- Giovannangelo Camporeale –
and a miniature basket (see Fig. 11.9 and Chapter 11; Falconi Amorelli 1966; Bernardini
2002). Both tombs held female depositions. We may entertain the notion that such gifts
were frequently incorporated into a “matrimonial policy” in the sense that one foreign
woman (or man) had married an Etruscan spouse and had brought with her/him objects
characteristic of their homeland, but with the qualifi cation that in the ninth century
bc a marriage between individuals of geographically (and culturally) distant countries
implied that the commercial activities (and/or military enterprises) in which they were
engaged involved their whole social framework, or rather, the families of both spouses.
Beginning at the end of the^ ninth, and for the entire eighth century bc (the Villanovan
facies), some Etruscan grave goods are distinguished by the presence of fi nely crafted
bronze arms, in particular, helmets and swords: signs of elevated social rank. Several types
of helmet are known, including the crested and bell-helmets, which have many local
ceramic imitations. Both types are disseminated through Central Europe and the Italian
peninsula (see von Merhart 1941; Hencken 1959, pp. 34–35; Hencken 1971, pp. 78–96;
Stary 1981, pp. 22–24; von Hase 1988). The crested helmets found in peninsular Italy,
although greater in quantity, are distinguished from the others by the curved extension
of the sides of the crest and by the presence of repoussé decoration and bosses set in
horizontal bands near the base of the calotte (cf. Fig. 5.8). The general type may be
considered central-European, while the variant is to be assigned to the Etruscan sphere
and in all likelihood to central-European bronzesmiths who have come to Etruria; some
examples of this variant were exported: to Sala Consilina, Asti, Hallstatt, and Zavadintsy
in Ukraine (Hencken 1971, pp. 78–96; Stary 1981, pp. 22–23; 421–422, Beil 1, 1,
Karte 17; L. Aigner Foresti, in AA.VV. 1992, p. 158). The bell-helmets found in Etruria
also are differentiated from those found in central-northern Europe, in having decoration
in beaten relief and bosses near the base of the calotte, just like the Etruscan-made crested
helmets (Hencken 1971, pp. 43–55; Stary 1981, pp. 23–24; 422, Beil. 1, 2, Karte 2).
In this case also, the general type is central-European, and the Etruscan variant may be
associated with central-European bronzesmiths active in Etruria. Among the swords,
the antenne-sword is another type common in central-northern Europe and Etruria
(Fig. 48.1): those found in Etruria are numerous and characterized by “antenne” that
are relatively short, with a single curve (Hencken 1959, p. 36; Bianco Peroni 1970, pp.
112–119; Stary 1981, pp. 36–37; 438–440, Beil. 1, 10–11, Karte 17). Once again, it is
likely that these were made by central-European masters who had moved to Etruria, (on
this problem lately, with previous bibliography, see Camporeale 2012; Iaia 2012) where
they developed some new details for this type (for more on armor, see Chapter 39).
Likewise, small jugs of impasto, of Sardinian origin, usually less than a half-liter in
capacity, are found in funerary offerings of the end of the ninth through the eighth century bc
Figure 48.1 Antenne sword from Fontivegge. Perugia, Museo Archeologico Nazionale inv. 508.
By permission of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Umbria.