- Jean Gran-Aymerich with Jean MacIntosh Turfa –
Etruscan ceramics that has not brought to light an example of a bucchero kantharos,
while there are some sites that have revealed these vessels exclusively. This extraordinary
dispersion is very irregular, and a large number of discoveries correspond to unique or
rare pieces at isolated sites, or sites otherwise very remote from other Etruscan fi nds. So
much is the case in the eastern Mediterranean and in North Africa, with the exceptions
of Carthage and the Corinthian Trader’s establishment, which was clearly an importer/
exporter of a wide range of Greek and other luxury pottery (see below).
On the borders of the western Mediterranean farthest from Etruria we have found
three important concentrations of Etruscan ceramics. In spite of some similarities, we
note extreme distinctions among these three regions.
In the fi rst region, the north-western Mediterranean, there are large deposits around
some two hundred sites of various types and the discoveries are numerous and varied.
This is also the case for the primary settlements, such as Marseille, Saint-Blaise, Lattes,
Béziers, Empúries, and Ullastret. Finds also derive from smaller settlements (Tamaris,
La Liquière, Marduel, Montlaurès, Mailhac, Pech-Maho, Turo de la Font de la Canya,
Penya del Moro, Moleta del Remei and others). Etruscan ceramics are likewise present in
a large number of funerary contexts and as votive offerings. In addition, there are several
underwater fi nds, and shipwrecks whose main commodities were basically amphorae but
which also contained Etruscan ceramic wares.
For the second region, the south-western Mediterranean, Carthage contains an
extraordinary ensemble of Etruscan ceramics and fi nds, and offers a contrast with the rest
of the Maghreb where such fi nds are sporadic and isolated.
The third region, the littoral of the Iberian Peninsula south of the Ebro, offers a
singular situation. Etruscan ceramics, associated with bronzes, appear intermittently
there, remarkably on both the Mediterranean and Atlantic façades of the Straits of
Gibraltar: to the east at Malaga and in the west at Huelva.
Within this well distributed repertoire of Etruscan ceramics (bucchero, impasto,
Etrusco-Corinthian, cream ware), those with fi gural decoration are extremely rare. For
that which concerns the hinterland, we know of only two isolated and unconfi rmed
Figure 19.11 Kantharos (reconstruction) from the oppidum of Camp-de-Chassey, Bourgogne.
Local version in grey-black fabric of the Midi. Sixth century. (Gran-Aymerich 2006a).