The Etruscan Population/2 – The Burials
1.
In 1864, a richly furnished burial was discovered at Fraore; the scant information available about the find refers only to a “burial mound.”
The grave goods included a banquet set with two iron knives and a spit, bronze vessels of various sizes and shapes—used for mixing and pouring water and wine—and a jewelry set composed of a ring, earrings, and two gold fibulae (dress brooches), along with three silver ones.
These items suggest that the tomb belonged to a high-ranking woman, likely dating to around 450–400 BCE.
However, the presence of banquet-related vessels and implements—typically found in male grave goods—has led some scholars to propose that the burial may have been bisomal, meaning it could have contained both a male and a female individual.
Still, it cannot be ruled out that these objects belonged to the deceased woman herself and were linked to her role in food preparation.
2.
The necropolis at Botteghino, located along a key route to the Apennines, comprised around fifteen burials dating from the mid-6th to the late 5th century BCE.
Some of the graves were marked by circular or subcircular mounds reinforced with wood, earth, and pebbles—structures meant to emphasize the power and prestige of the deceased.
The three richest burials belonged to women, whose grave goods consisted mainly of personal adornments such as pendants, earrings, and belt components.
The collection on display includes items of adornment such as a silver pin, several amber and multicolored glass beads, and iron objects including fibulae, small rings, and a belt plaque. Also present are less common items, namely a few ceramic vessels and a group of spindle whorls, the latter typically associated with female burials.
3.
In western Emilia, between the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, two funerary practices were used concurrently: inhumation and, in significantly greater numbers, cremation.
In the latter case, the cremated human remains were placed inside large storage jars (dolia) along with grave goods. These dolia-cinerary urns, likely sealed with wooden lids, were then buried in pits, which sometimes also contained remains of the funeral pyre.
One such dolium, found at Casalora di Ravadese and associated with a male individual, contained a bracelet and an iron dagger still in its sheath. The sheath features a volute-shaped terminal—a decorative element particularly widespread in the eastern Alpine and Transalpine regions during the 6th century BCE.
4.
At Baganzola, around fifteen cremation burials were uncovered, with the remains of the deceased placed in large storage jars (dolia) dating to the second half of the 6th century BCE.
The dolium on display contained the remains of a 7–8-year-old child, along with a knife and an iron bracelet, protected by an inverted bowl that also concealed two bronze fibulae (dress brooches).
On the pedestal beside it are the grave goods from two other dolium burials, belonging to high-ranking women. The assemblage on the left (Tomb 1) includes a bronze bracelet (armilla), several fibulae, a wheel-shaped pendant, a belt plaque, and a yellow glass bead. The small hook at the top right, also in bronze, is a key.
The other assemblage, even richer, includes fibulae in bronze and iron, a large belt plaque and another fragmentary one, a bracelet, a basket-shaped pendant, an earring (or possibly a hair ornament), two bronze wheel-shaped pendants, a terracotta spindle whorl, and another in blue glass.
Some of these items—especially the wheel-shaped pendants and the large bronze belt plaques—are not of Etruscan tradition, but instead relate to the Celtic world of the northern Po Valley.