c h a p t e r 17 : Etruria Mar it timaoutside of Etruria is an Etrusco-Corinthian painted example from Ullastret in Catalonia.
The other is a sturdy oinochoe, with lion masks decorating the handle attachments that
surround the spout. This vase and its decoration are well known amongst the products of
Caere of the second quarter of the sixth century.14 Additionally, we note that the proto-
historic habitation closest to Marseille, the oppidum of Saint-Marcel, today in the area of
the modern city, has yielded a local version of this bucchero oinochoe in a local grey-black
fabric; the adaptation of the lion masks presents a common characteristic of the earliest
Celtic art.15
The recent works at Marseille contribute equally to the realm of epigraphy. The first
Etruscan signs and letters from Marseille were revealed in the port quarter where the
important Etruscan ceramic deposit was discovered. These graffiti appear on monochrome
ceramics, bucchero, and impasto of the first half of the sixth century, mostly from Caere,
to judge from the mineral content.16 These are isolated letters and signs, carved on the
external base or upon the everted rims of the ollette. The marks carved before firing on the
common food-preparation vessels (<ollae, lid-bowls), may be associated with the fabrication
and export of the ceramics, whereas the graffiti incised after firing may have commercial
reasons, as for certain amphorae but may in other cases pertain to an ostentatious display
of ownership (Fig. 17.4). Other examples of Etruscan vases marked with letters or
symbols were found in the excavations of the eastern sector of the old port, at the sites of
Jules Verne and Bargemon.17
Figure 17.3 Marseille, site of llot la Madeleine, braciere ceretano: red-slipped basin decorated with
cylinder-stamped design (drawing G.-A.).Figure 17.4 Marseille, site of College Vieux Port, Etruscan inscription incised in large letters on the
shoulder of a Greek wine amphora made in Marseille (Gran-Aymerich 2006c).0 17