- Giuseppe Sassatelli and Elisabetta Govi –
rare refi nement (see Chapter 42), and the extraordinary variety and richness of fi bulae,
necklaces and earrings in which there is a massive and sophisticated use of amber, the
ossuaries and utilitarian pottery, richly stamp-decorated. These are just some of the
outstanding features of this Etruscan town, but above all the wooden artifacts stand out,
preserved in large quantities and now, after some recent discoveries in Bologna, as yet
unpublished, they are less isolated as a feature of Etruria Padana. From a princely tomb
comes an extraordinary wooden throne, similar to specimens in bronze from Tyrrhenian
Etruria (Fig. 15.13); its back is decorated with carvings of very complex fi gurative
scenes that refer to the ceremonial and aristocratic ideology of hegemonic groups. The
extraordinary documentation of Verucchio’s funerary rituals refl ects the development and
economic and commercial potential of the community and reveals a plurality of contacts
with neighboring cultural areas that make this Etruscan border town unique.
Figure 15.12 Objects made of amber from the tombs of Verucchio (Soprintendenza per i Beni
Archeologici dell’Emilia Romagna).Figure 15.13 Wooden throne from Verucchio (Soprintendenza per i Beni
Archeologici dell’Emilia Romagna).