Diversity in Death: a construction of identities and the funerary record of multi-ethnic central Italy from 950-350 BC

The archaeology of death in pre-Roman Italy frequently focuses on important issues such as social stratification, gender roles and ancestor cult. Central Italy, taken as the regions of Etruria, Latium Vetus or Old Latium, the Sabina Tiberina and the Faliscan-Capenate area, was, however, home to various Peoples and is diverse in many aspects. This variation is mirrored in the funerary record and reveals differences between main centres in each of the four above-mentioned regions. For example, wealth as deposited in tombs fluctuated considerably per centre and period, as if status differences were less expressed in some settlements than in others. Local, cultural choices in funerary rites, and even per clan, are examined in this paper in the broader context of identity. It will address issues such as child burials and the structural presence of elaborate warrior tombs in Etruria during the 8th century BC, while they hardly occur in Latium Vetus and the other regions. The point of departure will be our excavations at Crustumerium – the crossing point into these four regions – since the interpretation of its funerary record remains puzzling due to assimilation of diverse cultural traits of the surrounding Peoples and its traditional rituals and ceremonies surrounding death (www.Crustumerium.nl; Attema et al. 2016).