CHAPTER FIVE
THE VILLANOVAN CULTURE: AT THE
BEGINNING OF ETRUSCAN HISTORY
Gilda Bartoloni
T
he beginning of the cultural processes that would be concluded in the early Iron
Age by the concentration of settlements at the sites of future Etruscan cities, in all
likelihood is to be recognized in the Late Bronze Age, that is, in the second half of the
second millennium bc. After a period of general cultural uniformity in ancient Italy, in
the course of the tenth century bc there began to appear well-delineated areas equivalent
to the large regions or territories that, in historic times, would correspond to well-defined
ethnoi: the Veneti, Etruscans, Latins, Sabines. The culture associated with the territory
ultimately occupied by the Etruscans is defined as “Villanovan.” Villanovan is understood
as a system of customs, a typical expression of material civilization of the zone that would
be historically Etruscan, namely that large area that diagonally crosses Italy, from the
eastern basin of the Po to the central Tyrrhenian and finally to the Tiber, and which from
there expanded into Campania.
The name comes from the accidental discovery made in 1853 by Giovanni Gozzadini
at Villanova (approx. 8 km east of Bologna) of a series of cremation tombs: the ritual is
characterized by the deposition of skeletal remains in vases of impasto (that is, of clay
that is not purified, and is handmade and fired at a relatively low temperature). The
urns are commonly defined as biconical because of their shape (similar to two juxtaposed
truncated cones); for the most part they were covered by bowls also of black impasto.
The cremation ritual is also represented by more or less valuable ornaments or other
belongings of the deceased (especially fibulae, bracelets, necklaces, weapons, razors, etc.)
and additional impasto ceramics (jugs, bowls, plates etc.). This definition of Villanovan
was later extended to analogous funerary assemblages at Bologna, Tarquinia, Bisenzio,
and other sites in Tyrrhenian Etruria, and then, as they were brought to light, to finds at
the villages related to these necropoleis.
A continuity of life is well documented in the major Etruscan cities ever since the last
phase of the Bronze Age (“Final Bronze Age”). Between the end of the Bronze Age and
the beginning of the Iron Age, around the turn of the tenth century bc, the population
almost completely abandons the sites of the previous period in order to settle in groups
of a few hundred individuals in the territories of Veii, Tarquinia, Vulci etc., occupying
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distinct nuclei in the broad plains and adjacent hills. The Etruscans themselves traced
the origin of the Etruscan nation to a date corresponding to the eleventh or tenth century
bc: Varro (in Censorinus, De die natali 17.5–6 and Servius, Commentary on Aeneid 8.526)
reports that the Etruscan Libri rituales (“Books of rituals”) showed that the duration of
the nomen Etruscum (literally “Etruscan name,” meaning the Etruscan civilization) would
not have exceeded ten “centuries;” Servius also notes (Commentary on Eclogue 9.46) that
Augustus believed, on the basis of the teachings of the haruspices (divination priests),
that during his reign the tenth saeculum (age, “century”) would begin, the time of the end
of the Etruscan people.
In the final phase of the Bronze Age (mid-twelfth to tenth century bc) the disposition
of settlements appears to be better distributed, although they are no longer connected
to the paths of the tratturi (drove roads for transhumance of flocks and herds) as they had
been during the Middle Bronze Age. As evidence of the intensive exploitation of land
and continuous population growth there are now known in Etruria at least 70 confirmed
settlements, and several more sites with indications of at least temporary occupation. The
typical town of this chronological phase generally occupies high ground or a tufa plateau
of more than five hectares, isolated at the confluence of two watercourses. These small
plateaus, naturally or artificially protected, are not completely built up: non-residential
areas within the defenses were probably intended as collecting points for livestock or
zones reserved for cultivation, land used only by certain groups, or areas designated for
shelter in case of enemy attack.
For a number of years now the site of Castellaccio di Sorgenti della Nova (at the
“Sources of the Nova” river) has hosted systematic research which shows a settlement
articulated on the summit and on various terraces, naturally fortified and defended
by steep walls and surrounded by two confluent ditches. The large terraced areas cut
deeply into the flanks of the cliff. Its “urbanized” organization is quite complex: on
the summit plateau are located houses of modest dimensions with sunken foundations
and superstructure of perishable material, suitable to accommodate nuclear families; on
the sides of the artificially terraced cliff, there open numerous artificial caves adapted
for occupation, for places of worship, and for service facilities, while on the terraces in
front, large houses intended for extended families were built along a small canal with
foundations on an elliptical plan. Alongside the domestic structures are added rooms/
structures of the same plan and construction technique but more or less reduced in size,
probably used as storerooms and repositories; it has been thought that some of these
small rooms were intended to house domestic animals. In the artificial caves at Sorgenti
della Nova there were also exceptionally well-preserved ovens with domed walls of fired
clay and braziers (focolari) for cooking food.
In other settlements (in Monte Rovello near Allumiere and at Luni on the Mignone
River) structures of imposing dimensions (15–17 meters long and 8–9 meters wide)
and rectangular plans have been identified, with the roof resting directly on a low bank
of earth or stones. Probably these represent the homes of the heads of their respective
communities, intended also for political and religious functions.
