- chapter 5: The Villanovan culture –
attested especially in the Rimini area, at Verucchio. In the central peninsula, Fermo
(Ascoli Piceno) was a completely isolated nucleus, while in the south, Villanovan
characteristics can be recognized at Capua and in the Salerno region, with the necropoleis
of Pontecagnano, Arenosola and Capodifi ume near Paestum, probably a bridgehead to
the other large southern Villanovan nucleus of Sala Consilina, located within the territory
between Salerno and Lucania in the Valley of the Diano. Not only do we see similarities
in the funerary customs but also other phenomena occur at the same time, in the typology
of settlements and necropoleis, and as noted, the beginning of the process of formation
of the Etruscan cities and even a colonial-type expansion. To give some plausibility to
a possible “colonization,” namely the presence of Etruscan people in these “Villanovan”
settlements, there are the epigraphic and historical (literary) sources. On one hand are
the comments of ancient authors such as Pliny (Natural History 3.70) that affi rm that
“the territory which stretches along three thousand paces from the Sorrento peninsula to
the River Sele belonged to the Etruscans,” but we do not know to what period to assign
this report, or that of Verrius Flaccus (Res etruscae fr.1 P) who believed that Tarchon,
eponymous hero of Tarquinia, and thus of the Tarquinian people, was responsible for
the foundation of the twelve cities of Etruria in the Po Valley. On the other hand, of
considerable interest is the evidence at Bologna of the use of Etruscan writing beginning
at the end of the eighth century bc, a period that, especially in the district of Emilia,
does not seem to break with the preceding phase, still to be defi ned as Villanovan. Such
testimonies appear to be almost contemporary with the fi rst evidence of inscriptions in
Etruria proper.
The settlement pattern characteristic not only of Etruria proper (e.g. Tarquinia, Veii,
Vetulonia) but also of peripheral centers (Pontecagnano, Fermo or Verucchio) is a town
located on a large plateau (Veii, Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Vulci) or on a hill-plateau of average
size (Orvieto-Volsinii, Vetulonia, Volterra) and of two groups of necropoleis (or two
necropoleis) located generally to the north and south of the settlement, but also possibly
to east and west. One of these appears to be the main necropolis, the other, smaller in
number of tombs, shows characteristics of excellence.
The location of Populonia seems exceptional even for northern Etruria: unlike the
other major Etruscan sites, which are in fact located on high ground and away from
the sea or coastal lagoons, this is the only city located on the sea. The inhabited area
(150/180 hectares) seems concentrated in the southern side of the promontory above the
Gulf of Baratti. The tufa plateaus which will be the sites of future cities do not seem to be
completely built up, but are divided into carefully spaced districts, with most of the plains
used for agriculture or grazing. The internal organization is poorly understood because of
the lack of systematic excavations of inhabited areas, but especially because of the type of
facilities and urban structures, in large part constructed of perishable materials.
The momentum of the excavation of domestic sites in the last two decades has brought
new information about settlement conditions, but it also has raised many questions: often
among the remains of huts, inside or outside the structures, are more or less deliberate
funerary depositions.
On the Civita plain of Tarquinia (Pian di Civita) was found a ninth-century bc
enclosure with deposits of worked deer antlers, burials of newborns and of one child,
an encephalopathic albino, which, according to the excavators, invokes the concept of
monstrum (a prodigy in Roman religion, see Chapter 29). The further discovery in this area
of burials of adults without accompanying grave goods is explained by M. Bonghi Jovino