Until recently, no one could say a bad word about the Etruscans. They were the most pleasant people - cultured, educated, very religious. They knew how to live beautifully, including after death: the Etruscans were literally obsessed with the quality of the afterlife. The tombs of the Etruscan aristocrats embody the earthly joys of their owners - bright frescoes, almost home decoration, favorite personal belongings … Even sarcophagi and urns with ashes look not mournful, but quite life-affirming.
In “simpler” burials, without tombs and marble sarcophagi, one can feel the same touching concern for the comfort of the dead. Fresh examples are the results of sensational excavations in Vulci: favorite jewelry in the grave of a noble Etruscan girl, spinning wheel parts and bronze mirrors in women's burials, a spear and razor in a man's grave.
Of course, such funerary traditions are typical for many cultures, but it was the Etruscans who observed all the "rules" with great care, without exception. One of the reasons was the belief of the Etruscans that the deceased, deprived of due attention and care, becomes angry and vindictive. Instead of resting in peace in a comfortably furnished grave and enjoying the joys of the afterlife, a disgruntled spirit could return and annoy the living in every possible way.
Archaeologists, accustomed to the goodness of Etruscan burials, were amazed at the recent find in Populonia (Puplun), the port city of Etruria. Excavations of the San Cerbone necropolis on the shores of the Baratti Bay have been going on for a very long time. This is the oldest section of the city cemetery with graves from the 7th-6th centuries BC. Until now, all the burials found here were "normal", according to the head of the excavation Giorgio Baratti, professor of archeology at the University of Milan (the similarity to the name of the Bay of Baratti is a coincidence).
The "abnormal" grave, discovered at the end of the archaeological season in Populonia, is a simple pit dug in the coastal sandy soil. In it lay a well-preserved skeleton of a young man - according to preliminary estimates, over 20 but under 30 years old. No personal belongings and funeral gifts, no attempts to appease the spirit of the deceased. The only foreign objects found in the grave were iron shackles on the young man's legs and an iron hoop around his neck.
“He died in these shackles and was buried in them,” Giorgio Baratti said in an interview with Seeker, emphasizing the fact that the Etruscans, known for their scrupulousness in funeral matters, did not bother to remove the iron even after the death of the person, as if they wanted to prolong his torment forever and ever.
Iron chains on the legs of a young man. Photo: Giorgio Baratti.
This is the first find of this kind in the entire history of the study of Etruscan burials. In addition, the shackles and collar were only part of a more sophisticated design. Under the head of the deceased, archaeologists discovered a dark spot - apparently a trace of a decomposed wooden object that was somehow connected with an iron collar. Judging by other traces of organic matter in the grave soil, the iron collar and leg shackles were tied together with ropes or strips of leather - soil analysis will make it possible to more accurately determine the material used.
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The unusual burial definitely belongs to the Etruscan period - in the absence of typical burial artifacts, scientists were able to determine this by an indirect but reliable sign. The necropolis of San Cerbone is very “densely populated”, filled with “layers”, it is well studied and all of its burials, according to Baratti, are “normal”. In 2015, exactly above the "grave with chains", archaeologists unearthed one of these "normal" burials, with personal belongings and funeral gifts that are easy to date. The grave belonged to a wealthy Etruscan woman, buried according to all the rules in the 4th century BC. Thus, the young man in shackles who found himself "under her" was buried earlier - in the 5th or even the 6th century BC, archaeologists believe.
During this period, between the 6th and 4th centuries BC, Populonia was not only a thriving seaport of Etruria, but also the largest metallurgical center in the Mediterranean: hundreds of iron-smelting furnaces and tons of industrial waste were found on the shores of the Baratti Bay. The ore was brought by ships from the neighboring island of Elba.
Industrial area of Populonia during the Etruscan period. Image: James Gurney.
