First Etruscan settlement found in Sardinia

Angela

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https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blog...nt-found-in-sardinia.html#bdmMOf2c05Xqir8e.97

"An Etruscan settlement that dates back to the 9th century BC has been found on the Sardinian coasts near Olbia. The presence emerged during a review of the findings of recent years by the archaeological superintendency for the Sassari and Nuoro provinces."

"
The area of the settlement - according to a statement issued by the superintendency - is on the Tavolara isle, a position that enabled a certain degree of caution in contact with coastal inhabitants and those further inland.

Archaeologists note that other settlements might be found in the Gallura area, on the opposite shore from Etruria. Etruria's cities such as Populonia, Vetulonia, Vulci and Tarquinia sprung up during the era in question, the first phase of the Age of Iron."

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"The Monte Prama statues in Sardinia also date back to those times. ''The exchanges between 'nuraghic' Sardinia and the cultural aspect of the first Age of Iron of Ertruria, known as 'villanoviano' are well known and have been studied in depth.

However, the presence of a community coming from the Etruscan shore that settled in Sardinia and prospered had not previously been found,'' archaeologist Francesco di Gennaro said. ''It is an absolute first and constitutes a leap forward in the reconstruction of relations between the two shores of the Tyrrhenian in protohistory.''

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What a coincidence, this paper about the Etruscan just came out a few days ago:

"New data - confirmed by radiocarbon analysis - on the smelting activities with chalcopyrite in the waterfront of the Gulf of Baratti (LI), have revealed that this metallurgical activity is contemporaneous with the most intense contacts between Populonia and Sardinia. It is therefore possible that the experience and the familiarity of the Nuragics with metallurgy and the mining activity in polymetal mines, has influenced the smelting activity of the Etruscan metallurgists [..] From: Andrea Zifferero, Mines and Metal working, In: Etruscology, edited by Alessandro Naso, 2017, ed. De Gruyter, pp.425-444"

A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SARDINIA NURAGICA AND ETRURIA VILLANOVIANA: 930-770 BC (and beyond). "The presence of various Nuraghic objects in Villanovan contexts could now take on a definitive meaning, in particular it suggests a connection by sea which, in the context of a complex commercial network, linked proto-urban centers devolved to the exploitation of mineral resources (the Metal Hills) and the island of Elba), like Vetulonia and Populonia, to a multiplicity of Nuragic communities.The Nuragics, starting from the Recent / Final Bronze Age, were engaged in intense maritime activities, as more and more recognized in recent studies (it is not necessary to refer to the Phoenician mediation for the import of nuragic objects in Italy.) The maximum intensity of this phenomenon can be fixed today, given the mentioned studies and the Etruscan funerary contexts, between the IX and the beginning of the VIII century BC, with a limited continuation during the VIII "From: Cristiano Iaia, External Relationships, In: Etruscology, edited by Alessandro Naso, 2017, ed. De Gruyter, pp. 811-830
 
Did they found also villanovan cremation burials? Does anyone know the original - scientific - source?
 
Did they found also villanovan cremation burials? Does anyone know the original - scientific - source?

We don't know they still haven't published anything, I knew about Nuragic pottery and materials in Etruria, especially in Vetulonia and Populonia but also in Vulci, Tarquinia and in the Elba island, and while there had been discoveries of some Villanovian materials such as fibulae and antenna swords in fewer quantities in Sardinia archaeologists had never discovered Villanovian ceramics/urns before in the island, so I had read in many papers about Sardinian communities in Villanovian territories but not the opposite.
 
What a coincidence, this paper about the Etruscan just came out a few days ago:

"New data - confirmed by radiocarbon analysis - on the smelting activities with chalcopyrite in the waterfront of the Gulf of Baratti (LI), have revealed that this metallurgical activity is contemporaneous with the most intense contacts between Populonia and Sardinia. It is therefore possible that the experience and the familiarity of the Nuragics with metallurgy and the mining activity in polymetal mines, has influenced the smelting activity of the Etruscan metallurgists [..] From: Andrea Zifferero, Mines and Metal working, In: Etruscology, edited by Alessandro Naso, 2017, ed. De Gruyter, pp.425-444"

A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SARDINIA NURAGICA AND ETRURIA VILLANOVIANA: 930-770 BC (and beyond). "The presence of various Nuraghic objects in Villanovan contexts could now take on a definitive meaning, in particular it suggests a connection by sea which, in the context of a complex commercial network, linked proto-urban centers devolved to the exploitation of mineral resources (the Metal Hills) and the island of Elba), like Vetulonia and Populonia, to a multiplicity of Nuragic communities.The Nuragics, starting from the Recent / Final Bronze Age, were engaged in intense maritime activities, as more and more recognized in recent studies (it is not necessary to refer to the Phoenician mediation for the import of nuragic objects in Italy.) The maximum intensity of this phenomenon can be fixed today, given the mentioned studies and the Etruscan funerary contexts, between the IX and the beginning of the VIII century BC, with a limited continuation during the VIII "From: Cristiano Iaia, External Relationships, In: Etruscology, edited by Alessandro Naso, 2017, ed. De Gruyter, pp. 811-830

so the intensive contact was pre/before the orientalising period in etruria?
 
