Warrior identity

and the materialisation of power

in Early Iron Age Etruria
Cristiano Iaia
INTRODUCTION
The subject matter of this paper is the material identity of warriors and warriorhood in
Early Iron Age central Italy. In particular, I shall focus on the way in which war as a social
activity is incorporated into the material culture through rituals. Hence, rather than
discussing weapons and warfare, this paper mainly deals with burial rites and artefacts that
were chosen to be symbolically manipulated through the rites with the explicit intention of
transmitting messages to an audience.
I am aware that this approach does not allow a deep treatment of issues widely debated
in current prehistoric archaeology and anthropology, such as violence, aggression and
combat techniques (e.g. Vankilde 2003; Jockenhvel 2006; Harding 2007). Yet, focussing
on the symbolic dimension of weapons does not entail diminishing or masking the
importance of aggressiveness and physical violence in warfare. In fact, this is only one
side of a more complex picture, that encompasses not only violence in war, but even more
subtle instruments for asserting authority and coercion, such as ideological naturalisation/
legitimisation and, last but not least, consensus on ideal values, reinforced through ritual
activity and the active, emotionally charged, use of visual means.
Before starting any discussion on this topic, it is worth remembering that Early Iron Age
Etruria, synonymous with the so-called Villanovan Culture, has been the subject of different
scholarly traditions. Scholars of pre-Roman Italy, mainly inspired by a traditional classicist
point of view, tend to emphasise the role of this cultural complex as the early manifestation
of the Etruscans (e.g. Torelli 1981; Bartoloni 1989; 2003). Since the hugely inluential
paper on the archaic facies of Etruria by Massimo Pallottino (Pallottino 1939), the general
direction of research, inluenced by a strong cultural/historical paradigm, has focussed
on the concept of the Villanovan culture as a discrete entity and on its transformations,
through archaeological phases of increasing sophistication (Periods I to III), into a truly
historical civilisation. From this perspective though with a range of different positions
(compare Bartoloni 1989 and Camporeale 2000: 71) the birth of Villanovan culture during
the 9
th
century BC (in conventional absolute chronology) has been viewed for a long time
72 CRISTIANO IAIA
as a gradual change from great confederations of prehistoric villages to cities, whose inal
evolution, coinciding with the emergence of the Etruscan ethnos, was determined by the
intensiication of trade and cultural contact with the Greeks. Ethnogenesis is a dominant
theme of this tradition affecting the interpretation of several aspects of material culture
(for a critical overview, see G. Bradley 2000).
From a different perspective less focussed on the mortuary record some prehistorians
have during the last thirty years emphasised the revolutionary character of the process that,
at the transition from the Bronze Age into the Early Iron Age 1 (late 10
th
to 9
th
centuries BC),
led to the formation of large-scale demographic concentrations, or proto-urban centres
(e.g. Guidi 1985; Peroni 1989: 426517; Pacciarelli 1991; 2001; Vanzetti 2004). According
to this view, partly embraced by some classical archaeologists (e.g. Colonna 1986: 387), the
crucial phenomenon of this period is not ethnic formation but the rapid upsurge of a strong
centralisation process, involving increasing competition for territorial control.
Other scholarly traditions, partly connected to the latter, have added the issue of
Early State formation to the centralisation theme. They include a range of different
approaches. Most notable of all these is the Romano-centric perspective of Andrea
Carandini (Carandini 1997), chiely, though not exclusively, founded on written sources;
and the prehistoric world-system perspective of Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri which is more
inluenced by Anglo-American processualism, but possesses a strong cultural historical
background (Bietti Sestieri 1997).
Thanks to its geographical extension and complexity of formation, Villanovan culture
might be considered an entity with multiple ramiications (Fig. 1), spatially ranging
from Etruria proper to the southern Po Plain and southern Campania, with an isolated
presence in the Marche (Fermo). These local manifestations were part of a strong network
of connections, involving aspects of funerary ideology and formal features of artefacts
(especially prestige metalwork), but sometimes unfolded through highly diverse historical
trajectories. This has led to radically divergent interpretations of the phenomena, ranging
from a sort of koin lacking any ethnic and deinite cultural signiicance (Peroni 1992), to
an ethnic core-periphery system with Etruria as the privileged zone (Bietti Sestieri 1997).
For the scope of this paper, a crucial point to note is that the funerary representation
of the warrior identity in the above-mentioned area was remarkably determined by local
choices besides some wide-ranging commonalities. For example, at Bologna in the 10
th
and 9
th
centuries references to warriorhood in burials are totally absent. They become
exceptional from the 8
th
to the 7
th
century BC, and are mainly aimed at highlighting the social
excellence of speciic individuals in the form of sword deposition (Morigi Govi et al. 1996).
This is in sharp contrast not only with the situation in south Etruria but also with that of
the other huge northern Villanovan centre, Verucchio (Bentini et al. 2007) which only goes
to stress the imperative one must observe, to locate evidence carefully within well deined
sociocultural contexts.
BUILDING WARRIOR IDENTITY IN RITUALS
(930850 BC)
In the Italic peninsula weapons and war activities increased in importance throughout the
Bronze Age, according to a picture consistent with that of continental Europe (Kristiansen
& Larsson 2005; Harding 2007). To restrict the inquiry to the Late Bronze Age, our
knowledge of weapon sets and armour is only indirect, particularly limited to inds in hoards,
settlements and wet places, due to an ideological paradigm, which was itself inherently
linked to the cremation rite that for many centuries did not allow the regular use of war
elements in tombs (Pacciarelli 2006). This is particularly striking for the Recent Bronze
Age (13
th
initial 12
th
centuries BC), a period which saw the irst remarkable diffusion of
Urnield-like cemeteries, especially in northern and north-central Italy.
WARRIOR IDENTITY IN EARLY IRON AGE ETRURIA 73
The signiicance of this phenomenon in relation to ritual ideology has recently received
unexpected illumination, through the recovery of a vast cremation cemetery pertaining to
the Terramare culture (southern Po plain), viz. that of Casinalbo near Modena (Cardarelli
et al. 2006). Here, in the course of complex ritual activities that involved banqueting, elite
groups burned and fragmented bronze swords, daggers and ornaments, scattering their
residues on the burial ground, while those very same categories of artefacts were almost
completely absent in the graves, which as a rule consisted merely of cinerary urns and
vessels used as lids. Other impressive evidence is that of the 12
th
century hoard found at
NogaraPila del Brancn in Veneto, which includes many fragmented weapons and pieces
of armour, interpreted by some authors as a cult deposition of war spoils (Salzani 1998;
Cupit & Leonardi 2005). It is therefore possible to observe an inverse relationship between
the uniform character of cremation graves and the contemporary existence of sacriicial
Fig. 1 Simpliied map showing sites mentioned in the text
74 CRISTIANO IAIA
and votive practices which involved the destruction of weapons (for a similar picture in
continental Europe and Britain see for example R. Bradley 1998).
