pre-Roman Italy Research Articles

Jeremy Armstrong / Aaron Rhodes-Schroder (Eds.), Adoption, Adaptation, and Innovation in Pre-Roman Italy. Paradigms for Cultural Change. Turnhout, Brepols 2023

Jeremy Armstrong / Aaron Rhodes-Schroder (Eds.), Adoption, Adaptation, and Innovation in Pre-Roman Italy. Paradigms for Cultural Change. Turnhout, Brepols 2023

Weaving in the Ager Faliscus: A Contextual Approach to the Analysis of Loom Weights from the Sites of Falerii, Narce, Vignanello, Corchiano and Grotta Porciosa

Abstract The focus of this paper is the contextualization of loom weights excavated in the Ager Faliscus region (Falerii, Narce, Vignanello, Corchiano, Grotta Porciosa) from the 19th century onwards. As many of these come from partially published excavations, the first aim is to provide a provisional chronology; a brief analysis of the material finds in their contexts of origin will contribute to a better understanding of when these objects were made and used. Secondly, the nature of these contexts will be discussed: what can they tell us about the social aspect of textile production in the area? What role did weaving play in the sacred and funerary sphere? The attempt to answer these questions aims to make full use of the data at our disposal from past excavations, providing a starting point for future research on the role of textile production in this area of pre-Roman Italy.

Rome Fellowships: TULAR: human mobility and social–cultural shifts in frontier areas of pre-Roman Italy

Rome Fellowships: TULAR: human mobility and social–cultural shifts in frontier areas of pre-Roman Italy

Sounds of the blue daemon: A new aural study of the Etruscan Tomba dei Demoni Azzurri, 450–420 BCE

The archaeological record of ancient Etruria suggests that different sounds were significant across sacred and secular settings. This is represented in everything from surviving musical instruments to vibrant images of musical performance and religious ritual involving natural phenomena. Nowhere is this more acute than the painted tomb where hundreds of images of musicians and dancers crowd tomb walls with their visually compelling yet silent sounds. Although multiple painted tombs survive intact, we know very little regarding their aural nature.This article presents data from a recent acoustic study in Tarquinia, Italy. The study constitutes the first archaeoacoustic study developed to study the Etruscan archaeological record. Drawing from the resulting acoustic data, the Tomba dei Demoni Azzurri is shown to exhibit similar levels of reverberation documented inside St. Paul's Cathedral in London, particularly in areas of the tomb where funerary rituals were conducted. Aural perception inside the tomb space is of focus, particularly with respect to the transactional nature of sound and vision. The methodology, which was developed to investigate the painted tomb, emphasises the importance of investigating the Etruscan funerary record from an aural perspective, thereby forging a new path forward in assessing the funerary record in pre-Roman Italy and the broader ancient Mediterranean.

A Letter from the Editors-in-Chief

A Letter from the Editors-in-Chief

The Archaeology of Wine Production in Roman and Pre-Roman Italy

The world of vinicultural archaeology has expanded exponentially over the past two decades, adding novel discoveries, methodologies, theories, and new archaeological evidence. Despite this, focused regional or site-specific approaches and syntheses dominate scholarship. This article provides an alternate, macroperspective via a comprehensive update and overview of the archaeological evidence for the entire Italian peninsula. When considered as a whole, the sheer quantity of evidence is simply a starting point for future research directions. New data from pre-Roman Italy might suggest localized indigenous winemaking experimentation, contrasting with traditionally dominant east–west colonial diffusionist models. Detailed cataloguing and interpretation of Roman wineries demonstrate that two dominant press types were present simultaneously. Along with these syntheses, previously unpublished evidence is analyzed for the first time, including conspicuous, lavish, and theatrical wine production at the Villa dei Quintili just outside Rome.1

Gaming in Pre-Roman Italy: Characterization of Early Ligurian and Etruscan Small Pieces, Including Dice

An interesting assemblage of ancient ceramic materials connected or potentially connected with gaming activities has been characterized from the archaeometric point of view. The materials (washer-like pieces, small spheres, and cubic dice, with and without inscriptions) were found in the Villa del Foro excavation (Alessandria, Italy). They are related to the early Ligurian population of the site and their frequent contacts with Etruscan both in Etruria and in the Po Valley, in a period spanning the early VI century BC till the first half of the V century BC. Starting from the materials evidence, hypotheses are proposed concerning their possible use and cultural meaning. The studied cubic dice are discussed in the wider context of the pre-Roman diffusion of these objects.

Culti domestici in Italia meridionale ed Etruria By Aura Piccioni. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner 2020. Pp. 276. €45. ISBN 978-3-7954-3552-3 (cloth).

