Evidence of the life at the forcello: what the findings reveal

The stratigraphic analysis of the archeological deposit at the Forcello has given information of notable importance about the succession of the settlement phases, about the characteristics of the dwelling structures and regarding the spatial organisation of the settlement, but it is certainly the archeological materials which allow us to look in detail at all the aspects which characterised the community which lived and prospered here. Not only have all classes and types of handiwork of local production been found, in fact, but those imported from the most varied regions too. The first bear indisputable witness that the inhabitants of the Forcello were of Etruscan origin, while the second show that this settlement was an important trading centre - a crucial point of communication between the eastern and central Mediterranean world and the Aegean, in particular, and with central Europe.

Trade amphoras and attic pottery: wine and symposium

The majority of the goods imported from Greece, after having docked at Adria and Spina, continued their journey on vessels suited to river navigation up to the Forcello.The numerous trade amphoras found, from which it has been possible to recognise at least eight different fabrics, show that the exchanged products were prevalently wine and oil. The origin and the quantity of the product was guaranteed by the shape of the amphoras which were peculiar to each production centre. The high percentage of trade amphoras found in all the phases of the settlement has no comparison in any of the other sites of the Etruria of the Po Valley.
A typically Greek custom was adopted, in close connection to the consumption of wine, which had already been introduced and appreciated in Etruria proper - that of the banquet - or more in general, of the symposium. Such activity is testimony to the presence of notable quantities of precious attic pottery throughout all the phases of the settlement. Represented in a large variety of shapes and techniques , from plain black to black or red figured pottery produced by the great Athenian masters, this class of pottery is indicative of the notable wealth of the inhabitants of the Forcello. Ultimately, the recognition of the artists or the workshops to which the decoration of this handiwork is due, collected chronologically in precise and well defined historical periods, is one of the most important dating tools of the various deposit levels.

From the eastern Mediterranean to the transalpine world

To complete the picture of the products which came from the eastern Mediterranean, were perfumes and precious essences, contained in exquisite vessels of polychrome glass which mainly were made in Rhodes. It is worth noting, in particular, the discovery of numerous fragments of balms from the context of excavations, while an absolutely exceptional find is an aryballos which was recovered intact in 1873 at the Forcello. Again in polychrome glass, many numerous beads were manufactured. Monochrome beads or beads decorated with yellow or white threads in a zig zag, ring or eye-shaped design on a blue background, were discovered in almost all of the life stages of the settlement. This was a type of product which was incredibly widespread, from the Mediterranean basin to Britannia, and probably associated with the feminine sphere and used as part of a necklace, often along with elements in amber, or singularly as amulets. It is difficult to establish the exact production centre of the beads of the Forcello, it cannot be excluded that, at least in part, they could have been made in the settlement itself.
Of the exotic products which arrived at the Forcello, there were two Cyprean shells (Cyprea monetaria) too, which originated from the Red Sea, a terracotta doll produced in Corinth and a small head which belonged to a small clay statue which was probably of Rhodian production.
An extraordinary find happened during the excavation campaign of 1999, a scarab in Oriental green jasper of Cypriot production. The scarab was found in the level of the burning of house I ( phase F), next to the south eastern wall of room 8, it was carved on the base of a depiction of the Egyptian god Bes fighting against a lion. Possibly produced around 550-540 B.C., it remained in use, as the traces of wear and tear show, for at least two generations, until it was buried by the fire which destroyed the dwelling around 500 B.C..
The Forcello inhabitants’ contact with other populations was not only long distance - proof being in the numerous materials traceable to the contemporary Po Valley, Alpine and Transalpine cultures. This was not a case of prestigious handcrafted objects for exchanging, rather they were objects of more common use, such as ornaments and brooches to fasten clothes, clear indication that this centre gave hospitality to personages from various origins.
Some ceramic fragments and an inscription carved on a small bronze ingot belonged to the Venetian world which, before Etruscan expansion, also included the Mantua territory.
Two fibulae and an armring are proof of the relationship with the central-eastern alpine world, and in particular with the Rhaetian and Euganean world. These are finds which assume chronological importance, coming from well dated stratigraphic contexts.
There are numerous types of objects which lead us back to the Golasecca culture: spread across the west of Lombardy, the east of Piedmont and in the Ticino Canton: fibulae, pendants, earring beads in bronze and the characteristic beakers of Golasecca III A.
It was the Celts of Golasecca who acted as go-betweens for the Etruscan and Transalpine Celtic populations, therefore, it is not merely by chance if some late Hallstatt and ancient La Tene fibulae from the south east of Germany, from the Borgogne and from the Marne region were found at the Forcello.
From within Etruria itself and from Tyrrhenian Etruria, came some luxury items such as worked metal or semi-finished products and bronze beaked-flagons linked to the consumption of wine.

