The Etruscans and their Burial Practises


Etruscan society thrived on the Italian peninsula from 900 B.C.E to 200 B.C.E. Many insights into Etruscan times are derived from the excavation of their tombs. Etruscan tombs provide evidence of an organised and sophisticated society, which had the capacity for development and deep thinking. This is revealed by the conclusions which can be drawn about the way they lived. The contents and structure of the tombs reveal the importance of religion in the Etruscan society. In addition, their inventive-like entertainment is indicated through their tombs, revealing a flourishing culture.
An understanding of the Etruscans’ domesticity is revealed through their tombs, implying an organised and sophisticated society. The Etruscans had a passion for an orderly and comfortable afterlife (The Mysterious Etruscans, 2006; Hamblin, 1975, 44-45), thus they built sophisticated tombs that mimicked their everyday households. In early cremations, Etruscans used urns made to look like huts (Figure 1) (Cristofani, 1979; Etruscan Civilisation, 2009; Hamblin, 1975, 67-68). They believed that the shape of a tomb had to resemble the deceased’s surroundings [house]. This verifies that housing existed at an early stage of their civilisation confirming that they were not primitive. The tomb of Bas Reliefs (Figure 2) (The Mysterious Etruscans, 2006; Hamblin, 1975; Estensen, 1995), displays a well thought out set up of a typical house in Etruria. This tomb exhibits cooking utensils, tools, crockery and weaponry all carved into the tufa rock walls (Estensen, 1995). Even though tombs often contained these items for the afterlife, it provides valuable information about them as a society and demonstrates that they were able to construct tools and weaponry valuable to everyday life. Later tombs imitated the civil architecture that developed, using paintings to emphasise architectural features of their homes (The Mysterious Etruscans, 2006). As explained