- Jean Gran-Aymerich with Jean MacIntosh Turfa –
(noted above), Amathus Cyprus, or the infant buried in the Syrian necropolis at Ras el
Bassit (a city probably later known under the Greek name of Poseideion).^141 All of the
fi rm evidence is of the Archaic period, although some Etruscan goods, such as Genucilia
plates, have been recognized in other contexts of the fi fth–third centuries.
Etruscan objects in residential contexts or singular structuresIn the regal residences of the Celtic world, Etruscan imports are known, indirectly, by the
placement of bronze banquet vases in the tombs, as at Hohenasperg, Vix or Bourges. The
simultaneous presence of Attic cups, both in the tombs and in the residences, supports
the idea that imports connected with drinking were used in banquets before having been
placed in the funerary assemblages the same as in Etruria. The residences themselves give
evidence for these wares in bronze. From Heuneburg comes a clay mould of a masked,
bearded man, a satyr, identical to representations that appear as appliqués on Etruscan
bronzes.^142 Mont Lassois has brought to light a small, bronze attachment of a winged
lion or a sphinx, of Etruscan production or infl uence (Fig. 19.14). In this citadel, the
excavation of the large apsidal structure with a façade in antis – interpreted as a residential
palace (“le palais de la Princesse de Vix”) has revealed most recently two ceramic, handmade
oinochoai inspired by Etruscan models.^143 The latest investigation at the settlement of
Bourges has furnished a bronze basin-handle of Etruscan type.^144
The Iberian Peninsula has brought to light, in the hinterland of Tartessos, the most
admirably conserved example of a palace-sanctuary from the early Iron Age, with clearly
oriental architectural characteristics. Indeed, the palace at Cancho Roano, south of
Mérida, has revealed the westernmost Etruscan bronzes found so far: two infundibula in
an exceptionally wealthy context with hundreds of banquet vases, most of them Attic
cups,^145 of a clearly ceremonial nature (Fig. 17.15).
Marseille offers a very different case. The excavation of Collège Vieux Port has allowed
us to identify a notable building, exceptional for the dimensions of the main room, for
the small, juxtaposed rooms or “chapels” (the remains of which are coated with paint)
and for the rich assemblage of Greek ceramics dating to the end of the sixth century. This
Figure 19.14 Figurine-attachment in bronze, representing a winged lion (or sphinx ?), oppidum of
Mont Lassois, Bourgogne. End of the sixth century. (Gran-Aymerich 2013a).