House Urns and Etruscan Tomb Painting: Tradition Versus Innovation in the Ninth–seventh Centuries Bc

Abstract

Summary. The first painted tombs in Etruria date to about 675–650 BC, as attested by a few examples at Veii and Caere, which pre‐date those of Tarquinia (mainly sixth–third centuries BC). At first glance, tomb painting has no obvious connection with the Early Iron Age or Villanovan period (tenth/ninth–eighth centuries BC), when burial in shaft or trench graves predominated. Nevertheless, some links can be suggested with Villanovan house urns, which reinforce the point that indigenous traditions merit greater consideration than is usual in discussions of Etruscan artistic and cultural development.

The Mute Statues Speak: The Archaic Period Acroteria from Poggio Civitate (Murlo)

“…In another way, they are similar to the figures from contemporary Tarquinian tomb-painting or on Archaic period Chiusine reliefs, in which images of ancestors abound, partaking in various activities. The architecture of the tombs and the design of the ash urns in which the reliefs are frequently present are themselves modelled on house designs (Leighton, 2005). The ancestral statues at Poggio Civitate can consequently be seen to represent a variant of this tradition in the Archaic Etruscan world.…”