Local Etruscan production

The majority of the pottery found at the Forcello which was locally produced, is reminiscent of cooking containers, or for conserving foodstuffs, with crockery and containers to be used as tableware and for the consumption of food. Kitchen ceramics of coarse clay, include saucepans, pots and other vases for cooking over fires, small vases, jars and urns. The fine clay, destined for the table, include the following shapes: bowls, mortars, fruit bowls, pitchers and small plates. Because of its spread from the Adriatic to Mantua territory and from Parma to Bologna, this class became known as Po Valley-Etruscan pottery. Other types of local production, less frequent than the previous, are the class of ceramics, again from fine clay, known as Po Valley bucchero and grey ware.
Undoubtedly, products manufactured in metal also came to the Forcello: although the real existence of iron and bronze artisan workshops has been proved only in the phases H and E, it is probable that other ateliers set in different areas were active during all the phases of the settlement lifecycle. There are quite a number of iron objects, which nevertheless are often in a bad state of conservation. These are nails, hooks and handles, used for furniture and other wooden household articles, rings and fastening of various types, knives and reaping hooks, spear heads, and also fibulae of Certosa type. Even more abundant are the bronze objects, some left over from various production moments, ranging from fusion slag or waste, fragments of ingots and of objects destined to be remelted, through to finished objects. Almost all categories are represented: tableware and domestic furnishings, utensils and arms, ornaments and objects for clothing, figurines of cultual character. On the other hand, objects in silver and lead are quite rare.

The written legacy

The membership of all the inhabitants of the Forcello to the Etruscan ethnos was clear from the outset, because of some precise evidence such as the presence of the characteristic fine ceramic tableware and the notable amount of imported material from Greece, which had never previously been so well represented in non-Etruscan Po Valley centres. However, what established in unequivocal terms the provenance of this community, was the finding of graffiti or inscriptions, incised, or impressed onto pottery before firing, in the Etruscan alphabet and language. The adoption of the Greek alphabet by the majority of the Etruscans dates back to around 700 B.C.. Of the 26 signs which made it up, 22 were initially
selected, then only 20, proof therefore of a reasoned choice, given the need to make these signs correspond to a different language.
The Forcello inscriptions denote a graphic and onomastic peculiarity which found wide comparison in the Adriatic centres of Adria and Spina, and in the Bolognese and Reggiano ones too. These go back in terms of graphics and spelling norms to northern Etruria, or better, to cities such as Volterra, Populonia and Chiusi. Evidently, it is from these places, that the origins of Etruscan colonisation in the Po Valley district came.
The inscriptions found at the Forcello mainly indicate the name of the owner of the vases on which they are inscribed. Sometimes it is the vase itself which declares that it belongs to someone by using a formula which starts mi (= ego, I ) and is followed by the name of the owner in the genitive, interpretable by the expression “I belong to…”
In particular, among the onomastic formulae, there are the following inscriptions: :anθuś.markeś:, impressed before firing on the bottom of a bowl; venza (or venzal), engraved into the base of an attic skyphos (this name is well recorded in northern Etruria; [---] tarnelaveś, engraved on the base of a bowl and maybe in connection with a gens name known in Vulci; haltva., engraved on the inside rim of a bowl, which is found to have direct comparison with Adria. Of great interest is the inscription discovered on the outer surface of the bottom of an Attic plain black skyphos: [–] i menpe kape mi pr [–] aituś. This is a formula which expresses the prohibiton of appropriation of the object, followed by the name of the owner. Furthermore, the type of writing is italicizing, or better, of a type which seems to have been used to draft important texts or, as is most probable in this case, connected to sanctuary activities.