TULAR: Transculturality and Social Innovation in Proto-Etruscan Areas of Pre-Roman Italy

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Integrating Isotope Analyses: The State of Play and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Human mobility has played a vital role in shaping societies, both in the past and present. From the circulation of people to the biocultural integration of individuals, these population dynamics have triggered fundamental transitions in our socio-political landscape. The early first millennium BC in Italy was marked by significant geopolitical changes involving extensive population nucleation, recognized as early forms of urbanization and traditionally associated with large movements of people. The TULAR (Etruscan for border) project delves into the question of how changes in human networks influenced the diverse cultural, social, and economic adaptations of ancient communities during the formative period of the Etruscan civilization. TULAR investigates the sites of Pontecagnano, Sala Consilina (Campania region), and Vulci (Latium region), integrating archaeological, osteological, and multi-isotope analysis. This paper compares the first set of data from previous research (Tarquinia, ninth century BC; Fermo, ninth–fifth century BC) with ongoing studies on human mobility and discusses them considering their archaeological contexts. 87Sr/86Sr results on human remains show a high proportion of nonlocal individuals. Future works will help us to unravel these population dynamics, providing a compelling reworking of our understanding of the European Iron Age and revising the traditional narrative of the Etruscan civilization.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Integrating Isotope Analyses: The State of Play and Future Directions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39924.0