Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TULAR (TranscULturality and social innovation in frontier AReas of pre-Roman Italy)
Reporting period: 2023-07-01 to 2026-03-31
Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project
Critical socio-cultural transformations occurred in central Italy between the 10th and the 8th century BCE, resulting in the emergence of a complex and flourishing Mediterranean urban society.
Originating in Etruria - modern Tuscany, northern Latium, and north-western Umbria - the Etruscans were central to this radical restructuring of the ancient socio-political order, leading to the emergence of the first Etruscan cities. At the same time, the driving forces behind the Etruscan urbanisation expanded across the peninsula (modern Marche, Romagna and Campania), likely as a strategic consolidation of the territorial control.
These sites had consistent settlement planning, funerary ritual and material culture; yet, they diverged markedly in their development during the Orientalizing period (8th to 6th century BCE). While some communities remained embedded within the Etruria network and developed into fully fledged city-states, others appeared to gradually disengage, as signalled by transformations in funerary ritual and material culture.
The MSCA project TULAR (Etruscan for border) has examined how changes in human networks influenced diverse cultural, social, and economic adaptations of human communities in the formative period of the Etruscan society.
By combining traditional archaeology (the analysis of funerary ritual and material culture) and cutting-edge scientific tools (multi-isotope of human and faunal remains and data analysis), the project has achieved a new chronologically detailed narrative of the formation phases of Etruscan society, implementing traditional narratives of the Etruscan civilisation.
Meanwhile, the project was able to offer detailed biographies of individuals who took part in the dynamics of interaction, formation, and development of the emerging complex society in the Mediterranean.
In doing so, TULAR is placed today as a transformative research initiative, revising, through seminal publications in peer-reviewed international journals, the traditional narrative of the Etruscan civilisation and providing a compelling reworking of our understanding of the European Iron Age.
Originating in Etruria - modern Tuscany, northern Latium, and north-western Umbria - the Etruscans were central to this radical restructuring of the ancient socio-political order, leading to the emergence of the first Etruscan cities. At the same time, the driving forces behind the Etruscan urbanisation expanded across the peninsula (modern Marche, Romagna and Campania), likely as a strategic consolidation of the territorial control.
These sites had consistent settlement planning, funerary ritual and material culture; yet, they diverged markedly in their development during the Orientalizing period (8th to 6th century BCE). While some communities remained embedded within the Etruria network and developed into fully fledged city-states, others appeared to gradually disengage, as signalled by transformations in funerary ritual and material culture.
The MSCA project TULAR (Etruscan for border) has examined how changes in human networks influenced diverse cultural, social, and economic adaptations of human communities in the formative period of the Etruscan society.
By combining traditional archaeology (the analysis of funerary ritual and material culture) and cutting-edge scientific tools (multi-isotope of human and faunal remains and data analysis), the project has achieved a new chronologically detailed narrative of the formation phases of Etruscan society, implementing traditional narratives of the Etruscan civilisation.
Meanwhile, the project was able to offer detailed biographies of individuals who took part in the dynamics of interaction, formation, and development of the emerging complex society in the Mediterranean.
In doing so, TULAR is placed today as a transformative research initiative, revising, through seminal publications in peer-reviewed international journals, the traditional narrative of the Etruscan civilisation and providing a compelling reworking of our understanding of the European Iron Age.
Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far
Several research activities have been performed to achieve the objectives set in the research proposal.
Creation of a new sampling protocol: NOWA
To guarantee the ethical standard of the research, it was deemed crucial to develop a sampling protocol that could optimise, in terms of minimising the destructive approach, tooth sampling for histology, biomolecular and biogeochemical analyses. For this reason, Dr Esposito, in collaboration with several scholars around Europe, developed a new minimally destructive protocol (NOWA: NOthing goes to WAste), published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440324001559?via%3DihubThe(opens in new window).
Investigating mobility in frontier sites: Fermo (Marche) and Sala Consilina (Campania)
An initial analytical approach involved an in-depth study of sites located outside Etruria to clarify the dynamics of networks between these sites and the proto-urban sites of Etruria.
