Underwater Excavations at the Etruscan Port of Populonia

Abstract

The 1987/1988 field season at the U-shaped civic ceremonial center of Cardal in the Lurin Valley, Peru, included mapping and excavation of public and domestic architecture. Occupied from 1150 to 800 b.c., Cardal provides evidence of a more elaborate ground plan than was previously recognized, including dual causewayed plazas, and 10 semisubterranean circular courts. Excavations of the public architecture revealed the periodic burial and construction of ritual buildings, including a steep central stairway and an atrium whose exterior wall was decorated with a polychrome mural of a gigantic mouth band with massive fangs and interlocking teeth. The investigations on the pyramid summit also yielded evidence of a free-standing building with a dual altar, and a burial area. Information on domestic architecture and subsistence recovered from behind the public complex is also discussed. Finally, Cardal is compared to Garagay, a coeval U-shaped center in the neighboring Rimac Valley, and it is argued that the evidence available does not support the hypothesis that these monumental centers were constructed by “complex societies” in the traditional sense of the term.     

Compositional characterization of Etruscan earthen architecture and ceramic production

This study presents the results of new research into Etruscan technology for earthen architecture as well as ceramic production in the upper Tiber Valley in central Italy, using as a case study the Etruscan settlement of Col di Marzo (Perugia). It determines the compositional differences of the raw material employed as building material and for ceramic production by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTG), Fourier-transform infrared analysis (FTIR) and geotechnical analyses. The research also advances the knowledge of ceramic manufacturing technology, with a focus on impasto production, at Col di Marzo between the fifth and mid-third centuries bce and the surrounding territory on the left bank of the River Tiber. The compositional analysis of building material compared with the ceramics provides answers to questions related to their sourcing and deepens the understanding of the exploitation of natural resources .     

The Volterran Urns: Etruscan Painting and Travertine Supply

The artistic evolution of the Volterran cinerary urns is a good representation of Etruscan painting from the fourth to the first century bc . The interest generated by this type of object directed our research towards the study of the Volterran artefacts, including the analysis of the pigments as well as that of the rocks used for the coffers. The entire colour range shown by the painted urns has been sampled and investigated through Raman microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Rock samples were taken both from the urns and from outcrops in ancient carbonate rock quarries near Volterra, from where they may potentially have been sourced. A set of 30 samples was collected and submitted to stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses. The results obtained showed that the pigments used for the decoration of the Volterran urns were basically constituted by red ochre, Egyptian blue, carbon black and gypsum. The identification of lead‐based pigments and barium sulphates further informed us about old restorations undergone by several urns. As far as the provenance issue is concerned, the isotopic data indicate that the rocks used for the four urns were favourably comparable to those outcropping at Pignano, while two other urns were more similar to those sampled along the Elsa River at Colle Val d'Elsa.     

The Mediterranean Group II: analyses of vessels from Etruscan contexts in northern Italy

A large number of Mediterranean Group vessels were recovered at the Etruscan site of Spina in northern Italy and dated from the 6th to the 3rd century BC. In this work a number of vessels belonging to the so-called “Group II” were analysed. The samples are mainly Alabastra, Oinochoai, Amphoriskoi, and Hydriai, in general opaque and deeply coloured. The aims of this study are: 1) to characterize these samples since there is a lack of data in literature regarding Mediterranean Group II; and 2) to compare the data obtained with that of glass for previous centuries (Mediterranean Group I) recovered at the same site in order to establish whether they could have the same origin. The chemical analyses of major and minor elements were carried out by electron microprobe and the nature of the opacifying and colouring agents was determined by X-ray diffraction. The sample set is relatively homogeneous and most of the samples can be classified as Low Magnesium Glass produced with natron and a calcareous silicatic sand. The XRD analyses proved the use of lead antimonates in the manufacture of yellow decorations and of calcium antimonates in the white and light blue decorations. The consistency of the chemical compositions of Mediterranean Groups I and II samples makes it possible to hypothesize a common origin.     

An Etruscan ointment from Chiusi (Tuscany,Italy): its chemical characterization

This paper focuses on the chemical characterization of the original contents of an Egyptian origin alabaster unguentarium, found in an Etruscan burial in Chiusi (Tuscany, Italy) and dated 150/125–100 B.C. The unguentarium, found in an intact tomb belonging to a noble woman of Chiusine society, preserved a good part of its original contents owing to a protective layer of clay. The chemical characterization was carried out using a combination of two analytical procedures based, respectively, on Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS).