The Villanovian civilisation The most important
population in the Italian peninsular in the first half of the Iron Age, was conventionally called Villanovian, from a typical
settlement discovered in 1853 at Villanova, near Bologna. Such civilisation arrived at its climax half way through the VIII
cent. B.C. starting from the XII cent. There occurred a gradual process to unite the culture, in which until then the principle
manifestation was the diffusion of cremation cemeteries, found practically in all the Italian peninsular territory. Other
common characteristics regard the method of ceramic workmanship and afterwards metal workmanship, in particular metal foil
production for buckets, helmets, leggings and the use of
fibulae. Subsequently the Villanovians made wide use of the rich iron deposits in Tuscany, for tools of everyday use. The bronze
continued to be widely used, especially for decoration work.
The Villanovian culture is diffused everywhere in all
the East Coast of Italy reaching Rimini, and grew into Tuscany and into Lazio. The archaeologists distinguish between the
two main groups: the northern Villanovians, around Bologna, in which the civilisation flourished from the VII to the V cent.
B.C., and those in the south, in Tuscany and in northern Lazio, which were diffused in the next epoch. Strong eastern influences
and especially Greek that can be compared only between the southern Villanovian, overall in Tuscany.
The location
of the ancient villages slowly began to unite in rich and fortified towns, it points to the centralisation of numerous families,
they began to abandon the tradition of cremating their dead, in favour of the new method of burial, in which the dead was
deposited in trench tombs. At the same time, there began to observe a widespread diffusion of the Etruscan language. If this
had been new emerging culture influence or the arrival by a new population called the Etruscans, we do not know (see the hypothesis
on the origin of the Etruscans.
