The Sasso Pinzuto necropolis is one of the main Etruscan cemeteries of Tuscania, containing more than one hundred chamber tombs and was used mostly from the early seventh to the fifth century BCE. Like other cemeteries around Tuscania, it also yielded remains of terracotta decoration belonging to the roof of a building, dated to the early sixth century BCE. The terracotta decoration includes friezes showing banqueting people and other scenes closely connected to the Etruscan elites. At Sasso Pinzuto near the tumuli containing chamber tombs the foundation of an oikos has been recently identified: the terracotta decorations belonging to this building can shed new light on the oikoi in the necropoleis.
This article provides an introduction to the Italic peoples known as the Aequi and Aequiculi. Emphasis is placed on the archaeological evidence because in recent decades fieldwork has significantly increased the body of archaeological data available about Aequian territory. In an attempt to contribute to the archaeological framework for understanding the Aequi and Aequiculi, we focus on the question of identifying places of religious significance, which do not seem to have left an obvious mark in the archaeological record. We review evidence from a sample of sites – Sant’Erasmo (Borgorose, Rieti), Alzano (Pescorocchiano, Rieti), Sant’Angelo di Civitella (Pescorocchiano, Rieti), Carsòli (L’Aquila), and Monte San Fabrizio (Rocca di Botte, L’Aquila) – and we analyze this evidence in light of approaches that have previously been proposed for recognizing Aequian religious sites. We conclude that such sites can successfully be identified based on: 1) a topographical relationship with nearby hilltop settlements; 2) signs of ancestor worship associated with burials; 3) and/or evidence of continuity with Roman-period religious sites. The presence of polygonal masonry terracing is a less certain indicator, and we argue that this kind of evidence should not be interpreted indiscriminately as a sign that any Aequian site was religious in nature.
The most recent studies of Etruscan dice have focused on those recovered from Etruscan settlements of Tarquinia, Volsinii (Orvieto), and Clusium. The studies of these dice make special note of the fact that the corpus of dice under consideration was recovered from funerary contexts. Information regarding each of the dice includes the material (ivory and bone) out of which they were carved, the forms and common configurations of the numerical signs, and the chronology of the evidence. In this article, three dice recovered from the Etruscan settlement of Poggio Civitate are examined. The dice from Poggio Civitate are of particular importance because they were recovered from religious and domestic contexts and not tombs. Important also is the fact that the dice from Poggio Civitate differ from other examples found in Etruria in terms of the material that they were fashioned and the configuration of the numbers on the sides of the dice. Two of the dice, dating to the seventh century BCE, are among the earliest attested in Etruria. The possible functions of the dice are also examined from the perspective of the Poggio Civitate community.
Abstract The 2025 excavation season focused on previously explored areas to understand aspects of the Intermediate and Final phases of the settlement better. Exploration immediately north of the Intermediate Phase’s industrial center yielded considerable evidence of various forms of production while also revealing details concerning this area’s original, seventh-century BCE topography. Excavation on the eastern edge of the Piano del Tesoro plateau clarified a few details concerning the structure found there in 2024. Exploration to the north revealed traces of previously unknown fortifications along the monumental Archaic Phase Building’s western façade and also permitted the re-examination of an earlier building, potentially associated with the Intermediate Phase complex. In the closing days of the season, excavation revealed traces of an intentional pit apparently excavated contemporaneous with the site’s destruction that contained a large fragment of a defaced stele.
This study explores the surrounding landscape of Cerveteri, one of the most significant Etruscan cities in southern Etruria, during the peak of its urbanization between the seventh and fifth centuries BCE. This period is crucial for Etruscan state formation and urban development. The research utilizes settlement data derived from archaeological surveys to identify site trends, serving as proxies for demographic levels in the countryside and enabling a diachronic analysis of population change. GIS analysis will examine how Cerveteri developed and structured its power over the rural landscape, which was vital for sustaining the growth of the urban center These analyses will clarify the role of the elites in consolidating urban and personal power, facilitating the metropole’s influence and expansion, and personal social and economic advantages. The study also addresses frontier politics, highlighting environmental factors that shaped settlement patterns and landscape organization. The ambivalent strategies of the elites will be framed within I. Kopytoff’s concept of internal frontiers, offering insights into the rapid political and territorial transformations of the first half of the first millennium BCE. This article aims to position the Etruscan experience as a vital case study for Mediterranean urbanism, emphasising that urbanization was not an evolutionary and linear process, but it was instead influenced by localized strategies of control, resource management, and elite negotiation. Furthermore, urban centers particularly those with central-place functions, rely on their hinterlands, and therefore, urbanization must be understood as a territorial phenomenon.
This article analyzes lozenge belts to comprehend community construction across Villanovan Etruria. While lozenge belts have received some prior analyses, none have focused specifically on their funerary context nor the role they played in constructing the corpse as a means for understanding the communities that dressed those corpses. The article studies how communities formed dressed corpses and how the belts invested those corpses with specific personas. From this, we can extrapolate new insights into how these communities constructed, presented, and understood themselves. This analysis first considers how funerary dress generally constructs and invests personas in ancient communities, especially Etruscan, and then analyzes the belts in terms of how they were worn, their role in grave assemblages, and the significance of their form and decoration. The result provides a holistic, kaleidoscopic image of what the belts were and how they functioned in the funeral. Through this discussion, new facets of these communities, including a surprisingly shared construction of certain social personas, appear including clear associations between the belts and the construction of high status, weaving associations, specific elements of cult, and communication with northern Europe.