To do so, a major achievement has been the extension of earlier research at Fermo (Marche), a frontier site, generating new insights into its strategic role. To gain a more nuanced understanding of mobility at Fermo, the 87Sr/86Sr isotope analysis previously published in Esposito et al. (2023) was enhanced through a multi-isotope approach, including carbon (δ¹³C), nitrogen (δ¹⁵N), oxygen (δ¹⁸O), sulfur (δ³⁴S) and multi-tissue (ribs, tooth roots and tooth enamel) analysis of the same 30 inhumed individuals previously published. Isotope approaches have often been used in isolation and have thus only been useful for excluding areas of origin. In fact, the more isotope proxies that are analysed, the better the origins can be refined. Furthermore, a further n= 56 inhumed individuals from Fermo were analysed for δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N to better understand past feeding behaviours at the site. Some faunal samples (n= 8) from the Bronze Age settlement were analysed for δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, aiming to estimate the isotopic baseline of Fermo.
The study of Sala Consilina (Campania) applied multi-isotope analysis of n= 67 individuals both cremated (only 87Sr/86Sr) and inhumed (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O, δ³⁴S, 87Sr/86Sr). This study has further improved the understanding of mobility in Villanovan/Proto-Etruscan sites of frontier. The population of Sala Consilina archaeologically shows similar patterns to Fermo's population. The site took indeed part to the Villanovan network but later on developed its unique local funerary tradition, and no development towards increasing social complexity and urbanisation is recognisable.
Further analysis will include the multi-isotope analysis of Pontecagnano (Campania) to generate another comparative site with slightly different outcomes compared to Fermo and Sala Consilina. Contrary to these latter, Pontecagnano accelerated towards a significant urban centre with hierarchical structure of the society. Impressive princely tombs and artefacts from varied areas of the Mediterranean characterised Pontecagnano necropolises suggesting, the site was part of a broad network involving sites from mainland Etruria.
Defining mobility patterns at sites within Etruria: Veii and Vulci
The palaeoproteomic analysis of enamel peptides (amelogenin) for sex estimation of poorly preserved inhumed individuals undertaken within the TULAR project from the necropolis of Quattro Fontanili of Veii has enhanced the understanding of previously assessed 87Sr/86Sr data (Cangemi 2016), by highlighting a high percentage of female mobility at the site. Veii was a leading early urban centre in Tyrrhenian Central Italy, playing a crucial role in the development of the Etruscan civilisation at the beginning of the first millennium BCE. Located in the Tiber Valley, Veii controlled extensive trade networks and experienced increasing prosperity and success from the 9th to the 4th century BCE. Findings suggest that Veii’s economic expansion and urbanisation are characterised by female mobility. Furthermore, by comparing archaeological data and amelogenin analysis, the results indicate a strong correlation between biological sex and gender as visible from the funerary ritual, with minor exceptions. This analyses have shed light on the social and economic strategies that shaped early urbanisation and polity formation in Etruria. This study will result in the publication: Women on the move and the emergence of Etruscan urban polities (Veii, Italy, first Millennium BCE).
Multi-isotope analyses of n= 39 individuals both cremated (only 87Sr/86Sr) and inhumed (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O, δ³⁴S, 87Sr/86Sr) from the necropolises of Vulci have further clarified mobility patterns among proto-urban centres. Vulci was one of the most flourishing Etruscan city-states. During the EIA1 a more extensive community on the plateau occupied an area of 126 hectares surrounded by numerous necropolises (Pacciarelli et al., 2021). The Fiora river constituted an important commercial and communication route to the coast, testified by the numerous imported grave goods such as the Nuragic objects found in the so called “tomba dei bronzetti sardi” (Arancio et al., 2010).