The funeral ritual can be documented systematically from the twelfth century bc,
when the cremation of the dead begins to appear and then to prevail. This ritual, which
corresponds to that of the Urnfields culture (Urnenfeldern) of continental Europe, spread
from the Alps to the north-eastern tip of Sicily in the Final phase of the Bronze Age, and
is generally defined as “Protovillanovan,” determined by its cultural affinity with the
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subsequent, Villanovan, culture which would be manifested at the beginning of the Iron
Age only in certain parts of Italy.
Evidence of the passage from the custom of inhumation to cremation is found in the
tumulus (mound-shaped) tombs in the necropolis of Crostoletto di Lamone on the left
bank of the Fiora River, not far from the site of Castellaccio di Sorgenti della Nova, with
burials, whether by inhumation or cremation, established since the Late Bronze Age.
The urn used is almost always a biconical vessel, usually covered by an upended bowl.
Sometimes the burials are double, that is, in the same well-shaped tomb (tomba a pozzo) or
custodia (large container), two ossuaries are deposited at the same time.
Taken together, the data seem to indicate the presence of individuals or families at the
head of different groups. And in the final phase of the Bronze Age, there must have begun
the process that generated (at least two centuries later) a tribal society based on families
and the increasingly widespread ownership of land.
In the ninth century bc the territory is divided instead into rather large districts, each
belonging to a large village, divided internally into widely spaced groups of huts, and
into a small number of isolated villages located in strategic positions, for which we can
assume some form of dependence upon the larger settlements.
Compared to the preceding period, this type of aggregation is characterized by a
higher concentration of the population. To the number of villages located mostly on
inaccessible plateaus, with defensive priority assigned to the needs of agriculture, are
added settlements over wide plains where the population was grouped into a single hilltop
location. It is a sort of synoikistic process, so, for example, at Vulci people were gathered
from the district of the Fiora and Albegna Rivers, while to Veii came the communities
that inhabited the region from the Tiber River to Lake Bracciano, including the Faliscan
and Capenate territories. The reference to Halesos, son of Saturn, the mythical founder
of Falerii in the genealogy of Morrius the king of Veii (Servius, Commentary on Aeneid
8.285) may conceal this close relationship between Veii and the Ager Faliscus (the territory
of the historical Faliscans).
The great movement of population that characterizes this period is unthinkable
without political organizations that were able to impose their decisions on the individual
village communities: the different groups, undoubtedly each consisting of nuclei linked
by bonds of kinship, located within or outside the tufa plateaus that would be the future
seats of the Etruscan city-states, have cultural links between them, also attested to by
the analysis of craft production, such as to imply affiliation to the same political unit and
enabling us to speak of such human concentrations as “proto-urban” (Fig. 5.1).
Strong indications of the change in relationship with the land are derived mainly from
the radical change of the dislocation of the settlements and the tendency to concentrate the
population sites on the plateau, surrounded by large areas of farmland. The development
of large-scale cultivation of new land must have resulted in new business relationships.
It seems hard to believe that the exploitation of resources over some hundreds of square
kilometers could be implemented in a situation in which the land was still owned in
common: it does not seem questionable to postulate for this period a subdivision of
property.
The area in which Villanovan culture extends, from its first appearance, is not limited
to the territory of Etruria proper (Fig. 5.2). In addition to the Tyrrhenian Villanovan
culture, an Emilian Villanovan may be distinguished in the north, which includes the
region south of the Po plain, with its capital at Bologna, and a Romagna-Villanovan
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G iI da B a r t o I oni
ricostruzione schematica
della nascita di un centro protourbano
Figure 5 .1
Schematic reconstruction of the birth of a proto-urban center (after P. Tamburini, II Museo
territoriale del Lago di Bolsena. Vol 1. Dalle origini alperiodo etrusco, Bolsena 2007).
area di diffusa cremazione
presenza del villanoviano
area di prevalente inumazione
Figure 5.2
Diffusion of the Villanovan culture (after M. Torelli, ed., G li Etruschi, Milan, 2000, p. 45).
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attested especially in the Rimini area, at Verucchio. In the central peninsula, Fermo
(Ascoli Piceno) was a completely isolated nucleus, while in the south, Villanovan
characteristics can be recognized at Capua and in the Salerno region, with the necropoleis
of Pontecagnano, Arenosola and Capodifiume near Paestum, probably a bridgehead to
the other large southern Villanovan nucleus of Sala Consilina, located within the territory
between Salerno and Lucania in the Valley of the Diano. Not only do we see similarities
in the funerary customs but also other phenomena occur at the same time, in the typology
of settlements and necropoleis, and as noted, the beginning of the process of formation
of the Etruscan cities and even a colonial-type expansion. To give some plausibility to
a possible “colonization,” namely the presence of Etruscan people in these “Villanovan”
settlements, there are the epigraphic and historical (literary) sources. On one hand are
the comments of ancient authors such as Pliny (Natural History 3.70) that affirm that
“the territory which stretches along three thousand paces from the Sorrento peninsula to
the River Sele belonged to the Etruscans,” but we do not know to what period to assign
this report, or that of Verrius Flaccus (Res etruscae fr.1 P) who believed that Tarchon,
eponymous hero of Tarquinia, and thus of the Tarquinian people, was responsible for
the foundation of the twelve cities of Etruria in the Po Valley. On the other hand, of
considerable interest is the evidence at Bologna of the use of Etruscan writing beginning
at the end of the eighth century bc, a period that, especially in the district of Emilia,
does not seem to break with the preceding phase, still to be defined as Villanovan. Such
testimonies appear to be almost contemporary with the first evidence of inscriptions in
Etruria proper.
