Segni eloquenti in necropoli e abitato

This contribution deals with a context-oriented approach for assessing the social impact of sigla in Etruscan communities and society, as an eloquent—even if non-verbal—means of communication. Some 700 entries from 230 objects made it possible to identify the use of sigla in conventions of division, orientation and delimitation. Some of the six groups identified showed a practice of marking in order to divide up a field on the supporting object into segments. While these may at first sight seem to be simply geometric forms that decorate an object without any particular meaning, when they are studied in relation to the other sigla combined with them, it becomes clear that they have a particular significance. For example, the round base of a pot may have incised lines dividing the circular area in half or in quadrants and a siglum may be set in only one quadrant or there may be sigla in two or all four quadrants. Sometimes the additional sigla are written within the quadrants, while at other times they are placed on the outside. In both cases it seems likely that the marks are meant to indicate the location of something very particular, and thus have to do with showing orientation. The vases with the quadrants marked on the outside, dating especially to the Archaic and “Classical” periods, were found particularly in tombs and sacred contexts, incised on cups or bowls, in a very wide geographical area of Etruria proper, Campania, and Etruria Padana, with a wide variety of combining signs. Those with the quadrants marked on the inside, showing a similar chronology, were more numerous in habitation areas, had more variety in the vase forms, and showed an even wider geographical distribution, including also the culture of Golasecca in the north. They featured a varied but different “vocabulary” of combining signs.