In the course of the Final Bronze Age (12
th
10
th
centuries BC) this sort of interdiction
against the deposition of real weapons in cremation graves continued, although in central
Italy we have other considerable evidence, especially from contemporary hoards, of the
increasing generalisation of bronze spearheads and javelins as the standard component of
weaponry, followed by short swords (Pacciarelli 2006). The cremation rite in Final Bronze
Age south Etruria is still characterised by this lack of weapons and armour (Pacciarelli
2001: 202). The mainly ritual nature of this choice appears more explicit if one takes
into consideration other features of the burial rite. In particular, within the graves all
references to social life assume the character of a mise-en-scne set up through the use of
miniaturised pottery items, such as house furniture (tables etc.), small-scale reproductions
of houses (so-called hut urns), or part of them (roof-shaped lids for urns). Ancient
Latium, the region immediately south of Etruria, expressed the most coherent variant of
this ritual practice which consisted of miniature reproductions of whole panoplies of arms
(Bietti Sestieri & De Santis 2003; De Santis 2005a). These panoplies included weapons such
as swords, lances and display armour, such as shields and greaves, that in the original version
might have been of organic matter, for example leather, wicker and wood. In fact, the likely
existence of defensive panoplies made of organic materials is a point worth remembering
in many cases (Stary 1981: 54; Martinelli 2004: 23). Even in Iron Age contexts, this kind of
organic object is generally not preserved in the archaeological record (although they might
be reconstructed from indirect sources); consequently our knowledge of defensive weapons
is incomplete insofar as evidence is restricted to metal examples.
This picture explains many characteristics of the burial rite in Villanovan Etruria during
the initial phase of the Early Iron Age (930850 BC approximately). Typical of this rite is
a regular lack, or at least a scarcity, of weapons deposition which I also noted for the Late
Bronze Age. A rapid estimate of metal weapons found in Villanovan contexts during this
period illustrates this assumption well (see diagrams in Fig. 2). At Tarquinia, among 69 male
burials of initial phase 1 that are archaeologically recognised (from older excavations), real
weapons amount to 11.2% of the total (for analytical data, see Iaia 1999: 33). They include
an isolated sword (1 grave), a sword and a spear (2 graves), an isolated spear (1 grave),
and, in one instance, 3 bronze helmets associated with one sword and one spear. In the
Pagliarone necropolis (Gastaldi 1998), a peripheral burial ground relating to the large
proto-urban centre of Pontecagnano (Salerno), a similar phenomenon came to light, though
in the framework of more variable burial practices, including a mixture of cremations and
inhumations (the latter mainly reserved for young individuals and females). There, only
6.1% of the total number of male graves recognisable on the basis of anthropological and
archaeological data contained functional weapons (all offensive).
A comparison with other contemporary burial contexts in Italy illuminates the close link
to ritual customs of this lack of weapons in burials (data summarised in Fig. 2). For instance,
the TerniAcciaierie necropolis in southern Umbria dated to the initial phase of the Early
Iron Age is characterised by a totally different ritual, mostly including inhumations in grave
pits beneath mounds, often surrounded by stone circles (Leonelli 2003). In that cemetery
functional weapons were normally deposited in graves, and symbolic reproductions of these
were unknown. Taking into consideration the available data from older excavations it is
calculated that, among 33 burials assigned to male individuals, 57.5% were furnished with
weapons, only 21% of which included a sword, the remainder with a spear or a javelin. Even
more widely distributed and diversiied were the weapon sets in the Torre Galli necropolis
in southern Calabria (Pacciarelli 1999) that belonged to a funerary tradition characterised
by inhumations in pits and much greater evidence of social stratiication than at Terni.
These graves regularly included javelins and spears, supplemented in the most eminent
examples with swords, knives and sheet bronze greaves in various combinations.
WARRIOR IDENTITY IN EARLY IRON AGE ETRURIA 75
Notwithstanding these data, to judge from the limited number of graves with elements of
weaponry, there is no reason to contemplate the existence in Etruria of ighting techniques
substantially different from those of the rest of protohistoric Italy. As a rule, such techniques
comprised the use of the spear as the basic weapon for most combatants, complemented by
the sword only for a limited number of higher-status warriors (Stary 1981). By contrast,
the way in which Villanovan groups elaborated a conceptual framework for the use of some
items connected to warfare was truly speciic. This framework was mainly of a ritual nature
and intended to communicate, through the adoption of foreign techno-stylistic models and
a sophisticated manipulation of material culture, messages of prominence of the warrior
component (Iaia 2012).
Throughout the entire Early Iron Age, we witness an increasing importance of defensive
armour, particularly of helmets in Etruria. In later prehistory, helmets, especially when
made of metal, are the most typical insignia of the high-status warrior and may assume a
notable status as authority markers, possibly with a political signiicance. The protohistoric
ancestors of the Etruscans were the irst in Italy to employ this kind of armour on a
semi-regular basis (e.g. Hencken 1971). There are many reasons for arguing that, for the
most part, they were of perishable material such as leather, while only a restricted number
were made of bronze. Some scholars (Hencken 1971; Martinelli 2004) have observed that
the presence of holes near the rim of many metal helmets indicates that they were furnished
as a rule with a substantial padding of perishable material, giving an effective protection
to the warriors head. This assumption is conirmed by many examples, direct and indirect,
especially by the occasional recovery of organic remains inside the sheet bronze helmet
(one example comes from the recent excavations at Verucchio: Bentini et al. 2007: 220).
In fact, the only specimens of functional helmets that are preserved for the initial phases
of the Early Iron Age, are of sheet bronze with a knob over-cast on top of the cap (Fig. 3, b & c).
These helmets might have been surmounted by a feather crest as shown by some ceramic
replicas, and furnished with a leather or wicker padding. In this case, we are clearly dealing
with sophisticated items, manufactured by metalworkers who imported the form and
techniques from central Europe (Iaia 2005: 47ff; Iaia 2012). In particular, as demonstrated
since Gero von Merharts and Hugh Henckens studies, there are many parallels for these
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Tarquinia
Pagliarone
Terni
Torre Galli
no weapons
weapons
Fig. 2 Percentages of male burials with weapons from four Italian Early Iron Age sites
76 CRISTIANO IAIA
helmets in the Urnield cultures of the Carpathians (von Merhart 1941; Hencken 1971;
Schauer 1988; Clausing 2003). These helmets were deposited in a very restricted group of
graves, mainly concentrated at Tarquinia, where they possibly represented the peak of an
emerging power structure (Iaia 1999; 2005). It was probably the exotic origin of the model
and the high level of the craft that triggered an emulation phenomenon in south Etruria and
in some regions linked to it by cultural relationships, such as northern Etruria and southern
Campania. As a consequence, several graves of eminent male individuals in those areas
dated to the 10
th
9
th
centuries contained a pottery replica of a bell helmet, employed as a
lid for the cinerary urn (e.g. DAgostino & De Natale 1996; Gastaldi 1998; Iaia 2005: 107).
It is however dificult to disconnect the social meanings of those objects from their
ritual manipulation, as attempted by some studies that treat weaponry as a separate ield
of inquiry (e.g. Stary 1981). The funerary use of helmets, whether real or replicated in
pottery as a lid placed on the mouth of the cinerary urn, is strictly linked to the speciic
Fig. 3 a: ceramic helmet-lid from Tarquinia, Villa Bruschi Falgari tomb 73 (adapted from Trucco et al. 2005: ig. 3, n.3);
b, c: bronze bell helmets from Tarquinia, Arcatelle (Tarquinia, Museo Archeologico Nazionale)
drawings by C. Iaia
a
b
c
WARRIOR IDENTITY IN EARLY IRON AGE ETRURIA 77
anthropomorphic conception of Villanovan cremation burials, in which the urn takes on
the symbolic function of a surrogate of the deceaseds body (Delpino 1977b; Toms 1996;
Iaia 1999). This concept, neither new or exclusive to Villanovan culture, accounts for the
attitude that conceives of armour and offensive weapons as an extension of the warriors
body, not only in burial contexts (e.g. Treherne 1995). In particular, the recurrence of
decorative motifs reproducing eyes and mouths on the helmets, sometimes with a clear
terrifying purpose, demonstrates the identiication of these helmets with the head of the
warrior.
Other symbolic implications of the use of the pottery helmet are indicated by the
apparently bizarre practice, found especially in south Etruria and Campania, of hybridising
the helmet image with that of the house (Iaia 2012). In particular, many bell helmets have
a schematic or naturalistic roof on the top of the apex (Fig. 3a) or designs located on the
front, imitating doors (Gastaldi 1998; for the polysemous implications of these objects, see
DAgostino & De Natale 1996: 111). This might suggest the assimilation of two distinct
symbols: irst, the dwelling as a double reference to both the household and a domesticated
after-life; secondly, helmets as materialisation of a large social category, the armed men.
In fact, the great importance of house representations within the mortuary rituals of Early
Iron Age south Etruria is demonstrated by broader evidence including hut-urns, grave stone
markers and so on (Colonna 1986: 393; Bartoloni et al. 1987; Iaia 1999).
In the early Villanovan symbolic system the funerary custom of helmet lids seems to
refer to the general social category of weapon-bearers or warriors, that does not have
a unique relationship with a speciic economic level. In analysing the funerary record of
Early Iron Age 1 Tarquinia based on older excavations, I have observed a great variability
in grave assemblages (Iaia 1999), corresponding to a wide range of social positions. In
those contexts, graves with helmet-lids, usually characterised by a moderate lavishness and
a certain care in ritual attributes (such as stone receptacles etc.), can be classiied according
to three levels of complexity of grave furnishings:
(a) without any grave-goods or with ibulae and/or a razor
(b) with functional weapons (also with bronze vessels)
(c) with a bronze helmet and variable status markers
(horse-bits, bronze vessels, ritual paraphernalia)
At the same time, it is plausible to suppose that those who practised this funerary custom
enjoyed some kind of status distinction, in the general sense indicated by Max Weber (for
sharing of life styles and of honours, see Weber 1991: 186), while they did not constitute
a stratiied status group or a social class.
The spatial distribution of these graves within the cemeteries of Tarquinia is poorly
recognised, but some data are of interest. For the cemetery of Le Rose it is possible to
identify the recurrence of short-lived nuclei, each probably belonging to nuclear or scarcely
extended families, focussed on couples consisting of a male with the pottery helmet and
a female provided with ibulae and ornaments (Pacciarelli 2001: 24250). Around them
were tombs without grave goods or with a few items. Although there were no weapons, or
prominent indications of social differentiation, the graves of deceased males marked by
helmet-lids can be considered as belonging to leaders of the family groups on the basis of
their ritual features. This kind of funerary organisation, with its apparently egalitarian
character, may suggest a relation to non-elite groups with an agrarian base, in which the
weapon-bearers held the most important roles.
Other funerary sites at Tarquinia show a more articulated and dynamic picture. A very
peculiar spatial patterning has been recognised in the recently excavated necropolis of Villa
Bruschi Falgari (Fig. 4), so far known from a number of preliminary papers (Trucco 2006;
Trucco et al. 2005). Here, some densely-arranged groups of cremation graves dated to the
10
th
9
th
centuries BC indicate extended families or lineages. These dense clusters comprised
many adult male depositions with pottery helmets, nearly all lacking functional weapons,
78 CRISTIANO IAIA
but usually provided with a number of markers of socio-ritual prominence, such as stone
containers and rich vessels sets including ritual paraphernalia (Trucco et al. 2005: ig. 2).
Adult male graves with ceramic helmets were arranged in close relation to female graves,
Fig. 4 Distribution of ceramic helmets in the Villa Bruschi Falgari cemetery at Tarquinia
(modiied drawing from Trucco et al. 2005: ig. 2)
WARRIOR IDENTITY IN EARLY IRON AGE ETRURIA 79
which were also characterised by ceremonial attributes and associations of wealthy
ornaments, suggesting that a stratiication process was developing.
Though not so easy to interpret, this spatial coniguration clearly points to a concentration
of warrior roles in the hands of some families, in particular those with many helmet graves.
Moreover, the spatial closeness of some of the helmet graves, particularly the presence of
double graves of this kind (in one case including two urns, each one covered by a helmet)
might suggest that the warrior role was inherited within the socially differentiated kin
groups.
The signiicance of this picture can be gauged only by comparing it to the presence of
markedly wealthier tombs at Tarquinia in the contemporary cemetery of Le Arcatelle,
on the Monterozzi plateau (Iaia 1999: 69). The latter was characterised by a striking
concentration of bronze helmets, up to six (two of which appear in Fig. 3, b & c), inside male
graves that were further marked by other features of socio-political and socio-economic
distinction, such as bronze vessels, real weapons and horse gear (Iaia 2005: 131; Iaia 2012).
Commenting on this evidence, Marco Pacciarelli (2010: 26) has argued for the emergence
of a process of political centralisation, through which some restricted groups gained power
over the entire proto-urban community. It can be added that the situation seems to have
been very luid and competitive. In particular, some less prosperous corporate groups, such
as those using the Villa Bruschi Falgari cemetery, seemed to emulate the most powerful
ones through the adoption of imitations of helmets and unusual ritual paraphernalia.
