Etruscan Tomb Paintings: Their Subjects and Significance

Virtual Reconstruction of an Etruscan Tomb

This paper describes the main phases of an ongoing project regarding the 3D virtual reconstruction of an Etruscan hypogeum together with the funerary equipment it contained. The tomb is dating back to late Hellenistic period. It was discovered in 1880 in Sigliano, between lake Trasimeno and lake of Chiusi in Central Italy. This sepulcher is a paradigmatic testimony to enlighten the processes of...

The Actinobacterial Colonization of Etruscan Paintings

The paintings from Tomba della Scimmia, in Tuscany, are representative of the heavy bacterial colonization experienced in most Etruscan necropolises. The tomb remained open until the late 70's when it was closed because of severe deterioration of the walls, ceiling and paintings after decades of visits. The deterioration is the result of environmental changes and impacts suffered since its disc...

Etruscan women’s clothing and its decoration: the polychrome gypsum statue from the ‘Isis Tomb’ at Vulci

House Urns and Etruscan Tomb Painting: Tradition versus Innovation in the Ninth–seventh Centuries Bc

The first painted tombs in Etruria date to about 675–650 BC, as attested by a few examples at Veii and Caere, which pre-date those of Tarquinia (mainly sixth–third centuries BC). At first glance, tomb painting has no obvious connection with the Early Iron Age or Villanovan period (tenth/ninth–eighth centuries BC), when burial in shaft or trench graves predominated. Nevertheless, some links can ...

Deterioration of an Etruscan tomb by bacteria from the order Rhizobiales

The Etruscan civilisation originated in the Villanovan Iron Age in the ninth century BC and was absorbed by Rome in the first century BC. Etruscan tombs, many of which are subterranean, are one of the best representations of this culture. The principal importance of these tombs, however, lies in the wall paintings and in the tradition of rich burial, which was unique in the Mediterranean Basin,...