Osteobiographies
To achieve a more humanistic approach, as anticipated in the proposal, the individual osteobiography of the non-local (for 87Sr/86Sr) inhumed individual from T. 17 at Fermo (Esposito et al. 2023) was conducted. This has been achieved by reading diverse data acquired from the osteological and the archaeological record, investigating individuals as a single case study and considering diverse information structured temporally. Like biography, osteobiography aims to interpret diverse data to reconstruct a history of the body and provide a likely image of the biographee. Several proxy pieces of evidence were required to construct a life narrative of individual from T. 17: a. the archaeological context, including mortuary environment, chronology and analysis of grave goods compared with other areas; b. osteological data of the individual, namely sex, age at death, health status; c. multi-isotope analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O, δ³⁴S, 87Sr/86Sr), comparison of δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values from diverse tissues (ribs vs tooth roots), and d. laser ablation of tooth enamel through multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). LA-ICP-MS offers high spatial resolution sampling of the tooth. This technique is novel and can give high-resolution information on mobility through the childhood period of dental development of ancient people.
Further osteobiography will be built on the non-local individuals from analysed sites.
Beyond the formation of the Etruscan cities: the investigation of the life history of an Etruscan family (3rd-1st century BCE)
Further studies for the understanding of the Etruscan society have included the osteological, isotope and extensive isoscape analyses for the Etruscan Cai Cutu tomb (3rd to 1st century BCE). The Cai Cutu tomb, discovered fortuitously in Perugia in 1983 and preserved as sealed in the 1st century BCE, offers a rare and exceptional opportunity to investigate the life histories of an Etruscan family. The 87Sr/86Sr analysis was supported by an extensive plant sampling and analysis in the area around Perugia to increase the resolution of the 87Sr/86Sr isoscape of the area (Stuart et al. 2026; Lugli et al. 2022). By applying the method developed by Stuart et al. to an enhanced regional isoscape, a more nuanced and realistic reconstruction of mobility was achieved, allowing us to define how individuals buried in the Cai Cutu tomb moved across both the local and broader territories.
Data analysis
Finally, TULAR training has strengthened Dr Esposito’s expertise in advanced data analysis methodologies. Data analysis is a fundamental tool for the interpretation of data and requires the use of sophisticated statistical tools to build consistent generalised models. All the outcomes (isotope data from Tarquinia, Vulci, Veii, Sala Consilina and Fermo) have been analysed together to have a better understanding of mobility in the Early Iron Age Italy. These data will produce, for the first time for this period and region, a paper with more than 250 data points to reconstruct mobility and networks in Early Iron Age Italy. The paper will be a major contribution to understand to what extent changes in human networks influenced diverse cultural, social, and economic adaptations of human communities in the formative period of the Etruscan society.
Beyond TULAR
The MSCA project TULAR was significant for Dr Esposito to actively take part in important research projects dealing with issues of mobility (Bagnasco et al. 2024; Gigante et al. 2025; Stuart et al. 2026), health, dental development and diet (Germano et al. 2025), and Etruscan archaeology (Stoddart et al. 2025), which form the very basis of the international network in which Dr Esposito is highly profiled thanks to TULAR.
Creation of a new sampling protocol: NOWA
To guarantee the ethical standard of the research, it was deemed crucial to develop a sampling protocol that could optimise, in terms of minimising the destructive approach, tooth sampling for histology, biomolecular and biogeochemical analyses. For this reason, Dr Esposito, in collaboration with several scholars around Europe, developed a new minimally destructive protocol (NOWA: NOthing goes to WAste), published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440324001559?via%3DihubThe(opens in new window).
Investigating mobility in frontier sites: Fermo (Marche) and Sala Consilina (Campania)
An initial analytical approach involved an in-depth study of sites located outside Etruria to clarify the dynamics of networks between these sites and the proto-urban sites of Etruria.
To do so, a major achievement has been the extension of earlier research at Fermo (Marche), a frontier site, generating new insights into its strategic role. To gain a more nuanced understanding of mobility at Fermo, the 87Sr/86Sr isotope analysis previously published in Esposito et al. (2023) was enhanced through a multi-isotope approach, including carbon (δ¹³C), nitrogen (δ¹⁵N), oxygen (δ¹⁸O), sulfur (δ³⁴S) and multi-tissue (ribs, tooth roots and tooth enamel) analysis of the same 30 inhumed individuals previously published. Isotope approaches have often been used in isolation and have thus only been useful for excluding areas of origin. In fact, the more isotope proxies that are analysed, the better the origins can be refined. Furthermore, a further n= 56 inhumed individuals from Fermo were analysed for δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N to better understand past feeding behaviours at the site. Some faunal samples (n= 8) from the Bronze Age settlement were analysed for δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N, aiming to estimate the isotopic baseline of Fermo.