WARRIORS CHARISMA AND THE RITUALISATION OF WARFARE
(850720 BC)
In South Etruria the transition from phase 1 to phase 2 of the Early Iron Age and the
overall picture of Early Iron Age 2 is marked by a rapid and dramatic increase in the levels
of socio-political and economic complexity. The development of salient social hierarchy,
along with the growth of trade relations with the Aegean world, have been the main
themes in the literature on this period (e.g. Bartoloni 1989; 2003 with references), seen
as a sort of prelude to the Orientalising phase. This viewpoint, partly determined by the
overwhelmingly funerary nature of the evidence, has overshadowed a deep inquiry into the
economic basis of the rapid insurgence of wealth and social stratiication.
In spatial terms the centralisation process of EIA 1 was followed by an expanding trend
towards the foundation of new secondary settlements on defensible positions that were
especially concentrated in the hilly hinterland, with the clear purpose of controlling areas
crucial for resource exploitation and strategic needs (Iaia & Mandolesi 2010). This was
a irst step towards the development of more functionally integrated territorial entities
and necessarily involved an increasing pressure on the exploitation of resources, of which
speciic groups took advantage. On the other hand, the burial evidence suggests that the
proto-urban communities, while witnessing a huge demographic growth, were developing
an economic organisation far more diversiied than in the past (for example from the point
of view of division of labour) and capable of triggering an intensiication of production
conducive to a remarkable surplus accumulation (Torelli 1981: 55). Furthermore, the
highly competitive nature of the social context made weaponry and war-related symbols an
essential element in driving social and political dynamics.
Plenty of burial evidence indicates that during EIA 2 the interdiction against the
deposition of weapons in graves was abandoned in favour of an explicit representation of the
warrior (Stary 1981: 53; Iaia 1999: 126; Pacciarelli 2001; 2010). In fact, this phenomenon,
accompanying the spread of the inhumation rite, was relatively gradual and in the irst part
of phase 2 found much opposition especially amongst the cremating communities of the
northern area of south Etruria such as Tarquinia and Vulci (Iaia 1999).
A similar phenomenon of persistent concealment and overshadowing of the warrior
function can also be found in some iconographic documents. In the early phase of the Iron
80 CRISTIANO IAIA
Fig. 5 Early Iron Age hunting scenes from bronze sword scabbards and razors; (a), (b) not to scale
(modiied drawings from Bianco Peroni 1970; 1979)
c
Age, we know of no war scenes or representations of warriors in combat. Towards the end
of the same phase and at the start of Early Iron Age 2 the situation partially changed.
In a series of elite Villanovan graves, mainly distributed within Campania and South
Etruria, there is a signiicant occurrence of hunting scenes (Fig. 5), which were incised
on a particular category of prestige sword scabbard (Bianco Peroni 1970; Camporeale
1984: 1729; Gastaldi 1998: 40). They represented, in a truly schematic style, isolated
male individuals hunting mainly red deer or boar. The warriors are armed with spears
and bows (a weapon never deposited in graves) and sometimes accompanied by dogs.
Other scabbards represent only animals, but the reference to hunting remains clear due
to the presence of red deer and dogs (Bianco Peroni 1970: nos 2067, tab. 60). From this
moment on, the iconography of warriors hunting with lances and axes lasted for centuries
in Etruscan art as a marker of a typical aristocratic activity (Camporeale 1984). Judging
from the archaeozoological evidence from Etruria (De Grossi Mazzorin 2006), in the early
irst millennium BC hunting was a restricted activity, mainly linked to the procurement of
raw materials for craft production and especially to the manifestation of an elite life style.
It is reasonable to think that hunting trips were among the main engaging activities, a
kind of game, that might have accompanied the achievement of adulthood by children or
adolescents, for example in the framework of rites of passage. This assumption seems to be
conirmed by another category of artefact, the razors, which are found only in male burials
and also have comparable depictions on the blade (Fig. 5c), sometimes connected to isolated
representations of axes on the opposite side (Bianco Peroni 1979), as a possible reference
to the sacriicial sphere. On the other hand, a relationship with the widely attested rites of
hair- or beard-cutting is suggested even by the presumed function of razors (Iaia 1999: 117).
a b
WARRIOR IDENTITY IN EARLY IRON AGE ETRURIA 81
According to a widely accepted interpretation (Treherne 1995; Kristiansen & Larsson
2005: 228) razors are included in the category of body care tools which, from the European
Late Bronze Age, were intended to enhance the appearance of warriors, not only in
everyday life but also in death. This aestheticisation of masculinity and warrior power,
also seen in the ideal of the Homeric epic, has been recently criticised as a paradigm hiding
the real nature of violence and dominance, which appears in particular when considering
anthropological perspectives and osteological data (Hanks 2008). However, I think that
acknowledging the importance of heroicisation and idealisation of war for the history of the
archaic western world (and not only for this: see for example the Samurai of Japan) does
not rule out disclosing the ideological nature of the general concepts of masculinity and the
warriors beauty, which, if not universal, are at least widespread in traditional societies.
This argument can be widened. In ranked societies, especially in those characterised
by political centralisation, such as Chiefdoms and Early States, the top level in military,
religious and political authority expresses itself through strong visual means, that
enhance its charisma and its capacity to inspire awe and respect, usually in connection
with a sacralisation of the warrior igure (see the extreme instance of the Aztec of Mexico:
Carrasco 1995). In Late Bronze Age Europe, for example in Mycenaean civilisation and
in central Europe, parade armour, especially in bronze, played a key role in this respect
(e.g. Bouzek 1985: 92117) and in Villanovan Etruria such armour seems to have inherited
the same role. In general terms, prestige weapons, whether functional or aimed at display,
were intended as a means to separate aesthetically the high-status warrior from the mass
of middle- and low-rank warriors. This concept also marks a remarkable difference from
the hoplitic, urban usage of armour in Archaic Greece, in that the latter is sociologically
embedded in the power-sharing between aristocrats and an emerging middle class of
landowners (a clear deinition of this can be found in Bintliff 1999: 52).
Without denying the risk of a stereotyped celebration of the mystics of warfare
(Vankilde 2003), this picture is based upon evidence of remarkable consistency. In the late
9
th
century BC, an impressive lourishing period of Villanovan armour began. At irst, we only
ind isolated burials with weapons that are a totally new phenomenon. The major innovation
in the ield of display and prestige weaponry is the bronze crested helmet (Fig. 6), followed
by the solid-hilted sword. These two types of weapons are both present in a 9
th
century grave
of the Arcatelle necropolis at Tarquinia (Hencken 1968: 86; Iaia 1999: 41, ig. 9b), which is
probably by far the most ancient of all warrior graves.