The port and industrial specifics of Populonia prompted the first ideas regarding the personality of the young man in chains. The lifetime and posthumous punishment so atypical for the Etruscans may indicate that the young man was a foreigner - most likely a slave who entered the city through the sea or metallurgical part. It is possible, however, that the young man was an Etruscan who committed some monstrous atrocity. Further research, such as isotope analysis and DNA analysis, will reveal more about the mysterious criminal - whether he was a local or a visitor, how he ate, what he was sick, whether he was engaged in hard physical labor, and so on, reports the Italian publication Il Tirreno.
Whatever the laboratory results, "the unique nature of the burial is evident," Baratti said. This discovery may have a very interesting follow-up: an unusual find in Populonia threatens to reignite a long-standing discussion about the cruelty of Etruscan society - a little-known but extremely interesting aspect of research.
The traditional idea of the Etruscans includes their obligatory mystery (a disappeared civilization that has left very little written evidence, and even they cannot be fully deciphered), outstanding knowledge in construction, hydraulics, metallurgy (the Romans adopted most of their famous skills from the Etruscans), the advanced structure of society (researchers especially note the social freedom and independence of Etruscan women, which are impossible either in Greece or in Rome), sincere reverence for gods and ancestors, love for all types of art and fine artistic taste - in general, everything that creates the image of a prosperous European civilization: prosperous, cultural, carefree, tolerant …
“At the same time, the Etruscans could be very cruel,” says Giorgio Baratti.
Sarcophagus of an Etruscan couple from Cerveteri, 6th century BC Photo from the site introtowestern.blogspot.ru
Baratti speaks of cruelty that went beyond the "standard" even for the ancient world: a lot of compromising evidence has accumulated on intelligent Etruscans over the years of research. However, the evidence is mostly circumstantial: artifacts depicting scenes of cruelty and violence, among which come across suspiciously similar to human sacrifices and ritual murders. References to this practice are also found in the literature - however, written evidence was left not by the Etruscans themselves, but by their rivals, the Romans.
The strongest argument in favor of the existence of "barbarian" rituals among the Etruscans was the finds in Tarquinia: during the excavation of the main sanctuary, human remains were found, the condition and location of which clearly hints at ritual sacrifices.
In different areas of the sanctuary, archaeologists discovered the remains of ten people buried in the 8th-6th centuries BC. Five of them were beheaded. The dismembered bodies of babies and the bones of a "foreigner" (possibly a Greek sailor) with traces of severe injuries belong to the 8th century, to the 7th century - a decapitated 8-year-old child whose legs were located at the base of the wall, the remains of a woman and a man without traces of violent death, but also lying at the base of the stone walls, by the 6th century - a decapitated infant and another child's skeleton, partially preserved and possibly dismembered.
Representatives of the American school of Etruscology (Nancy Thomson de Grummond, Larissa Bonfante and others) are confident that the body of evidence is sufficient to "accuse" the Etruscans of excessive cruelty and even shameful practice of human sacrifice, which was considered savagery in modern Etruscans in Greece and, later, in Rome.
European and some American researchers consider the same evidence from a different angle and are not ready to unambiguously recognize the Etruscans as bloodthirsty barbarians (or rather, more bloodthirsty than neighboring peoples). It is known that even the most realistic art does not always reflect reality. Some of the images found - frescoes, bas-reliefs, rings, drawings on ceramics and bronze - are dark scenes from ancient history: scenes from Homer's Iliad or the legendary confrontation "Seven against Thebes". The meaning of other images can be interpreted in different ways - from the illustration of Etruscan ideas about the death penalty for certain sins (after all, the main source of such artifacts is tombs) to the dark memory of the horrors of war, Etruscan victories and massacres of the vanquished.
Left: Etruscan amulet depicting a sacrifice (child?). Mid-5th century BC Photo: Staatliche Münzsammlung München. Right: a ring depicting an executioner and a dismembered victim. First half of the 3rd century BC Photo: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Antikensammlung.
Scientists have yet to figure out which images are considered "documentary", and which are symbolic, allegorical, mythological, in other words, fictional.
