This new collection presents a rich selection of innovative scholarship on the Etruscans, a vibrant, independent people whose distinct civilization flourished in central Italy for most of the first millennium BCE and whose artistic, social and cultural traditions helped shape the ancient Mediterranean, European, and Classical worlds. Includes contributions from an international cast of both established and emerging scholars Offers fresh perspectives on Etruscan art and culture, including analysis of the most up-to-date research and archaeological discoveries Reassesses and evaluates traditional topics like architecture, wall painting, ceramics, and sculpture as well as new ones such as textile archaeology, while also addressing themes that have yet to be thoroughly investigated in the scholarship, such as the obesus etruscus, the function and use of jewelry at different life stages, Greek and Roman topoi about the Etruscans, the Etruscans reception of ponderation, and more Counters the claim that the Etruscans were culturally inferior to the Greeks and Romans by emphasizing fields where the Etruscans were either technological or artistic pioneers and by reframing similarities in style and iconography as examples of Etruscan agency and reception rather than as a deficit of local creativity

This new collection presents a rich selection of innovative scholarship on the Etruscans, a vibrant, independent people whose distinct civilization flourished in central Italy for most of the first millennium BCE and whose artistic, social and cultural traditions helped shape the ancient Mediterranean, European, and Classical worlds.* Includes contributions from an international cast of both established and emerging scholars* Offers fresh perspectives on Etruscan art and culture, including analysis of the most up-to-date research and archaeological discoveries* Reassesses and evaluates traditional topics like architecture, wall painting, ceramics, and sculpture as well as new ones such as textile archaeology, while also addressing themes that have yet to be thoroughly investigated in the scholarship, such as the obesus etruscus, the function and use of jewelry at different life stages, Greek and Roman topoi about the Etruscans, the Etruscans' reception of ponderation, and more* Counters the claim that the Etruscans were culturally inferior to the Greeks and Romans by emphasizing fields where the Etruscans were either technological or artistic pioneers and by reframing similarities in style and iconography as examples of Etruscan agency and reception rather than as a deficit of local creativity

List of Illustrations viiiList of Tables xvNotes on Contributors xviAcknowledgments xxMap of Etruria xxiIntroduction xxiiAlexandra A. Carpino and Sinclair BellPart I History 11 Beginnings: Protovillanovan and Villanovan Etruria 3Simon Stoddart2 Materializing the Etruscans: The Expression and Negotiation of Identity during the Orientalizing, Archaic, and Classical Periods 15Skylar Neil3 The Romanization of Etruria 28Letizia CeccarelliPart II Geography, Urbanization, and Space 414 Etruscan Italy: Physical Geography and Environment 43Simon Stoddart5 City and Countryside 55Simon Stoddart6 The Etruscans and the Mediterranean 67Giovannangelo Camporeale7 Urbanization and Foundation Rites: The Material Culture of Rituals at the Heart and the Margins of Etruscan Early Cities 87Corinna Riva8 Poggio Civitate: Community Form in Inland Etruria 105Anthony S. Tuck9 Southern and Inner Etruria: Benchmark Sites and Current Excavations 117Claudio Bizzarri10 Etruscan Domestic Architecture, Hydraulic Engineering, and Water Management Technologies: Innovations and Legacy to Rome 129Claudio Bizzarri and David Soren11 Rock Tombs and the World of the Etruscan Necropoleis: Recent Discoveries, Research, and Interpretations 146Stephan Steingräber12 Communicating with Gods: Sacred Space in Etruria 162P. Gregory WardenPart III Evidence in Context 17913 Etruscan Skeletal Biology and Etruscan Origins 181Marshall J. Becker14 Language, Alphabet, and Linguistic Affiliation 203Rex E. Wallace15 Bucchero in Context 224Philip Perkins16 Etruscan Textiles in Context 237Margarita Gleba17 Etruscan Wall Painting: Insights, Innovations, and Legacy 247Lisa C. Pieraccini18 Votives in their Larger Religious Context 261Helen Nagy19 Etruscan Jewelry and Identity 275Alexis Q. Castor20 Luxuria prolapsa est: Etruscan Wealth and Decadence 293Hilary Becker21 Tanaquil: The Conception and Construction of an Etruscan Matron 305Gretchen E. Meyers22 The Obesus Etruscus: Can the Trope be True? 321Jean MacIntosh TurfaPart IV Art, Society, and Culture 33723 The Etruscans, Greek Art, and the Near East 339Ann C. Gunter24 Etruscan Artists 353Jocelyn Penny Small25 Etruscan Bodies and Greek Ponderation: Anthropology and Artistic Form 368Francesco de Angelis26 Myth in Etruria 388Ingrid Krauskopf27 The "Taste" for Violence in Etruscan Art: Debunking the Myth 410Alexandra A. CarpinoPart V The Etruscan Legacy and Contemporary Issues 43128 Annius of Viterbo and the Beginning of Etruscan Studies 433Ingrid D. Rowland29 Tyrrhenian Sirens: The Seductive Song of Etruscan Forgeries 446Richard Daniel De Puma30 Looting and the Antiquities Trade 458Gordon LobayPart VI Appendix 475Appendix: Etruscan Art in North American Museums 477Richard Daniel De PumaIndex 483