- chapter 19: Etruscan goods in the Mediterranean world –
centuries, including a cista a cordoni and several fragments of bronze oinochoe handles,
assigned to necropoleis (Corno-Lauzo and Grand-Bassin II), but also from the settlement,
as with a Schnabelkanne.^132
In the Iberian littoral, the specifi c case of the Ampurda area (Empúries and Ullastret)
and the funerary depositions as far as the Ebro valley, have been the subjects of recent
studies.^133 We note on one hand the presence of Etruscan goods, which appear in the
Massaliot orbit, and on the other hand their infl uence on local productions, even at the
level of ceramics and bronzes.^134
South of the Ebro, the Mediterranean littoral has hardly revealed a trace of Etruscan
objects in the funerary assemblages. The excavations of the past few years in the
necropolis of Poble Nou at Vila Joiosa-Villajoyosa (Alacant-Alicante) have brought to
light a simpulum (ladle) thought to be Etruscan, but its typology and the late chronology
of the tomb (second half of the fi fth through to the fourth centuries) call for prudence in
interpretation.^135 In the maritime context under Punic infl uence, the funerary depositions
from Ibiza (Puig dels Molins) stand out, containing a kantharos, an Etrusco-Corinthian
aryballos, and the bone plaque from a casket with zoomorphic decoration.^136
Etruscan funerary goods from Carthage are exceptional for their richness, but otherwise
they are comparable with those from other sites in the Phoenicio-Punic colonial orbit,
such as Sardinia, for example. Etruscan objects at Carthage are characterized by their
variety and long duration. We have several dozen such objects from tombs, the oldest in
the region dating to the mid- or later seventh century (tombs with vases in impasto and
fi ne bucchero), with more dating to the end of the seventh and the sixth centuries (small
amphorae, kantharoi and oinochoai in bucchero, Etrusco-Corinthian vases), with the
latest dating to the fourth century (Genucilia plates). What is exceptional is the number
of bronze vases, represented by a large quantity of only one shape: the oinochoe. Amongst
the oinochoai in bronze are about ten of the most distinctive Etruscan type of beaked
jug (Schnabelkannen); the others would be Etrusco-Campanian and from Magna Graecia,
or of local production, such as the Rhodian-style oinochoai with clearly Orientalizing
features.^137 A large proportion of the past fi nds from the Carthaginian necropoleis are
without context, but it appears that no tomb had both Etruscan ceramic and bronze
vases. This fact might correspond to two different deposition profi les: bronze vases for
high status Carthaginians, Etruscan ceramics to designate Etruscans or other people who
maintained a relationship with the Etruscans.
The tombs of Etruscans that are far from their native cities were clearly identifi ed at
Aléria on Corsica. Carthage furnished irrefutable proof of such a presence – the cippus of
a style fashionable in Caere (also known at Aléria) found in one of the necropoleis of the
African metropolis.^138
The hypothesis of an Etruscan owner of the assemblage and tomb at Appenwihr in
Alsace is suggestive, but still remains somewhat problematic.^139 Near Lattes there were
recently discovered tombs with distinctive assemblages that suggest the presence of
foreigners, possibly Etruscans, such as the tomb with the Etruscan amphora, dagger,
small boss-rimmed bowl in bronze, and the oldest bronze strigil yet identifi ed in Gaul.^140
In a tomb from Empúries, the mirror depicting the Judgment of Paris might constitute
a mark of social status for a lady, either Etruscan or particularly associated with the
Etruscan world.
In the eastern Mediterranean, burials with bucchero are rare, and may mark the routes
of seafarers, diplomats or others with strong Etruscan associations, as at Kameiros, Rhodes