CHRONOLOGY

The effective study of the development of the Etruscans should cover a period from circa 1700 BC through to their absorption by the Romans in the last centuries BC. Absolute chronology is in a state of slight flux since the traditional chronology achieved by cross-dating is now being adjusted to accommodate dendrochronological dates from the eastern Mediterranean and central Europe. The dates adopted here take this adjustment into account so they may differ from dates found as little as a decade ago, and may change again particularly in the final phases of the Bronze Age and the early phases of the Iron Age.

The term Etruscan should only strictly be applied to the period that commences with the foundation of the state, which all scholars accept to be in place in South Etruria by the seventh century BC (although many place this date earlier in the Iron Age), since this is the period when they had certainly developed a self-conscious identity, or more properly identities. However, the study of the Etruscans has generally been examined through at least two different scholastic traditions that subdivide this development. The earlier period (circa 1700-780 BC) has been investigated by the protohistorians. These scholars have tended to date the development of the state to an earlier time than the seventh century BC, placing emphasis on cultural continuity and the organization of settlement. The later period (circa 950 BC-200 BC) has been studied by Etruscologists. These scholars have tended to promote a later date for urbanization and state formation, placing stress on clear evidence of the material forms of urbanization and on the necessary impact of the Greek world as a creative force. In fact, the whole sequence should be seen as an indivisible historical process. It is a matter of defining when the city and/or state were founded, depending on the criteria employed.

We are therefore at the boundary of the use of different methodologies to investigate archaeological evidence. One relevant issue is that of chronology. The classical world of Etruscology (the study of the Etruscans) is dated (post-780 BC) by reference to the foundation dates of Greek colonies and imports of pottery from the eastern Mediterranean (particularly Greece). The protohistoric world has generally been dated on more tenuous, albeit elaborate, grounds by cross-dating with materials from central Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. Radiocarbon dating has had little effect, in no small measure due to the difficulties of calibration (that is, conversion of radiocarbon years into calendar years) during the first millennium BC. Dendrochronology (tree ring dating) is, however, having a major impact in subtly, but importantly, changing the traditionally accepted dates. Some understanding of the imminent changes in chronology are given here, but below is a simplified broad-brush, chronological scheme that, I emphasize once again, will be subject to further changes in the near future.

A broad chronological outline of the development of the Etruscans is as follows. In the Middle Bronze Age (1600-1300 BC), permanent settlements were placed in lowland locations that were part of a regional system that included more seasonal upland locations. Many of these sites provided foci of continuity for the subsequent communities. In the Recent Bronze Age (1325-1150 BC), this process intensified, although problems with ceramic dating create some problems with the analysis, particularly when dating settlements from surface remains without excavation. In the Final Bronze Age (1175-925 BC), almost every Etruscan city was occupied for the first time, providing the point of growth of the major nucleations of population in the succeeding Iron Age. By the Iron Age (950-750 BC), five large volcanic plateaus—Veii, Caere, Tarquinia, Vulci, Orvieto—of South Etruria were occupied by relatively large populations and ringed by relatively numerous cremation graves grouped in cemeteries. Later, in the tenth century BC, the graves appear to be somewhat undifferentiated in terms of wealth. By the late ninth century, some graves were accorded a greater share of the grave goods and individual graves had great displays of wealth. During the seventh and sixth centuries BC, the full materialization of urbanization took place. City walls were constructed, prominent ritual locales were organized, and cemeteries frequently included displays of monumental-ity. The fifth century was perhaps the period of greatest expansion of the Etruscans. There is evidence of occupation of the Po Valley and Campania, as well as colonies in Corsica and the South of France. The fourth to second centuries BC were periods of decline, in part under the pressure of Rome, interrupted by evidence for periods of prosperity, particularly in some of the smaller communities of southern Etruria. Tomb architecture and grave goods have a mass-produced quality that reflects a wider distribution of wealth in the Etruscan communities.

In the remainder of this introductory section, we present a short geographical introduction and an interpretation of the identity of the Etruscans. This section is an attempt to conceptualize the different cross-cutting scales of Etruscan identity, in other words, the different ways in which individuals would have considered themselves, according to the context in which they found themselves. In much the same way as an individual today will present his identity in terms of self, family, workplace, city, nation, or region, the individual Etruscan would also have the ability to move between identities, according to a particular situation or state of mind. A modern guide to individual identity can be gathered from the study of the body and some of these approaches will be incorporated here. This last section simplifies the trends of historical development that were briefly set out above. The same last section also cuts across the rich cultural categories normally covered in any standard analysis of the Etruscans: burial, settlement, painting, sculpture, bronzes, pottery, coinage, the role of women, language, and literacy.