Urbanization and Foundation Rites: The Material Culture of Rituals at the Heart and the Margins of Etruscan Early Cities

Abstract

The origins of urbanism in Etruria and central Tyrrhenian Italy have been the concern of both Etruscology and the Roman School of Italian protohistory. This chapter draws a detailed picture of Etruscan urbanization and its accompanying rituals. It examines the evidence for these rituals and considers the scholarly history and the milestones that have occurred over the last 30 years. An emphasis on urban networks in Etruria parallels recent studies on Mediterranean urbanization and colonization that have been influenced by network thinking and the post colonial turn taking place in historical and social sciences over the last decade. Roman foundation rites involved the augurs, who determined the will of the gods through the observation of various natural phenomena. The chapter also examines early Iron Age intramural burials taking place at the physical boundaries of the city, the cemeteries, where burial practices became increasingly elaborate in the course of eighth century