<i>Culti domestici in Italia meridionale ed Etruria</i> By Aura Piccioni. Regensburg: Schnell &amp; Steiner 2020. Pp. 276. €45. ISBN 978-3-7954-3552-3 (cloth).

Imagining the Etruscans: Modern European Perceptions of an Ancient Italian Civilization

Abstract The Etruscans, ancient people of pre-Roman Italy, have been the subject of lively discussions among both scholars and disseminators of popular pseudo-scientific theories from the late Humanistic age, an interest and popularity that reached a crescendo in the 18th to 20th centuries. This paper aims to explore the ideological features of the foundation of the highly specialized but often self-referential discipline, the so-called “Etruscology” that finally developed in the 20th century, with particular reference to the complicated connections between the very Italian territorial context of Etruscan civilization and the European dimension of its reception and popularization.

Sound properties in pre-Roman Etruria: an archaeoacoustic analysis of the Etruscan tomb space

The field of Archaeoacoustics has grown exponentially over the past decade providing clarity regarding sound propagation across multiple cross-cultural settings in the ancient world. However, many subfields of archaeology continue to overlook acoustic constructs in the archaeological record. Nowhere is this clearer than with ancient Etruria, a Pre-Roman Italic culture from Central Italy notable for their reverence of sounds generated from natural phenomena. This paper presents acoustic data collected for the first time inside a series of 5th–3rd century chambered tombs in Etruria. The relationship of architectural constructs and specific acoustic characteristics are noted across chronologies and regions. The study demonstrates the value of acoustical fieldwork when considering the visual and spatial properties of Etruria and provides the groundwork and recommendations for future exploration of sound propagation in Pre-Roman Italy.

Book Review of From Invisible to Visible: New Methods and Data for the Archaeology of Infant and Child Burials in Pre-Roman Italy and Beyond, edited by Jacopo Tabolli

Book Review of From Invisible to Visible: New Methods and Data for the Archaeology of Infant and Child Burials in Pre-Roman Italy and Beyond, edited by Jacopo Tabolli

Penser les contacts de langues dans l’Italie préromaine aujourd’hui

EnglishHow to conceptualize language contacts in pre-Roman Italy today? This text is intended as a general introduction to the specific problems that contact linguistics arouse, when applying its methods and principles to corpus languages of preRoman Italy. It proposes a state of the question and opens new perspectives in this field. francaisCe texte se veut une introduction generale aux problemes specifiques poses par la linguistique de contact lorsqu’on tente d’appliquer ses principes et methodes aux langues a corpus de l’Italie preromaine. Il dresse un etat des lieux et ouvre des perspectives dans ce domaine.

Gods of Value: Preliminary Remarks on Religion and Economy in Pre-Roman Italy

Gods of Value: Preliminary Remarks on Religion and Economy in Pre-Roman Italy

Funerary practices and sacerdotal rank in pre-Roman northern and central Italy: new data for interpreting the ‘ritual shovel’

In Early Iron Age cultures (the Golasecca, Este and Villanovan/Etruscan of the Po valley in the 7th-4th c. B.C.), a characteristic metal object has often been linked to unspecified ritual practices of protohistoric Italic peoples, raising various archaeological, anthropological and religious questions. This object, a ‘ritual shovel’ (Italian: paletta rituale; German: Bronzepalette) was first described by G. Ghirardini, who published two examples, one from Padua and one in Rome's Pigorini Museum. In 1902, he drew up a catalogue of 13 pieces and attempted to establish the first chronological sequence. During the first half of the 19th c., various pieces were published, but no studies addressed the typological, chronological and functional questions relating to the ritual shovel until M. Zuffa focused on it, providing what is still the most recent catalogue and the only discussion (fig. 1).

Women and the Production of Ceremonial Textiles: A Reevaluation of Ceramic Textile Tools in Etrusco-Italic Sanctuaries

Ceremonial textiles in the ancient Mediterranean are well attested in literature and visual representations but are often difficult to document because of the limited preservation of the textiles themselves. Several depictions of textile production in elite contexts from pre-Roman Italy, as well as the common occurrence of textile tools in assemblages of prestige grave goods, have traditionally been used to illustrate the social significance of textile skills for Etrusco-Italic women. Less attention has been directed to the actual practice of such skills in ritual or social ceremonies. This study brings forth new evidence from the numerous tools for spinning and weaving found in Etrusco-Italic sanctuaries to elucidate the relationships between textiles, women, and the sacred sphere.

