Vulci, Artigiani in città. Un excursus sulla storia delle scoperte e delle ricerche

The city of Vulci is a well-known production centre. Above all, in the Mid and Late Orientalizing Period a large production of goods gave way to the most fruitful season of Etruscan crafts. This productivity continued throughout Vulci's history, but it is possible to isolate specific moments during which the level of productivity peaked, in particular between the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 5th century BC, and later between the end of the 4th century to the Roman conquest in 280 BC. Only recently attention has been paid to production plants, storage facilities and residues of production processes, resulting into unexpected, useful findings for reconstructing the history of the settlement. From the analysis of temporary, seasonal plants located along the coast in the Early Iron Age, traces of production wasters recovered from the late Archaic port of the city, the research turns towards the evidence from various parts of the city, recognized thanks to archival research, new findings and more recent investigations carried out at the settlement boundaries or on the hills of the acropolis.