Etruscan Veii - The New Discoveries

Etruscan Veii: the New Discoveries

AIA Annual Meeting 2014 - Colloquium Session

Organizers:

Prof. G. Bartoloni Full Professor of Etruscology

at Sapienza University of Rome

Rome – ITALY

[email protected]

Dr. Orlando Cerasuolo Postdoctoral Fellow

The Institute for the European and Mediterranean ArchaeologyThe University at Buffalo - SUNYBuffalo – USA

[email protected]

Discussant:

Dr. Jacopo Tabolli Scientific Director

Archaeological & Virtual Museum of Narce

Rome – ITALY

Sapienza University of RomeRome - ITALY

[email protected]



Statement overview:

From the beginning of the First Millennium to the Roman conquest in 396 B.C.E, Veii has been one of the most powerful and interesting Etruscan towns, at just 12 miles of distance from Rome. This colloquium aims to present the most recent and intriguing season of discoveries at Veii.Past archaeological research revealed the main features of the Etruscan town, while in the last fifteen years, archaeological excavations have highly enriched the evidence of the settlement as well as the cemeteries. Discoveries such as the agger and the ramparts of the Iron Age, the painted Tomb of Roaring Lion, the unusual funerary hut-grave and the new roof with the terracotta statue representing a full-length dog at Piazza d'Armi throw an entirely new light on Veii.The Colloquium organizers have been involved in the discovery of Veii and in editing the results of surveys and excavations. In particular, Prof. Bartoloni, well-known for numerous studies on Veii has been in charge as Director of the Veii Project of Sapienza University of Rome since 2010. Dr. Cerasuolo is a specialist of the earlier phases of Etruscan civilization. The Discussant Dr. Tabolli is director of the archaeological-virtual museum of Narce closely connected with Veii. The speakers will address the 9th - 6th century B.C.E. evidence, discussing Veii and its Mediterranean networks, Etruscan architecture and religion. The outcome of the University of Rome Veii Project allows an overall view of the development of the town, revealing a new chronological sequence. “City and Landscape” focuses on new evidence for the exploitation of the territory (with fascinating data such as a very recently found and still unedited kantharos decorated with incised triremes). Important recent discoveries of a series of 7th century B.C.E. chamber tombs include the paintings of the Roaring Lions and the wonderful bronze embossed tablets from Oliveto Grande tomb-group (presented for the first time at an international meeting). The material connections between Etruscans, Euboean colonists and Near East merchants are presented in “Veii and the Oriental World”. The contribution on the earliest stone sculpture in Veii focuses on the relationship between Veii and the Etruscan world with the Near East (in particular with Northern-Syria). The last paper presents the rituals in various sanctuaries in Veii focusing especially on the Portonaccio temple area.A colloquium entirely focused on Etruscan Veii has never been organized by the Archaeological Institute of America before, so the 2014th Annual Meeting would be the ideal place to present the latest discoveries.

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Organizers: Prof. G. Bartoloni, Dr. O. Cerasuolo

Discussant: Dr. J. Tabolli

Provisional program:

O. Cerasuolo Introductory remarks

G. Bartoloni Veii, the Archaeology of an Etruscan Town, New Discoveries and Perspectives

A. Piergrossi City and Landscape

F. Boitani, O. Cerasuolo The Discovery of Extraordinary Tombs: a New Picture of Orientalizing Veii

Break

A. Rathje Veii and the Oriental World

I. van Kampen Early Stone Sculpture and Ancestor Cult in Veii

I. M. Edlund-Berry Cults and Sanctuaries at Etruscan Veii:a New Perspective on Local and Shared Traditions

Open Discussion and Conclusions (J. Tabolli)

The introduction and each talk have 15 min as well as the break.

Changes have about 5 min.

Discussion and Conclusion have about 30 min.

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Veii, the Archaeology of an Etruscan Town, New Discoveries and Perspectives

Since 1996, the Veii Project held by scholars of the Science of Antiquities Department at Sapienza University of Rome resulted in a season of discoveries in the Etruscan town. This paper aims to present new data from the excavations, describing the general development of the settlement into five steps: 1: At Veii the plateau was not occupied before the First Iron Age. Surveys and excavations revealed the first occupation by small groups of huts, involving the entire area. This large movement of population would be unthinkable without political chiefs within individual village communities. The burial which I found in the center of Piazza d'Armi, into a wooden funerary-hut, can be attributed to one of these leaders. 2. In the mid 8th century B.C.E., changes occurred both in the organization of the various settlements and in the territory surrounding the town, due to socio-economic reasons. The town was encircled by fortifications and the division between residential sectors and artisanal spaces was reflected in the organization of late Villanovans and Orientalizing cemeteries. Piazza d'Armi hill assumed therefore the character of the privileged residence. Just at the beginning of the century, in a pre-colonial phase, Veii represented the arrival point of Greek goods, while in the second half of the 8th and the beginning of the 7th century B.C.E. well organized exchanges progressively increased with other sides of the Mediterranean, especially Near East. 3. During the Middle Orientalizing period the urban space was entirely defined, with the articulation of the town into rectangular blocks (from huts turning into rectangular wooden houses with multiple rooms, porches and patios). Tomb-groups so on revealed an exceptional richness.