From textiles to sheep: investigating wool fibre development in pre-Roman Italy using scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

The first diachronic investigation of wool fibre from Italian pre-Roman archeological contexts was carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A total of 22 archaeological wool samples from 10 Italian and one Austrian site dating from the Middle Bronze Age to the Roman period were analysed. The results demonstrate the processing of wool and development of sheep fleece from primitive wool with very fine underwool and very coarse kemps to the disappearance of kemp and coarser but more uniform fleece. By the end of the Iron Age several fleece qualities coexisted in Italy, possibly indicating the presence of different breeds. Classification of the wool qualities based on existing systems was problematic leading to a conclusion that a more nuanced approach to the classification of archaeological material is needed.

The mysterious deity of Lagole: ritual and writing in ancient Italy

The use of written documents is a key point in the development of any society, but the impact that literacy had on the development of early Mediterranean societies is not well understood. The Ancient Literacy project at the Institute aims to examine the effects of literacy on early societies by studying the earliest written documents from three regions of pre-Roman Italy. In this article, a member of the project describes one of the case studies, in northeast Italy, where a large concentration of inscriptions and other objects dedicated to a deity have been found at a sacred lake.

Crossing boundaries: The inscribed votives of Southeast Italy

The sanctuaries of southeast Italy have produced many votives, mainly small items of little intrinsic value. However, a few of these items were inscribed, despite the fact that literacy was an elite dominated skill in pre-Roman Italy. This paper explores the significance of the act of inscribing votive objects, and the implications for our understanding of both the role of writing in ritual, and of the value and significance of the objects that were inscribed.

Allecto's Trombone: On the Meaning of pastorale signum (Aeneid 7.513)

Allecto instigates conflict between Trojans and Italians in four ways at the beginning of the seventh book of the Aeneid: by poisoning Amata (A. 7.341-77), inciting Turnus in a dream (7.406-62), setting Ascanius’ hunting dogs on Silvia’s stag (7.475-504), and finally sounding the battle-cry (7.511-22), before Juno relieves her of her duties (7.540-71). Allecto’s final intervention, the trumpet call, is referred to as a pastorale signum (7.513). This paper argues that this term highlights the dual role of horn music in ancient Italy: as a pastoral signal for use in herding, and as a signal for war. By analyzing the types of brass instruments involved, and evidence from agricultural literature, the paper will show that Allecto’s pastorale signum is an emblem of ambiguity that speaks to larger debates about Aeneas’ role as a “shepherd of the people.” While Parry articulated a popular view that Aeneas’ arrival corrupted a pastoral, idyllic Italian landscape, Moorton revealed numerous indications that the Italian landscape was already prone to war prior to Aeneas’ arrival. Moorton suggests that Allecto’s pastorale signum is an adaptation of normal military terminology that proves that conflict was native to the Italian pastoral landscape. The military role of horn music is inarguable (Ziolkowski), and Vergil first describes Allecto’s choice of instrument as a cornu recuruum (7.513), a metal horn traditionally used in sounding the classicum signum, or attack signal. Yet at the same time, Vergil calls the horn a dira bucina (7.519-20). A bucina was a different, oxhorn-shaped instrument, not used for calls to arms. The name for this horn may have been derived from its original material (oxhorn) or its use in herding cattle; it has an etymological association with herding: bos canere (OLD s.v. bucina). Vergil also hints at this etymological connection in a later reference to horn sounds, when he describes the Etruscan trumpet as bellowing, mugire (8.526), using a verb proper to cattle. The poet therefore gives mixed signals about Allecto’s choice of instrument: she simultaneously utilizes a normal battle horn, and perverts a herdsman’s call.In fact, it is likely that even the pastorale signum also had a meaning in the context of animal husbandry that did not refer to the onset of armed rural strife. Polybius Hist. 12.8 records that the use of a horn in herding was a popular practice in Italy, especially for swine. Columella RR 6.23.2 also describes the practice. Like the shepherd’s signal, Aeneas’s leadership as a “shepherd of the people” (debated by Hornsby, Anderson, and Chew) and the agricultural landscape of his opponents are both coopted by Allecto, with dire results. Finally, the collocation of pastoralis and the verb canere (7.513) evokes the genre of bucolic poetry at the start of battle. Allecto’s final intervention blurs the lines between pastoral and martial landscape, encapsulating the ambiguous status of pre-Roman Italy.

Book Review of Textile Production in Pre-Roman Italy, by Margarita Gleba

Textiles are one of the most prevalent forms of material culture, yet they are also one of the most ephemeral elements of the archaeological record. Seen as impressions in more durable materials, such as pottery, or as iconographic elements or memories of pattern and design in other media, the remains of fiber textiles are preserved in their own right only under specific environmental conditions.