Crafts and the City Ceramic Production in Etruria at the Dawn of the Urbanisation (late 10th –mid 7th cent. BCE)

During the early Iron Age (late 10th – late 8th cent. BCE), the Mediterranean basin became host to a complex network of seafaring peoples from different parts of the Mediterranean. Dramatic changes in sociocultural complexity occurred around the central Tyrrhenian Sea, particularly in Etruria. This area, at the crossroads between the eastern and western Mediterranean, witnessed many important innovations leading to economic and social-political developments that brought the transformation of farming villages to the renowned city-states of the Orientalising period (late 8th – early 6th cent. BCE).

Focusing on ceramic production, this project aims to shed new light on the technological and related social changes that accompany the transition to urban societies in Etruria and the first development of the Etruscan civilisation (late 10th– mid. 7th cent. BCE). To achieve this, this research will adopt a comprehensive approach which includes a vast range of scientific analyses to study ceramic technology from a selection of key early 1st Millennium BCE settlements of Etruria. Archaeometric investigations will be coupled with a systematic geological survey of the sites’ territory, to locate and characterise raw material sources that were available to ancient potters.

Emphasis will be placed on the study of technological changes introduced between the end of the early Iron Age and the beginning of the Orientalising period (last quarter 8th – first quarter 7th cent. BCE), such as the adoption of fast wheel throwing and new pyro-technologies to produce red ceramic coatings and the black pottery know as bucchero. The adoption of these innovations is traditionally seen as a sign of the emergence of craft specialisation resulting from the deep socioeconomic changes happening in Etruria at that time and cross-cultural contacts with Nuragic, Phoenician and Greek craft traditions.

Such a comprehensive state of the art investigation of pottery technology in Etruria has never been carried out before. The results will allow us to explore from a craft perspective this crucial period of changes marked by the emergence of urban lifestyle and large-scale networks. In addition, by comparing the results of the geological study with those obtained from scientific analysis of ceramics, it will be possible to build a robust reference study for investigations of Villanovan and Etruscan pottery circulation in Italy and in the Mediterranean basin. This will be the first reference collection of its kind.