CHAPTER FIFTY

ETRUSCAN JEWELRY

Françoise Gaultier

T

he Greek literary sources readily describe the Etruscans as a people with a refi ned and
lavish lifestyle: according to Diodorus Siculus (8.18.1) the inhabitants of Sybaris,
known for their own wealth and taste for luxury, preferred them for this reason “to any
other people among the Barbarians” and appreciated them as “the equal of the Ionians
among the Greeks.” The Etruscans were thus particularly distinguished by their work
in gold, in the creation and manufacture of jewelry, the beauty, splendor, and technical
qualities of which have until now defi ed goldsmiths.^1
The extraction of copper and iron ores, and the early working of metal placed Etruria
within a network of trade routes and exchange favorable to technological and cultural
transmission and contributed signifi cantly to its growth (see Chapter 37). The fi rst
jewelry enriched with precious metals or made of gold, silver or electrum, goes back to
the Villanovan period (ninth–eighth centuries bc). Attested sporadically in the fi rst half
of the ninth century, it is more common in the second half of the century and especially
in the eighth century bc. Found in the necropoleis like almost all the Etruscan jewelry
that has come down to us, it characterizes a few rare grave assemblages when these are
generally still modest: their appearance may be related to the beginning of the process of
economic growth and social differentiation.
These jewels in which the precious metal is often associated with bronze or amber,
even with bone or ivory, are mostly the same forms as the ornaments of bronze. These
are hair-fasteners (“hair-spirals”) made of spiral gold wire,^2 circular pendants of gold
or of bronze covered with gold leaf, decorated with stamped geometric patterns,^3 but
especially fi bulae used to fasten clothing, tunics, cloaks, veils and other headgear.^4 Their
forms and sizes are varied (the bow can be simple, swollen, or a sanguisuga [“leech-
shaped”], or serpentine, the catch-plate can be extended into a disc). These forms may be
indicative of the gender and age of the deceased: the serpentine fi bulae usually belong to
men’s clothing, the fi bulae with sanguisuga-type bow to women’s clothing, and miniature
ornaments to children’s dress. The decoration is also very diverse, the bows of fi bulae, in
gold or silver, can be smooth, decorated with engraved patterns (herringbone most often),^5
or more rarely twisted (cordelé);^6 the bows of bronze fi bulae can be covered with a spirally
coiled gold wire and their pin adorned with amber and silver rings. The bow of sanguisuga