The Etruscans can be shown to have made significant, and in some cases perhaps the first, technical advances in the central and northern Mediterranean. To the Etruscan people we can attribute such developments as the tie-beam truss in large wooden structures, surveying and engineering drainage and water tunnels, the development of the foresail for fast long-distance sailing vessels, fine techniques of metal production and other pyrotechnology, post-mortem C-sections in medicine, and more. In art, many technical and iconographic developments, although they certainly happened first in Greece or the Near East, are first seen in extant Etruscan works, preserved in the lavish tombs and goods of Etruscan aristocrats. These include early portraiture, the first full-length painted portrait, the first perspective view of a human figure in monumental art, specialized techniques of bronze-casting, and reduction-fired pottery (the bucchero phenomenon). Etruscan contacts, through trade, treaty and intermarriage, linked their culture with Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily, with the Italic tribes of the peninsula, and with the Near Eastern kingdoms, Greece and the Greek colonial world, Iberia, Gaul and the Punic network of North Africa, and influenced the cultures of northern Europe.

In the past fifteen years striking advances have been made in scholarship and research techniques for Etruscan Studies. Archaeological and scientific discoveries have changed our picture of the Etruscans and furnished us with new, specialized information. Thanks to the work of dozens of international scholars, it is now possible to discuss topics of interest that could never before be researched, such as Etruscan mining and metallurgy, textile production, foods and agriculture. In this volume, over 60 experts provide insights into all these aspects of Etruscan culture, and more, with many contributions available in English for the first time to allow the reader access to research that may not otherwise be available to them. Lavishly illustrated, The Etruscan World brings to life the culture and material past of the Etruscans and highlights key points of development in research, making it essential reading for researchers, academics and students of this fascinating civilization.

About the Author
Jean MacIntosh Turfa is a Research Associate and occasional Lecturer in the Mediterranean Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum and an adjunct professor in Classics at St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia. She has taught at the University of Liverpool, University of Illinois, Chicago, and Loyola University of Chicago, Drexel University, Dickinson and Bryn Mawr Colleges, St. Joseph's University and the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Member of the Istituto di Studi Etruschi e Italici.

Reviews

"The Etruscan World will be a most useful and absolutely up-to-date addition to anyone interested in the Etruscans. This is a very useful handbook, an excellent introduction to the Etruscans but also a work of reference that advanced researchers will be very interested in consulting. The authors break a lot of new ground and really bring us up to date on a discipline that has seen remarkable changes in the past decade." - P. Gregory Warden, Franklin College Switzerland

"This book is a massive contribution to Etruscan studies, it covers virtually every aspect of Etruscan culture in fantastic detail. The range of up-to-date scholarship is truly impressive providing a reliable guide to everything from Augury to the Villanovans. It will be indispensable to everyone with a passion to know more about the Etruscans." - Phil Perkins, The Open University, UK

"This book is an excellent source of very recent information on the society, the sophisticated technical skills, science, art and religion of the Etruscans and their economic relations with the Near East and Western Europe." - L. Bouke van der Meer, Leiden University, The Netherlands

"The Etruscan World, edited by Jean MacIntosh Turfa, is a monumental undertaking... it presents a panorama of the art and archaeology of the Etruscans which any teaching or research library will find well used for years to come." - Robert Witcher, Antiquity

"Turfa (Univ. of Pennsylvania Museum) provides a broad yet deep analysis of an ancient Etruria whose influence on Roman, Italian, and European history has been great, yet surprisingly not well understood...By presenting the latest research, each chapter sheds light onto a world that until recently has largely been hidden in the shadows of the distant past...this work will set the standard upon which other works concerned with these ancient people and their influence must follow. Summing Up: Highly recommended." - P. Lorenzini, CHOICE

"The impressive number of contributors, chosen from among the most experienced Etruscologists worldwide...guarantees the quality of the essays, which are extremely well-informed and up-to-date...Furthermore, the choice to involve the scholars who directed the excavations in which arguably the most relevant recent discoveries took place can be considered an additional strength of the volume. Jean MacIntosh Turfa has produced an extremely well-informed book which definitely demonstrates the complexity of the Etruscan world and in this respect it hits the mark; both scholars and students will find great advantages in reading it." - Maria Cristina Biella, The British School at Rome - University of Southampton, UK

"The Etruscan World will be a most useful and absolutely up-to-date addition to anyone interested in the Etruscans. This is a very useful handbook, an excellent introduction to the Etruscans but also a work of reference that advanced researchers will be very interested in consulting. The authors break a lot of new ground and really bring us up to date on a discipline that has seen remarkable changes in the past decade." - P. Gregory Warden, Franklin College Switzerland

"This book is a massive contribution to Etruscan studies, it covers virtually every aspect of Etruscan culture in fantastic detail. The range of up-to-date scholarship is truly impressive providing a reliable guide to everything from Augury to the Villanovans. It will be indispensable to everyone with a passion to know more about the Etruscans." - Phil Perkins, The Open University, UK

"This book is an excellent source of very recent information on the society, the sophisticated technical skills, science, art and religion of the Etruscans and their economic relations with the Near East and Western Europe." - L. Bouke van der Meer, Leiden University, The Netherlands

"The Etruscan World, edited by Jean MacIntosh Turfa, is a monumental undertaking... it presents a panorama of the art and archaeology of the Etruscans which any teaching or research library will find well used for years to come." - Robert Witcher, Antiquity

"Turfa (Univ. of Pennsylvania Museum) provides a broad yet deep analysis of an ancient Etruria whose influence on Roman, Italian, and European history has been great, yet surprisingly not well understood...By presenting the latest research, each chapter sheds light onto a world that until recently has largely been hidden in the shadows of the distant past...this work will set the standard upon which other works concerned with these ancient people and their influence must follow. Summing Up: Highly recommended." - P. Lorenzini, CHOICE

"The impressive number of contributors, chosen from among the most experienced Etruscologists worldwide...guarantees the quality of the essays, which are extremely well-informed and up-to-date...Furthermore, the choice to involve the scholars who directed the excavations in which arguably the most relevant recent discoveries took place can be considered an additional strength of the volume. Jean MacIntosh Turfa has produced an extremely well-informed book which definitely demonstrates the complexity of the Etruscan world and in this respect it hits the mark; both scholars and students will find great advantages in reading it." Maria Cristina Biella, The British School at Rome - University of Southampton

"The Etruscan World, edited by Jean MacIntosh Turfa, is a monumental undertaking... it presents a panorama of the art and archaeology of the Etruscans which any teaching or research library will find well used for years to come." - Robert Witcher, Antiquity

Book Information
ISBN 9781138060357
Author Jean MacIntosh Turfa
Format Paperback
Page Count 1168
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 2336g