The creation of the early Etruscan warriors material identity resulted from a complex
blending of trans-cultural forms and locally-elaborated models. Solid-hilted swords
of the antenna type are typical trans-cultural items demonstrating close links to highly
specialised bronze workshops across a large part of continental Europe, from north to
south (Mller-Karpe 1961; Bianco Peroni 1970; Kristiansen 1993). In contrast, sheet
bronze crested helmets are an original elaboration of Villanovan smiths, although a fairly
generic model of the type was already present in Late Bronze Age west-central Europe
(Hencken 1971: 58).
The Villanovan model of the bronze crested helmet lasted for about 150 years, or a
little more (von Hase 1988; Iaia 2005: 65), and became one of the most sophisticated metal
production classes of protohistoric Italy (some specimens are shown in Fig. 6). The latest
developments are still visible in the 7
th
century at Verucchio in Romagna (von Eles 2002;
2007) (Fig. 6c). In the long run, formal and technical evolution contributed to make it
an item more suitable for display, characterised by an increase in the high proportion of
the crest, complexity of ornamental patterns and thinness of the sheets (Stary 1981: 22;
Iaia 2005: 63)(Fig. 6). A comparable phenomenon is found in the class of bronze round
shields, which appeared in the early 8
th
century beside other different and more traditional
shapes, oval or elliptical, which had to be made of leather or wood (Schauer 1980; Bartoloni
& De Santis 1995; Geiger 1994). This is another striking innovation that was accompanied
by an increasing development towards a bronze-making craft capable of making large
82 CRISTIANO IAIA
Fig. 6 Evolution of bronze crested helmets from the 9
th
to the 7
th
centuries BC
a: Tarquinia, Impiccato tomb 1; b: Bisenzio, Bucacce, tomb 1; c: Verucchio, Lippi tomb 89
(drawings by C. Iaia)
a
b
c
decorated items of exceptionally thin bronze sheets, a virtuoso technology unparalleled in
contemporary Europe. This evolution was associated with a resurgence of the custom of the
votive offering of weapons, in which shields, and secondarily helmets, had a prominent role
(Bergonzi 1990; Iaia 2005: 249, with references).
0 5 10cm
WARRIOR IDENTITY IN EARLY IRON AGE ETRURIA 83
Pottery imitations of crested helmets employed as covers of funerary urns at the
transition between the late phase 1 and the initial phase 2 constitute a phenomenon which
seems to continue the earlier ritual custom of pottery bell-helmets (Frey 1990; Iaia 1999;
2005), but with an enhancement of diversity in grave assemblages. Hence, in this period,
at least at Tarquinia, we see a sharp contrast between the large mass of tombs belonging
to low-rank or middle-rank warriors, poor and without any real element of war except for
the earthenware helmet, and a few strikingly rich burials with real weapons and armour
(Iaia 1999: 53).
Among the latter, the two cremation graves I and II placed in the Impiccato necropolis
at Tarquinia, dating to c.800 BC, are by far the most impressive examples (Hencken 1968,
11523; 1728; Delpino 2005; Iaia 1999; 2007, with references). They are distinguished by
a complex and lavish ritual, in which the urns, laid on their sides in a rectangular cist or
pit, and dressed with clothes adorned with ibulae and golden plates, were complemented
by prestige weapons and armour and by very rare sets of bronze vessels, including incense
burners, linked to the ceremonial consumption of beverages (for the Impiccato II tomb. see
Fig. 7).
On this basis it is possible to suggest that in the decades around 800 BC the formation
of the material identity of Villanovan high-authority warriors was at a developed stage,
at least in some proto-urban centres of south Etruria. In the above-mentioned burials at
Tarquinia, the occurrence of military insignia, prestige objects and ritual instruments such
as incense burners, could indicate reciprocally related political and cult functions of the
buried individual. Among these, the very peculiar hemispherical helmet of the Impiccato II
tomb (see Fig. 7, top left) shows the essence of power in this period. The reproduction of a
frightening face with eyes in the shape of sun discs is a clear manifestation of the military
force and charisma associated with the individual warrior. On the other hand, the lower
frieze with the sun-bird motive, that belongs to the well known religious iconography of
the Urnield period (e.g. Bouzek 1985: 176; Wirth 2006, with references) further suggests a
sacralisation of military power. These features are not totally new: I have already mentioned
the existence, in Latium, of a number of male depositions of the advanced phase of the Final
Bronze Age (11
th
10
th
centuries BC) in which this kind of connection seems to be already
attested (Bietti Sestieri & De Santis 2003); but what is deinitely new in the south Etruscan
example is the association between a complex ritual and the exceptional variety of highly
sophisticated artefacts. Moreover, the setting within a large cemetery (that of Impiccato)
pertaining to a huge demographic agglomeration of proto-urban Tarquinia (Mandolesi
1999), seems to project this kind of symbolism well beyond the private, or gentilicial,
sphere, although the extension and scale of the authority with which these individuals were
invested remains unclear.
This phenomenon is at the roots of later developments in iconography, dating to the
period between c.770 and 720 BC. The strong individualisation of power and the links with
the cult sphere led to the promotion of the high-status warrior igure to heroic status. The
decoration on two bronze helmets of unknown provenance (probably from Vulci) belonging
to late types, kept at the British Museum in London and at the Louvre in Paris respectively
(Tamburini 1993; Iaia 2005: 140), makes this concept very clear. On the British Museum
helmet, a depiction of a crested helmet is placed at the centre of the traditional cult
iconography of the sun-boat, in place of the sun (Fig. 8, a & b). Turning to the second
helmet, we can see the complete igure of a warrior wearing a crested helmet standing
between schematic reproductions of helmets (Fig. 8, c & d); it seems as if the igure of the
powerful warrior with crested helmet, the helmet itself and the symbols of cosmological
entities are interchangeable.
