The Etruscan World (Routledge Worlds)

• chapter 19: Etruscan goods in the Mediterranean world –

examples of bucchero with such fi gures, at Enns and Jena. In the Mediterranean, Etrusco-
Corinthian vases decorated with animals (such as an alabastron of the Pittore delle Code
Annodate) appear at Carthage, and later so do Genucilia plates. Etrusco-Corinthian
ceramics with animal decoration also appear at Huelva (a plate by the Pittore senza Graffi to).
The north-western Mediterranean offers a more consistent range of fi gural ceramics. The
site of Ullastret has revealed Etrusco-Corinthian ceramics, as well as local imitations, of
such items as a face-cup (a maschera umana) and an exceptional Black Figure vase by the
Micali Painter.^78 Saint-Blaise has provided a good repertoire of Etrusco-Corinthian wares,
including a piece by the Pittore senza Graffi to. Marseille offers, in addition to Etrusco-
Corinthian wares with animal décor, several exceptional pieces: in bucchero there is a face-
cup and an oinochoe with two stamped lion-masks around the handle-base. In red-slipped
impasto is a Caeretan brazier decorated with a fi gural impression made by cylinder
seal (Fig. 17.3).^79 The small number of these Etruscan ceramics with fi gural decoration
amongst the exports corresponds especially to the contemporary styles produced and well
known in southern Etruria, Caere and Tarquinia.

Food and fi re wares

The presence of Etruscan common wares, evidence of everyday living, far from Etruria has
received very little attention for far too long. The examples from Carthage and Marseille
are important and signifi cant, as it is only in recent excavations in the deepest levels that
it has been possible to identify sherds of common wares, designated sandy, dull black and
unpainted fi ne clay. The sites with the best examples of Etruscan ceramics tied to everyday
life are Marseille, Saint-Blaise, Lattes and Empúries. In these areas, we note especially the
mortarium-type basins, and small jars of the type olletta used for food preparation and
preservation. Additionally, Marseille has revealed several exceptional fi re accessories, up
until now unique outside of Etruria. These consist of portable stoves of the type fornello
(Fig. 17.2) and the Caeretan brazier with rolled stamped decoration (Fig. 17.3).

Amphorae and other storage vessels

Etruscan amphorae, although discovered very early on,^80 were defi nitively identifi ed thanks
to local examples found in underwater rescue excavations at sites along the southern coast
of France. Cargoes of Etruscan amphorae, known from a half-dozen shipwrecks of the sixth
century, offer evidence of the trade in Etruscan wine and constitute the principal evidence
of an active commercial trade in Maritime Etruria. The discrete presence of amphorae in
the intermediary settlements of southern France is tied to the local consumption of wine,
whereas the larger quantities discovered at the principal sites (Marseille, Saint-Blaise,
Lattes) would indicate not only localized consumption but also a regional redistribution
and long-distance trade routes by land. Transportation via the Rhône is confi rmed by the
discovery of Etruscan amphorae at Lyons and Bragny-sur-Saône in Burgundy, where the
evidence is defi nitive if slight. The role of Etruscan amphorae on the littoral of Provence
and in Catalonia is, conversely, very important at the end of the seventh century and
through the mid-sixth, and continues until the beginning of the fi fth, when a decline is
noticeable. Statistical studies of the earliest levels of occupation at Marseille reveal that up
until the middle of the sixth century Etruscan amphorae outnumber those imported from
Greece, while local Greek (from Marseille) amphorae were produced from the middle of