The settlement pattern characteristic not only of Etruria proper (e.g. Tarquinia, Veii,
Vetulonia) but also of peripheral centers (Pontecagnano, Fermo or Verucchio) is a town
located on a large plateau (Veii, Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Vulci) or on a hill-plateau of average
size (Orvieto-Volsinii, Vetulonia, Volterra) and of two groups of necropoleis (or two
necropoleis) located generally to the north and south of the settlement, but also possibly
to east and west. One of these appears to be the main necropolis, the other, smaller in
number of tombs, shows characteristics of excellence.
The location of Populonia seems exceptional even for northern Etruria: unlike the
other major Etruscan sites, which are in fact located on high ground and away from
the sea or coastal lagoons, this is the only city located on the sea. The inhabited area
(150/180 hectares) seems concentrated in the southern side of the promontory above the
Gulf of Baratti. The tufa plateaus which will be the sites of future cities do not seem to be
completely built up, but are divided into carefully spaced districts, with most of the plains
used for agriculture or grazing. The internal organization is poorly understood because of
the lack of systematic excavations of inhabited areas, but especially because of the type of
facilities and urban structures, in large part constructed of perishable materials.
The momentum of the excavation of domestic sites in the last two decades has brought
new information about settlement conditions, but it also has raised many questions: often
among the remains of huts, inside or outside the structures, are more or less deliberate
funerary depositions.
On the Civita plain of Tarquinia (Pian di Civita) was found a ninth-century bc
enclosure with deposits of worked deer antlers, burials of newborns and of one child,
an encephalopathic albino, which, according to the excavators, invokes the concept of
monstrum (a prodigy in Roman religion, see Chapter 29). The further discovery in this area
of burials of adults without accompanying grave goods is explained by M. Bonghi Jovino
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as part of religious practice; for one man, thought to be of Greek origin, they speak of
a religious sacrifice. At Veii, at the center of the so-called Cittadella on Piazza d’Armi
(the acropolis of the city), a structure with an oval plan, including a trench tomb (tomba
a fossa) (Fig. 5.3), was interpreted as “a sort of mortuary chapel erected for the veneration
of an exceptional death” (G. Colonna, unpublished conference paper), while on the great
plateau near the north-west gate, at the center of a large oval hut of the ninth century bc,
was found a burial within an earthen grave, with the skeleton of a 35-year-old woman
with offerings of a few bronze objects.
We know the necropoleis better than the settlements: through their analysis it has
become possible to see the bigger picture of cultural development. The examination
of burial grounds as structured contexts allows the study of the economic, sociological,
and intellectual aspects of ancient societies that are only partially illuminated by other
evidence. The moment of death and the subsequent funeral ritual become important
social occasions, although the funeral rites cannot be considered a simple statement of
the values of a given community. The reflection of the society of the living in funeral
customs can never be considered direct and immediate: it is mostly indirect, selective and
mediated. During the ninth century, the exclusive rite of most Villanovan necropoleis
was cremation, even though there are frequent examples of inhumation in trench graves
as well: at Populonia, and at Cerveteri, for example, from the beginning of the use of
the Sorbo necropolis the two rites co-existed. The tombs dug in virgin soil are usually a
pozzetto (in “well-shaped,” cylindrical pits) with the ossuary sometimes protected inside a
custodia (container) made of tufa (at Veii, Bisenzio) or of nenfro (Tarquinia).
The funeral offerings, extremely limited in the earliest burials, seem mostly to consist
of the ossuary (Fig. 5.4) inside which were the cremated bones, protected with a lid,
and one or more fibulae of different styles depending upon the type of textile, hairspirals (fermatrecce) and spindle whorls in female depositions, razors or pins in male
Figure 5.3
Tomb of an adult man, Veii, Piazza d’Armi (photo G. Bartoloni).
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burials. In general accessory vessels are rare, and weapons are exceptional. The typical
urn is represented by a biconical impasto vessel (Fig. 5.4) of elongated shape compared
to its Protovillanovan predecessor, with one or two horizontal handles set at the point of
maximum diameter. In the case of two-handled urns, however, one of the two handles
is found deliberately broken. The rich incised decoration, obtained with a comb-like,
multi-pointed instrument, occurs on the body and neck of the vessel, divided into more
or less separate groups; more rare is ornamentation with applied metal inlays. The
decorative technique, common in Italy, seems also to be common in the region of the
French and Swiss platform-villages (palafitte) from the Late Bronze Age; because of this it
was deduced that it had been disseminated from this region. The lid of the vase-ossuary
Figure 5.4
Finds from tombs at Veii, Quattro Fontanili (after Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli.
