- Nancy A. Winter –
as the “Second Phase,”^2 characterized by fl oral decoration instead of fi gural decoration on
the revetment plaques, a style that adapted well to the larger temples they adorn from
the fi fth century bc on.
TERRACOTTA ROOFS OF THE LATE ORIENTALIZING
PERIOD, 640/630–600 BCThe earliest terracotta roofs in Etruria, datable in the third quarter of the seventh century
bc, all share the same basic use of a fl at pan tile to carry rainwater off the slope, a convex
cover tile to protect the space between pan tiles, and a convex ridge tile to cover the ridge
of the double-sloped roof. In addition, other roof elements were invented to protect the
rafters of the slopes on the short ends of the building and the rafter-ends along the eaves
of the roof on the long sides of the building: fl at terracotta revetment plaques that could
be nailed to the wooden elements they protected. Closures for the lowest cover tile at
the eaves formed antefi xes, which prevented winds from dislodging the tiles. These roof
elements provided protection from rain for the wooden roof frame and mud-brick walls,
and were fi reproof, unlike thatch. The roof elements along the ridge and the roof edges
also provided a blank fi eld for embellishment, and embellish they did.
At Poggio Civitate (Murlo), three buildings of the Late Orientalizing period carried
ridge tiles to which fl at upright plaques were attached, oriented along the axis of the
ridge. These acroteria took the form of double volutes (more rarely animals) with cut-out
edges that follow the contour of the design and painted decoration in the white-on-red
technique.^3
The hand painting on revetment plaques at Acquarossa provided the widest scope
for the creative spirit of the local artisans, with a wide medley of designs from fi gural
to geometric: horses, birds, snakes, fi sh, stags, a lion, a seated human; semicircles, scale
patterns, circles, cross-hatched triangles, lozenges, hourglasses, hooked ray patterns, and
herringbone patterns.^4 Their arrangement is paratactic and no attempt at narrative is
apparent. The white-on-red technique and many of the patterns betray their origin in
contemporary south Etruscan and Faliscan pottery.
Evidence for molds comes from Poggio Civitate (Murlo) where an actual mold for an
antefi x with canopic-style head was excavated in a workshop that made terracotta roofs,
destroyed in 590–580 bc.^5 Other moldmade roof elements from the site include antefi xes
with female head^6 and feline-head waterspouts from a lateral sima that decorated the
eaves of the roof of the same workshop.^7 Moldmade feline heads have been excavated at
Acquarossa as well.^8
THE TRANSITION FROM LATE ORIENTALIZING TO
EARLY ARCHAIC TERRACOTTA ROOFS, 600–580 BCA change was in the air already around 600 bc when outside infl uences from western
Greece become apparent in the decoration of the terracotta roofs of Etruria. The painted
guilloche appears on fl at revetment plaques at Acquarossa around this time,^9 in the same
white-on-red technique as before when more local motifs were favored. Accompanying
them are fl at, semicircular antefi xes with a painted half-rosette or fl oral design.^10
The use of a raking sima along the sloped edges of the roof is a late introduction into
terracotta roofs in Etruria, probably only appearing around 600 bc. The morphology and