BEFORE ETRURIA AND ROMA · 15th–9th centuries BCE

Before Etruscans and Rome

Before the forum there was smoke and huts

Before the Etruscan cities and Rome, the hills of central Italy were occupied by small communities.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Biconical ceramic urn with bronze cover from the Sorbo necropolis — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · EXISTING EDITORIAL RESOURCE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction for museographic context; it is not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

Before the Etruscan cities and Rome, central Italy was a landscape of small upland settlements, fields, river routes and communities connected by exchange. During the Final Bronze and the early Iron Age, villages grew and some families expressed their identity through cremation and biconical urns.

In places such as Cerveteri, Tarquinia and the Roman hills, the gradual concentration of population prepared later urbanisation. There was no instant dawn dictated by a legendary date: cities arose from generations that reorganised dwelling, kinship, cult and territory before Etruria and Rome acquired their historical names.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: Cremation was a relevant funerary practice in the Villanovan horizon. Interpretation and caution: Present it as Villanovan or of the early Iron Age; avoid turning a specific urn into proof of an individual ethnic identity. Historical transition: The concentration of villages and the definition of stable necropolises led to urban communities: in Etruria, city-states emerged; in Latium, Rome grew from connected hilltop nuclei. Limit of the transition: Villanovan describes an archaeological facies. Its relation to later Etruscan or Latin identities must be explained as a process, not as immediate equivalence.

Catalogue facts

Previous period: ca. 1500–750 BCE
Sphere of influence: Tyrrhenian central Italy and the Latian hills, from Bronze Age villages to Villanovan communities
Threshold element: Biconical urn from Tomb 199 of the Sorbo necropolis
Element date: ca. 850–800 BCE
Location: Sorbo necropolis, Cerveteri, Latium, Italy
Material or support: Impasto pottery covered with bronze
Documented fact 01: Cremation was a relevant funerary practice in the Villanovan horizon.
Documented fact 02: Biconical urns contained cremated remains and could be closed with bowls or metal covers.
Documented fact 03: Cerveteri developed from communities prior to the historical Etruscan city.
Documented fact 04: The archaeology of the Palatine documents occupation prior to the traditional foundation date of Rome.
Documented fact 05: The urbanisation of central Italy was gradual and regionally diverse.
Visual credit: Sailko · CC BY-SA 4.0

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

You are viewing

ca. 850–800 BCE

Before Etruscans and Rome

Etruscans and Rome

Approximate dating according to the record.

Current record

Ceramics39 dated objects

19 / 39In the centre: Before Etruscans and Rome

Also connected, without a comparable date (17)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

A Kerma vessel deposited at AbydosAncient Egypt · Second Intermediate Period
A tradition that inventsBatwa / Twa histories · collected in 1993 or 1995
A vase travels; the rite changesIberians · No individual dating published on this record
AkrotiriGreek worlds · c. 1700–1500 BCE
Dia’s strataMande Worlds · 9th century BCE–2nd millennium CE
Early potteryMande Worlds · before ca. 9400 cal BCE
Jenne-jeno contextsMande Worlds · ca. 250 BCE–1400 CE
Liédena FlaskEtruscans and Rome · Roman period · individual chronology not published in the entry
LothalIndus civilisation · ca. 2400–1600 BCE
Made in GaramaGaramantes · I millennium BCE–I millennium CE
Nile towards NubiaAncient Egypt · ca. 3300–2800 BCE
The unfinished gestureBatwa / Twa histories · 1947
Three hundred lives in the sandYayoi Japan · Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE
Travelling objectsGaramantes · Mainly Roman period
Trumpet from NumantiaIberians · No individual dating published on this record
Urns from AdichanallurVedic and later Indian worlds · Iron Age · samples towards 665 and 467 BCE
Vessels without a languageBantu-speaking worlds · Urewe, broad regional range ca. 800 BCE–650 CE

