The Villanovan culture - the earliest Iron Age culture of Central and Northern Italy

        

The Villanova or Villanovian culture (900-700 BC) is the term used by archaeologists to designate the earliest Iron Age culture of Central and Northern Italy, which represents the oldest phase of Etruscan civilization, derived from the Protovillanovan culture of the late Bronze Age.

The name Villanovan of the early phases of the Etruscan civilization comes from the place of the first archaeological discoveries relating to this advanced culture, remnants of a cemetery found near Villanova, (8 kilometers south-east of Bologna) in northern Italy. The excavation lasting from 1853 to 1855 was made by the Italian archeologist, Giovanni Gozzadini, who was also the owner of that property, and involved 193 tombs, six of which were separated from the rest as if to signify a special social status.

The "well tomb" pit graves lined with stones contained funerary urns; they had been only sporadically plundered, and most were untouched. In 1893, a chance discovery unearthed another distinctive Villanovan necropolis at Verucchio, overlooking the Adriatic coastal plain.

The burial characteristics relate the Villanovan culture to the Central European Urnfield culture (c. 1300–750 BC), and Celtic Hallstatt culture (which succeeded the Urnfield culture), in such a way that it is not possible to tell them apart in their earlier stages. Cremated remains were placed in cinerary urns, specifically in biconical urns and then buried.

The Villanovan culture is divided into Villanovian I from 900 BC to around 800 BC, and the Villanovian II from 800 BC about 720 BC. The Villanovian II phase sees radical changes, evidence of contact with Hellenic civilization and trade with the north along the Amber road.

The material basis of the Villanova culture was based on agriculture and livestock. In addition, the production of ceramics and the production of iron tools and weapons were of great importance. The social structure of early Villanova culture was probably still underdeveloped.

At sites from later times, however, there are features of stronger hierarchization, which can be seen from the spatial structure of the settlements and the arrangement of graves. On the basis of iron smelting and intensive trade in iron, proto-urban settlements with aristocratic leaders emerged.

Housing was rectangular in shape. The people lived in small huts, made of wattle and daub with wooden poles for support. Within the huts, contained cooking stands, utensils and charred animal bones indicate the family life of early inhabitants in Italy.

The period of the transition from the Villanova culture to the Etruscans (late 8th to early 6th century BC) is referred to in Italian prehistoric research as Periodo Orientalizzante (orientalizing period), because due to immigration movements and trade relations in this period increased cultural Influences from the Near Eastern region, which among other things led to the emergence of a local script and coinage.

The "nuclear family" replaces the agrarian community of the previous period, which corresponds to the establishment of the power of a pater familias. From now on, the inheritance is carried out within the same family and the heritage itself becomes hereditary. This change in turn determines the implementation of a new social system that replaces the archaic Villanovan society.

In the last Villanovan phase, (about 770–730 BC), the Etruscans established relations of a certain consistency with the first Greek immigrants in southern Italy, and with Phoenicians, who settled in south-west Sardinia. The earliest Etruscan inscriptions date back to around 700 BC, when the first inscriptions are attested in southern Etruria.