Archeologia e Storia Antica VIII, 1986).
Figure 5.5
Hut urn from Veii, Quattro Fontanili (after Dalla Capanna alla casa.
I primi abitanti di Veio, Formello 2003).
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almost always consists of a bowl or dish with a conical body, incurving rim and ring
handles set between two small pseudo-lugs. Already in the earliest phase, some ossuaries
are closed not with bowls/plates but with conical helmets in clay (at Tarquinia, Veii, etc.)
and later, with crested helmets reproducing bronze specimens.
Particularly prominent among the ossuaries are the previously noted model huts (Fig.
5.5); hut urns are attested mainly in coastal Etruria (at Vetulonia, Vulci, Tarquinia,
Caere) and southern interior Etruria (Bisenzio and the territory of Veii): the percentage
of these urns in the shape of houses is very low in contrast to the conventional biconical
jars, amounting to one hut urn for every hundred biconical urns, thus indicative of their
special character. In centers where there are models of housing functioning as ossuaries,
the helmet-cover of biconical urns may have represented the gabled roof of the hut.
In the biconical vase, the ideology of the armed warrior, expressed by the helmet, is
augmented by that of the protector of the home: the two functions, of owner of the house
and protector of the family inside, expressed through the symbols of the hut and the
warrior, are associated with, and attributed to, a single personage.
In the earliest period of Villanovan culture, grave goods do not seem to reveal any
difference in wealth or social status: they differ only in distinguishing women from
men, and among these only a few are known as warriors, through the helmet or, rarely,
weapons. Distinctive features such as hut urns are not solely the prerogatives of male or
female: to a woman must be attributed a set of offerings (from Vulci?) in which are two
miniature impasto spindles and a spindle whorl (see G. Bartoloni, La cultura villanoviana.
All’inizio della storia etruca, Rome 2002: 188, Fig. 6.19). There is no difference in grave
goods between depositions with hut urns and those in biconical urns.
Consequently, the documentation of the cemeteries seems to point to an entirely
egalitarian system. Instead, it is more likely that, because of a constant funerary ideology,
community members were considered equal in the rite of burial: one speaks of a
combination of a common belief combined with the rigidity of cremation ritual.
About two or three generations after the advent of the so-called Villanovan revolution,
funerary offerings, previously quite sober, are enriched with additional elements, signs
Figure 5.6 Grave group from Tarquinia (after M. Torelli, A. M. Sgubini Moretti, Etruschi. Le antiche
metropoli del Lazio, Rome, 2008, photo Soprintendenza archeologica per la Toscana).
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indicating an individual’s prestige, showing frequent exchange of objects between different
Etruscan communities and other communities of different cultures, especially those of
Nuragic Sardinia (see Chapters 10 to 12). Alongside cremation burial, inhumation in
earthen trenches appears and, in Populonia exceptionally, in chamber tombs with pseudovaults (Fig. 5.7). The deceased lies on his back fully clothed: more ornaments were placed
with women, while men had weapons, and both sexes were accompanied by vases. The
complement of ceramic vessels appears usual in all depositions whether cremation or
inhumation. Weapons are now more often attested, but always in depositions that stand
out with other elements (hut urns, scepters, etc.); more common among male burials are
grave goods with helmet and razor, less common are those with helmet (mostly bronze),
razor, sword and spear (Fig. 5.8). It is evidence, then, of a gradual transformation in
funeral ritual, for which the previously sparse set of goods usually becomes more complex;
Figure 5.7
Chamber tomb at Populonia: tomb of rasoio lunato (after A. Minto, Populonia,
Florence, 1943).
Figure 5.8
Grave group from Tarquinia (after F. Falchetti, Etruschi, Florence, 2000: photo
Soprintendenza archeologica per la Toscana).
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small groups of male and female burials that stand out either for the use of monumental
tombs (chamber, trench, or pit-tombs with special covers) or for the presence of objects
of particular prestige, such as weapons, pottery, ornaments in bronze and in precious
materials.
These significant changes in funerary ideology, which indicate a process of social
transformation taking place and exchange processes of a systematic and structural
character, are mirrored by changes in regional planning. By examining the necropoleis we
deduce a sharp increase in population in certain villages, despite the high infant mortality
seen in paleoanthropological studies, and from an analysis of the grave offerings, emerges
an impression of the uniformity of material culture and of the groups gravitating around
the plateau.
From the end of the ninth century bc, there was in Italy a lively system of exchanges
between communities both of the same culture and those far away. Relations with other
Villanovan communities in the Po Valley and Salerno region are highlighted mainly by
the distribution of bronze artifacts. Products of Bologna are popular in Etruria, both in
coastal areas, especially Populonia and Vetulonia, and in the interior (Veii) by the end of
the ninth century bc and then more often through the eighth century bc. It is generally
razors and fibulae, bronze objects widely represented in Villanovan funerary offerings that
are found in all areas. The presence of vessels and weapons among grave goods, usually
defensive types (shields and later also helmets), indicates, from the end of the ninth
century bc, a toreutic production whose models, styles and techniques seem to be closely
linked to a larger, transalpine sphere, and especially to central and northern Europe.
