Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Etruscans
Roughly 2800 years before we all started dreaming of a hilltop getaway in Tuscany, the
Etruscans had a similar idea: hill towns that they founded are dotted throughout the coun-
tryside.
From the 8th to the 3rd centuries BC, Etruscans held their own against friends, Romans
and countrymen, worshipped their own gods and goddesses, and farmed lowlands using
sophisticated drainage systems of their own invention. How well they lived between sieges
and war is unclear, but they sure knew how to throw a funeral. Etruscan
necropoli
(tombs)
are found throughout southern, central and eastern Tuscany. Excavation of these tombs of-
ten yields a wealth of jewellery, cinerary urns (used for body ashes) made from terracotta
and alabaster, earthenware pottery (particularly the glossy black ceramic known as
buc-
chero
) and bronze votive offerings.
Of course, the Romans knew a good thing when they plundered it. After conquering
swaths of Etruscan territory in Tuscany in the 3rd century BC, they incorporated the
Etruscans' highly refined, geometric style into their own art and architecture.
