Stone sarcophagi of Etruria: renewing research in the digital era

Descripción del proyecto

Herramientas avanzadas para estudiar los sarcófagos etruscos

Los sarcófagos de piedra tienen una gran importancia en la artesanía y el arte funerario etrusco. Se fabricaron sobre todo entre los siglos IV y II a. C. en el sur de Etruria, principalmente en la región entorno a la ciudad de Tarquinia. Sin embargo, las publicaciones sobre estos objetos se han centrado en las piezas decoradas de época helenística. El proyecto SETRU-2.0 financiado con fondos europeos, tiene por objeto llevar a cabo un análisis exhaustivo de estos artefactos. Su equipo elaborará una publicación de referencia que irá más allá de las consideraciones artísticas y estilísticas. Efectuará un inventario exhaustivo de estos objetos y desarrollará una metodología que se pueda aplicar a futuros descubrimientos y a otros productos artesanales. El empleo de herramientas punteras como la topografía 2,5 y 3D facilitará esta labor.

Objetivo

Stone sarcophagi are one of the most important witnesses of Etruscan funerary art and craftmanship. Although a few examples are
attested between the 8th and the 5th centuries BC (Orientalist, Archaic and Classical periods), most of the production dates from the
4th-2nd centuries BC (Hellenistic period) and is mainly distributed in the necropolises of the southern Etruria (northern Lazio), and
more specifically in the territory of the city of Tarquinia. The reference publication on these objects dates from the mid-20th century
and concerns only Hellenistic decorated pieces, studied through the prism of art history (iconography, stylistics); it was expanded in
1974 and 2004 to form a corpus of ca. 420 decorated sarcophagi well preserved. The undecorated specimens have never been taken
into consideration, even though they represent between half and two third of the Etruscan stone sarcophagi of this period. The
earliest examples have never been the subject of a synthetic study any more.
The SETRU-2.0 project aims to fill the gaps in research on all Etruscan stone sarcophagi and to establish a new reference publication
that goes beyond artistic and stylistic considerations, through a complete inventory these objects and a methodological guide
applicable to future discoveries and other type of handmade products. Its originality lies in the fact that it considers the entire
production (from the 8th to the 2nd century BC; sarcophagi whole or fragmentary, decorated or not, painted or not, inscribed or not,
of fine or coarse workmanship), on a global and interdisciplinary approach (archaeology, art history, epigraphy, geology,
anthropology, etc.), and on the implementation of a specific methodology, from the study of tool marks to the use of 2.5 and 3D
surveying (RTI, photogrammetry, lasergrammetry) and analysis tools and techniques (GIS, 3D modelling). This project is definitively
innovative for this class of object and more widely in Etruscology.