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Bronze

Jue · c. sixteenth century BCE · Ancient China
Bull-leaping · c. 1600–1450 BCE · Greek worlds
Fu Hao’s burial goods · ca. 1200 BCE · Ancient China
Liding · 12th–11th centuries BCE · Ancient China
Talayotic sword · ≈1200–1000 BCE · destruction of the talayot towards 790 BCE · Iberians
Tribute to Assyria · c. 848 BCE · Phoenicians
Before Etruscans and Rome · ca. 850–800 BCE · Etruscans and Rome — You are viewing
The lute-shaped dagger · Towards 1000–400 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Kushite king · c. 721–664 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
The great Greek krater of Vix · ≈530–500 BCE · Greek worlds
Scorțaru cauldron · 6th–5th centuries BCE · Thracians
Vix Tomb · c. 500 BCE · Celtic worlds
Yan knife-money in the Gojoseon sphere · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Ancient China
A coin with the memory of a blade · 323–222 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
The blade became straight · 5th–1st centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Geometry in very fine lines · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Eight voices in one hand · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
The Shield that Did Not Fight · Around 350–50 BCE · Celtic worlds
Fibula from Lancia · ≈300–100 BCE · Iberians
A sky over the liver · End of the second–beginning of the first century BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Hand of Irulegui · First third of the 1st century BCE · Iberians
Thirty-nine buried bells · Buried towards the 1st century BCE–1st century CE · Yayoi Japan
Torreáguila fountain spout · 101–125 CE · Etruscans and Rome

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Daegok-ri grave goods · from c. 5th century BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Early metallurgy · c. 1900–1500 BCE · Ancient China
Four offerers · Iberian period · individual dating according to catalogue · Iberians
Iron changes the frontier · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
The workshop inside the ditch · 4th century BCE–3rd century CE, peak in Middle and Late Yayoi · Yayoi Japan
Weapons under the Lake · Mainly 3rd–1st centuries BCE · Celtic worlds

Vessels

Before Sumer · mid-6th–5th millennium BCE · Sumer
Twin-chambered vessel from Cova de l’Or · Early Neolithic · VI–V millennia BCE · Prehistory
Before Egypt · ca. 4400–3800 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Before Nubia · V–IV millennium BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Gojoseon · Middle Neolithic, c. 4000 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Bevel-rimmed bowl · ca. 3500–3000 BCE · Sumer
Uruk Vase · ca. 3300–3000 BCE · Sumer
Before Yayoi · Middle Jōmon, ca. 3000 BCE · Yayoi Japan
Vasiliki · ca. 2500–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before the Greeks · c. 2400–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before Ancient China · c. 2500–2000 BCE · Ancient China
Longshan · c. 2500–2000 BCE · Ancient China
Kerma vessel · c. 1802–1640 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Grave Circle A and Chrysolakkos · 18th–16th centuries BCE · Greek worlds
Before Vedic India · c. 1900–1300 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Jue · c. sixteenth century BCE · Ancient China
Pithos · c. 1450–1375 BCE · Greek worlds
Tutankhamun's grave goods · death towards 1323 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Stag Vessel · 14th–13th centuries BCE · Hittites
Valchitran · second half of the 14th century–beginning of the 13th century BCE, according to NAIM; other publications use wider intervals from the Late Bronze. · Thracians
Liding · 12th–11th centuries BCE · Ancient China
Before the Iberias · Final Bronze, c. 1000 BCE · Iberians
Grey bowl from Hastinapura · c. 1100–800 BCE in the classical sequence of Hastinapura · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Before Etruscans and Rome · ca. 850–800 BCE · Etruscans and Rome — You are viewing
The urn under the helmet · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Tomb 1 at Kuntur Wasi · c. 800 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Regolini-Galassi tomb · ca. 675–650 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The great Greek krater of Vix · ≈530–500 BCE · Greek worlds
Scorțaru cauldron · 6th–5th centuries BCE · Thracians
Vix Tomb · c. 500 BCE · Celtic worlds
Orpheus among the Thracians · circa 440 BCE; attributed to the London Painter E 497. · Thracians
Twenty-six voiceless signs · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
Rogozen · mainly 5th–4th centuries BCE; The set has a history of accumulation, not a single manufacturing date. · Thracians
Grave goods of Baza and Toya · First half of the 4th century BCE · Iberians
The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The silver amphora of Chertomlyk · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The Kul-Oba vase · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
Faces of the Steppe · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Scythians and Saka
Poroina Mare Rhyton · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Thracians
Borovo · 4th century BC C.; 350–300 BCE in the ISAW catalog. · Thracians
Leipzig Fish Plate · Last third 4th–early 3rd century BCE · Greek worlds
Golyamata Kosmatka · End of the 4th century – beginning of the 3rd century BCE; ritual burial at the beginning of the III according to Iskra. · Thracians
Panagyurishte · late 4th century – early 3rd century BCE, towards 300 BCE · Thracians
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Mairena Hoard · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Vase from Chão de Lamas · Piece: III–II centuries BCE · concealment ≈110–76 BCE · Iberians
Vas dels Guerrers · 3rd–early 2nd century BCE · Iberians
Warriors' Vase · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Iberians
The dismantled cauldron · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Celtic worlds
Kalathos of Alcorisa · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Iberians
Patera from Perotito · Second half of the 2nd–beginnings of the 1st century BCE · Iberians
Urewe vessel · regional range c. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Two rows of coffins · Mainly Middle Yayoi, 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Yayoi Japan
Ceramics that continued · Last third of the 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians
Roman glass oinochoe · Late 1st century BCE–early 1st century CE · Etruscans and Rome
Gladiators Cup of Chavagnes · 25–75 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Egyptian oil lamp with a fish, held in Laon · 3rd–4th centuries CE · Ancient Egypt
Laon lamp with fish · 3rd–4th centuries CE · Etruscans and Rome
Water in a shell · 1816–1826 · San histories

