. Although these finds are representative especially of southern and interior Etruria and the Faliscan territory, goods from a wider geographic area are indicative of an exchange network that already included Bologna and the Po region. Most of the parallels cited for such early pieces derive from a small number of sites, especially Veii, Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Bisenzio, Vulci, and Narce. In part this is due to the archaeological history of these areas. During the 18th–19th centuries, these sites were some of the first to be recognized and excavated, whether scientifically or by other methods. Some of the older excavations, such as those of Vulci, now are being published as a result of intensive scholarship conducted in Italian archives and museums. Others, especially Veii and Tarquinia, have had more recent, systematic excavations resulting in published typologies that essentially have made possible the construction of the chronology of the Villanovan period.1 The painstaking work of bringing order to the finds from Villanovan burials owes much to earlier scholars of the European Iron Age, such as MüllerKarpe (1959–1970). More recently, Etruscologists have begun to return to their discipline’s European roots.2 Although Livy the Roman historian spoke of the Duodecim Populi, the “Twelve Peoples” of Etruria, he did not provide a full list of what modern scholars have equated with the twelve (sometimes fifteen) major Etruscan cities.3 If the supposed League of Twelve Etruscan Peoples did indeed represent cities, then its membership may have changed over time as the political strength of various centers waxed and waned.4 Table 2. The Major Etruscan Cities modern italian etruscan roman/latin Arezzo Arretium Bisenzio Visentium Bologna Felsina Bononia Cerveteri Cisra Caere Chiusi Clevsin/Camars Clusium Cortona Curtun– Cortona Fiesole Vipsul Faesulae Orvieto (Urbs vetus) Velzna Volsinii Perugia Persna Perusia Pisa Pisae Populonia Fufluna/Pupluna Populonia Roselle Rusellae Tarquinia Tarxna Tarquinii Veio Vei– Veii Vetulonia Vatluna Vetulonia Volterra Velayri Volaterrae Vulci Velx– Vulci The Early Heartland: Bisenzio, Cerveteri, Vulci, Narce Many of the earliest sites of protohistoric Etruria are near the metal-rich territory of the Tolfa Hills (such as Caere/ Cerveteri), the rich volcanic farm soils of the interior (Bisenzio), and the overland trails and navigable streams that connect the interior to the coast (Vulci and Veii). Another small but burgeoning region of the interior, connected by a network of roads to the other centers, was Narce in the Faliscan territory; in all periods, Narce was characterized by intensive interaction with Etruscan settlements. The culture of Iron Age Etruria (1000–720/700 BC) is termed, somewhat arbitrarily, the Villanovan; this name derives from a site, Villanova di Castenaso, excavated in the 19th century outside the city of Bologna. Villanovan material culture was characterized by a sophisticated metallurgy; fine decorative and functional bronze-working; warriors’ trappings of swords, spears, and body armor; and dark-colored impasto (unpurified native clay) pottery in angular shapes with fanciful plastic ornaments. Archaeological evidence shows that Villanovan culture developed smoothly into the highly urbanized culture of the Orientalizing period, when the Etruscans’ acquisition of the alphabet enables us to identify their unique names and language and thus to prove their identity as “Etruscans.” The preceding culture, the final Bronze Age, looks like a seamless earlier version of the Villanovan and so it has been termed “Protovillanovan.” Thus the Iron Age people who produced the burial urns, bronze pins, and fanciful pottery were ethnically or genetically the same as those who already were installed in central Italy by the Late Bronze Age (later 2nd millennium BC).5 4 Catalogue of the Kyle M. Phillips, Jr., Etruscan World Gallery Fig. 2. Map of Iron Age sites in central Italy. (By permission of Mark Mattson) Fig. 3. Vulci near Ponte dell’Abaddia, showing the deep ravines spanned by an Etruscan aqueduct, with Roman and medieval masonry visible in its upper structure. (Photograph by author) Vulci: The Early Prowess of One of the Most Famous Cities Political events in 18th century Italy and sporadic discoveries of past riches led to the effective plundering, as well as official excavation, of the many necropoleis of Vulci, one of the richest industrial and mercantile...

Share