The coastal communities of Etruria during this phase appear to take a major role in
the Tyrrhenian Sea, engaging in trade with the Nuragic populations on one hand (Fig.
5.9) and the “Enotrian” communities of southern Italy on the other, via the Villanovan
outposts in the Salerno region (see Chapter 16). If the mining centers of Etruria are more
interested in relations with the islands of the Tyrrhenian (see Chapter 13), then those of
southern coastal Etruria (Tarquinia and perhaps Vulci) seem to control the traffic along
the Tyrrhenian coast.
As one gradually moves away from the first decades of the eighth century bc, the
process of economic differentiation within society becomes more evident in the tombs
that contain increasingly valuable material, and show us visible signs of a social gap. This
delineates an elite in which a woman could be as privileged as a man and receive the same
profusion of goods.
Generally, the birth of the middle-Tyrrhenian aristocracy is fixed within the eighth
century bc. The funeral offerings of this period exhibit a progressive increase in quality
and quantity; some burials stand out from the rest, throwing into relief movement
within the body politic. In the first half of the century, we notice a contrast between
some individuals recognized as persons of rank and the main group, which remains
homogeneous.
In each community some male and female assemblages emerge (usually of warriors).
The men are characterized as warriors/chariot-owners, and essential armaments are the
circular shield of sheet-bronze decorated in repoussé and with an attached handle, crested
helmet with horizontal tubes at the base, iron sword with bronze sheath, iron and bronze
spears, and more rarely, axes. The materials relevant to these depositions show frequent
contact between eminent persons: we find Enotrian material in Etruria (Fig. 5.10), and
Villanovan material in Latium, from Campania to Calabria. Contact with the people
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Figure 5.9 Etruscan material imported into Sardinia and Sardinian goods found in Etruria
(after La Sardegna nel Mediterraneo tra il secondo e il primo millennio a.C., Cagliari, 1987).
of the eastern Mediterranean, which began early in the eighth century bc, continues to
be widely attested in the middle decades of the century. In addition to the prestigious
objects found in tombs of both sexes, male depositions are highlighted by weapons in
various combinations, female burials are distinguished by ornaments belonging to rich
headdresses and by impasto spindle whorls and rocchetti (“spools” or weaving weights)
that were sometimes accompanied by spindles and distaffs in bronze.
The assemblages show significant enrichment with the presence of goods manufactured
in the Near East and Greece: seals, scarabs, and pendants seem to be the materials of choice
of the nascent local aristocracy, but there are also vases, as evidenced by the discovery in
Tarquinia of a Phoenician-Cypriot jug type widespread in all the Phoenician settlements
from Cyprus to Malaga, datable to the middle years of the eighth century bc, according
to the stratigraphic sequence developed for Tyre (see Chapter 17).
In the necropoleis, tombs are arranged in small, no doubt family, groups: examination
of the horizontal stratigraphy of burial at Veii, for example, shows a breakdown of the
graves into more or less consistent groups, probably belonging to extended family groups,
recognizable not only in their arrangement on the ground, but also for the combination
of particular characteristics of the ritual and the grave goods.
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Figure 5.10 Enotrian juglet from Vulci (after M. Torelli, A. M. Sgubini Moretti, Etruschi. Le antiche
metropoli del Lazio, Rome, 2008, photo Soprintendenza archeologica per l’Etruria meridionale).
In the funeral ritual children are separated from the adult world because, as in life,
they could not be considered active members of the community, with the exception
of some depositions, almost always with rich offerings, where family ties have taken
precedence over the rules. At Veii, in the Quattro Fontanili necropolis, some depositions
identified as children’s were accompanied by weapons and other items indicating that
they undoubtedly belonged to a privileged line of descent in which lineage was more
important than age, supporting the hypothesis that in death people often become what
they were not in life.
Regarding the territorial layout, some rich tombs found in the countryside, outside the
usual necropoleis, declare the desire to exhibit the acquisition of farmland by members
of the aristocracy, and foreshadow the rise of many settlements scattered throughout the
territory. This phenomenon that began in the eighth century bc asserts itself at the end
of the century and especially during the early decades of the seventh century bc, probably
following some sort of occupation of the land by large urban centers. Certainly it cannot
be called a spontaneous phenomenon, but is rather an organized peopling of the landscape.
The analysis of funerary ideology and of the typology of ceramic and metallic artifacts can
indicate the different areas that correspond to the territories of the major cities.
The establishment of a hierarchy of stable and complex settlements from the mid/
late eighth century bc represents a clear change in the history of the landscape. With
the establishment of new settlements, we are seeing a turnaround in the terms of use
of the territory compared to the situation that had arisen with the emergence of large
proto-urban arrangements. The settlements reoccupy the territories that appear to have
been abandoned in the early Iron Age, but it is now clear that a hierarchical relationship
remained between the major and minor settlements. The impetus towards more
systematic organization of the rural areas must be attributed to politically centralized
institutions, which had to be the major Villanovan centers. This phenomenon has been
linked to the emergence of a genuine agricultural nobility.