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Funerary contexts

Brno II Articulated Figure · ≈28,000 years cal BP · by funerary association · Prehistory
'Jamila's' necklace · ≈7250–7000 BCE · Prehistory
The Gold of Varna · Towards 4600–4200 BCE · Thracians
El Miradero spatula-idols · ≈4000–3800 cal BCE · Prehistory
Guadancil idol-plaque · 3750–2500 cal BCE · Iberians
Staff of Anta 4 · Late 4th–first half of the 3rd millennium BCE. · Prehistory
Abydos Boats · ca. 3000 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Queen's Lyre · ca. 2600–2500 BCE · Sumer
Puabi headdress · ca. 2600–2450 BCE · Sumer
Standard of Ur · ca. 2600–2400 BCE · Sumer
Cemetery R-37 · ca. 2550–2030 BCE · Indus civilisation
Kerma vessel · c. 1802–1640 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Grave Circle A and Chrysolakkos · 18th–16th centuries BCE · Greek worlds
Burial at K IV · circa 1750–1550 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Vedic India · c. 1900–1300 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Osmankayası and Ilıca · ca. 1700/1650–1200 BCE · Hittites
Tutankhamun's grave goods · death towards 1323 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Fu Hao’s burial goods · ca. 1200 BCE · Ancient China
The voice of Ahiram · c. 11th–10th century BCE · Phoenicians
Before Etruscans and Rome · ca. 850–800 BCE · Etruscans and Rome — You are viewing
The urn under the helmet · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Tomb 1 at Kuntur Wasi · c. 800 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Beads from Cerro de los Vientos · 8th–7th centuries BCE · orientalizing · Iberians
Ceramic stand 1010 · 8th–7th centuries BCE · orientalizing · Iberians
Regolini-Galassi tomb · ca. 675–650 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Shabti of Psamtek · 570–526 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Two voices in an urn · 530–520 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The great Greek krater of Vix · ≈530–500 BCE · Greek worlds
Steppe kurgans · 7th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
Vix Tomb · c. 500 BCE · Celtic worlds
La Venta grave goods · ca. 600–400 BCE · Maya worlds
Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar · first quarter of the 5th century BCE · Phoenicians
Banquet under leopards · Around 480–470 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Twenty-six voiceless signs · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
The oldest knotted carpet · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
The statue was the urn · First half of the 4th century BCE · Iberians
Grave goods of Baza and Toya · First half of the 4th century BCE · Iberians
The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The silver amphora of Chertomlyk · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The Kul-Oba vase · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
Susa grave goods · c. 350 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Faces of the Steppe · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Scythians and Saka
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
453 astragali from Alarcos · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · necropolis chronology · Iberians
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
Falcata from Almedinilla · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
Golyamata Kosmatka · End of the 4th century – beginning of the 3rd century BCE; ritual burial at the beginning of the III according to Iskra. · Thracians
The blade became straight · 5th–1st centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Geometry in very fine lines · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Northern mound · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Yayoi Japan
Two rows of coffins · Mainly Middle Yayoi, 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Yayoi Japan
Kabusanza, ca. 400 · ca. 400 CE · Batwa / Twa histories
Pakal’s grave goods · sealed on 28 August 683 CE · Maya worlds
Missing grave goods · 13th–15th centuries according to the heritage overview · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A Kerma vessel deposited at Abydos · Second Intermediate Period · Ancient Egypt
A vase travels; the rite changes · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Cemetery · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Daegok-ri grave goods · from c. 5th century BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Four panoplies · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Livestock and mounds · c. 2050–1500 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Shum Laka · c. 8,000 and 3,000 years before present · Bantu-speaking worlds
The quarry remained visible · Mainly 6th–5th centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Three hundred lives in the sand · Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE · Yayoi Japan
Urns from Adichanallur · Iron Age · samples towards 665 and 467 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds

Cremation

Osmankayası and Ilıca · ca. 1700/1650–1200 BCE · Hittites
Before Etruscans and Rome · ca. 850–800 BCE · Etruscans and Rome — You are viewing
The urn under the helmet · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Two voices in an urn · 530–520 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The statue was the urn · First half of the 4th century BCE · Iberians

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A vase travels; the rite changes · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Urns from Adichanallur · Iron Age · samples towards 665 and 467 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

The house could become a funerary vessel

An urn from the necropolis of Polledrara in Bisenzio, preserved in the Museo delle Civiltà, adopts the form of a hut with a circular base and is dated to the 9th century BCE. It is a distinct comparison from the Sorbo biconic urn: it shows another way of uniting cremated body, vessel and architecture. Miniatures allow us to study which features of a dwelling were selected for a funerary image. They are not scale plans nor do they prove that every detail reproduces the deceased’s house, but they expand the material repertoire preceding the great cities.

Museum · Museo delle Civiltà · Hut-shaped urn with circular basis, MPE51753Access recorded: September 5, 2026.

The region before this culture

ca. 1500–750 BCE · Tyrrhenian central Italy and the Latian hills, from Bronze Age villages to Villanovan communities

15th–11th centuries BCE · Documented
Bronze Age hills
Small settlements occupied strategic heights and exploited the corridors of the Tiber and the Tyrrhenian Sea.
10th–9th centuries BCE · Documented
Ashes, urns and memory
Cremation and biconical urns document Villanovan communities preceding the monumental Etruscan city.
9th–7th centuries BCE · Documented
Villages becoming cities
The aggregation of settlements, necropolises and cult spaces accelerated the urbanisation of Etruria and Latium.

What changes and what we should not assume

The concentration of villages and the definition of stable necropolises led to urban communities: in Etruria, city-states emerged; in Latium, Rome grew from interconnected hilltop nuclei.

Villanovan describes an archaeological facies. Its relationship with later Etruscan or Latin identities must be explained as a process, not as an immediate equivalence.

Biconical urn from Tomb 199 of the Sorbo necropolis

ca. 850–800 BCE · Sorbo necropolis, Cerveteri, Latium, Italy

The biconical form and its lid condensed a funerary rite in which the body was burned and the ashes deposited with selected objects. The piece allows us to approach a family preceding the great Etruscan tumuli and shows how domestic memory preceded urban monumentality.

Cremation was a relevant funerary practice in the Villanovan horizon.

Present it as Villanovan or of the early Iron Age; avoid turning a concrete urn into proof of an individual ethnic identity.

Impasto pottery covered with bronze

Wikimedia Commons · file of Biconic Urn from Tomb 199 of the Sorbo necropolis · Sailko · CC BY-SA 4.0

Documented fact 01: Cremation was a relevant funerary practice in the Villanovan horizon.
Documented fact 02: Biconical urns contained cremated remains and could be closed with bowls or metal covers.
Documented fact 03: Cerveteri developed from communities prior to the historical Etruscan city.
Documented fact 04: The archaeology of the Palatine documents occupation prior to the traditional foundation date of Rome.
Documented fact 05: The urbanisation of central Italy was gradual and regionally diverse.

Location and territory

LOCATED SITE

Cerveteri · ItalyMarker of the necropolises of Caere.

Where it is held

Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia

Item or group in the record · On display

The museum documents the context of the biconic urn and its presentation in Room 9.

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

Expand this antecedent and consult its sources

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History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Before Etruscans and Rome

Dolní Věstonice I

Before Sumer

Twin-chambered vessel from Cova de l’Or

Before Egypt

Before Nubia

Before Gojoseon

Bevel-rimmed bowl

Before Yayoi

Vasiliki

Before the Greeks

Cemetery R-37

Before Ancient China

Longshan

Kerma vessel

Burial at K IV

Before Vedic India

Osmankayası and Ilıca

Grey bowl from Hastinapura

Before Etruscans and Rome

The urn under the helmet

Ceramic stand 1010

Ishtar Gate

Glazed brick guards

Orpheus among the Thracians

The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo

Thoth in the form of a baboon

Leipzig Fish Plate

Dove of the Amarejo

Vas dels Guerrers

Warriors' Vase

Northern mound

Kalathos of Alcorisa

Urewe vessel

Two rows of coffins

Ceramics that continued

Egyptian oil lamp with a fish, held in Laon

Laon lamp with fish

Kabusanza, ca. 400

Missing grave goods

A closer look

The house could become a funerary vessel

The region before this culture

Bronze Age hills

Ashes, urns and memory

Villages becoming cities

What changes and what we should not assume

Biconical urn from Tomb 199 of the Sorbo necropolis

Location and territory

Where it is held

Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?