chapter 7 : Urbanization in Southern Etruria
Figure 7.3 Veii, topography and archaeological features (with survey data from Patterson 2004).houses or the plots on which they were built. A homologous phenomenon of the seventh
century could be the multi-generational use of some burial mounds and chamber tombs
(below), in contrast to the individual nature of EIA burials, and the signs of increasingly
familial or dynastic claims to power, supported by personal wealth, invested in both
urban and rural property (below).
An indication that growing social complexity in the eighth century was a precursor
of urbanization comes from elite burials, albeit still in the EIA tradition, containing
items of adornment, weaponry, horsemanship, wheeled vehicles and imported pottery,
often connoting banqueting and drinking. They occur at several sites, including Veii and
Tarquinia, as represented by the “warrior tomb” at Tarquinia, an inhumation associated
with a hitherto unrivalled level of burial wealth.27
This heralds one of the most striking developments of the seventh century: the
erection of large mounds, up to 60 m in diameter, over built or rock-cut burial chambers
containing quantities of valuable grave goods, the products of both local and foreign
craftsmanship, suggesting a more complex iconography of power than hitherto known.28
Tumuli are an archetypal medium for expressing status, ideally suited to a burgeoning
elite attempting to legitimate and consolidate authority by commemorating ancestral
links, while showing their ability to command labor in the process. The skyward
projection of the mound, surmountable by ramps or stairs and topped by an altar or shrine
in some cases, probably referenced celestial powers. Such monuments also occur in parts
of the eastern Mediterranean at this time and presumably were familiar to some foreign
visitors as well.29 At Tarquinia, the earliest are on the edges of burial areas, surrounding
Iron Age burial areas
Iron Age surface finds
Iron Age buildings
Etruscan city wall
500 m