The Etruscans of the early seventh century B.C.E. were governed by an aristocracy in many of their communities. This is separation of power between rich and poor, can be seen for example in the gigantic tombs built by the wealthy in sites such as as it's called. Although looting of tombs by Italy's highly effective tombaroli managed to clean out most of the Etruscan tombs long before modern times, a number of tombs were found intact. Among them, the famous Regolini-Galassi tomb, discovered in 1836, after investigations by two amateur archaeologists, well, really, treasure seekers, who were working on Vatican controlled land. One was the local priest of Cerveteri, Alessandro Regolini, and the other, his friend, General, Vincenzo Galassi. The discoveries these two fellows made were astonishing. Revealing stunning gold art works. The use of an alphabet, which blended the age old Villanova, unwritten language, with the newly formed letter characters developed by the Venetians. And discoveries like that show why even today it's easy for us to read Etruscan because it looks like our own alphabet. But we have great difficulty translating what they mean, what the words are and what they're trying to say, because all these words are different from our words. So it's written a lot like the way we write, but we just can't figure out, much of the time, what they're trying to say. Although we're slowly getting better at it. Cevereti was one of the major Villanovan communities, which developed into an Etruscan city state, and an international trading center. Since much Etruscan domestic architecture was built of oak, quercus serous oak, and other perishable materials, it is through the necropolis, the city of the dead that we come to know a sight because the tombs were carved into the natural stone underground. This is why they survive. The tombs featured a long entrance, known in Greek as a Dromos. And one descended through a flight of steps to reach the burial chamber which is known as the Camera. C-A-M-E-R-A. The front door of the tomb was sealed up with a vertically placed sigillum, S-I-G-I-L-L-U-M, or stone slab, to discourage robbers. Reaching the antechamber, right away, one could see a little hollowed out area called an alae, or wing Which would be carved to the left and to the right of the entry door, right after you've come into the antechamber. In these hollowed-out areas to the left and right, grave goods and even a subsequent burial or two might be placed. The antechamber itself was found straight ahead from the entry and it contained in the Regolini/Galassi tomb, the burial of a male, laid out on a bed and surrounded with honorary bronze shields. There were also iron spits used as money before coins existed. But this was just the antechamber. Apparently a burial made subsequent to the one in the main back chamber. That back chamber contained the remains of a woman. But not just any woman, a woman who's name was perhaps Larthia, L-A-R-T-H-I-A, and who was Etruscan royalty. She was found associated with an ornate throne nearby and she was laid out on her back with a magnificently made pectoral on her chest, a gold work with parallels in ancient Assyria to the east and such things are mentioned in the Bible. A burial like this shows the extraordinary importance and value that could be placed on women in Etruscan society. In addition, a beautifully crafted fibula, an elaborately decorated gold pin which was a foot high was recovered from the body. No doubt pinning a now missing garment, a royal garment to her. Fibuli, these pins were commonly used to fasten clothing and antiquity, but Etruscan examples often had remarkable decoration. The main body of this thing featured what appears to be separately made and soldered-on ducks and griffins, while stylized lions adorn the upper part of the disc. Gold wire called filigree and tiny balls of decoration called granulation, were also widely employed. Well, how did the Etruscans, who inherited their skills, metalworking of course, from the Villanovans, how did they manage to create such magnificent gold work? Well, I was determined to find out, so I asked an expert.
