The Etruscan World (Routledge Worlds)

• Stephan Steingräber –

these works can be considered as a general “handbook” including all areas and sites of
Etruria and all-important aspects of Etruscan necropoleis, tombs and tomb architecture.

NECROPOLEIS

We can distinguish between single tombs (sometimes in isolated and dominating
positions), small groups of tombs and real necropoleis. Some of the Etruscan necropoleis
are among the most extensive of the ancient world. In the Villanovan period the
necropoleis were still isolated from each other but during the Orientalizing and Archaic
periods they were extended until they entirely surrounded the inhabited area of a city
and even outstripped it in area. The large necropoleis in particular – real “cities of the
dead” – around the main Etruscan metropoleis offer good possibilities for the study of
their ground plans, organization, extension, development and changes. The different
geological and geographical conditions in Southern and Northern Etruria often resulted
in different forms of cemeteries and tombs. In Cerveteri the Necropoli della Banditaccia

• the most impressive and best preserved necropolis of Etruria – and in Orvieto the
  Necropoli del Crocefi sso del Tufo are outstanding examples and extremely instructive
  refl ecting in part the layout of the cities. During the sixth century bc, with the rise of a
  new middle class, hundreds of tumuletti and later hundreds of cube-tombs were planned
  and erected according to the direction of the necropolis streets and accessible directly from
  them. After the middle of the sixth century bc parts of the necropoleis are characterized
  by a kind of Hippodamean system with an orthogonal network of roads and rectangular
  squares and mostly uniform cube tombs, which is not only a sign of better use of space
  but also a clear refl ection of new tendencies in the urban system (such as in Marzabotto
  after 500 bc). At the same time they also refl ect social changes and probably new laws
  and norms intended to limit the opulence of burials.

TOMBS AND TOMB MONUMENTS

We should always clearly distinguish between tombs and tomb monuments and their
respective typology, chronology, topographic distribution, architectural elements and
decorations. In Etruscan we know two words, “suthi” and “cana” which mean “monument”
and “tomb” respectively, (cf. Greek “sema,” Latin “cippus”). Among the main tomb types
we fi nd pozzo/pozzetto = well/pit tombs (for cremation burials), fossa tombs, loculus tombs,
niche tombs, chamber tombs, cassone tombs (Vulci), sarcophagus and stone cist tombs.
Among the tomb monuments we can distinguish between stone circles (interrupted and
continuous, especially in Vetulonia and Marsiliana d’Albegna), tumuli and tumuletti, cubes,
half cubes and false cubes, houses, porticus, temples, aediculae and tholoi. According to the
different regions, sites, geological conditions, local traditions and social status there is a
great variety of types and variants. A very important change in burial custom took place
in the early seventh century bc with the transformation of larger fossa tombs into chamber
tombs destined for the burial of family groups. We can observe this change from single
to collective burial particularly well in the extended necropoleis of Cerveteri. This change
was connected with the construction of large tumuli (up to 80m in diameter) both in
Southern and in Northern Etruria (but not in Etruria padana, the Po region) replacing the
small “archaic tumuli” and with the defi nitive confi rmation of a new leading aristocratic
class. The general tendency of monumentalization is well documented in Southern Etruria