- Jean Gran-Aymerich with Jean MacIntosh Turfa –
At the dawn of the Archaic period, non-commercial Etruscan objects become more
numerous and clearly identifi able. Carthage in particular has revealed several of those
mentioned above: the small ivory plaque with Etruscan inscription, the statuette from
Dar Seniat and the funerary cippus of Caeretan style. These objects correspond to very
isolated and specifi c functions: the fi rst corresponds to the tessera hospitalis of a Punic
person who maintained relations with the Etruscans; the second would have been the
offering of an Etruscan woman at Carthage; the third is proof of an Etruscan from Caere
buried in the Punic metropolis.
Marseille has brought to light exceptional documents which are not commercial
objects and which appear to have pertained to traveling Etruscans: such is the case for
the Etruscan inscription traced upon a Massaliot amphora, which would appear to be a
diplomatic gift tied to an offi cial meeting or banquet. Concerning the Caeretan stamp-
decorated brazier (Fig. 17. 3; see Figs 43.3 and 43.5), this does not appear to belong to
the network of sales products so characteristic of Caere, but belonged to an Etruscan,
who could have used it as a ritual object or more probably as a functional instrument, as
is suggested by the wear on the stamped decoration and the amazing fact that this is a
unique, failed cylinder impression. Moreover, the buildings in the port sector of ancient
Marseille have furnished portable stoves, fornelli, as well as common dining wares, which
show similar usage.
Unique vases which dot the long-range routesThe commercial status of the bucchero vases dispersed in the Mediterranean, and
especially the kantharos – the most original and widely-dispersed form – has regularly
been cast into doubt and deemed dissimilar to the commerce in Greek cups. If one might
consider – reasonably – that some of the most far-fl ung discoveries of bucchero could
not have been a response to consumer demand, it becomes clear that the wide dispersion
of these vases responded to a variety of circumstances. Thus, the votive placement of
kantharoi, with or without inscriptions, in the Greek sanctuaries is not a commercial act,
even if it reveals close relations between the Greeks and the Etruscans. The presence of
very modest quantities of bucchero kantharoi at port sites as far away as Naucratis and
Huelva, Malaga and Miletos suggests that these vases, in certain circumstances, were
objects of ritual use, destined for a votive dedication, with libation, or for ceremonies
involving the consumption of wine. This hypothesis on the ritual role of bucchero vases
fi nds support if we consider that these objects are found in isolation, not having been
distributed in large numbers, and were scarcely objects of imitation.
Certainly, contact with the East had a strong infl uence on the character of Etruscan
culture. The earliest monumental stone sculpture (and possibly architecture; see Chapters
6 and 48), gold-smithing techniques and designs (Chapters 6 and 50), chariotry and
breeding of draught horses (Chapter 41), shipbuilding (probably), elements of religious
discipline such as Greek mythology and iconography (Chapters 24 and 25) and Eastern
haruspicy and brontoscopy (Chapter 26) came to Etruria from Greece and the Levant
(also channeling Mesopotamia). The concerted and long-term commercial arrangements,
refl ected in part by the treaties of Etruscan cities with Carthage (see Chapter 17), and
by the story of Demaratus (see Chapter 49), are only tokens for a much broader process
of interaction, travel and trade between many different people that must have deeply
affected all those involved.