Experiencing Etruscan pots: ceramics, bodies and images in archaic Etruria

Abstract

This thesis seeks to answer a disarmingly simple question: what did it feel like to use an Etruscan pot? It does so through the development of a new methodology for ceramic analysis, created from a practical application of phenomenological thought to the Etruscan archaeological record. The Etruscan world of the Archaic period, approximately 650 to 450 BCE, would have been filled with images, colours, and sensations, fragments of all of which remain wrapped up in the pottery which was deposited in tombs and on domestic sites throughout the period. By analysing the experience of using such vessels, the thesis goes on to develop new interpretations of the role of pots and their contents in Etruscan society, particularly the Etruscan use of alcohol and the structure of formal feasting events.

The presence of new pottery forms, with novel imagery imported from the Greek Eastern Mediterranean, provides a comparison which drives the analysis. By re-conceptualising these iconic imports as foci for Etruscan experiences, the relationship between these predominantly Attic ceramics and their Etruscan users is recast to emphasise the contrasts in ceramic usage brought in by these new vessels, and the shifts in behaviour, belief and banqueting that potentially accompanied them.

More information

Identifiers

Catalogue record

Export record