A team of students led by archaeologist Luca Nejrotti recently unearthed two previously undiscovered features among ancient Etruscan tombs in Tuscany, Italy. During the summer of 2024, in collaboration with the Archaeological Park “Città del Tufo”, the team, consisting of archaeologists, students and local volunteers, revisited six Etruscan tombs nestled for more than 2500 years within the area known as the Via Cava di San Sebastiano, near the town of Solano.
The team revisited a number of 7th – 6th century BC tombs carved anciently into the area’s characteristic volcanic tufa rock, already explored and exposed by Roman looting and 19th and 20th century digging. At the end of their season, they uncovered two previously unknown features left untouched for more than 2500 years — a ritual pit and a funerary niche. The ritual pit contained a double-handled bowl and four dishes, and the funerary niche, sealed with terra-cotta tiles, revealed nine ceramic vessels, spindle whorls, and a bronze fragment.
According to lead archaeologist Nejrotti, the finds “represent an exceptional testimony to the religious practices associated with funerary offerings”.
Although the details of ancient Etruscan religious practices and culture are not as well known as those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, their tombs have revealed the significance of religious beliefs and practices in their society.
The Etruscans were an ancient people who preceded the Romans and inhabited current day central Italy from around 900 BC to roughly 100 BC. They possessed a common language and culture but governed themselves independently through federations of city-states (three confederacies in all: Etruria (today’s Tuscany, Latium and Umbria), the Po Valley with the eastern Alps, and the area known today as Campania. At its greatest extent, Etruria covered what is now Tuscany, western Umbria, northern Lazio, the Po Valley, Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy, southern Veneto, and western Campania.
More about the team’s work and results can be found in the major feature article recently published in the winter 2025 issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine.
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Excavating the ritual pit. Courtesy Luca Nejrotti
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The funerary niche after the removal of the tiles. Courtesy Luca Nejrotti
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