Etruscan Medusa urn contains vases, not ashes – History

It was revealed that an Etruscan-country ash bone carved from high relief was not expected, but three clay boats. These containers, two treated water cans and a cup, are simple and undecorated.

Urn is part of the palace cemetery collection, and although it was discovered in the 19th century, it has not been thoroughly studied until now. Gorgon is the powerful C-shaped symbol in Etruscan and Roman portraiture. Her terrible face avoided evil in order to protect the dead, while the larger tomb contained ashes, in this case the low tomb of the ACSI family.

The fact that the fine carvings of three ordinary ships rather than human remains shows that they may be symbolic burials, a ceremony performed when the actual body of the deceased is lost or has to be buried far away from home. The history of urn and its contents dates back to the 3rd century BC, and around the time when carving was carved they may also provide ritual functions related to the opening of the tomb.

Cemetery Sanitary Graves Cemetery is located in a modern suburb of Perugia, just four miles from the town. In active use of the Greek era (3-1st century B.C.), this was a settlement cemetery, although five tombs from the ancient era (6th and late 5th century B.C.) have been identified. More than 200 rock-carved chamber tombs have been unearthed there, including the large dwarves of the wealthy Volumni (Velimna of the Etruscans), one of the most important extant examples of Greek funeral architecture.

Like houses of the period, Volumni’s dwarves have 10 rooms, 4 rooms on each side of the central passage and two on each side of the main room. It has realistic architectural elements, including a pitched roof with joists, walls with frames and reliefs. The main room is called a small hall or banquet hall, which contains seven spectacular grey greys holding the remains of the family. These lids are decorated with realistic portrait sculptures of late reclining chairs and seats as if they were sharing a family meal.

In 1840, I accidentally discovered the palace and cemetery. Gentlely speaking, the subsequent excavation was amateur. The ashes in the indoor graves were collected in a casual manner, the locations of their discovery were not documented, the lids were mixed together, and then grouped by design style and shape. The result is that hundreds of urs line up among the audience at the door of the Volumni dwarven, just like the audience, which is the 19th century, gradually paving the ancient version of the artifact. Some of the urns with obvious inscriptions, vivid and vivid multi-colored decorations, intricate reliefs and intricate sculptures are on display in the ancient Quarium.

After the discovery, the cemetery became a highly censored destination for young Italian nobles, but in the 20th century it remained neglected until it was discovered again by professional excavations in 1963. The predators even picked up while working as archaeologists until late in the 1980s from Necropolis to Necropolis the Necropolis of the Necropolis over of the Black Market.

This summer, the Cemetery Museum embarked on an integrated recovery, learning and relocation program. In July, the dwarves were opened to the public and all urns were moved to the storage facilities of the antiques (on-site museum). There, the protectors have begun cleaning, restoration and inspection of each ur and each lid, recovering the residue of the long-declined multi-stained spots, rediscovering the urn recorded a long time ago, but since the case they found the wrong lid and lost the interior for the first time since they found it, which is the case with the Medusa urn.

Now, urn is conservative, while containers will be subject to scientific analysis, including materials and organic residue testing. Archaeologists want to determine what ships might contain if they are used for food and beverages, if they contain ash, etc.