Charlotte Potts has edited a stimulating volume of essays, originally presented as papers at a workshop, Etrusco-Italic Architecture in its Mediterranean Context, at Somerville College in Oxford in 2018. Together the seven contributions to the volume explore the theme of connectivity in central Italic architecture roughly between 800 and 400 b.c.e. While the term ‘connectivity’ evokes Mediterranean networks of craftspeople and resources and the exchange of ideas and practices, the papers in this volume embrace the concept of ‘connection’ even more broadly. A reader will find connections in every sense of the term: across time, across geographic and topographic space, between craftspeople and architects, between a building's foundation and its roof, between the local environment and global influence, and finally, between scholarship and scholars.
The volume's wide range of interpretations on the theme of connectivity might be a bit disorienting for a reader, if not for the connective tissue of P.'s introduction, ‘Building Connections’. Certainly one of the most important themes that she extracts from the papers is the centrality of human agency and decision making in the act of architectural construction. Rather than a focus on patronage and power, the emphasis here is on the collaboration and expertise of ancient architects, engineers, craftspeople and workers. P.'s introduction asks the reader to visualise architecture as a ‘resource for the study of central Italic life’ (8), and provides the thematic tools for readers to engage with the authors’ subsequent approaches to architectural evidence. In its assessment of the current field of central Italic architectural history, this introduction is both forward-looking and retrospective, offering a road map of potential approaches and an ample bibliography of previous work.
Not surprisingly, the centrality of architectural terracottas and central Italic roofs to the study of early Etrusco-Italic architecture is apparent throughout this volume, which begins with a labeled diagram of a generic Etrusco-Italic roof with elements (fig. 0-1). Given many of the individual contributors’ expertise in the field of architectural terracottas, this focus is not unexpected. For archaeologists and architectural historians of pre-Roman Central Italy, the study of architecture has long been synonymous with the study of roofs, a fact noted by Charlotte Potts and Christopher Smith in a recent publication calling for a new agenda in Etruscan studies, that argues, ‘[t]he next step for architectural historians is to reconnect studies of roofs with those of the buildings on which they stood’ (C. Potts and C. Smith, J.Archaeol.Res. 30 (2022), 621). No doubt this volume represents such an attempt.
The first two essays are indeed focused on roofs. Jean Macintosh Turfa's contribution, ‘The Silent Roofing Revolution: the Etruscan Tie-Beam Truss,’ argues that the Etruscan tie-beam truss is a local innovation born from the woodworking traditions of palafitte buildings and the challenges posed by heavy tiled roofs. Her methodology unites precise reconstruction of side loads and building spans with comparative analysis of Bronze and Iron age woodworking practices and tools, thus making chronological connections that ultimately stretch to early Christian basilicas. Her argument that local Italic wood building traditions served the rapid spread of tile roofs in Etruria fits well within the themes of this volume. Nancy Winter, the undisputed expert on Etruscan architectural terracottas, provides a contribution entitled ‘Architectural Terracottas of Central Italy within Their Wider Mediterranean Context.’ This chapter, which begins as a survey of familiar material with some new archaeological discoveries (arranged chronologically and geographically), culminates in a reframing of central Italy's active role as a participant within the network of Mediterranean architectural terracottas, documented through several categories of roof decoration. For scholars familiar with Winter's foundational work, this is a crucial update.
John Hopkins's essay ‘The Connective Evidence for Roman Urbanism: Terracottas and Architectural Accretion’ almost serves as a second introduction to the volume, as he deftly situates his argument within a holistic view of architecture and architectural history. His thoughtful contribution challenges assumptions about the lack of monumental buildings in Rome in the fifth and fourth centuries b.c.e. Instead, through four examples of terracotta architectural sculpture from Rome he proposes greater continuity in monumental building in this period and calls for an end to episodic architectural histories of Rome's monumental landscape. He stretches the notion of connectivity to offer a view of Rome's cityscape where architectural terracottas not only provide a link to the buildings they once adorned, but also served as ‘physical markers of cultural exchange’ (117) by making connections across time in an ‘accreting visual landscape’ (118). Hopkins's well-articulated connection between roof decoration and its architectural setting is then followed by the very precise, archaeological exercise of careful 3D reconstruction in Patricia Lulof and Loes Openhaffen's contribution, ‘Connecting Foundations and Roofs: the Satricum Sacellum and the Sant'Omobono Sanctuary’. This is a must-read for scholars of early Italic roofs, both for its methodology and for the proposal of a second building phase for the Sacellum: Sacellum II (550–530 b.c.e.).
The final two chapters move away from roofs to add yet further interpretations of connectivity. Giovanna Baganasco Gianni's chapter, ‘Architectural Choices in Etruscan Sacred Areas: Tarquinia in its Mediterranean Setting’, deals exclusively with the Ara della Regina, and through that site demonstrates the myriad factors that influence architectural decisions, such as geographic and geometric considerations of a site, and the celestial orientation of buildings throughout the year. She ties architectural space to Etruscan religious practice in a unique manner that emphasises connection between local environment and belief. Finally, Stephan Steingräber provides an informative survey of the various types of connections that can be made between the architecturally diverse tombs of Etruria in ‘Connections in Death: Etruscan Tomb Architecture: c. 800-400 b.c.’. The final section of his chapter addresses the dynamics of cultural influence and origins for building practices, in this case, of rock-cut tombs.
Separate bibliographies are included with each chapter, which is useful because most of the essays are focused on specific sites or areas of study, rather than more general introductions or surveys. This allows the chapters to be shared individually for specialised research or teaching. There are also three helpful colour maps at the front of the volume that situate the sites mentioned in all the essays.
Nevertheless, this volume is not aimed at a general reader. Much of the material focuses on interpretations of specific buildings that will be well-known to scholars of Etrusco-Italic architecture, and particularly, architectural terracottas from those buildings. In addition, the authors variously address familiar questions debating the origin, external influence and chronology of architectural practice, and especially architectural decoration, in ancient central Italy. Ultimately, however, when the collection is read together, the focus on connectivity allows it to rise above the details of this debate. What emerges is a valuable architectural portrait of this important period defined by iterative and collaborative connections within and beyond central Italy.
