- chapter 14: The Faliscans and the Etruscans –
seem to constitute a unitary reality (Torelli 1982, Colonna 1990, De Lucia Brolli and
Baglione 1997). The oldest necropoleis – I Tufi and La Petrina – are developed in the
valley directly linked to the system Narce - Monte Li Santi, which, united by a natural
saddle, in the Archaic period are also connected by a monumental structure: a viaduct in
squared blocks of tufa, now partly obliterated by the passage of the provincial road from
Mazzano to Calcata (Fig. 14.6).
In this phase in the territory the rites of cremation and inhumation burial coexist in
general. The most common tombs are equally distributed pozzo and fossa types (well-pits
and trenches) which are sometimes accompanied, by mid-century, by a niche for the
deposition of grave goods, while it is only at the end of the eighth century bc that the type
of trench with a special burial niche (loculus) of “Narce type” spread (di Gennaro 1988,
Belelli Marchesini 2010). The subsequent development of the latter probably led, in the
fi rst quarter of the next century to a pseudo-chamber with access from a caditoia (shaft
entrance). In the course of the seventh century bc, both sites appear to have completed
the process of urban formation. The cemeteries now have a radial pattern around all the
nuclei of the settlement. The monumental character of the burials, the presence of a
monumental tumulus at Narce (in the necropolis of Petrina C, Tomb 2 [XLVII]) like the
oldest chamber tombs in Falerii – characterized by long access dromoi that, in some cases,
are oriented toward the emerging urban center (De Lucia Brolli 2012). In conjunction
with the wealth of the funerary offerings, they now attest to the conclusion of the process
of social differentiation and the emergence of a fully structured aristocratic class. At
Falerii the presence of specialized artisans is also evident: the production of impasto vases,
in fact, appears organized according to criteria of almost “industrial” character, with
wide distribution both domestic and external (Biella 2007, 2010, 2011; 2011th). At
Figure 14.6 Map of Narce drawn by Adolfo Cozza in 1889.