The study of Sala Consilina (Campania) applied multi-isotope analysis of n= 67 individuals both cremated (only 87Sr/86Sr) and inhumed (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O, δ³⁴S, 87Sr/86Sr). This study has further improved the understanding of mobility in Villanovan/Proto-Etruscan sites of frontier. The population of Sala Consilina archaeologically shows similar patterns to Fermo's population. The site took indeed part to the Villanovan network but later on developed its unique local funerary tradition, and no development towards increasing social complexity and urbanisation is recognisable.
Further analysis will include the multi-isotope analysis of Pontecagnano (Campania) to generate another comparative site with slightly different outcomes compared to Fermo and Sala Consilina. Contrary to these latter, Pontecagnano accelerated towards a significant urban centre with hierarchical structure of the society. Impressive princely tombs and artefacts from varied areas of the Mediterranean characterised Pontecagnano necropolises suggesting, the site was part of a broad network involving sites from mainland Etruria.
Defining mobility patterns at sites within Etruria: Veii and Vulci
The palaeoproteomic analysis of enamel peptides (amelogenin) for sex estimation of poorly preserved inhumed individuals undertaken within the TULAR project from the necropolis of Quattro Fontanili of Veii has enhanced the understanding of previously assessed 87Sr/86Sr data (Cangemi 2016), by highlighting a high percentage of female mobility at the site. Veii was a leading early urban centre in Tyrrhenian Central Italy, playing a crucial role in the development of the Etruscan civilisation at the beginning of the first millennium BCE. Located in the Tiber Valley, Veii controlled extensive trade networks and experienced increasing prosperity and success from the 9th to the 4th century BCE. Findings suggest that Veii’s economic expansion and urbanisation are characterised by female mobility. Furthermore, by comparing archaeological data and amelogenin analysis, the results indicate a strong correlation between biological sex and gender as visible from the funerary ritual, with minor exceptions. This analyses have shed light on the social and economic strategies that shaped early urbanisation and polity formation in Etruria. This study will result in the publication: Women on the move and the emergence of Etruscan urban polities (Veii, Italy, first Millennium BCE).
Multi-isotope analyses of n= 39 individuals both cremated (only 87Sr/86Sr) and inhumed (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O, δ³⁴S, 87Sr/86Sr) from the necropolises of Vulci have further clarified mobility patterns among proto-urban centres. Vulci was one of the most flourishing Etruscan city-states. During the EIA1 a more extensive community on the plateau occupied an area of 126 hectares surrounded by numerous necropolises (Pacciarelli et al., 2021). The Fiora river constituted an important commercial and communication route to the coast, testified by the numerous imported grave goods such as the Nuragic objects found in the so called “tomba dei bronzetti sardi” (Arancio et al., 2010).
Osteobiographies
To achieve a more humanistic approach, as anticipated in the proposal, the individual osteobiography of the non-local (for 87Sr/86Sr) inhumed individual from T. 17 at Fermo (Esposito et al. 2023) was conducted. This has been achieved by reading diverse data acquired from the osteological and the archaeological record, investigating individuals as a single case study and considering diverse information structured temporally. Like biography, osteobiography aims to interpret diverse data to reconstruct a history of the body and provide a likely image of the biographee. Several proxy pieces of evidence were required to construct a life narrative of individual from T. 17: a. the archaeological context, including mortuary environment, chronology and analysis of grave goods compared with other areas; b. osteological data of the individual, namely sex, age at death, health status; c. multi-isotope analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O, δ³⁴S, 87Sr/86Sr), comparison of δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values from diverse tissues (ribs vs tooth roots), and d. laser ablation of tooth enamel through multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). LA-ICP-MS offers high spatial resolution sampling of the tooth. This technique is novel and can give high-resolution information on mobility through the childhood period of dental development of ancient people.