The ruling class shows that it consolidated its wealth, not only based on land
ownership, but also on trade, understood in the broadest sense, including oppressive
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aspects such as the “economy of plunder” exercised through piracy or the exacting of
tolls. The management of trade is the prerogative of some male figures, identifiable as
warriors by the rich panoplies of their tombs, which were generally placed at the center
of the burials of other members of the family clan.
If the goods and craftsmen show frequent movement, we must also imagine a dynamic
of social mobility among the aristocracy, not only due to matrimony, but also to the
pursuit of additional power and prestige. The use of gifts among prominent individuals,
especially those of obvious prestige such as weapons or decorated vases, had to represent
one of several forms of transfer of assets. The various modes of circulation, such as trade,
marriage gifts, acquisition of spoils of war, gift exchange, relationships and related
obligations of hospitality, the awarding of prizes for competitions, undoubtedly coexisted
in the same environments.
The hundred years between the mid-eighth and mid-seventh centuries bc may therefore
rightly be considered crucial for the relentless innovations that led to the passage from the
great proto-urban centers to Greek-type poleis (cities), and from oral to written language,
that is, from prehistory to history. A significant boost in the acceleration of the formation
of urban communities in Tyrrhenian Italy has been attributed to contact with the Greek/
Euboean communities located in the Bay of Naples from circa 770 bc. Indigenous
communities established stable relations with the first Greek immigrants, who came first
as prospectors on reconnaissance: the material evidence of exchanges between indigenous
settlements and Greeks can be seen in the presence in funerary offerings at Tarquinia,
Cerveteri and Veii of two-handled cups mainly of Euboean manufacture, painted on the
zone between the handles with pendant semicircles (on the earliest examples) (Fig. 5.11),
or with chevrons, or, on the later versions, with a metope enclosing a bird. These vases
must be understood as a sign of relationships of hospitality, a custom acquired from
abroad, and probably stimulated by occasional Greek presence.
Initially techniques and figural models were assimilated, and soon thereafter, more
broadly cultural models were too (for example, with the introduction of writing, of a new
method of banqueting, of a heroic funerary ideology, that is, a new mode of aristocratic
living), such that the face of Etruscan society was profoundly changed. The principal
cause for the escalation of these contacts must be attributed to the Greeks’ interest in
exploiting the Etruscans’ metal resources. The communities with which the Greeks came
into contact, then, seem to be well organized, used to contacting populations of similar
or quite different cultures, fully interested in trade and ready to receive any sort of foreign
stimulus. We witness, for example, the rapid adoption of new ceramic techniques and
thus of foreign craftsmen.
For some scholars, the introduction of viticulture to Etruria and Latium is due to the
Greeks: paleobotanical data, however, seem to place the diffusion of vines in Italy in a
much earlier period. During the Villanovan period, whether in Etruria or Latium, we may
detect a massive production of vessels connected with wine: kraters, jars (olle), and stands
for both, two-handled cups (kantharoi), imitating more or less faithfully Greek models.
Undoubtedly introduced by the Greeks was the ceremonial consumption of wine, which
became a distinguishing element of aristocratic groups. Closely linked to contact with
the Greek world is a new production of vases, first in purified clay, and then in thinwalled impasto turned on a fast potter’s wheel and fired at high temperatures in kilns.
Moreover, among the grave goods classifiable in the eighth century bc, the increase in
iron objects such as weapons, tools or ornaments, must be attributed to a development
91
—
1
Figure 5 . 1 1
G i I d a B a r t o I oni —
3
2
4
Diffusion of Greek geometric cups in Italy (Magna Graecia. Archeologia di un sapere, Milan,
2005, pp. 345-359)-
or at least an increase, in the technology of working this metal, a technology intensively
developed in the Aegean world; its transmission was presumably facilitated by contacts
with Near Eastern populations. It is now the consensus, in fact, that the sophisticated
techniques of working in many craft genres presuppose an apprenticeship spent with
Greek or Near Eastern artisans, the keepers of a more advanced learning, whether
sedentary or itinerant through various locations.
The Etruscan aristocrats tend, each one, to present him self as a rex (“king”) within
his own sphere, whether that is his family or the extended family, his gens (clan), curia
(“tribe”) or populus (“people”, the entire community). (Note that we must use the Latin
terms in the absence of Etruscan literature). At Veii, from the middle years of the eighth
century through the entire seventh and into the first half of the sixth century b c , we may
recognize the figures of the rulers (capi) who present notable parallels to the seven kings
of Rome, to whom the oldest histories of Rome refer.
92
c h a p t e r
-
5 :
T h e Vi 11 an ov an c u l t u r e
To one figure of a warrior were attributed all the powers of command, as he was buried
with a special cremation ritual and with his ashes collected in a precious ossuary of bronze
covered with a helmet and protected by a shield with anthropomorphic significance
(Quattro Fontanili, tomb A A 1). His death must be dated to the decades after the middle
of the eighth century BC (Fig. 5 .12), recalling the death of a king well known for his
merit in religious institutions, just as tradition refers to the second king of Rome, Numa
Pompilius.