At the same time, south Etruscan burial rites were also changing. In south Etruria the
burial record of the full Early Iron Age 2 (phases 2b2c in the sequence elaborated at Veii:
see Toms 1986) shows a much more diversiied picture, consistent with the widespread
adoption of the inhumation rite. At Veii, a pervasiveness of simple offensive weapons in
84 CRISTIANO IAIA
Fig. 7 Tarquinia, Impiccato tomb II
(drawings by C. Iaia, of artefacts in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence, and of photographs from Delpino 2005)
WARRIOR IDENTITY IN EARLY IRON AGE ETRURIA 85
Fig. 8 a, b: bronze helmet of unknown provenance (possibly Vulci), London, British Museum
c, d: bronze helmet of unknown provenance (possibly Vulci), Paris, Muse du Louvre
(drawings by C. Iaia from photographs from Hencken 1971: ig. 66; Tamburini 1993: tab. I,a)
a
b
c
d
male burials, especially spears and javelins, is apparent (De Santis 2005b). In examining a
large sample of grave assemblages from the Quattro Fontanili necropolis, complemented
by a limited amount of osteological evidence, Marco Pacciarelli has noted a wide range
of complexity levels among weapon sets, which seems to correspond to distinctions based
both upon age and status membership (Pacciarelli 2001: 26176). A signiicant novelty in
this context is the spread of weapons, especially spears, in infant burials, which suggests
the emergence of stratiied status groups that at the same time expressed themselves as
warrior groups (Riva 2010: 84). Only a few deceased individuals are furnished with swords,
and amongst those only a tiny proportion, the same marked by other prestige items, are
accompanied by top-level insignia, such as bronze breast-plates, shields and wagons.
86 CRISTIANO IAIA
Yet rarer is the placement of bronze helmets in graves, a phenomenon that is linked to
outstandingly wealthy tombs, such as the well-known cremation burial AA1 (Boitani 2004),
which presumably belongs to a paramount leader.
At the moment there is no clear evidence that allows more speciic studies of combat
techniques, tactics and the related social implications for this period. A wide use of spears
with metal heads of variable form and dimension is attested from the burials (Stary 1981;
De Santis 2005b). Although this evidence suggests the widespread occurrence of mass
ighting (the origin of which goes back to the Late Bronze Age: Pacciarelli 2006), it is not
suficient to justify comparison with the phalanx-like ranks of Greek hoplites. In fact, hoplite
ighting was strictly linked to far heavier and weightier equipment, and was characterised
by an inherent dificulty of movement and visibility that ensured strong protection in the
framework of narrowly-ordered groups of combatants (Schwartz 2009).
At most, on the basis of the evidence discussed above, one could imagine a kind of manifold
hierarchical structure of military organisation. However, the most dificult question, in
this as in many other instances, is whether this symbolic focus on martial expression was
only a manifestation of pre-existing socio-economic levels or whether warriorhood and war
activities were an active, causal factor of the striking emergence of status distinctions and
wealth accumulation of this period. I suggest that there was a form of feedback between
these two factors. Accumulation and socio-economic differentiation, already in place,
though on a limited scale in the Early Iron Age 1, were the prerequisite of distinction in
military equipment, especially when considering the need of raw material procurement and
the capacity to sustain the high-level craftmanship necessary for producing prestige swords
and elaborate bronze helmets. At the same time, however, the authority of some powerful
individuals and the increasing militarisation of some groups, mirrored in the burial record,
may have fostered an escalation in war and predatory activities. Indeed, a partial and largely
ideologically-biased relection of the increasing importance of warrior groups in Etruria is
visible at least since the middle of the Early Iron Age 2 in the iconographic and symbolic
sphere.
The most vivid evidence for 8
th
century warrior igures and the ideology connected to
them comes from two bronze objects that were discovered in the Olmo Bello cemetery at
Bisenzio, a centre of inland south Etruria. In the following and conclusive part of this paper
I intend to draw attention to a number of important questions posed by these artefacts.
The irst item is the so-called bronze ceremonial wagon from tomb 2, a grave of
a female member of the local aristocracy (Fig. 9) (Paribeni 1928: 436; Fugazzola Delpino
1984: 144). In fact, the object is a stand of Cypriot or Nuragic type, to be considered a
masterpiece of early Etruscan metallurgy, although very crude in style (Woytowitsch
1978: 58, n.127; Macnamara 2002). It is part of a complex apparatus linked to convivial
ceremonies, including a set of bronze vessels with unusual characteristics and a service of
pottery drinking vessels probably aimed at the redistribution of beverages to a large group
of people, presumably the dead ladys retinue (Iaia 2006). The uniqueness of the stand,
along with the whole grave assemblage, throws light on the remarkable social standing of
the deceased, adding to the image of womens integration into the commensal politics of
EIA 2 south Etruscan communities. The setting of the artefact constitutes an integral part
of the celebratory message indicating the top social level that the object itself was expected
to convey.
On the bars and rods that make up the structure of the stand is a series of bronze
igurines depicting animals and humans that on the whole constitute a cosmology of the
developing Etruscan aristocracy. Despite this general reading of this artefact, there has
been a great debate on its interpretation, with positions ranging from viewing the stand as
a simple statement of elitist ideology, to emphasising a particular mythology or narrative as
illustrated by the igurines (Torelli 1997: 3846; Menichetti 1994: 21; 2000; Pacciarelli 2002).
Clearly it represents an elaborate expression of a hierarchical worldview. Two groups of
igurines depicting two different couples, or more probably the same couple in different
WARRIOR IDENTITY IN EARLY IRON AGE ETRURIA 87
Fig. 9 a: Bisenzio, Olmo Bello, plan of tomb 2 (modiied drawing from Paribeni 1928)
b, c: details of the bronze stand from the same grave (drawings from photographs from Pacciarelli 2002: tab. 9, 10)
a
b
c
situations, seem to be the focus of the representation (Fig. 9, b & c). Both couples include
a warrior wearing a crested helmet and wielding a spear in attack position, while only in
one of them the warrior also holds a great round shield, clearly of the metal type attested in
contemporary burials (Geiger 1994). Beside the warriors stand women with vessels, a clear
reference to the managing of banquets and commensality, and in one case a boy stands with
a small oval shield, of a type that is known only from miniaturised reproductions of earlier
date (Bartoloni & De Santis 1995: ig. 2). This shield attests the existence of small-scale
weapons of perishable material, possibly employed by elite members of minor rank. The
group could represent the portrait of a powerful family, inside which distinctive roles based
on age and gender are overtly stated (Torelli 1997: 39).
Other depictions on the Bisenzio stand are connected to typical activities of
a Homeric-like aristocracy: for example, two igures of naked men are engaged in a duel
with swords, possibly an agonistic game, while other men are hunting and ploughing. The
manner of representation is characterised by an emphasis on nudity and phallic attributes
features usually interpreted as an indication of generative power (e.g. Menichetti 1994).
Generally speaking, the depictions on the Bisenzio stand have no direct reference to
war and warfare; this is not surprising since they represent a ritual euphemism for a much
tougher reality. All the weapons are represented either statically as attributes of function
and status (crested helmets, shields) or in the framework of leisure and agonistics. In this
88 CRISTIANO IAIA
male-dominated picture, women also have an important role, viz. that of food-dispenser in
ritual contexts. These characteristics are presumably deliberately portrayed, to disclose the
ideology of the group which is representing itself as a civilised elite as Corinna Riva puts
it (Riva 2010: 84).
