- chapter 14: The Faliscans and the Etruscans –
extensive surveys in the necropoleis during the late-nineteenth century tell us that Narce
had a decrease in the number of burials and necropoleis used (down to four out of 20) but
their scope is marked by funerary offerings of special prestige and economic wealth. In
contrast, at Falerii we witness an increase in the number of chamber tombs, which appear
with an increasing number of loculi for funerary deposition, a sign of population growth.
At the beginning of the fourth century bc Falerii, building on its economic potential,
faces a complex restructuring of the town, organizing the plateau according to a regular
system (of which traces have been recognized in several excavations, partly unpublished)
(for the excavation of Via Gramsci: De Lucia Brolli 2006). Recent investigations, still
unpublished, have identifi ed a monumental pre-Roman quarry of tufa blocks to the west
of the settlement, from which comes, in all likelihood, the building material used in the
city (Fig. 14.9).
It is at this stage that the reconstruction of most of the temple buildings is implemented,
both in urban areas such as the temple of Scasato II, sacred to the triad Jupiter, Juno,
Minerva, and also in the suburban area where the temple of Juno Curitis assumes an
orientation parallel to the course of the Rio Maggiore, similar to that of the temple of
Argive Hera at Greek Argos (Fig. 14.10). This is also the time when the vase-painters
Figure 14.8 Raniero Mengarelli’s excavations at Pizzo Piede, Narce, 1933.Figure 14.9 Pre-Roman quarry at Falerii.