Hut-shaped Urn

Photogallery

Hut-shaped Urn
Hut-shaped Urn
Room I. Proto-history in Etruria and Latium

This urn contained the cremated remains of an individual aged around 16, possibly a young woman, ritually and symbolically deposited in a “house” to recall her essence as a person and her position within the social group to which she belonged. The roof is decorated with a dense carved geometric design (swastikas, meanders and angular motifs).

It is typical of the early phases of the Etruscan-Latium Iron Age (ninth to eighth centuries B.C.), with isolated examples in Sabina and in Campania. Generally it is accompanied by a set of items that may include vessels, miniaturised weapons and ornaments placed inside a large vase that was then buried. It also represents a model for getting to know the real architecture of these ancient dwellings, made up of a structure of wooden poles with walls of wattle and daub.

The urn comes from a highly significant necropolis in Latium, related to the site of the mythical Alba Longa, the hegemonic centre and cradle of Latin culture and mother city of Rome according to ancient tradition. This type of urn, with peculiar rituals and symbols in contrast to the typically Villanovan bi-conic urn, was also adopted in Etruria from where there originated both clay specimens and later, richly decorated bronze versions.