Further osteobiography will be built on the non-local individuals from analysed sites.
Beyond the formation of the Etruscan cities: the investigation of the life history of an Etruscan family (3rd-1st century BCE)
Further studies for the understanding of the Etruscan society have included the osteological, isotope and extensive isoscape analyses for the Etruscan Cai Cutu tomb (3rd to 1st century BCE). The Cai Cutu tomb, discovered fortuitously in Perugia in 1983 and preserved as sealed in the 1st century BCE, offers a rare and exceptional opportunity to investigate the life histories of an Etruscan family. The 87Sr/86Sr analysis was supported by an extensive plant sampling and analysis in the area around Perugia to increase the resolution of the 87Sr/86Sr isoscape of the area (Stuart et al. 2026; Lugli et al. 2022). By applying the method developed by Stuart et al. to an enhanced regional isoscape, a more nuanced and realistic reconstruction of mobility was achieved, allowing us to define how individuals buried in the Cai Cutu tomb moved across both the local and broader territories.
Data analysis
Finally, TULAR training has strengthened Dr Esposito’s expertise in advanced data analysis methodologies. Data analysis is a fundamental tool for the interpretation of data and requires the use of sophisticated statistical tools to build consistent generalised models. All the outcomes (isotope data from Tarquinia, Vulci, Veii, Sala Consilina and Fermo) have been analysed together to have a better understanding of mobility in the Early Iron Age Italy. These data will produce, for the first time for this period and region, a paper with more than 250 data points to reconstruct mobility and networks in Early Iron Age Italy. The paper will be a major contribution to understand to what extent changes in human networks influenced diverse cultural, social, and economic adaptations of human communities in the formative period of the Etruscan society.
Beyond TULAR
The MSCA project TULAR was significant for Dr Esposito to actively take part in important research projects dealing with issues of mobility (Bagnasco et al. 2024; Gigante et al. 2025; Stuart et al. 2026), health, dental development and diet (Germano et al. 2025), and Etruscan archaeology (Stoddart et al. 2025), which form the very basis of the international network in which Dr Esposito is highly profiled thanks to TULAR.
Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)
The analysis conducted in the two years of the project has highlighted clear mobility patterns among Villanovan/Proto-Etruscan.
The research points to regional mobility among diverse Villanovan/Proto-Etruscan sites. Early proto-urban centres and then Etruscan city-states were independent entities; yet the groups associated with them displayed coherent cultural and political similarities. These centres might have functioned as hubs where people could meet, hold markets, practice cults and exchange, commercial and/or military initiatives, suggesting sustained movements of people and intense networks among the sites. Such dynamics may have contributed to the construction of a shared sense of belonging, one that would later crystallise into the Etruscan ethnos. Integration and exchange might have fostered the growth of a polity over individual city-states.
By contrast, sites outside Etruria show slightly different patterns, giving a significant insight into Etruscan population.
Meanwhile, it was possible to demonstrate the importance of applying a bottom-up approach by outlining the life-histories of the main actors who took part to this significant moment of cultural and political changes. More in-depth analysis (multi-tissue, multi-isotope and high resolution) have given insight into single individuals life histories.
The research points to regional mobility among diverse Villanovan/Proto-Etruscan sites. Early proto-urban centres and then Etruscan city-states were independent entities; yet the groups associated with them displayed coherent cultural and political similarities. These centres might have functioned as hubs where people could meet, hold markets, practice cults and exchange, commercial and/or military initiatives, suggesting sustained movements of people and intense networks among the sites. Such dynamics may have contributed to the construction of a shared sense of belonging, one that would later crystallise into the Etruscan ethnos. Integration and exchange might have fostered the growth of a polity over individual city-states.
By contrast, sites outside Etruria show slightly different patterns, giving a significant insight into Etruscan population.
Meanwhile, it was possible to demonstrate the importance of applying a bottom-up approach by outlining the life-histories of the main actors who took part to this significant moment of cultural and political changes. More in-depth analysis (multi-tissue, multi-isotope and high resolution) have given insight into single individuals life histories.