- chapter 17: Etruria Marittima –
for the information furnished by the earliest soundings. It is the largest complement of
Etruscan amphorae known to date, estimated at several hundred containers, and amongst
the complement are stacked groups of small, bronze dishes and inscribed vases (Fig.
17.10).^30 These discoveries and their display at expositions in Marseille and Hauterive
in Switzerland presented opportunities to re-examine the entire situation of archaic
shipwrecks in the western Mediterranean.^31
We have considerable information about the numerous habitations in the region of
Marseille, of which the most important is Saint-Blaise. The apparent decline of Saint-Blaise
in the fi fth century could have been associated with the decreased contacts with Etruria and
Marseille’s monopoly over regional exchanges, which translated into the development of
the site of the island of Martigues, before the renaissance of Saint-Blaise in the Hellenistic
period.^32 The dynamism of the local populations and the rise of Mediterranean Gaul,
from the fi nal Bronze Age to the second Iron Age, have been profoundly re-evaluated.^33
The relations amongst the local populations and the Mediterranean navigators over the
long haul were complex and multiform, as is revealed by recent studies on the presence of
Gaulish objects from southern France in Italy, Sicily, and Greece.^34
The change of mentalities in the proto-historic West occurred via the introduction
of fi gural representation. A precise example of the adaptation of iconography since the
sixth century is provided in Marseille by the bucchero oinochoe decorated with lion
masks at the handle-attachments; likewise by a parallel example in grey-black ware from
the oppidum of Saint-Marcel.^35 Lattes attests to the early introduction of stone statuary
in southern France with the statue of a kneeling archer discovered in fi ll, spolia, and
which formed part of a commemorative monument most certainly of the fi fth century.^36
At Saint-Blaise, the presence of a sanctuary is suggested by the presence of sculpted
architectural elements, and by the Etruscan inscription, in Greek characters, interpreted
as a dedication to Uni.^37 All in all, it is a concatenation of serious transfers both material
and cultural amongst local and foreign populations.^38
The Rhône and the Celtic hinterlandThe path of distribution of Etruscan (and Greek) goods by the Rhône corridor, and thus
the Saône, is studded with Etruscan fi nds in the lower Rhône Valley, in Saint-Rémy-de-
Provence, in Arles, and farther north in Vienne, in the region of Lyon and up to Burgundy
in Chassey (Chassey-le-Camp en Saône-et-Loire) and in Bragny-sur-Saône. For the
Figure 17.10 Cargo of kitchen pottery from the wreck of Grand Ribaud F (photo G.-A.).