The Nuragic influence upon the mainland is extremely well known. This very recent compendium of scholarship on the Etruscans details it pretty extensively:

https://books.google.com/books?id=2...age&q=The Nuragic Heritage in Etruria&f=false

Exactly it's even been suggested that iron metallurgy was imported from Sardinia to Thyrrenian Italy:

http://www.academia.edu/2061542/Met...Age_and_the_Early_Iron_Age_the_Coming_of_Iron

There's also further recent evidence that iron was smelted in Sardinia really early thanks to contacts with Cypriot smiths:

http://www.quaderniarcheocaor.beniculturali.it/index.php/quaderni/article/view/334/196
 
so the intensive contact was pre/before the orientalising period in etruria?

Yes direct trade between Sardinia and Villanovians started at least around the final bronze age (1100 bc) as it's been testified by the finds of Nuragic double axes and daggers in Elba, Populonia and Vetulonia and it reached its maximal intensity during the early iron age around the IX-VIIIth century bc.
 
Yes direct trade between Sardinia and Villanovians started at least around the final bronze age (1100 bc) as it's been testified by the finds of Nuragic double axes and daggers in Elba, Populonia and Vetulonia and it reached its maximal intensity during the early iron age around the IX-VIIIth century bc.

that is fantastic with sardinia as the initial base of iron innovation would make a good fit, as acc to demarinis 2004 there truly were two phases of iron production in italy, the initial innovation (sporadic) during villanova coinciding with proto-urbanisation gearing towards the coast in south etruria and the extensive production during the orientalising period coinciding with the emergence of greek/phoenician (>east med) colonies; these two phases never seemed to overlap so the initial phase geared towards sardinia rather the east med puzzles it together;
http://www.academia.edu/22062768/Iron_Metallurgy_in_Protohistoric_Italy
 
Hi, interesting thread. What are your thoughts about 'the see people'? I guess the iron spread with them.
 
Apparently not only the claim of an Etruscan settlement was an exaggeration, but the site isn't even a Villanovan settlement, it seems to have been a typical Nuragic settlement with the usual stone huts and mostly indigeneous Nuragic pottery and only a small quantity of Villanovan imports, according to Di Gennaro himself who spread the news.
 
Apparently not only the claim of an Etruscan settlement was an exaggeration, but the site isn't even a Villanovan settlement, it seems to have been a typical Nuragic settlement with the usual stone huts and mostly indigeneous Nuragic pottery and only a small quantity of Villanovan imports, according to Di Gennaro himself who spread the news.

I haven't seen that. Can you provide a link to the article or news report?
 
I haven't seen that. Can you provide a link to the article or news report?

<<Considering the high degree of diversity in the assemblage - in combination with the lack of evidence for residential habitation and the inhospitable nature of Tavolara itself - we suggest that the island may have acted as a site for the exchange of goods.>>
According to this article there were more Villanovan fragments than Nuragic ones, but anyhow no signs of structures / habitations.
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/epri... al._after review_2 JASREP-S-20-00052-4_2.pdf

The article is a bit confusing because it doesn't seem to distinguish between Nuragic olle and Villanovan olle. Some fragments are classified as cordoned olle, which are typical Villanovan pots, and those are all made with dough from Mainland Italy. Meanwhile the generic olle seem to come both from Mainland Italy and from Sardinia, which is really confusing, are the olle made with local fabrics only Nuragic olle and are the imported olle the Villanovan ones? It's not specified at all in the article, the article does mention however that Nuragic fragments are included in the samples:

<<A sample of 43 ceramic artefacts representing all the macroscopic fabrics and shapes recognised in the Splamatore di Terra assemblage was selected for analysis (Table 1). These include olle with flared rims and decorated with smooth plastic cords and digital impressions,wall fragments with geometric designs, and a smaller number of Nuragic fragments. These 43 samples were analysed via ceramic thin section petrography.>>

Determining whether the Villanovan vases were all imported or not is important because if they were made in Tavolara or Sardinia that would likely mean there was a somewhat stable Villanovan presence in the island. For instance, the many Nuragic vases found in Etruria were mostly made in Central Italy and only a few were imported, meaning that probably there were some Sardinians living there for some time.

These paragraphs almost certainly indicate that the Villanovan vases were all imported, while the local ones were Nuragic:

<<
The composition of fabric A connects to the geology of Gallura, which is dominated by the presence igneous intrusive rocks (granite). However, none of the samples falling into this group are marked by typological traits that would connect them to Villanovan traditions.>>

<<The mineralogical characterisation of the samples that were stylistically interpreted as Villanovan ceramics (di Gennaro, 2019) supports a north Tyrrhenian origin, in particular the area of Tuscany and North Latium (Fig. 8, a). These samples include the cordoned ollae and the walls decorated with geometric designs. Previous research on Villanovan ceramics has primarily focused on decoration and typology (e.g. De Angelis, 2001; Guidi, 1980, Toms,1996), whereas archaeometric studies are comparably limited (e.g. Interdonato, 2013; Morandiet al., 2018). This study therefore makes an initial, yet important contribution to our understanding of the multifarious ceramic production traditions of the Villanovan world and their connections to Sardinia.>>
 

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