Acquarossa : results of excavations conducted by the Swedish Institute of Classical Studies at Rome and the Soprintendenza alle antichità dell'Etruria meridionale. Vol. 4, Early Etruscan akroteria from Acquarossa and Poggio Civitate (Murlo)

Abstract: Two kinds of early Etruscan akroteria - cut-out and relief-modelled - are presented and analyzed for the first time in this study. The material comes from the sites of Acquarossa and Poggio Civitate (Murlo), where it belonged to the decoration of residential architecture.Starting from the fragments (numbering 182), the minimum number of akroteria once present at the two sites is calculated (52), with the help of various criteria. Their relationship to the single buildings is discussed on the basis of find-places. An analysis of their arrangement on the roofs show them to conform to three different systems; one of these is closely parallelled by ash urns in the shape of houses from Cerveteri. In the matter of technique, the cut-out akroteria are distinguished by their manufacture individually through cutting, and so are a witness to a stage of production preceding the use of moulds. The relief-modelled akroteria were probably also handmade. Iconographically and stylistically the akroteria are shown to conform well with the tendencies of the early Etruscan arts in general, being sometimes adaptations of designs current in the minor arts. On the whole, they testify to the ambitions of socially leading classes to embellish not only the interior but also the exterior of their houses. A majority may be dated with the help of stratigraphy or iconography/style or a combination; most of the cut-out akroteria thus fall in the period of 625-575 B.C. (Late Orientalizing), the relief-modelled ones around 575 B.C. (beginning of the Archaic period).Similar material is clearly documented at Tuscania only, but indirect evidence suggests a widespread, original presence in Etruria of at least the cut-out akroterion. The apparent lack of corresponding akroteria in the Greek world, together with the early documented, Italic propensity towards roof decoration, leads to the conclusion that the akroteria in question were part of an old, local tradition. At the introduction in Italy of the Greek tile roof, they became prominent among the earliest architectural terracotta of the Etruscans. Later, they influenced, if indirectly, Etruscan akroteria produced as late as the fifth century B.C.