Villanovans

However, while we are very fully informed as to the char acter of Villanovan culture in Italy itself, yet the nature and degree of its connections with the countries east and north of the Adriatic remain obscure. The relationship to Hallstatt in partic ular is far less close than might have been expected. To some ex tent, however, this may be explained by the circumstance that no graves at Hallstatt are as early as the beginnings of the Villanovan period. The very earliest graves of this people in Italy have been found in the mountainous tract of Tolfa and Allumiere on the coast of southern Etruria. They form a valuable link con necting the cemeteries of the Alban hills and the earliest graves of the Forum at Rome with sites like Corneto and Vetu lonia. The cemeteries of Tolfa, Castel Gandolfo, Grottaferrata and two or three graves in the Forum may be assigned to the 12th and iith centuries B.c.

The First Benacci sites at Bologna begin in the i i th century, and are followed in due order by the Second Benacci, dating from 95o to 700 B.C., and by the Arnoaldi which covers 700 to 500 B.C. Cemeteries corresponding in date and style to the First and Second Benacci periods of Bo logna have been found at various sites scattered over the country between Tolfa and Florence or Pisa. But the third, or Arnoaldi period, is not represented south of the Arno, because the southern Villanovans had been subjugated by the Etruscans before 700 B.C. and their civilization transformed by their con querors. In the north the history is different, for as the Etruscans did not cross the Apennines to found any colonies there before the end of the 6th century, the Bolognese Villanovans survived as a distinct and highly characterized people till after Soo B.C.

Local Differences.

In spite of a close family resemblance in their general character there were many local differences of custom and practice. Thus the northern Villanovans invariably used the burial urn shown in fig. i and covered it with a pottery bowl. But on various Etrurian sites this standardized jar was not employed at all, and on others where it was used the jar was occasionally covered with a helmet instead of a bowl. To this practice is due the survival of some magnificent examples of 9th century bronze work, such as the helmet shown here (fig. 2).

Another alternative form of burial urn used by the south but not in the north was the pottery hut, a miniature model of the dwelling house, of which two examples are shown (fig. 3). Neither of those variations from their cere monial form was adopted by the Bolog nese, who retained the standard type of ritual urn with the most rigid conservatism, though the potters somewhat modified its outline in the course of centuries.

One of the most notable traits common to both branches of the Villanovans is their remarkable skill in metal work. Helmets such as fig. 2, large bronze vessels like fig. 4, or belts like that seen in fig. 8 were freely made in the 9th century B.C. by a primitive but extremely effective process. The technique consists in the hammering by hand of thin sheets of copper or bronze, which were then bent round and fastened together with rivets. Lines of these rivets generally form the principal decoration, which is extremely simple. This process is quite unlike anything used by the people of the Terremare, and it was probably learned by the Villanovans in their original transalpine homes. That they traded with the Danube region at this date is shown by the bronze swords of Hallstatt type with hilts terminating in spiral volutes, which have been found in small numbers at various places in Etruria as well as farther north. The skill of the Villanovan coppersmiths ex plains the rapid development of every form of metal-work when the mines of Tuscany and Elba were more freely exploited in the 8th and following centuries. The Etruscans by themselves never constituted any large number of persons ; they formed a small rul ing aristocracy but the backbone of the population was always Vil lanovan. For this reason it is important to realize the high grade of that native Italian civilization upon which the Etruscan was grafted. Artistic spirit and enterprise, new ideas of decoration and ornament, improvements in technique were all contributed by the Etruscans, but there already existed a high standard of primitive workmanship and a long tradition amongst the native workmen whom they found in the country. The Villanovans in fact had attained a stage of civilization which must be considered quite high long before they came under any influences from the Aegean or the Orient. They owed a good deal to their intercourse with central Europe but nothing whatsoever to any of the Mediterranean peoples. As early as the loth century B.C. the existence of con siderable commerce with countries north of the Alps is proved by the presence of Baltic amber as well as of glass beads in the tombs. This is the natural continua tion of a traffic which began in the Bronze Age, when Italy freely exported her own models of weapons to foreign countries.