The second important object is a bronze amphora (Fig. 10) discovered in a female
inhumation grave (tomb 22) not far from the preceding one in the same Olmo Bello
cemetery. Unfortunately the grave is still unpublished, but we have some information on
its assemblage and on its date, which is taken as falling within the last quarter of the 8
th

century BC (Delpino 1977a: 472; Fugazzola Delpino 1984: 164). The object belongs to a
class of bronze neck vessels recurrent in south Etruscan burials around the middle of the 8
th

century (Iaia 2005: 17381), certainly older than the grave. In this case too, the amphora
was found in a female burial and was associated with the banqueting context of the vessel,
the vessel itself being almost certainly a wine container.
A series of bronze igurines, especially of armed men, were placed on the shoulder and
on the lid of the amphora. Presumably they represent a complete and unique ritual scene,
with nude warriors dancing and marching in ithyphallic attitude around a big animal
(possibly a bear) or a sort of demon monster placed at the top of the lid. The warriors are
armed with spears, spear shafts (albeit only a few of them are preserved) and small circular
shields, which we know were also made in bronze from 8
th
century graves at Bisenzio itself
(Delpino 1977a: 468). There is even a presumed sacriice scene with a cow being led to its
death. The ithyphallic state of the igurines is a well-known feature in European prehistoric
art and is associated with warriors (e.g. Nordic rock art: Harding 2007: 117; 139).
A 7
th
century bronze lid of a ceremonial bronze situla from Pitino di San Severino (Naso
2000: 117, with references) can be referred to a similar iconography which is however in
this case reinterpreted in a very different chronological and cultural milieu, viz. the late
7
th
century Apennine region of Adriatic central Italy. On that item, four bronze igurines of
ithyphallic warriors holding a complex set of weapon including helmets, spears, bows and
large shields are marching or dancing around a kind of totem pole representing a human
head surrounded by horse heads.
The interpretation of the depiction from the amphora of tomb 22 at Bisenzio is even
more controversial than those of the stand from tomb 2 (Calvetti 1987; Camporeale 1987;
Menichetti 1994; Pacciarelli 2002; Delpino 2009: 157). It is not my present intention to
address the issue of the possible religious and mythological signiicance of this scene (for
which see Calvetti 1987; Pacciarelli 2002), but merely to emphasise its unique documentary
value. For the purpose of this paper there are some clear points that have to be stressed, the
irst of which is the warriors lack of parade armour such as helmets and big shields. The
warriors wear only simple caps, albeit of two different forms, and hence do not belong to the
top level of the military hierarchy, as seen in the princely couples of the stand discussed
above. Nudity, simplicity of equipments, reference to war dancing are all characteristics
suggesting the depiction of young warriors in a particular ritual or at a festive occasion.
Furthermore, the ithyphallic stance can be explained as a manifestation of military
prowess and aggressiveness (as in many prehistoric depictions) although there is also
the possibility that the warriors are represented as being under the inluence of alcohol,
an interpretation that has the additional merit of explaining the presence of igurines on a
prestige ceremonial drinking vessel. On the other hand, the funerary interpretation of the
scene (Menichetti 1994), based on the erroneous identiication of the vessel as a cinerary
urn (the grave is an inhumation: Delpino 2009), appears less convincing.
A possible thematic continuity between these scenes and the depictions of hunters with
older scabbards and razors, as described above, can be seen as a common reference to
the initiation rites of young males. Another striking similarity can be detected. Whatever
the kind of action depicted, the scene has the realistic appearance of a feast celebrated
after a hunting engagement. In this context, interpreting the animal at the centre of
the lid as a prey is not unreasonable (compare Calvetti 1987, with references to bear
WARRIOR IDENTITY IN EARLY IRON AGE ETRURIA 89
ceremonialism). Reference has also been made to the scenic or athletic character of the
portrayal (Martinelli 2009: 87), and such an approach does not necessarily clash with the
ritual performance of ighting and hunting activities. As a general comparison, especially in
regard to the frenzied appearance of the warriors, it is not inappropriate to refer to Tacitus
description of excited young males dancing naked with arms among the Germans (Germ. 24).
As to which kind of warrior group is depicted, one may recall many ethno-historical accounts
of warrior societies, ranging from the Germanic comitatus (Germ. 13) and the Celtic Fianna
of Early Medieval Ireland (Mac Cana 1991), to the Mnnerbnde or Gefolgschaften of recent
times (Harding 2007: 161).
Although the appeal here is mostly to recent ideological constructs (for example, as
employed in the Third Reich), there are several clues to the historical reality of such
institutions in pre-urban societies. As demonstrated for Italy by the Nogara-Pila del Brancn
hoard of the 12
th
century BC (Cupit & Leonardi 2005) and indirectly by the many inds of
weaponry in Late Bronze Age Italy (Pacciarelli 2006), warrior bands are neither a novelty
of the advanced Early Iron Age, nor of an archaic character, since they are widely attested
in many socio-political contexts. Rather, they have to be considered as a functional trait
involving a non-institutional hierarchical relationship between individual elite commanders
and a retinue or group of followers (compare the formazione gentilizioclientelare preurbana
according to Peroni 1989: 250). Their main role is to help free-loating movements by some
Fig. 10 Bisenzio, Olmo Bello tomb 22, bronze amphora (drawing by C. Iaia, from photograph from Pacciarelli 2002: tab. 13)
90 CRISTIANO IAIA
groups of armed men in situations of great competition and weak central authority, involving
frequent ights and raiding actions. This interpretation is unquestionably consistent with
the overall scenario of the period under discussion. Particularly for south Etruria scholars
have observed a ierce socio-political and socio-economic dialectic between centralisation
and decentralisation processes (Colonna 1977; Pacciarelli 1991). The rapid emergence of
a number of new settlements on high grounds, foci of power and wealth, partly due to the
initiative of new-born elite groups, is a speciic feature of inland south Etruria in the 8
th

century BC, where Bisenzio was an important centre (Iaia & Mandolesi 2010).
Although of great importance, this picture has its counterpart in the scanty documentation
of more collective or public manifestation of military power in the main proto-urban centres
in Early Iron Age 2. At the moment, the most signiicant example worth mentioning for
south Etruria is the remains of a late 8
th
century agger at Vulci (Moretti Sgubini 2006: 326).
The phenomenon is, at any rate, a broader one and includes the remarkable evidence of
fortiications enclosing various portions of the Villanovan centre of Bologna, with particular
regard to the monumental wooden structure with ramparts recently recovered at Piazza
Azzarita (Ortalli 2008).
