ABSTRACT
The chapter explores the role and importance of specialised metalworking in the formative stages of ‘urbanisation’ in Middle-Tyrrhenian Italy, with special regard to southern Etruria in the period c. 1000-700 BCE. At this time, local craftspeople were developing many different categories of artefacts, which drew upon both local artisanal traditions, tracing back to the Final Bronze Age (1150-950 BCE), and new technological and stylistic stimuli from external areas, particularly from central and eastern Europe. The focus of this chapter is on symbols of power and group membership, in particular bronze objects such as helmets and swords for men, and belt plates and other decorated jewellery for women. The technological novelties and long-distance connections displayed by these items hint at a scenario where mobile metalworkers seem to play an important role as agents of technological transfer and transculturality. The discussion also highlights the implications of the diffusion of craft models and the significance of this mobility with respect to individuals and societies at large. The main aim of the chapter is to argue that, in this particular historical context, highly innovative bronzesmiths actively helped construct new collective and individual identities for emerging social groups, mainly, though not exclusively, articulated along gender lines.
