The Etruscan World (Routledge Worlds)

• chapter 7 : Urbanization in Southern Etruria -

Figure 7.1 Southern Etruria, topography with major and minor Early Iron Age sites.

i.Vulci; 2. Bisenzio; 3. Orvieto (Volsinii); 4. Tarquinia; 5. Cerveteri (Caere); 6. Veii;

7. Rome (data mainly from Pacciarelli 2000).

(the aggregation of formerly separate com m unities in one place), perhaps for security in
response to warfare or grow ing rivalry, is one possibility. Dom inant central places also
have greater potential for wealth accumulation and specialization, such as trade and craft
production, which are increasingly im portant features of this period.4
The locations of the larger E IA sites, such as Veii, Caere, Tarquinia and V ulci are
noteworthy: they occupy large promontories or a series of adjacent plateaus, covering
from 120 to 200 hectares, w ith natural defenses and useful resources nearby, such as rivers
and good arable and pastoral land. Evident vantage points on lines of communication
along valleys or the coast, they were well placed to serve as the hubs of a wider settlement
nexus, which is a key to their successful development. In fact, few major EIA sites failed
to expand in subsequent periods; Bisenzio on Lake Bolsena is one such case. Likewise,
few cities lack evidence of E IA foundations; Doganella and Roselle are examples,5 but
most Etruscan cities of historical times were already prom inent places w ithin an EIA
regional context. Moreover, large E IA sites are not numerous or close to each other,
which suggests that they did not tolerate the presence of com peting centers nearby and
that m utual distance may have been as im portant to their development as the particular
configuration of the individual site locations or their proxim ity to resources. This also
seems to anticipate their subsequent development as assertive independent city-states,
whose fortunes were partly determined by their ability to control and exploit substantial
surrounding territories.
Various coastal sites near Tarquinia and V ulci attest a grow ing use of m aritim e
resources by com m unities most likely dependent on the major E IA centers.6 Again, this
echoes the more fully developed relationship between metropolis and emporium (such
as Tarquinia-Gravisca) in later periods (below). Otherwise, surprisingly few sites are

i35

Land over 200m

Lake

Major EIA site

Minor EIA site

30 km