Architectural Choices in Etruscan Sacred Areas : Tarquinia in Its Mediterranean Setting

The ‘monumental complex’ and the Ara della Regina sanctuary of Tarquinia offer the opportunity to study the architectural choices of one of the foremost Etruscan cities from the point of view of the relationship between ritual needs and architectural necessities. The geomorphology of the city is now available by means of a recent thorough study of the archaeological heritage map of the Civita plateau and the two sacred areas are now part of a system that can be related to the shape of the plateau and to its fortifications. This paper deals first with the contextualization of the two sacred areas in their closer landscape and then with the analysis of their architectural features by identity and difference and in their Mediterranean setting. Key concepts that will be tackled from small to large and territorial scale are wall techniques, space organization, intentional modification of the level of the ground (terraces) in their diachronic development.