ABSTRACT

The technique of engraving harder stones with the aid of a bow-driven drill and cutting-wheel was introduced in Etruria sometime in the third quarter of the sixth century bce.1 The technically highly accomplished early works indicate that local craftsmen did not acquire the technique gradually from studying imported gems only, but that they learnt the craft from immigrant gem-engravers who had studied and mastered it elsewhere, most likely somewhere in the East Greek world, before settling in Etruria.