The rare and problematical traces of the Villanovian (Umbrian) civilization can point only to commerce. In middle Italy, especially in Latium, the traces of two ethnic elements still continue to be distinguishable, but in the end become confused with Etruscan influences and with those of Greek and Phomieian' traders and the whole is under way to that happy fusion which gave us Rome. lEtnilia and pre Etruscan Tuscany constituted the real sphere of Umbrian influence, whose largest centre was Bologna. For the classification of the Umbrian tombs of Bologna, for the traces of dwellings and for the celebrated deposit of S. Francesco, consult, in addition to the works of Brizio, the work of Montelius, entitled civilization primitive en Italie.' An important centre of antiquity with close affinities to that of Bologna is at Este.
The general type of all these tombs is an excavation (Poem) at the bottom of which are collected the ashes covered by a cinerary urn (cistola), protected still further by an en closure of stone slabs, or by a wall of small stones which cover the excavation, in which is also the funeral outlay. Altogether this civ ilization differs and diverges widely from that of the south and of the islands; it is less Mediterranean and more European.
F. The There is no doubt that before the colonization movement of the classic Greeks, of Aryan language, there came, espe cially into the Italian Peninsula, small waves of Oriental non-Aryan peoples; one of the last was that of the Messapi, who according to Herodotus come from Crete and who have left us documents in an incomprehensible language isolated from the other Italian dialects and standing alone except for reminiscences of style, partly Mycenean, which they preserve in their implements. The last, strongest and most surely Pelasgian was that of the Etruscans. The question as to whether the wall girdles, otherwise called Cyclopean, should be referred to the Pelasgians and as to what materials and people correspond with them, has not yet been answered. The excavations of Norba, which were loudly heralded as a discomfiture of the Pelasgophiles and which concluded by attrib uting the walls to the Romans; have in reality decided nothing. More conclusive were the excavations carried out by the writer in Atena Lucana, not so' much because they succeeded in obtaining very positive results, as because through them it was shown that the Romans could not have constructed the walls. The material found there of the historic age goes back at least to .the 7th or 6th century before the vulgar era and the prehistoric age is also represented; but the implements collected were few, poor and left many gaps.
III. Historic Age. G. The Etruscans.— Etruscan archaeology deserves a separate article, but it is fairly well known through manuals of history, art and civilization. Here we will only mention that the theory of their descent from the Alps and of their ethnic unity with the so-called Italicans, is no more admitted; now the derivation of the Etruscans from Asia is recognized, together with the non-Aryan character of their language. Brizio has the merit of having proved this, but the credit of having reopened the question and co-ordinated it with more recent research is due to Modestov. A great progress in Etruscan studies is repre sented by the Museo topografico der-Etruria founded at Florence by Milani and described by him in a special illustrated publication which has the same title as the institute. Milani has published a remarkable collection of the prin cipal monuments in the archaeological museum in Florence With good plates, with an attempt at a religious explanation. To the most ancient Umbrian pozzo tombs with the rite of inciner ation are added the rich chamber tombs, with the rite of sepulture, with characteristic archi tecture, art and a directly imported industry, which the Etruscans developed in their new home, whereas the indigenous population progressed in its turn, but gradually fell under the influence of its rulers. A too violent reac tion against the ingenuou's exaggeration of the old archaeol wh too easily attributed everything to the Etruscans, fell into the oppo site extreme of despoiling them of almost everything to attribute it to the Ionian Greeks. But now there is a tendency to return to the old standpoint; the important studies of Karo (in (Studs e Materiali') return to the Etruscans the glory of the fine filigree and lace goldsmith work; we may also mention the studies of the writer on the origin of the Italic house whose first real architecture (which derives nothing from the hut of the age of iron, as Nissen be lieved,) it owes to the Etruscans.
The existence of Etruscans in the Campania was, a few years ago, denied by some archeolo gists, but the question was reopened by the writer, who attributed to them the production of the black ware (bucchero) which is peculiar to the interior of Campania in all the southern regions and is met only in Etruria: there was also found in old Capua an Etruscan inscription on terra-cotta and lastly in Pompeii an old column of Etruscan art, preceding the oldest houses of the city, which arc of a non-Grecian character, and calcareous stone, and whose construction as well a, the regular map of Pompeii are also attributed to Etruscan art.