The Etruscans, the most mysterious of ancient Mediterranean

peoples.
1. When and where did the Etruscans exist?
The Etruscans were Rome's neighbors to the North.
There is sufficient archeological evidence in Tuscany, the westcentral area of Italy, about the presence of settlers coming from
Central Europe from about 1000 years b.c., and living in the area of
Vilanova, called Vilanovans by the archeologist Pericle Ducati.
Some interesting archeological places in the area are:
.- Cerveteri whre you can find the Regolini Galassi tomb
.- Tarquinia, particularly known for the beautiful painting in its
tombs. One of them is the Carderelli tomb.
.-Travederi (Caere), Vae and others.
This metal-rich area, located to the north of Latium populated by
latins, was exploited by vilanovans and there were intense cultural
and commercial exchanges with phoenicians and greeks.
Vilanovans as cultural group gradually evolved and about the end of
7th century B.C. became what we call Etruscans.
About 700 B.C. the Etruscan king Tarquinius Priscus invaded Rome,
had the draining of Sepulcretum area made, builded the Cloaca
Maxima and filled the area between 6 y 10 meters high to avoid
Tibers flooding and get a dry platform on wich to build the Roman
Forum.
Some other etruscan places in the area are:
.- Populonia, the Colline Metallifere, the metal-bearing hills.
.- Orvieto: the Necropolis
Finally, about the end of 3rd Etruscan cities were conquered by
Romans.

2. What do current scholars think of their origins? How does this

compare to what the ancient sources say?
Ancient sources as Herodotus in the fifth century BC talked the story
of Validians who had to divide their population and half of the
population got on a ship and sailed to Italy, and landed on the Italian
shores, that being the origin of Etruscans, but there's no
archaeological evidence that supports this story. On the contrary
there are some archaeological evidences that say that Etruscan
culture was born on Italian soil.

Current scholars as Massimo Pallotino from the University of Rome

think Etruscans come from Vilanovans which in turnn come from
Central Europe, but some current genetic research suggests
connections of the Etruscan people with Anatolia, in the area of
modern Turkey and Syria.
On the other hand, If we look at etruscan material culture, we can find
things from the Near East, some things seem to be greek and other
things look non-western, so no final conclusion can be drawn at the
moment and the dispute over the origin of the Etruscans continues.
Maybe the DNA evidence will help us within a few years to discover
the secret of this enigmatic mediterranean people.

3. What is the Franois Vase and why is it important?

The Francois Vase is a greek ceramic vessel, richly decorated, made
in Athens and dated at c. 570/560 BCE, found in 1844 in an Etruscan
tomb in a necropolis near Chiusi and named after its discoverer, the
archaelogist Alessandro Francois. Now its in the Museo Archeologico
at Florence.
It bears inscriptions by Ergotimos the potter and Kleitas the painter
that signed the vase twice.
It depicts 270 figures in the black-figure style and 130 greek
inscriptions representing a number of mythological themes, some of
them about Achilles and their parents wedding. Some call it the Holy
Bible of mythology.
The Francois vase is important because its an evidence of the
passion od etruscans for the culture of ancient Greece. They imported
Greek pottery for funeral purposes , to accompany the dead to the
afterworld.