Even in the burial record, scholars have envisaged indications of the emergence of a more
institutionalised political power, assimilated to a form of kingship, in some exceptionally
wealthy male burials (the so-called princely tombs) dated to the late 8
th
century BC in
Etruria and Latium (De Santis 2005b). The arguments in favour of this interpretation,
however the presence of an impressive range of parade armour and luxurious ceremonial
paraphernalia conceal an intrinsic weakness when matched against the strangely
widespread distribution of princely or regal graves inside individual centres in the Early
Orientalising period (see for example the Verucchio case: von Eles 2002; Bentini et al. 2007).
But issues like this, together with other aspects of the later Early Iron Age, deserve more
speciic investigation and are beyond the scope of this paper.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
As stated at the start of this paper, my aim was not to tackle the issue of warfare in Early
Iron Age Etruria, but to examine some relections of it in material culture. The case of
this region with its rich mortuary archaeological record invites us to consider carefully the
contextualisation of elements of weaponry in order to gain a clear deinition of the role of
armour within a speciic cultural setting.
In Iron Age Etruria, real weapons were constantly employed within rituals. Under this
label, I also consider igurative representations that throughout prehistory were invariably
an aspect of ritual. This is not to say that artefacts employed in rituals are all ritual in
themselves. It is a well known fact, for instance, that many Bronze Age swords from burials
and votive depositions show damage and wear traces, which means that they had been
employed in everyday life prior to their placement in a ritual context (Kristiansen 2002).
In any case, the inal destination of these objects in burials and votive offerings was often a
ritual one, involving aspects of strict selection and formalisation of procedures in handling
them. Thus, for example, weapons might have been displayed, destroyed without being
placed in the grave, or destroyed and deposited in the grave. Alternatively, their deposition
may concern various kinds of votive spaces beside burials, as Richard Bradley (1998) pointed
out some time ago.
Even in burial rites there can be profound differences in the way in which signiicant
objects were employed in order to stimulate a speciic perception of them. For example,
there could be a notable difference between the cremation treatment, characterised by
a tendency to deny and conceal the corporeal dimension (though this is not always the case),
and inhumation, with its marked emphasis on the perception of the deceaseds body that
is displayed to the survivors in order to preserve its memory (Treherne 1995; Hanks 2008).
Moreover, some objects are conceived as ritual implements from the start, as for example
WARRIOR IDENTITY IN EARLY IRON AGE ETRURIA 91
in the case of the helmet-lids mentioned above, but their relation to items employed in life
remains clear at a symbolic level (though not from the strictly functional point of view).
In Etruria, from the onset of the Early Iron Age, ceramic reproductions of helmets
acquired a strong iconic role, in a sense parallel to the pervasive use of hut representations in
Latium. It can not be coincidental that in Etruria and southern Campania the two symbols,
helmet and hut, were sometimes mixed, since that means they presumably belonged to the
same conceptual sphere, in particular associated with roles that were considered important
for a society which was experimenting with new forms of identities. Most of the deinitely
male members of the new proto-urban community were symbolically connected to the
helmet. The bell helmet was a status indicator within the kin groups, but at the same time
may have assumed the function of an authoritative metaphor for the whole proto-urban
community. Its meaning was basically public, since it signalled membership in the broader
context of a politys warrior component (in Roman terms we could employ the word populus).
Instead, a probably different meaning, more strongly linked to a notion of individual power,
was attached to the bronze helmets, which seems to have been a real possession for a small
group of the warriors. Offensive weapons, especially swords, were rarely placed in graves
and do not appear to have been as important as helmets, at least in burial representation.
This is in contrast with what is known for the rest of Italy in the same period.
This function of the bronze helmet as the chief political symbol continued with the
introduction of the crested helmet, in the middle or late phases of Early Iron Age 1. The
military dimension was enhanced by adding real elements of weaponry, armour and horse
gear, with an increasing intensity in the course of the 8
th
century BC. At the same time,
these same items were increasingly charged with ceremonial and cult connotations, and
eventually detached from any direct reference to warfare. A representative example of
this, from the initial phase of EIA 2, is the cap helmet from Impiccato II at Tarquinia,
which is wearable headgear with elaborate decoration, but not a military item in itself. The
creation of a charismatic warrior igure, subsuming warrior rites of passage in the form of
hunting raids, was the main outcome of this process. In the framework of the wider process
of building a consensus around elites values, the harsh reality of war was euphemised or
overtly denied.
During the advanced phases of the Early Iron Age, cemeteries and burial grounds
increasingly became the focus of ritual activity. The deposition of complete sets of weapons
and armour, including clear symbols of political authority (such as helmets, shields, wagons
and so on), as well as prestigious banqueting services, can be linked to the scope of enhancing
the perception of power before the eyes of those attending the funeral. It is not appropriate
to explain this as a mere private manifestation of lavishness, as is usual in mainstream
archaeological literature. This notion betrays an implicit contrast with contemporary
Greece, in which prestige objects and wealth are mainly offered in sanctuaries, i.e. in public
places. In reality, the boundary between private and public in Early Iron Age Etruria is
not so clear-cut. Necropolises of many hundreds (or thousands) of pit burials, such as for
instance those of 8
th
century Veii, cannot be considered private places, so this idea needs
reassessment. Certainly, there is a sharp difference from the collective burials of urban
Etruria in the Orientalising period that were at the centre of complex ritual performances
and had both a private and public character (Riva 2010: 138).
A comparable phenomenon is visible in the iconographic programmes deployed in
the ceremonial sphere. The two bronze items from Bisenzio that I have examined are a
signiicant expression of the emerging importance of igurative narratives at the service
of ritual. The exceptional skill necessary to produce them materially and the complexity
of structure are comparable to an epic bards performance. They provide us with
complementary pictures of the warriors identity in this period. In the bronze amphora,
the focus is on the ritual behaviour of a separate group of young warriors with its own
rules and ethos. The framework might be that of initiation to a martial organisation. By
contrast, the ceremonial stand focuses on a wide cosmology of hierarchy, in which each
92 CRISTIANO IAIA
personage has a deinite functional position according to gender, age and rank. Beyond any
fascinating comparison with Classical mythology, future studies should build on a better
comprehension of these depictions within their original contexts, in particular taking into
account the great complexity of drinking behaviour in which these items took part and the
relationship with outstanding female burials.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper was irst given as an Accordia lecture in the University of London (Senate House) on January 12
th

2010. I am grateful to Ruth Whitehouse and John Wilkins for the kind invitation to give the lecture, and for
giving me the opportunity subsequently to publish this paper. The text owes improvements to criticisms and
remarks made by scholars that were present at the lecture. A special debt of gratitude is owed to Corinna Riva
for her friendly support on many occasions, and for stimulating me to relect on old issues from points of view
that are new and refreshing to me. For a number of other suggestions and useful indications I am in debt to my
colleagues and friends, among whom I would like to remember especially Marco Pacciarelli.
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