Acquarossa, located in the northern part of Lazio, Italy, is an unknown Etruscan settlement. Although much smaller than other more famous Etruscan towns, Acquarossa is priceless to archaeologists because it has not been rebuilt since Etruscan times. Excavation found many examples of early public and private buildings, as well as typical and unique songkhla roof decoration in Etruscan architecture. In 500 BC, Acquarossa was mysteriously destroyed and abandoned, perhaps in the hands of a hostile city. The larger Etruscan towns tried to meet the needs of their growing urban population, so they annexed the land of smaller neighboring countries.

architecture

The Acquarossa is built on a plateau 6 kilometers north of Viterbo in the northern edge of Lazio district in central Italy. The town is under the jurisdiction of Cerveteri (also known as Cisra/Caera). From 1966 to 1978, Swedish archaeologists excavated the site and found an iron age village with traces of round and oval huts. These people came from villanova culture, the pioneers of Etruscan people. In the late 7th century BC, the foundation of Etruscan rectangular houses was built with tuff blocks. Walls may be made of dried mud bricks coated with gypsum, or, more rarely, tuff blocks are embedded between wooden columns. The top of the thatched cottage is decorated with terracotta, nailed to the end of the wooden beam, and a hole in the middle is covered with movable tiles of the same material to let the smoke escape.

Acquarossa had a population of about 7,000 in its heyday, and 40 houses have been excavated so far.

Excavation revealed traces of a large building complex, including a temple dating back to the second quarter of the 6th century BC. The two buildings here are all built according to the L-shaped plan, and the wooden pillars of the porch stand on the stone foundation with the stigma. There are stone benches on three walls of a room. There are sacrificial relics in a long ditch, indicating that there are cult activities in the area.

Acquarossa had a population of about 7,000 in its heyday, and 40 houses have been excavated so far. Although there is only one unblocked street and a stone canal has been dug to drain and fill the reservoir, there is little evidence of town planning. The big house in the 6th century BC was made up of many interconnected rooms. Some houses have a porch entrance and an adjacent space cut from the rock, which is dedicated to raising animals. Several houses surround a courtyard. This discovery shows that these rooms are used to store dry food, agricultural equipment and woodworking products in large pottery pots. Other discoveries include local pottery, cookers, portable braziers decorated with sheep's heads, and equipment for making linen for clothes and writing. The discovery of melting furnace and iron slag proves the existence of metal workshop, which is the result of smelting process.

Taowa roof decoration

Small finds include the songkhla roof decoration of many typical Etruscan buildings. They are made of local clay, which shows that Acqaurossa has its own workshop. Some terracotta warriors and horses came from the "Orientalization" period of Etruscan art and architecture. They can be traced back to the late 7th century BC and the early 6th century BC. They were used to decorate the sloping roofs of Etruscan public buildings and even simple private buildings, and displayed local traditional buildings independent of the ancient Greek style. Many of them are white characters on a red background, with horses, birds and fish painted on them, and one of them is a sitting person. Some of them are weather-beaten, but they depict a pair of hollow quadrupeds facing each other, just like heraldry signs, while the other one looks like a Griffin. Later, the decorative types of Songkhla pottery were more standardized, representing the chain of ribbons, lotus flowers or palm trees, all of which indicated the growing influence of Greece and Great Greece.

In a sacred building complex, the painted relief of songkhla was nailed to the end of the gable of a building. These are shaped into dinner or reception scenes, showing guests loitering on benches; Musicians and dancers, including an acrobat who is doing cartwheels; And soldiers with spears and shields, accompanied by chariots. A chariot was pulled by a winged horse, and Heracles' description of fighting Niemann lion and Crete bull showed the influence of Greece. Most of Acquarossa's Etruscan handicrafts are now on display at the National Etruscan Museum in Viterbo.

refer to

Hornblower, S:. Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 20 12.

Etruscan Religion, University of Texas Press, 2006.

Spivey, Etruscan Art, New Jersey. Thames and Hudson rivers, 1997.