Jean G r an - Ay mer i c hcomplement, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Certain Etruscan discoveries at
Marseille are truly exceptional, completely unprecedented outside of Italy, and they open
new perspectives on the presence of the Etruscans.
The most numerous and remarkable Etruscan discoveries have emerged in the
constructions situated in the oldest part of the port conglomerate at Marseille and in
proximity to the piers. The first levels of occupation on the site I lot rue Cathedrale (or
llot 55) date to the beginning of the sixth century and have revealed quadrangular
constructions of sub-basements in stone and a notable concentration of Etruscan
ceramics.11 Other than the well-known repertoire of bucchero vases, Etrusco-Corinthian
vases, and transport amphorae, there are also common ceramics pertaining to everyday
life. Amongst the cooking ceramics are vases of impasto with a coarse, sandy coating, and
objects of common usage, such as basins/mortars, cooking-ware and small storage vessels,
ollae, and lid-bowls (ciotola-coperchio). More remarkable are the fragments of cook-stands
with tenons (fornello) of a type well known in Etruria and possibly having served for on
board cooking before reaching its final, land-based destination (Fig. 17.2).12 Of greatest
interest is the discovery, for the first time outside of the Italian peninsula, of a red-
slipped Caeretan focolare (brazier) at the Marseille site of llot la Madeleine (Fig. 17.3). It is
decorated on the flat rim with an animal register in relief in the Orientalizing tradition,
an exact parallel to the stamp-decorated basins of Caere dating to the second quarter of
the sixth century. It is a unique example of a flaw in fabrication of the roller-stamped
decoration,13 which indicates that it must have been used as a domestic utensil, rather
than for a ritual or votive purpose. Amongst the most salient Etruscan discoveries at
Marseille are two bucchero vases of a type unknown outside of Etruria. The one is a cup
of the type a maschera umana (with relief of a human face), of which the closest parallel
Figure 17.2 Marseille, site of llot rue Cathedrale, fragments of cooking stand and foot of
basin-brazier, complete profile of cookware vase (olletta d’impasto) from Saint-Blaise
(Gran-Aymerich 2006a, drawing G.-A.).ab