In tomb 10 36 of the Veii necropolis of Casal del Fosso, excavated in 19 15 but restored
only in 2 0 0 1, the deceased was covered by two bilobate shields; the rest of his armour
consists of a crested helmet, a cuirass composed of two discs of sheet-bronze, two swords,
a spear and a chariot symbolized by a pair of bronze horse-bits. The burial was completed
by a scepter, a mace, and two bronze vases imported from the Danube region. (Fig. 5.13).
Armour composed of a cuirass, double shields, sword and spear appears commonly in
Latial tombs of the tenth century BC, in a time when formal burials are the prerogative
of the heads of villages with a more or less family character. The use of this type of
A
A-
-B
B
2
2
COPEBCHIO
22
1m .
50
0
iSOcms.
Figure 5.12
Tomb AAI of the Veian necropolis of Quattro Fontanili
(after Notizie degli Scavi 1970. pp. 292-308).
93
– Gilda Bartoloni –
armament in a decidedly more recent context appears, then, undoubtedly symbolic and
ritual in character. We must associate the personage buried in the Veii tomb with the
priestly college of the Salii, founded by Numa, but attested in much later eras both in
Latium and Etruria. Strictly associated with the cult of the Salii is also the mace used in
rituals to strike the ancilia, the bilobate shields. There is a telling reference in this burial
to the tomb of Morrius, king of the Veientines, whom Servius in the epitome to Virgil’s
Aeneid likens to Numa Pompilius in his explanation of the founding of the cult of the Salii.
At least twenty years later the same necropolis, tomb 871, also shows exceptional
characteristics, with a very tall crested helmet (Fig. 5.14), a trapezoidal fan, a complete
Figure 5.13
Tomb 1036 of the Veian necropolis of Casal del Fosso (after Etruschi, l’ideale eroico e il vino
lucente, Milano 2012).
Figure 5.14 Tomb 871 of the Veian necropolis of Casal del Fosso: crested helmet
(after L. Drago Troccoli, in Dinamiche di sviluppo della città nell’Etruria Meridionale, Veio,
Caere e Vulci, Rome-Pisa 2005).
94
– c h a p t e r 5 : T h e Vi l l a n o v a n c u l t u r e –
set of armour, a scepter and a footstool, no doubt symbolic of the throne, and a bronze
rhyton perhaps of Assyrian origin). The visual reference is obviously to a monarch of
Near Eastern type. Excavations in the settlements provide evidence of structures that
begin to stand out from average huts: from the end of the eighth century bc, when the
aristocratic class is already well defined, with emerging headmen/chiefs, some structures
with rectangular plans, divided into two or three rooms, stand out from the common
huts of oval outline, which are still the main type of habitation (Fig. 5.15). These great
huts of wood, planned with multiple rooms and given porches and courtyards, may
be considered royal residences. In the “houses of the king,” true political centers and
community institutions (Fig. 5.16) begin to develop community functions, with rituals
especially linked to banquets.
Figure 5.15
Hut at Populonia (Excavations G. Bartoloni, processing V. Acconcia, A. Di Napoli).
95
— G i I d a B a r t o I on i —
ECCO LA CASA
DEI PRIMI
RE DI ROMA
(DOMUS REGIA)
Disegno di Rkxardo Merlo
decorazione a profili di uccelli
copertura in fibre vcgetali
(canne di palude o steli di cereaii)
corrcnli
travetti di supporto del coperto
(puntoni)
apertura per il fumo
Stu
soflittatura in canne
travetti di fissaggio
della copertura
architrave
ligneo
Stu
dl distribuzione
del peso
della copertura
armatura verticale
della muratura
intonaco di argilla
colunna
Stu
buca di fQndazione
della cnRnTnj
ricmpimento
di scaglie di cappellacdo
Figure 5.16
pavimento itv scaglie
di cappellacdo prcssate
tavola di fissaggio
del sedile
| ' . 'muratura in ‘ pis*'
con corsi delle 'gettate'
Reconstruction of the banquet hall in the regia identified on the northern slope of the
Palatine (excavations of A. Carandini, drawing R. Merlo).
B IB L IO G R A P H Y
O n the end o f the B ronze Age:
Bietti Sestieri, A. M. (1996) Protostoria. Teoria epratica, Rome: Carocci editore.
Negroni Catacchio, N. (ed.) (1998) Preistoria e protostoria in Etruria. Terzo incontro di Studi.
Protovillanoviani el0 Protoetruschi. Ricerche e scavi, Milan: Centro studi di preistoria e archeologia.
Peroni, R. (1996) L’ltalia alle soglie della storia, Bari: Laterza.
Zanini, A. (ed.) (1997) Dal Bronzo al Ferro.II II millennio a.C. nella Toscana Centro-Occidentale,
Livorno, pp. 27—31.
