Tarquinia: MRA-ITA-Tar035
Type Sample Item
Sample ID
- MRA-ITA-Tar035
Sample Material Type
- Mural painting
Sample Sub-type
- fragment
Dimensions (cm)
- Length
- 5.2
- Width
- 4.3
- Height
- 2.15
Weight
- weight value (g)
- 36.5
Geographic Location
- Country
- Italy
- Place
- Tarquinia
Site/monument
- Tomba della Nave
Historical note about the site/monument
- Monterozzi necropolis in Tarquinia is called after the hill on which it is located and is popular for its high number of sepulchers (more than 6,000), some of them monumental. The necropolis goes back to the 7th and 3rd century BCE, being one of the most long-termed. The site convey a glimpse to the Etruscan lifestyle and notion of afterlife. The tomb of the Ship (Tomba della Nave) was discovered in 1927, although its final unravelling occurred a few decades later in 1958, when Carlo Mauro Lerici foundation run a survey to get an insight about the tomb. The tomb has been already accessed by grave robbers so there was not much of the original funeral equipment left and the mural paintings were in a poor state of conservation s. Later on, the paintings were detached and transported to the Archaeological Museum of Tarquinii. The Tomb goes back in the 5th century BCE and consists on a single chamber (Fig.1 and 2). It is termed after the decoration found on the left wall featuring a ship with the tools for directing the boat and for sighting. On the other walls, there are the traditional convivial scenes of people engaged in convivial activities: drinking, dancing, listening to the pleasant music of the flautist hovering around. The importance of the wall painting consists in a two-fold fact: on one hand, it allows to identify clearly the profession of the owner of the sepulcher. On the other hand, the representations give an inside about the economical connections between the local Etruscan communities and other Etruscan settlements or of other civilizations.
Sources:
Romanelli, Pietro (1938). Tarquinii, Volume 2. Le pitture della tomba della Caccia e della Pesca. Roma: Libreria di Stato.
Moretti, Mario (1962). Tarquinia: la tomba della nave. Milano: Lerici.
Further reading:
Cecchini, Adele (2012). Le tombe di Tarquinia-Vicenda Conservativa, restauri, tecnica di esecuzione. Kermes Quaderni, Nardini Editore.
Chronological period (sample)
- 5th century BCE
Other info about sample provenance
- "Tarquinia - Tomba della Nave?" [hand-written note next to the samples] "Tomba della Nave" [ICCROM Label]