Art critics have noticed that the number of "bloody" subjects in Etruscan art began to grow in the 5th century BC. The explanation is quite obvious: at this time the Etruscans entered into a protracted military confrontation with the growing strength of Rome. It was not quite an ordinary struggle for power and land on the principle of "this is life, nothing personal" - there was more than enough personal in the relationship between the Etruscans and the Romans, including three (at least) Etruscan kings on the Roman throne.
Historians are fond of citing a famous passage from Titus Livius, the Roman historian, as an example of Etruscan barbarism. In 358, the Etruscans defeated the Romans and, according to Libya, in honor of this event, 307 Roman prisoners were executed in the central square of Tarquinia - and not just killed, but sacrificed to their gods, which can be regarded as a ritual murder.
Titus Livy reports about the symmetrical response of the Romans in 354 BC: “The damage of the Tarquinians in the battle was very great, but the number of prisoners we got was even more. 358 of them were selected from the best families; they were sent to Rome; other captives were killed without any compassion. The Roman people acted no less severely with those prisoners who were sent to Rome: they were previously punished with rods, and then their heads were cut off."
The only difference is that the first case is qualified as ritual murder, and the second - as just revenge, "ordinary" execution without sacrilegious dedication to the gods of human sacrifice.
"Advocates" of the Etruscans note that the source of information is Roman and later (Titus Livy lived two centuries later than the events described), in addition, the Romans also committed ritual murders of prisoners in wartime (the most famous episode is the Battle of Cannes in 216 BC AD), and "civilized" Greeks, but stories about this, as in the case of the Etruscans, are rare. Nevertheless, history has already entrenched the opinion that Roman gladiatorial battles are an echo of the Etruscan tradition of funeral games and the dedication of shed blood to the gods.
As for the gloomy finds in the Sanctuary of Tarquinia, not everything is clear with them either. Studies of the remains of ten people showed that some of the killed were "marginalized" in the eyes of Etruscan society: sick, newcomers, people of low social status … Moreover, not all remains have traces of violent death. Five out of ten were beheaded, but the fact that the head was cut off in vivo was confirmed in only one case.
There is no doubt that the remains found in Tarquinia are so-called “construction sacrifices”. A living person or a deceased, walled up in a wall or "laid" in the base of buildings is a custom as ancient as it is widespread throughout the world. In Asia and New Zealand, in Africa and South America, in Russia and in Europe - the rite of "construction sacrifice" existed everywhere.
From this point of view, the ritual sacrifices in Tarquinia do not add any special bloodthirstiness to the portrait of the Etruscans: everything is within the framework of traditional practice, no better and no worse than others.
The young man in chains, found in Populonia, is only the second, after Tarquinia, direct evidence of "cruel treatment" with a person, and the first such burial without a ritual context. A sophisticated torture structure - iron, wood, ropes - speaks of punishment for a serious crime, lifetime and posthumous (the Etruscans believed that the afterlife was in many ways a continuation of the earthly, therefore, the shackles left on the corpse doomed the young man to eternal torment). But whether this confirms the thesis about some special cruelty of the Etruscans is difficult to say, because in the same Greece they did not find this.
It is curious that the young man in chains is not the first horror movie of the necropolis of San Cerbone, named after the neighboring church of Saint Cerbonia. In 2011, the graves of the 13th century "witches" were found in another section of the church cemetery. One skeleton lay surrounded by 17 dice (women in the Middle Ages were forbidden to play dice, the number 17 is considered unlucky in Italy), but the remains of the second woman unpleasantly surprised even seasoned archaeologists: seven nails were driven into the jaw of the deceased, and another 13 nails lay nearby - perhaps they nailed her burial shroud to the ground, which had decayed over time.
Skeleton and skull of a woman buried with nails. Photo: Il Tirreno.
The souls of victims of Etruscan and medieval cruelty found in Populonia should be comforted by the words of the archaeologist Giorgio Baratti: "At least these remains have been buried for centuries in one of the most beautiful corners of Italy." Lucky, in a word.