------ (1998) “The final Bronze Age in Tuscany” in Atti del XIII Congresso. Unione Internazionale delle
Scienzepreistoriche eprotostoriche, Forli A.B .A .C.O , pp. 395—398.
O n V illanovan culture in general:
Bartoloni, G. (2002) La cultura villanoviana. A ll’inizio della storia etrusca, Roma NIS 1989 (2nd
edition Rome: Carocci editore).
Fugazzola Delpino, M. A. (1984) La cultura villanoviana. Guida ai materiali della prima eta del ferro
nel Museo di Villa Giulia, Rome: Edizioni dell’Ateneo.
On the process o f urban form ation:
Bartoloni, G. (2008) La nascita delle metropoli dell’Etruria meridionale in Etruschi. Le antiche metropoli
del Lazio, Milan: Electa, 20, pp. 38-45.
D ’Agostino, B. (2001) “La citta” in Dinamiche dello sviluppo delle citta nell’Etruria meridionale: Veio,
Caere, Tarquinia, Vulci, Atti del XXIII Convegno di Studi Etruschi e Italici (ottobre 2001), PisaRome Istituti editoriali e poligrafici internazionali 2005, pp. 21—25.
96
– c h a p t e r 5 : T h e Vi l l a n o v a n c u l t u r e –
On relations with Sardinia (see also Chapter 12):
Lo Schiavo, F., Falchi, P. and Milletti, M. (eds) (2008) Gli Etruschi e la Sardegna tra la fine dell’età
dell’età del bronzo e gli inizi dell’età del ferro, catalogo della mostra, Florence: Contemporanea
Progetti.
Paoletti, O. and Tamagno Perna L. (eds) (2002) Etruria e Sardegna centro-settentrionale tra l’età
del bronzo finale e l’arcaismo. Atti del XXI Convegno di studi etruschi ed italici, Sassari – Alghero
– Oristano – Torralba, 13–17 October 1998, Pisa-Rome: Istituti editoriali e poligrafici
internazionali.
On relations with native centers of southern Italy:
Delpino, F. (1986) “Rapporti e scambi nell’Etruria meridionale villanoviana con particolare
riferimento al Mezzogiorno” in Archeologia nella Tuscia, vol. II, “Quaderni di Archeologia
etrusco-italica”, 13, Rome: Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche, pp. 167–76.
On relations with central Europe:
Iaia, C. (2005) Produzioni toreutiche della prima età del ferro in Italia centro-settentrionale. Stili decorativi,
circolazione, significato, Pisa-Rome: Istituto Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali.
On the beginnings of the aristocracies in Tyrrhenian Italy:
Bartoloni, G. (2003) Le società dell’Italia primitiva. Lo studio delle necropoli e la nascita delle aristocrazie,
Rome: Carocci editore.
On the first relations with the Greek world:
Bartoloni, G. (2005) “Inizi della colonizzazione nel centro Italia” in Magna Graecia. Archeologia di
un sapere, Milan: Electa, pp. 345–359.
On relations with the Near East:
Martelli, M. (1991) “I Fenici e la questione orientalizzante in Italia” in Atti del secondo congresso
internazionale di studi fenici e punici, Rome: Consiglio Nazionale delle ricerche, pp. 1049–1070.
Sciacca, F. (2005) Patere baccellate in bronzo.Oriente, Grecia, Italia in età orientalizzante, Rome:
“L’ERMA” di Bretscneider.
von Hase, F. W. (1995) “Ägäische, griechische und vorderorientalische Einflüsse auf das
tyrrhenische Mittelitalien” in Beiträge zur Urnenfelderzeit nördlich und südlich der Alpen, Bonn: R.
Habelt, pp. 239–286.
On women in Etruria (see also Chapter 20):
Sordi, M. (1981) “La donna etrusca” in AA.VV., Misoginia e maschilismo in Grecia e in Roma, Genova
Istituto di filologia classica e medievale, Genoa: University of Genoa, pp. 49–67.
D’Agostino, B. (1993) “La donna in Etruria” in M. Bettini (a cura di). Maschile femminile. Genere e
ruoli nelle culture antiche, Roma-Bari: Laterza, pp. 61–73.
von Eles, P. (ed.) (2005) Le ore e i giorni delle donne Verucchio: Pazzini editore.
Pitzalis, F. (2011) Volontà meno apparente, Donne e società nell’Italia centrale tirrenica tra VIII e VII secolo
a.C., Rome: “L’ERMA” di Bretschneider.
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– Gilda Bartoloni –
On Etruscan textiles (see also Chapter 42):
Gleba, M. (2008) Textile Production in Pre-Roman Italy. Ancient Textile Series, Oxford/Oakville,
CT: Oxbow Books/David Brown, vol. 4 pp. 1–270;
Gleba, M., Herring, E. and Lomas, K. (eds) (2009) Textile tools and specialisation in the Early Iron
Age female burials. BAR International. Gender Identities in Italy in the First Millennium BC., Oxford:
Archaeopress, pp. 69–78.
Gleba, M. and Mannering, U. (2012) Textiles & Textile Production in Europe From Prehistory to AD
400, Oxford/Oakville, CT: Oxbow Books/David Brown.
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