4. At the end of the 7th and during the 6th century B.C.E. the use of tiles and decoration of the roofs appeared in public buildings as well as private houses. The beginning of the worship at Portonaccio sanctuary consisted in this first phase in open area cults near the Menerva altar. At the beginning of the 6th century, Veii was protected by strong walls with several gates. The cemeteries were located on the tracks towards the neighboring towns, with the earliest tumuli crowning the city. 5. Current Excavations highlighted a constructions fervor at Piazza d'Armi in the second half of the 6th century with new roads and blocks. In the final decades of the 6th century B.C.E. a radical restructuring of the extraurban sanctuary of Portonaccio might be attributed to the will of a royal personage.

Prof. Gilda Bartoloni Full Professor of Etruscology and Italian ArchaeologySapienza University of RomeRome – [email protected]

City and Landscape

Veii was the political and economic reference center of a large district between the Tiber and the Arrone rivers, an area organized for the exploitation of agricultural, pastoral and forestry resources and structured so as to allow the control of communication roads and the defense, especially from the emergent Rome.

From the Orientalizing period more or less relevant settlements belonging to small family groups, but also small and medium-villages in strategic position at land routes and waterways are scattered throughout the territory. It is the result of the emergence and expansion of the aristocratic classes, expressed visually with signs that indicate land possession as the economic base: on the one hand with the distribution of small settlements, the other with the appearance of tumuli outside the necropolis and little centers in the countryside.

New discoveries around Veii, such as the necropolises of Poggioverde on the Via Trionfale and via d’Avack on the ancient via Veientana, defines more precisely the landscape and the management of the resources in the hands of the “gentes” distributed on the territory, variously linked by ties of kinship, that dominated society, had control of economic activities and distribute the land among their “clientes”, the lower elements of the social structure employed by aristocracy, and that, at times, can also be the beneficiaries of allocations of land for the remuneration of their services and loyalty.

The scene of navigation on the kantharos from tomb 3 at Via d’Avack, added to other scenes now reconsidered from the archaeological evidence, allows us to precise also the role of Veii, as the other Etruscan metropolises, in the Mediterranean trades, indicating the involvement of an established aristocracy in the international relationship.

Dr. Alessandra Piergrossi Archaeological ResearcherInstitute for the Study of Italic and Ancient Mediterranean CivilizationsNational Research CouncilMonterotondo, Rome - [email protected]

The Discovery of Extraordinary Tombs: a New Picture of Orientalizing Veii

In the last decade, several excavations were focused on the necropolises of Veii and the re-studying of some of the most important tomb-groups already known was promoted. The new evidence from Grotta Gramiccia, Oliveto Grande and Chigi Tumulus, light up the Orientalizing period of Veii (late 8th-early 6th century B.C.E.). Today, our knowledge is much more wide and articulated than before.

The first chamber tombs date back to the beginning of the 7th century B.C.E. Numerous tombs were painted, anticipating the earlier paintings at Cerveteri. The Tomb of the Roaring Lions (c. 690 B.C.E.) is the earlier painted tomb ever discovered in Italy showing iconographic links with the Attic, Boeotic and Euboean pottery painting. The paintings of this tomb, together with the slightly later Tomb of the Ducks, recalls the pictura linearis that Pliny considered to be the earlier style developed at the end of the 8th century B.C.E. by Greeks.

At the same time, Veii pottery production developed a peculiar painted fine ware, appreciated by the ruling elites. Some of the finest vases by the well-known Narce Painter were recently found in the princely Roaring Lions tomb and in the few others graves recently discovered nearby. The wealthy economy of Veii lured the Crane Painter, another craftsmen who has been previously working at Cerveteri. Furthermore, before the mid-7th

century B.C.E. at Veii the first bucchero production appeared that is often associated with cerimonial items, i.e. in the rich Monte Michele tomb 5.

A great progression in the funerary architecture occurred with the adoption of monumental tumuli during the second half of the 7th century B.C.E. The Monte Aguzzo tomb was excavated in 1882 but only today the funerary context has been reconsidered. Some of the finds of that tomb were local fine vases imitating the Corinthian pottery, together with the well-known Olpe Chigi, for which new textual analysis stress the ideological and aristocratic values defined in Corinth and adopted by the Etruscans at Veii.

The most recent discovery brought new light on Veii during the Late Orientalizing. It was a sophisticated chamber tomb of the located nearby one of the Oliveto Grande monumental tumuli, in an area that has never been methodically investigated. The three bipartite chambers of the tomb were themselves exceptional as well as thrilling appear to be the 24 embossed bronze sheets. The floral motifs, the hunting friezes and the unique protomes may all belong to the same lavish furniture, that we consider a funerary altar like a dokanon.

