Abstract

The field of Archaeoacoustics has grown exponentially over the past decade providing clarity regarding sound propagation across multiple cross-cultural settings in the ancient world. However, many subfields of archaeology continue to overlook acoustic constructs in the archaeological record. Nowhere is this clearer than with ancient Etruria, a Pre-Roman Italic culture from Central Italy notable for their reverence of sounds generated from natural phenomena. This paper presents acoustic data collected for the first time inside a series of 5th–3rd century chambered tombs in Etruria. The relationship of architectural constructs and specific acoustic characteristics are noted across chronologies and regions. The study demonstrates the value of acoustical fieldwork when considering the visual and spatial properties of Etruria and provides the groundwork and recommendations for future exploration of sound propagation in Pre-Roman Italy.

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The study of pre-Roman landscape settings has progressed across a long trajectory in its consideration of urban and rural adaptations in Etruria. Such studies, while providing valuable details regarding social organization, have not considered the unique aural nature of the landscape, particularly with respect to funerary settings. Nowhere is this more evident than with painted chambered tombs. Our understanding of Etruscan painted tombs is still largely guided by analytic studies of tomb paintings, epigraphic sources, and typologies. Thus, the bilateral relationship between each tomb’s landscape setting and habitation contexts has been explored from a solely visual perspective, rather than from a multisensory perspective, and consequently, ritual performed in and around the tomb space remains unclear. A further understanding of perceptual constructs involving aural information offers a new way forward in confronting these realities. This article utilizes acoustic modeling tools to illustrate the potential range of audibility between the Necropoli dei Monterozzi in Tarquinia and various locations in the landscape. Acoustic and spatial data collected in 2019 inside a series of painted tombs in the Calvario area of the Necropoli dei Monterozzi in Tarquinia provides further information regarding the painted tomb’s landscape setting and its environs. The preliminary study suggests that aural information can greatly enhance our understanding of funerary practices in Tarquinia, particularly with respect to how habitation areas in Tarquinia may have engaged with funerary landscapes.

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