- F. Lo Schiavo and M. Milletti –
A separate discussion is merited for some objects of prestige and strong ideological
value, such as ship models and swords, found on the peninsula in tombs belonging to
prominent individuals or offered in votive deposits. To the latter category belong the
sword of Monte Sa Idda type and the small bronze boat from the hoard of Falda della
Guardiola at Populonia (Lo Schiavo, Milletti 2011), in context deposited during the
advanced third quarter of the eighth century bc, perhaps behind a city gate in the
lower circuit of walls, variously attributed from the Archaic to Hellenistic period,
but whose route may follow that of the oldest fortifi cations, as seen for example, at
Veii (Boitani 2008). The hoard (Fig. 11.10), probably a foundation offering (Bartoloni
1991), also consists of fi ve axes and a fi bula now dispersed, but that probably fastened
a fabric wrapped around the other objects. The offering of two Sardinian bronzes, kept
for a long time before the deposition, part of this collective ritual, perhaps made by
one or more prominent fi gures of the local community, indicates the high ideological
value attributed to them in Etruria and, consequently, the strong interpenetration of
the Villanovan and Sardinian cultures, with an implicit recognition of the importance
of the latter in the formation process of the society of Populonia (Lo Schiavo, Milletti
2011). On the other hand, Nuragic ship models were found in the most important
Vetulonian Orientalizing burials, up to three in the same tomb, as in the case of the
Tomba delle Tre Navicelle (“Tomb of the Three Ship Models”). The case of the small
bronze boat from the Tomba del Duce (Vetulonia) can be considered emblematic: the
object, decorated with a rich and complex fi le of fi gurines on the sides, was selected
and placed in the burial of one of the greatest personalities of the local environment
of the seventh century bc. So even in the full Orientalizing period, very much alive in
the memory of Etruria a lively season of contacts persisted with the Nuragic culture;
reaffi rming the ties with the latter would be an important factor in determining the
status of a princeps.
Figure 11.9 Vulci, “Tomb of the Sardinian Bronzes” from the Cavalupo necropolis: Nuragic bronzes
(Bartoloni, Pitzalis 2011).