Dr. Francesca Boitani Former Director of the Villa Giulia Etruscan National MuseumRome – ITALY [email protected]

Dr. Orlando Cerasuolo Postdoctoral Fellow The Institute for the European and Mediterranean ArchaeologyThe University at Buffalo - SUNYBuffalo – [email protected]

Veii and the Oriental World

In recent years, new material has been uncovered from Veii that has important implications for our understanding of this important city. Although we are gaining a better hold on the Iron Age society there, the impact from the Orient (broadly speaking) has not been thoroughly analyzed. In this paper, I present an overview of the evidence, from different contexts, in order to place this city at the forefront of the Orientalizing phenomenon. We can no longer leave Veii neglected in the shadow of the coastal cities like Cerveteri, Tarquinia and Vulci. Tomb paintings, sculpture, bronzes, ceramics and other portable objects all bear witness to communication and sociopolitical dynamics between local and foreign cultures at the site. Social identity was constructed through the ownership and use of foreign objects and this material documentation of social practices illuminates early connectivity and cultural exchange on par with the coastal cities that have thusfar outshone it.

Professor Annette Rathje Associate Professor SAXO-Institute – Univertisy of CopenhagenKøbenhavn - DENMARK [email protected]

Early Stone sculpture and Ancestor Cult in Veii

On the basis of the latest research, we may state that in the field of funerary painting, as well as in the field of monumental sculpture, Veii has been the first Etruscan town to experiment these arts – in which later the lead was taken respectively by Tarquinia and Vulci. In the present paper, we will examine evidence for stone sculpture in Veii, not at all as famous as its counterpart from Vulci, but maybe more intriguing because of its early dating. We will focus, in particular, on the statue of a princely figure on a throne coming from the Necropolis of Veii-Picazzano, which may be compared to similar evidence in the Near East, in particular in Northern-Syria.

After a short discussion of the geographical and chronological boundaries of the term “Northern-Syria” and after examining the trade routes that passed from the latter area towards the West, it appears that we may hypothesize the existence of a small group of oriental artists, architects and sculptors, at Veii at the beginning of the 7th cent. B.C.E. Giovanni Colonna postulated a similar situation for Caere, envisaging a kind of “diaspora” towards the Northern towns near the sea and towards Bologna in a second phase. One of the aspects which remains still to be better defined is the relationship between Caere and Veii in this very early phase of contacts and commitments with Oriental craftsmen.

In Veii, the presence of immigrated oriental artists has also been assumed because of the production of certain decoration work in gold with filigree and granulated decoration techniques, well-known in the East, on jewels of local shape (Von Hase), which turns up for the first time in Etruscan art in an almost “perfect” way – in Veii.Trying to interpret the evidence both in its original Oriental context as in the Etruscan ones, we may note that there are unexpected similarities in ideology, as regard to ancestor cult.

Dr. Iefke van Kampen DirectorMuseo dell'Agro Veientano (Civic Museum of Veii)Formello, Rome - [email protected]

Cults and Sanctuaries at Etruscan Veii: A New Perspective on Local and Shared Traditions

To many of us, the Portonaccio temple with the majestic terracotta statues of Apollo and other deities represents the epitome of an Etruscan sanctuary and its lavish decoration. And, seen in the context of neighboring Rome whose Capitoline temple was adorned with statues made by the Veientine sculptor Vulca, Veii would seem to exemplify the use of monumental temple buildings adorned with architectural terracottas.

As demonstrated by old and new discoveries at Veii, the urban and extra-mural sanctuaries show a complex pattern which illustrates local cults and cult places, as well as interaction with neighbors and more distant communities.

Recent and ongoing explorations of the city sanctuaries at Piazza D’Armi and Piano di Comunità illustrate Veii’s role in the local production of architectural terracottas as well as being part of a network including other sites, including Rome and Velletri. As discussed in G. Bartoloni et al., Tetti di Terracotta (Rome 2011), the multitude of roofs documented through tiles and architectural terracottas belong to a variety of buildings, some, but not all, representing sanctuaries.

Sanctuaries located along the edge of the city hill, some urban and some extra-mural, illustrate continuity of cult activities through a variety of votive offerings. The Campetti area is currently studied by O. Cerasuolo and M.T. Di Sarcina and some results have been presented in a poster, Depositi votivi e attività cultuali a Campetti area S-O (British School at Rome, January 2013).

Evaluating our present knowledge of the cults and sanctuaries at Veii, it is now possible to address the question of the role Veii played in the creation and development of local cult practices in relation to the documented interaction with her neighbors, including Rome, Caere, and Tarquinia. Although historically the temple of Juno Regina may have constituted the main urban sanctuary at Veii, the preserved archaeological documentation suggests that it was the extra-mural Portonaccio temple that provided the continuity and space for sacrifices, votive offerings, and rituals of passage for inhabitants as well as visitors. Considering Veii’s political role in the power struggles between the Etruscan cities and Rome culminating in 396 B.C.E., the city was best protected by conducting important business in a sanctuary that was controlled by Veii, but did not involve city life proper, instead protected by the smaller urban sanctuaries along the walls and at the gates.

Prof. Ingrid Edlund-Berry Professor emeritaThe University of Austin at TexasAustin, Texas – [email protected]

Etruscan Veii - The New Discoveries

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